Chapter 96 96
Aurélie POV
I threw myself into pack duties, burying myself in work so I wouldn’t have to think. Just work, work, work anything to keep my mind occupied.
I made sure all major pack business was wrapped up by midday, though. The afternoon belonged to Dominique and Delphine. Cupcake baking. Painting. Playing pirates. Hide and seek. Anything and everything. Recent events had made one thing painfully clear I needed to spend as much time with them as I possibly could. Life could change in an instant.
It had been five days since our dramatic evacuation from the Bloodnight pack. I tried not to dwell on it. I dreaded replaying the way our departure unfolded the way I collapsed in front of Damien, the humiliation of being carried to the car by Fabrice. Even the memory made my stomach churn. Which was exactly why I kept myself so relentlessly busy. If I didn’t give my mind space, it couldn’t drag me back there.
Fabrice had been even busier than I had. The day after we returned, an expectant mother arrived already in the early stages of labour, throwing him straight back into work. Yesterday, two more women came in both past their due dates leaving Fabrice to coax stubborn little lives into the world.
And yet, no matter how exhausted he was, he still made it home in time for bedtime. He read to Dominique and Delphine, tucked them in alongside me, grounding all of us in those quiet moments that mattered most.
One of the women was a beta’s mate, and after greeting the beta personally, I knew it wouldn’t take long for my identity as a female Alpha to spread. But I wasn’t hiding anymore. And knowing Geneviève was locked away eased something tight in my chest.
Dominique was… managing. Sleep had become difficult for him, and he’d started asking questions about Damien. I couldn’t help wondering if he sensed something some bond he couldn’t yet understand.
Delphine, on the other hand, had grown clingy. Especially toward Dominique. At first, he’d been patient, indulgent even. But now her constant presence was wearing on him. To her, it was fear fear of losing him again. To him, it felt like suffocation, like never having space to breathe.
She wouldn’t even let Dominique and Roland play alone together.
I caught Dominique shouting at her in the small pack playground when she burst into tears, desperate to join in. Roland Théo’s son stepped in, calming her by pushing her on the swings, then holding her hand on the walk home. I overheard him gently telling Dominique that it was okay for her to be with them, reminding him how devastated she’d been when he was gone.
It felt like a lifetime ago that Delphine and Roland used to curl up together on the sofa, watching films, tucked safely into that easy innocence.
So much had happened in such a short time.
I hadn’t received any news from the Bloodnight pack. I’d expected Florence to follow Fabrice after a few days, especially since Bloodnight wasn’t her home pack. The silence unsettled me.
I hadn’t heard from the Saint Wolf pack either no word on whether Élodie and Simon had returned to Alpha Quentin.
What I had heard from were new packs.
Enquiries. Requests. Expressions of interest in joining my alliance.
For once, I didn’t know what to do.
“Hey.”
Fabrice steps into my office just as I finish approving an order for additional medical equipment.
“Hey, you,” I reply, smiling faintly. “You need a break. You look exhausted.”
He wears his glasses constantly now. He used to put them on only when he was overtired but now they never seem to leave his face.
Was he really that tired?
Or was the mate bond his distance from Florence taking its toll?
“Nearly done,” he sighs, removing the glasses and rubbing his eyes. “One of the babies is being particularly stubborn.”
“Let me make you a coffee,” I offer, though I suspect what he truly wants is to collapse into bed.
“I’m fine,” he says. “I’ll grab one at the hospital when I’m back. I just wanted to follow up about the new packs they’re pushing for an answer.”
“Tell them we’ll honour any existing contracts,” I say after a moment, “but no additional packs are to be recruited for now. Not until we’ve fully onboarded the new ones.”
What I don’t say is the truth.
Not until I know what I want.