Chapter 49 49
Aurélie POV
I followed the satnav through an hour of empty roads until it led me to a human industrial estate, the kind of bland concrete sprawl we had near the Darkvale pack grounds. Familiar in structure, unfamiliar in purpose.
This was the same cluster of buildings where I’d once secured the medical equipment for my pack. The warehouse had been close, the owner even closer to persuasion. A bit of charm, a touch of pressure, and suddenly I was one of his most valued clients valuable enough that he insists on taking me out to dinner every quarter.
I parked the car and circled the warehouse, heart pounding with every step. No one was waiting for me outside, which meant I had to find my own way in. Dawn was creeping across the horizon, and after an hour on the road, I had no time left to waste. I needed Dominique back in my arms. Now.
I had no idea how quickly Florence would wake Fabrice, or how fast he’d see the address in that email and start driving this way. If he showed up with Theo, everything could fall apart. They’d demanded I come alone, and if this turned ugly, having an Alpha with me would guarantee we’d learn nothing about where they were keeping my son.
But the worst part the part that knotted my stomach was the faint, unmistakable tug under my skin.
Wolf territory.
The second I stepped out of the car, the instinctual warning hit me like a shove between the shoulder blades. I didn’t belong here. I didn’t have permission from this pack’s Alpha to even breathe on this land. And if these wolves were the ones who had my child…
I found a side door hanging loosely on its hinges unlocked, poorly secured, and absolutely wrong for any place supposedly holding a hostage. A facility should be fortified. This door looked like it hadn’t been touched in years.
The moment I stepped inside, every hair on the back of my neck rose.
The warehouse was abandoned. My pulse dropped into my stomach.
Empty boxes were scattered across the concrete floor, shattered glass crunching under my boots. The windows were long destroyed, jagged edges casting warped shadows. Maybe bored human teenagers had thrown the rocks, but the place still radiated something eerie and wrong. Lightbulbs dangled dead overhead, and even the roof showed signs of storm damage.
I didn’t want to be here. But Dominique was trying to be brave for me, and I had to be brave for him. Just a little longer, sweetheart. Mummy’s coming. I’m never letting you go again.
I moved deeper inside, searching for any hint of life any proof someone had been here recently, or even a clue whose pack lands I was trespassing on. A rusty set of stairs caught my eye, leading to the kind of upstairs offices these buildings often had. Maybe there was paperwork, a trace, a sign. Anything.
The steps groaned beneath me as I climbed. Even for a werewolf, the darkness up there felt too dense, too unnatural. I pulled my phone from my jeans and switched on the torch, the sharp beam pairing with my wolf’s night vision to give me some clarity.
But the upstairs was untouched caked with years of dust, cobwebs stretching from one end to the other, the damp smell of forgotten time clinging to the walls.
Every office I checked was empty.
I descended the stairs again, slipping my phone back into my pocket to save battery. But the moment the light vanished, my senses screamed at me turn around.
A cold ripple rolled down my spine.
I pivoted
and screamed.
A pair of eyes glowed from the darkness, fixed on me, unblinking and full of deliberate threat. They wanted to scare me off. To send me running.
But I wasn’t leaving.
Not without him.
“Where is my son?” I commanded, forcing my voice to stay steady even as my hands trembled uncontrollably behind me.