A Kiss For Your Freedom
Chapter 73

I take the time to look at it. I've never seen him, I'm sure, and yet my Wolf seems to be softening. He comes closer to sniff it, to show him if necessary, that we are stronger.

Once I am fairly certain that he does not represent any immediate danger, I return to my human form.

"I thought my last hour had come," he said, taking a deep breath.

- Don't get excited too quickly, it can still happen.

He swallows and quickly looks around. So he expected Dorian to be with me. So he knew perfectly well what he was doing when he came here.

- It doesn't take two to kill you, I said, smiling.

Immediately he tenses up a little more. I have no idea who he is but I must admit that his behavior surprises me.

- Who are you and what are you doing here?

He blows again before straightening up slightly and saying,

- My name is Antoine. It's an acquaintance of yours who sent me here.

- Knowledge? No one would be crazy enough to send a kid to come see us.

- Let's say that unfortunately, our choices were quite limited.

- Explain yourself, I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

- When you were both injured, years ago now, doc took care of you. He did everything to get you back on your feet and when you left, when we found ourselves alone having to fend for ourselves, without Alpha, without Beta. We tried to do what we could, but little by little, the Wolves deserted the pack to join others. I then took the lead of what was left of our pack, but I am too young, too inexperienced and even if I did everything I could, it was not enough to contain the escape of my people..

He sighs, lowering his head. I can see that he is suffering just by remembering these facts. I admit that he doesn't have the presence of an Alpha and if he himself hadn't informed me that he was at the head of a pack, I wouldn't have thought about it. He tells me about an era that we would all like to forget. I'm not sure I want to hear the rest, but he didn't come all this way for nothing.

- Little by little, he continues. The pack is dead and there are only a handful of Wolves left there, well, that was before I left because when I go back there may be no one left at all, especially now that Doc is dead.

-- Dead?

- Actually, that's what brings me here. A few days ago, a Lone Wolf came to our house. He was looking for information on both of you. I didn't immediately perceive the danger but Doc felt it immediately. He made me understand that I had to warn you, that I had to inform you of this fact, that it was important and he gave me the necessary directions to replace you. I set off without wasting time. I knew it was essential, but the more I moved away, the more I felt that this intruder was torturing him, that he was doing everything to get answers. I would have liked to do more for him, a lot more, but I always had confidence in him and I knew that he would never have asked me for help if it wasn't very important.

- A lone wolf? Do you have any information on this Wolf? Do you know who he is?

- I don't really have any information on him, but I would say he's a bounty hunter or something like that. In any case, I'm sure he hangs out with humans based on the smell he had.

I'm thinking at full speed. A bounty hunter replaceing out about us doesn't bode well, really nothing good. I quickly contacted Dorian. We need to learn more and right now this kid is our only chance to get a little more information. None of us want this, but we have no choice, I have to take him back with me, at least for a while.

POV Dorian

Emma finishes bathing the children when I receive the call from Jason. I go to join her in the bathroom and help her without saying anything. I don't need it, as soon as I meet her eyes, I know that she has already understood and we are going to put the little ones to bed together, taking the time to read them a story. Either way, Jason's going to be a while before he comes back.

Once we are alone in our living room, she pours us a drink and sits down in the armchair, sighing.

- For what? she asks as if I might have the answer. Why is someone looking for us?

- I have no idea, my dear, but a bounty hunter only runs after money. If he's looking for us, it's because there's a contract on our heads.

- I don't understand, who could put a contract on us? Who could possibly want to replace us?

-I don't know, but we will have more information soon. Well, I hope.

- Maybe we should leave while we still can, she said, sighing.

- I don't think that's a good idea. A bounty hunter works alone. I don't know who he is, but if he comes here, he's condemning himself. If we leave now, he'll replace us eventually, he'll get us at some point.

- I thought we could finally be at peace, I thought we would finally be free to lead the life we always wanted.

- Me too my dear, but I guarantee you that this Wolf will not break our plans, he will not make us leave this house, our house.

I see a veil of sadness pass through his eyes. The memories come back, the three of us cornered in the house, the dozens of deaths we had to bury, the injuries we suffered. This time it's different, there are the children and although Emma is human, I know she is able to defend herself, she has already proven it in the past.

Jason left traps all over the forest, just to be sure, as he likes to say, and we have to believe that he was right to be foresighted, right to believe that we are never really safe.

I move closer to her and put my arm around her waist, holding her a little closer to me. I kiss her cheek tenderly, gently before whispering to her,

- Don't worry, my dear. We will get through this. You know as much as I do that nothing will separate us. We will resolve this problem. I promise you.

She sighs a little louder but lets her head rest on my shoulder.

- I hope we will resolve this quickly, I don't plan to spend the winter panicking at the slightest suspicious noise.

I hold her a little tighter. She has seen too much blood, too much death to bear any more. Jason and I know this perfectly well. She fought enough, she gave enough to not deserve one more revenge.

No matter how much I think about it, I don't see who could send a Wolf after us. I don't understand why, someone could pay to be found. In fact, I already know it's not about replaceing us. From what I can sense from Jason, I'd say this bounty hunter wants to kill us. I sigh in turn. I don't know who it is but I won't let him harm my family. I wouldn't even let him near it.

We both stand against each other without speaking for a long time. I only get up to feed the fire by adding logs before returning to these sides. Until we sense Jason coming with this other Wolf.

I rush to the front door and open it quickly. Immediately, Jason takes me in his arms before kissing me, I feel that he is worried and that he does not like what is going on behind our backs. I let myself do it, let him take possession of my lips as if we were alone in the world before Emma joins us and takes my place in his arms.

"Nothing suspicious," he finally said, leaving her lips.

- Nothing, I say as Emma slips into my arms.

We let him in and discovered this young Wolf who managed to replace us. I recognize it from head to toe. Of course at the time, he had not yet met his Wolf. He was a simple kid who was just starting to train.

- Antoine, I said without really being sure that that is really his first name.

- I wasn't sure if you recognized me, he said, almost relieved. I was just a kid at the time.

-You're still a kid in my eyes, Jason declares, rushing into the bedroom to quickly get dressed.

He comes back in about a minute or two and throws some clothes to Antoine who gets dressed in turn. Emma takes out two more glasses and we sit around the table, she between the two of us while he is facing us.

- We're listening to you, Jason says again. Tell them what you told me.

And then he starts again, resumes his story, making Emma grimace, who doesn't like it at all.

- Do you know where he went, I said while drinking my drink.

- No idea, I left as soon as the doc gave me the message but logic would dictate that if he didn't replace anything at home and that's a certainty, he didn't replace anything, he can be returned to Jason's old pack.

It's Jason's turn to grimace. There's definitely information about us there. After all, the old Luna managed to replace us, she came to us with a whole group of Wolves. There must be traces left, even if it is only to justify the death of the Wolves. There must be a document with our address marked in red.

- We're on red alert right now, Jason says, getting up. Children must not go out alone, and one of us must always be here, he said to me.

- I agree, I say while my Wolf is already on alert.

- I will strengthen the security system around the property and add additional traps. Just to be sure. There's no way he's going to take us by surprise.

- Thank you for coming to inform us Antoine, I said in a softer tone.

- There's no point, even if I'm not sure it's really useful for me to go back. The last Wolves must have left when they discovered my absence and the Doc's body. The pack is definitely extinct, forever. So even the biggest and most powerful can fall at one point or another.

- You have nothing to do with it, I said to reassure him. You were never trained to be an Alpha and anyway, I'm not sure it would have really changed anything. It was time for a page to turn to make way for a new story. Who knows, you might have a big role to play in the future.