Chapter 76 76
Aurélie POV
“Fabrice… Fabrice, get to the medical centre now,” I order through the mind-link the instant I feel close enough to reach him.
The journey is torture. Every few seconds, I twist around in my seat, searching the road behind us, half-expecting to see Damien following in Maurice’s car. My wolf hates leaving him behind it claws at me with unease but I had no choice. Dominique had to get out of there.
Even with Théo driving as fast as he dared, time stretches cruelly thin. I can’t hold my aura together; it churns violently inside the car, rolling and snapping like a storm I can’t rein in.
Why aren’t they behind us? Damien said he’d be right there. My thoughts spiral what already happened, what could be happening now.
I should have stayed.
The image won’t leave me. Poison creeping through Damien’s veins, turning them a sickly, luminous green right before my eyes. Wolfsbane spreading like bindweed, wrapping around his bloodstream, strangling his strength, weakening him from the inside out.
“Aurélie, what’s happened?” Fabrice’s voice breaks into my mind, sharp with panic.
“We’ve got Dominique,” I tell him, relief finally forcing its way into my lungs. “He needs to be checked over, but he’s okay.”
“Thank the Goddess. Are you injured?”
“Not me…” I hesitate, drawing in a slow, steadying breath.
“Aurélie?”
“Damien was shot.” I swallow hard. “Don’t raise the alarm yet. I don’t want his pack panicking. Let Geneviève know.” She was his chosen she needed to be there when he returned. He would need her.
“Aurélie, a bullet wound wouldn’t”
“It was laced with poison,” I cut in. “Wolfsbane, Fabrice. I need you there. I need you to check him tell me he’ll be okay.” I know I’m asking too much, but he’s the only one I trust. The best doctor I know. Darkvale owes him more than they’ll ever admit.
“Of course,” he says without hesitation. “I’ll prepare a room and gather our best doctors and staff.”
By the time Théo races through the pack gates and pulls up at the medical centre, Fabrice is already waiting. I don’t think I’ve ever felt such overwhelming relief at the sight of the royal emblem or those gates before.
All I can think about is Dominique. I need him seen immediately, and I know Fabrice feels my worry through the pack link.
The car barely comes to a stop before Fabrice yanks open the back door, his attention instantly on Dominique.
“Dominique… you had us worried,” he murmurs, lifting him gently from my arms and holding him close.
“Let’s get you checked over.”
He waits until I step out of the car, then guides us inside. Dominique glances back, his thoughts clearly mirroring my own.
Where was Damien?
“Is Damien here?” he asks hoarsely. His throat is dry he hasn’t had enough to drink. He needs fluids.
“Not yet,” Fabrice replies calmly. “But we’re ready for when he arrives.”
He pushes open the doors to the medical centre and leads us into an empty room.
“Let’s focus on you first.”
He settles Dominique onto the bed and turns toward the medical cabinet, rummaging for instruments.
“What happened?” Fabrice asks through the mind-link, his tone steady even as his hands work.
“They were holding him in a human pub. Everything happened so fast. Damien took out their guards, then he and Lucas moved in. He got Dominique out, and then we were shot at, but” My voice falters as the memory crashes into me.
Damien shoving me down. The force of it. His body slamming over mine, shielding me completely. His lips brushing my inner neck as he threw himself into the path of the bullet.
My skin tingles where he touched me, heat blooming where his mouth grazed flesh.
But why?
By then, I’d already knocked Dominique out of the way. He couldn’t have been protecting me. Why would he?
The impact had stolen my breath the graveyard ground unforgiving beneath my back, his powerful body landing on top of me at an awkward angle. I’d known instantly I was bruised; my ribs screamed their protest. But none of that mattered.
None of it compares to the weight of Dominique being safe again… back in my arms.