Chapter 8

• Damien POV
• Waking up beside her that morning her beautiful face soft with sleep, the memory of her satin-smooth, slender body curled against mine hit me harder than any blow I’ve taken in battle. It made me realize, with a sharp and unwelcome clarity, that I was starting to feel something for her. Something real. Something dangerous.
• Her scent had changed since that night too. I noticed it more each day sweet cherry blossom threaded with the faint bite of sea salt. Addictive. Impossible to forget.
• I never brought up that night. Hell, I didn’t know how. Every time we were alone, the words hovered on my tongue, but too much time had passed, and the moment had slipped away. And I couldn’t touch another she-wolf after her. No matter who threw themselves at me, I felt nothing. My body refused anyone who wasn’t Aurélie. Deep down, I needed her again needed us again.
• So when I learned she was pregnant, I’d been… overjoyed. Me. The cold alpha. I wanted children, but I never knew if she would want them with someone like me. She was a giver by nature; I’d always been a taker.
• Then everything fell apart.
• Why did she have to fight with Geneviève?
• Why did she have to push her down those stairs? Why wasn’t she more careful with herself, with the baby? What the hell did she expect me to do turn my back on Geneviève? A woman who’d survived a rogue massacre, who had no one else?
• And why had Aurélie told Fabrice and not me? Her own husband. The father of the child… unless… unless Geneviève was right.
• Unless the baby wasn’t mine.
• My wolf had finally burned out his rage after hours of running and killing, and he released control back to me. When we shifted into human skin, I realized time had passed much more than I intended.
• And Aurélie was gone.
• When I returned to the Alpha House, Élodie ran to me, breathless, saying she tried to stop her, that the pack begged their Luna to stay. She left anyway.
• I couldn’t speak to any of them. Their voices gnawed at the edges of my mind-link, begging me to chase her… but she’d rejected me. Rejected all of us. That was her choice. Her damn choice.
• Anger still snarling through me, I destroyed half my office. Smashed furniture, shattered glass, splintered wood until only the whiskey decanter survived. Then I sank into my chair, elbows on my knees, hands covering my face, blocking out my pack and the world.
• That’s when Geneviève walked in.
• She stepped carefully through the wreckage, stopping beside me. I didn’t look at her. I couldn’t drag my head up.
• “Not now, Geneviève,” I muttered, voice flat and raw. “I just want to be alone.”
• “Damien, I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t come back”
• “It’s not your fault,” I cut in. “Where the hell else would you have gone?”
• “I just can’t believe she abandoned you and the entire pack for him,” she hissed. “A beta who pretends he’s a doctor.” She poured whiskey into a glass and held it out. “Maybe this is what she wanted all along.”
• “What do you mean?” I raised my head, finally looking at her.
• “Well… weren’t they childhood sweethearts?” she said. “Maybe they’ve always planned to end up together. Marrying you could’ve benefitted her pack. And falling pregnant with his child might’ve made her realize what truly mattered to her.”
• “Important to her…” The words set me off. I roared and hurled my desk into the opposite wall, wood cracking against stone. Anger pumped molten through my veins. “I’m her husband,” I snarled. “I should be the most important person to her!”
• “Shh, Damien.” Geneviève placed a hand on my arm. “It’s better if you let her go. She only makes you angry. Let her go. I’ll always be here for you.”
• “No…” My wolf surged, snarling, drowning out her voice. If what Geneviève said was true… if Aurélie had used me used my title to shield her pack… then there would be consequences. My wolf wouldn’t let her belong to anyone else. And neither would I.
• I turned to Geneviève, fists clenched, fury buzzing beneath my skin.
• I knew exactly what I needed to do.
• “I won’t let her be with anyone else,” I growled. “If she thinks she can use me to protect her pack… then I’ll show her the true wrath of the Alpha King.”