Chapter 65 65
Damien POV
“Don’t,” I growl.
“Leaving Aurélie free to claim,” Élodie continues anyway, her tone deliberately suggestive.
“No.”
“Why not?” She arches a brow. “She’s already the mother of your children, right?”
“How do you know that?” I snap.
“I make it my business to know.” Her eyes sharpen. “So she told you?”
“Yes,” I admit. “But only because she failed to keep my son safe.”
A deep growl rattles my chest, my wolf pushing forward.
“That’s not fair, Damien,” Élodie counters. “If she’d been in that car, she would’ve died too.”
Cold spreads through my veins.
I don’t like the image her words paint. Even seeing Aurélie injured at the warehouse was something I never wanted to witness again. The idea of her dead twists something sharp and violent inside me.
“You will keep this to yourself,” I warn.
My aura surges, heavy and commanding, pressing down on her. She whimpers softly before submitting, her head bowing.
I’m not sure if it’s my power forcing her compliance or if it’s because she genuinely cares for Aurélie and Delphine.
Judging by the nickname Delphine gave her, they’ve formed a bond deeper than I realised.
“I wouldn’t say anything,” Élodie snaps once the pressure lifts. “She is my Alpha.”
“And I was your first Alpha,” I remind her coldly. “Don’t forget that. Your loyalty was meant to be mine.”
“Alpha?” One of my head warriors pushes through the mind-link.
“Yes?” I bite back.
“Alpha Maurice is at the pack gates. He’s requesting access to the central grounds.”
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
“A problem?” Élodie asks, catching the spike in my anger.
“Just men who keep trying to touch my wife,” I mutter.
She hears it.
Of course she does.
“Someone should,” she says coolly. “She won’t stay free for much longer.”
“I told you I don’t know who he was!” I snap, repeating myself for the tenth time as his relentless questioning grates on my nerves.
“Damien, I had a very real security breach,” Maurice argues. “Not just a nobody but two Alphas entered my lands”
“So that’s what this is about?” I cut in.
“What?”
“Aurélie,” I say flatly. “You want to see Aurélie.”
He can’t help himself. That polished, Hollywood grin spreads across his face the moment I say her name.
“I mean, if she’s still here…”
“Unbelievable,” I mutter, shaking my head. The man has no shame.
I rise from behind my desk, moving toward the door to find her but then a thought stops me.
“Before I call her in,” I say slowly, “you said something at the hospital that’s been bothering me.”
“Oh?” He clasps his fingers together, feigning interest.
“You said you thought I killed Aurélie,” I press. “Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know,” he shrugs. “That’s what I’d heard that you killed her and set fire to the pack house. Along with her pack members.”
He says it casually.
As if he hasn’t just accused me of murdering my wife and her people.
My phone vibrates in my pocket.
Thank fuck.
I pull it out, checking the ID.
“Lucas?”
“Damien we’ve reached the quarry, but something spooked them. They must’ve left a few hours before we arrived.”
“You think they were here?”
“Yes,” he says firmly.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Is Alpha Aurélie with you?”
“No,” I answer, forcing myself not to swallow. Fear clamps tight around my throat. “Why?”
“There are child’s clothes here,” Lucas says grimly. “Boy’s clothes. Abandoned. I’d say what he was wearing when they took him.”
Fuck.
“It looks like they were hiding him in a shipping container.”
My son.
In a shipping container.
Fury explodes through me white-hot and blinding. Whoever touched my child will beg before I’m finished with them.
“Are you still there?” I ask, struggling to keep my voice even.
“No. We followed a trail we’re still hot on it. There’s a small village about ten miles from here. We think they’re laying low there for the night.”
“Send me the location,” I order. “I’m on my way. Don’t do anything until I get there. Do you understand?”
This is not negotiable.
“Yes, Alpha.”
I end the call and throw my office door open, not caring when it slams against the wall.
“Where’s Aurélie?” I demand as I stride into the kitchen, Maurice on my heels.
“Right here.”
She rises from the table, where she’d been helping Delphine with maths. I realise belatedly that I hadn’t even scanned the room when I entered.
“What’s wrong?” Her face drains of colour as she takes in my state mud, blood, fury barely leashed.
“We have a lead,” I say.
“I need to leave. Now.”