Chapter 392 392
Sabine POV
“Where are my children!”
Aurélie’s scream tears through the house as she lunges for the front door, trying to follow Maurice but I move fast, catching her and holding her back. She’s not thinking clearly. In this state, she would only put herself in danger.
“Sab…”
The growl in her throat is feral, commanding. She orders me to move aside.
I don’t.
I plant my feet, steady and immovable, my body blocking her path.
“Aurélie, wait. Just wait. Let Maurice come back first.”
“If my children are in that cave…” Her voice fractures, panic clawing through every word. “I need to be with them. I need to get them out.”
“Maurice will get them out.”
“No, Sab, you don’t understand get off me!”
She shoves me hard. My back slams into the wall, the impact knocking the breath from my lungs.
The old me would have yielded.
Would have stepped aside.
Would have let her pass.
But something has changed.
I feel it my wolf rising, her strength finally unfurling inside me. For the first time, I understand what I should have felt all along.
Strength.
Resilience.
“I said no, Aurélie. Just wait.”
I grab her by the elbow and yank her back. The force of the movement surprises even me.
“My babies…” she gasps.
The pain in her eyes is unbearable raw, excruciating, the kind that only a mother could feel. She needs to be with them. I know she does.
But all I can think about is having to explain to a grown Frédéric one day why he didn’t just lose one parent but both.
Nothing will happen to Dominique and Delphine.
It can’t.
Because if it does, Clémence loses all her power.
“Just wait, Aurélie. Just”
“Alpha.”
The front door slams open behind me.
Lucas and Fabrice stride in, flanking a cuffed Clémence between them.
“You.” Aurélie snarls. “Where are my children?”
She surges forward, reaching for Clémence but once again, I step in front of her. We need answers. A dead Clémence gives us none.
“I’ll tell you where they are,” Clémence says coolly, lifting her chin, “but first, you have to agree to my terms.”
“Your terms?”
I stare at her in disbelief. Even in cuffs, she still thinks she’s bargaining.
“We aren’t the ones restrained,” I remind her flatly.
She smiles. A slow, chilling thing.
“Believe me, I’d rather be in here than in there.”
A shiver crawls down my spine.
“In where?” Aurélie roars. “The cave? You took my children to the cave!”
“You’re the one who reopened it,” Clémence snaps back until Fabrice shoves her forward through the doorway.
“I’ll continue to ensure their safety,” she snarls, even as Fabrice forces her head down by the neck, “if you agree to my terms.”
She still believes she holds all the cards.
She’s delusional.
“Aurélie,” I snap, turning to her, “Maurice will get them out. Don’t give her anything. He won’t fail.”
“My men are guarding the cave,” Clémence adds smugly. “No one gets in or out. I only hope we aren’t already too late.”
I close my eyes.
I reach inward, searching for that familiar thread that pull that binds me to Maurice. When I find it, I grab hold and refuse to let go.
I picture it as light.
As I open myself to it, the light grows brighter, warmer spreading through my body until I can feel it everywhere.
“Maurice,” I gasp, reaching for him through the mate bond, through the mind-link.
Nothing.
No response.
It’s as if he’s shut me out completely.
“Luna?” Lucas calls.
I open my eyes. Everyone is staring at me now. Even Caroline.
“Luna?” Clémence scoffs under her breath. “Some Luna you are.”
A dark, sinister smirk curls across her lips.
“Meaning?” I arch a brow, my jaw tightening as anger coils tight.
“You let your own pack be attacked.”
“You ordered the attack not me,” I snarl. “I never wanted your package. You’ve been trying to control me from the beginning. Even at the farm you were doing it then. Making me dependent on you.”
I step closer, not even realizing how far I’ve moved until my face is inches from hers.
“Not anymore, Clémence,” I roar.
“Tell me where my brother is.”