A Kiss For Your Freedom
Chapter 76

Dorian's POV

Even if we let it seem nothing to the children, we are all on our guard. Emma regularly peers out the window as if she had heard a suspicious noise and Jason has been outside since this morning setting up new traps.

I wish it were different, but we can't stay locked in the house. It's impossible. Our animals outside need us, just as we will need them this winter. I know she doesn't really want to, but I don't see any immediate danger so I reassure her by saying, - There is nothing to fear. You can go, my dear. I stay with the little ones. Anyway, Jason is out there.

- OK, she said, sighing.

She dresses warmly and takes something to feed the chickens before going out. I feel she is lost, a part of her is ready to fight with even more passion than us but on the other hand, she would like to leave so as not to have to face a new conflict. If last time she feared for our safety, now she is afraid for our children.

I can only understand it, I couldn't stand it if someone touched our dear little ones, if someone dared to attack them. I move my arm which is much less mobile than before. I'm not really handicapped in everyday life by this injury, but in the event of a fight, I'm not sure I'll perform as well as before.

I sigh as I watch him walk away through the window. I don't like seeing her like that. I don't like feeling like she's so upset. The children are playing in the living room, oblivious to what is happening, but I won't move from that place until I see her come back. The cold is becoming more and more bitter. The snow will be here in a few hours, a few days at most. I could almost hope that it would slow down this bounty hunter, or even deter him, but I already know that these thoughts are in vain. A Wolf like him is only motivated by money and will do anything to get to the end.

I have thought about it for a long time since Antoine left. My old pack is no more and Jason's is surely the only place where we can replace a trace of us but I doubt that the Alpha in place will try to replace us. So I only see one solution and even if I would like to get rid of her permanently, the more I think about it the more I tell myself that she is surely the only one capable of having done that, of having signed a contract on our heads.

It must be said that after all these clashes, after our various injuries, we no longer worried about the outside world. We regrouped here and focused on our future, on the life we wanted, calm and happy. Emma never spoke of her again, she never even said the slightest word about her to our children, as if in their eyes, she simply no longer existed.

I hope I'm wrong, I really hope so, but he's the only person I see who would be able to do that. She is crazy enough and above all heartless not to hesitate to send a crazy person after her sister. I wonder how they can be from the same family. How they can simply be so different, because Emma would never intentionally hurt someone. She would never want to make someone suffer for her own pleasure.

My mind is racing. I wonder if she's doing all this because she still needs Emma for some reason. Well, I should say money since that seems to be the only thing that matters to her. I remember that moment when Jason and I found her, where we went to pick her up when she was ready to sell her for a few tickets to this man who didn't have time to touch her.

It would be better for her if I was wrong, because this time, whatever her name, whatever her place in society, we won't let anything go. I sigh as Julien rushes towards me demanding my attention.

- Are you coming to play dad?

I turn to him and smile before taking him in my arms.

"In five minutes," I said, kissing his forehead. I'll just wait until mom gets home and then I'll play with you.

He smiles and once I put him on the ground, he goes to replace his sister. Seeing them together, I pray that their relationship remains good and that they remain close as adults. I continue to look outside, waiting to see Emma again, but it's Jason who enters my field of vision as he heads towards the chicken coop. I no longer need to monitor his return, as long as he is with her, she is safe.

Jason's POV

I'm setting new traps when I sense Emma's sadness. She understood, like the three of us, that there was only one person left in the world capable of attacking us. At least, only one, capable of spending so much money to send someone after us. She blames herself, I feel it, yet she has nothing to do with it. She has never done anything to provoke her sister, she has never done anything other than wanting to live her life the way she wants, with us quite simply.

Just like her, I thought this person was out of our lives for good, I thought she was in prison or something but I guess I was wrong. We should have killed her when we had the chance. We should have gotten rid of her like we did with all the other obstacles.

I leave everything behind to return home. Dorian let her out to take care of the animals and I know he's watching her from where he is. I approach the henhouse to replace her sitting on a tree stump, feeding the birds without really paying attention. I enter the enclosure and approach her without her noticing my presence. She is lost in these thoughts, each one darker than the last.

I put my hand on her shoulder, making her jump.

- I didn't want to scare you, love, I said softly.

- It's nothing, I was elsewhere, she replies, lowering her head and giving another handful of seeds to the chickens.

-I know. I felt you.

- Sorry, she adds, getting up. I didn't want to worry you.

- It's my role to worry about you, just like for Dorian or for the children and if one of you needs me then I have to be there. And now you're the one who needs me.

I take her in my arms and hold her close to me before she says to me,

- None of you said it, but I'm sure it came from her.

- I know love, we both know it.

- How can she do that? How can she come after us after everything she has already done to us. After everything she put me through.

- I don't know, I never understood her and I admit that I hadn't thought about her for a very long time. I had almost come to forget it over time.

- Me too. It's cruel to think that when she's my sister, but I thought that I would never hear from her again, that I would never hear from her again until the end of my days and yet, no longer I think about it and the more I'm sure it comes from her.

- All three of us think the same thing but it doesn't change anything, whether it is her or another person, we will have to make the necessary decisions so that it never happens again. So that no one tries to come after us anymore.

-You're talking about killing her, right?

- I'm talking about the fact that we won't let this go. Last time, we gave her a chance, a possibility to continue her life away from us, but, obviously, she didn't take it and there is no question that this could happen again in the future, that she could attack our children or even worse. Because if we have had pity in the past, you know as we do, that she will have none towards us.

- I know, she said, nestling her head in my neck. I know.

-You're going to have to prepare yourself, love. I suspect it's going to be difficult but we're not going to have a choice, we're not going to be able to leave her alive at the risk of it happening again in the future.

She takes a deep breath as she knows I'm right, knowing we're going to have to resolve this problem once and for all.

- How much time do we have, she asks, running her hands down my back.

- I would say two days, three maximum. This bounty hunter will surely study the best way to enter here without being detected. He will look for our faults, turn to better observe until he feels ready. He knows he is outnumbered and if he comes here, it is because he is sure of himself. Confident of these skills.

- You have to believe that my sister knows how to choose these sponsors, beings as twisted as she is.

- It's not me who would contradict you. I come to think that over time, she forgot what we were capable of. She forgot how much stronger we are than her.

- Or maybe she has definitely lost her mind.

-- Maybe yes.

She is shivering, she is cold, I know it, although she has dressed warmly, the cold is getting worse and worse and the plumes of vapor escaping from her lips are further proof of it.

- I'll take you home, love, you need to warm up.

- I'm not finished yet, she said, trying to break away from me.

- I'll take care of the rest. You need to go get warm. I'm going to take the opportunity to bring back some wood along the way and you're going to sit in front of the fireplace, I said before kissing him.

She smiles softly against my lips as she relaxes. This little parenthesis, this little moment between us did her good and now at least she knows that she will have to prepare herself for the rest of the events; she will have to mentally prepare herself for the fact that Dorian and I, once we will be done with this bounty hunter, we will have to put an end to his sister's life to be able to secure our future.

Our family is the most important thing for each of us and it is the only thing that should guide our actions. That's all we need to focus on in order to keep moving forward, to move past this, to put an end to this story that has been going on for far too long now.