Chapter 56 56
Aurélie POV
“Oh, that’s very kind of you, but I have pressing matters that can’t be postponed,” I reply smoothly. “Perhaps another time, when I can truly spare you the attention you deserve.”
“The pleasure would be entirely mine.” He punctuates the words with a wink, flashing an infuriatingly perfect smile.
• • •
“You are not driving yourself.”
The words drip with restrained fury as he grips my car keys, refusing to hand them back. Alpha Maurice had already instructed his men to retrieve my vehicle and return it to his pack lands. The car was mine again yet somehow, my keys were still very much not.
Now Damien stood in front of me, acting as if he had any right at all to dictate what I did with my own damn car. The frustration coiling inside me was reaching dangerous levels.
“Aurélie, you suffered a significant blow to the head”
“And I’ve healed,” I cut in sharply. “Now give me my keys.”
My growl is low, controlled, but lethal. His sudden obsession with obstructing me at every possible turn was beyond irritating it was deliberate.
He studies me for a long moment, something unreadable flickering behind his eyes, before he exhales and relents.
“Fine,” he snaps. “But you drive slowly. I’ll be right behind you the entire way.”
He shoves the keys into my open palm, stepping closer, attempting to loom over me. The intimidation tactic is wasted.
“Oh, how touching,” I sneer. “What a devoted husband you are.”
I shove past him, my shoulder colliding with his upper arm as I go.
That was the thing about Damien one moment, he could almost resemble a man capable of compassion. The next, he was nothing but a cold, ruthless Alpha again.
After thanking Alpha Maurice once more and saying my goodbyes, I climb into my pack car and pull away without hesitation.
I don’t wait for Damien. I don’t care whether he follows or not. In fact, I’m fairly certain I hear him curse under his breath as I speed off he hadn’t even reached his own car yet.
I needed distance from him. As much as possible.
I never asked him to interfere.
He scared the man off at the warehouse. If he hadn’t shown up, I would know where Dominique was by now. I would have my son back in my arms.
Fabrice POV
My wolf was in complete turmoil.
We had always stood beside Aurélie every step, every battle, every sacrifice. Yet she left in the dead of night, entrusting me with our daughter and disappearing without a word.
I understood her reasoning. She needed to know Delphine would be safe with me, that I would defend her with my life. And I would.
Still, the separation clawed at me, feeding a deep, relentless anxiety. And when Damien went after her… fear took root. I didn’t know if he could be trusted. Not after everything he had done.
Florence’s soft lemon scent lingered in the air, doing nothing to help. My wolf wanted to go to her, to reach out, to touch. But the sharpness in her gaze whenever she looked at me and Delphine kept me on edge.
She thinks I betrayed her. Thinks I fathered a child with another woman. A woman who isn’t her.
Delphine and Dominique are as much my children as if they shared my blood.
I was there when they were born. When they cried through the night and wouldn’t feed. When Delphine woke from nightmares, trembling and afraid. When Dominique took his first steps weeks before his sister so proud of his strong little legs, desperate to show me.
I would always be in their lives. That truth was non-negotiable.
And my mate needed to understand that too.
But the world wasn’t ready for the truth of who those children really were. If their identities were revealed, it would only paint targets on their backs put them in even greater danger.
Damien seemed to be trying. Trying to support Aurélie. But I couldn’t shake the fear that if he found Dominique first, he would take him from us.
Dominique was the rightful heir to the Alpha King bloodline.
Would Damien really separate siblings? Twins, no less?
Or worse…
Would he kill Aurélie in her sleep?
More baffling still he hadn’t marked Geneviève.
Aurélie was convinced they were mates. Now, I wasn’t so sure.
Without Damien present, I had expected Geneviève to hold absolute authority over the pack. Instead, that power seemed to have shifted to the beta, Lucas who had already formed an easy, friendly rapport with Théo.
Geneviève wasn’t even Luna yet.
What was Damien waiting for?
She didn’t even sleep in his rooms.
Later, once Delphine stirred awake at the kitchen table, I carried her upstairs to freshen her up. As I reached the corridor, I spotted Geneviève stepping out of the chambers she had been assigned all those years ago just before Aurélie and I left the pack four years earlier.