A Kiss For Your Freedom
Chapter 78

I run my hand over his cheek before kissing him tenderly. -It's great love, as always.

She smiles and that simple gesture breaks my heart. She forces herself to do it, she wants to reassure me by putting her pain in the background. I hate that. This feeling that rises inside me, a mixture of helplessness and anger. Knowing that because of a single person who is far from us, they suffer without me being able to do anything about it. Because I know it won't get better until she's dead.

I hold her against me before kissing her. How can I be so weak in front of her when she needs me to be strong so much right now.

I don't say anything more. I don't even know what to say to him, all I can do is show him how much I love him. Emma's POV

Throughout dinner, I see Jason and Dorian looking at me regularly. They worry about me. They're afraid that I won't hold up, that I won't be able to face what's coming next. I would like to reassure them but I even think that we should take the lead and that we should go get her before waiting for this bounty hunter to arrive.

Because it's only a matter of time. Just a matter of time before he gets here, before he comes after us, before he seeks to kill us. So life comes down to that, kill or be killed and if I have to act, I intend to be the first to throw the punches.

I hate waiting, always being on the lookout, watching every shadow that slips between the trees, every sound that is a little out of the ordinary. I'm sleeping less and less well. I feel on edge, about to explode at any moment.

Of course, I know I can't leave them behind. I know that I can't act on impulse like I've accused Dorian of doing in the past, even if it's for the good of us all.

We finish eating and at the end of the meal, I leave the boys with the children to put everything away. Once my hands are in the water while I wash the dishes I let myself think about this life that I left, of Melissa my best friend whom I have not seen for so long, of this job that I I loved and yet was the trigger for all this.

I almost feel like it was another me, that I was totally different than who I am today. I sigh as I wash the last of the dishes in the sink and turn around looking at my family. They are all playing together, having fun as if nothing had happened. I smile when I see them do it. That's why I left everything.

I'll join them and after a good hour, we'll put the children to bed before sitting in front of the fireplace. They surround me, positioning themselves at my side, I let myself be lulled by this warmth, by this sweet smell of wood that emerges from the fire. The snow begins to fall outside and it is while contemplating the flakes that I end up falling asleep between them.

I wake up suddenly in the middle of the night. The boys stayed next to me in the armchair and slept soundly. I look at the fireplace and see that the fire is dying so I get up to put a large log in it which will last the rest of the night. I go get a blanket which I place on my men and go to the kitchen to pour myself a glass of water.

I don't understand why I woke up suddenly. I don't remember having a nightmare and yet, a strange sensation makes my heart beat faster. It's strange, but if the boys are still asleep it's probably nothing to worry about. To completely reassure myself, I go to the children's room to check that they are sleeping well, which they do.

So I go back to the kitchen with the idea of putting my glass there before looking out the window to see the snow falling. The moon is full and brightens the night, bringing out a little more of the snowflakes which fall more heavily than the day before. I love this season, normally I should already start preparing for Christmas. Dorian would make the majority of the toys while Jason and I would already be looking for the best tree that would take pride of place in the living room.

I sigh and immediately a veil of mist covers part of the window. I wipe it with my hand, thinking that if the children did the same thing I would reprimand them. I surprise myself by seeing the reflection of my smile in the window, a smile that quickly disappears when my gaze is drawn to a shadow slipping in the distance.

Immediately my body tenses. It's impossible. No one has been able to get here. The boys would definitely have sensed it. I'm just making films for myself, I'm sure. I remain motionless, unable to look away from this place where I am almost certain I saw something. The minutes pass, silently, without me leaving this place.

I don't really know how long I stay like this, but after a long moment I shake my head before telling myself that I'm stupid to be afraid when there is nothing at all and return to my men in order to trying to go back to sleep. Sleep takes a long time but finally, I manage to fall asleep and this time, I only wake up to feel Jason moving and trying to get up without disturbing me.

I open my eyes to meet his. He smiled at me tenderly before kissing me on the tips of my lips and saying,

- Sorry love, I didn't mean to wake you.

- It's nothing. I should be up already, I said, stretching, the little ones will be up soon.

- Don't worry, I'll take care of everything.

It's my turn to smile. I love the way he always takes care of us, doing everything to make us happy. As if in his eyes, he passed well after us. He gets up and I let him do it although I go to join him in the kitchen. The vision of that night comes back to my memory, I face the window as I did a few hours earlier.

There's nothing, of course there's nothing. My imagination has only played tricks on me, I know. Jason comes to stand behind me and looks in the same direction as me. In a single second, I feel him tense against me before rushing out of the kitchen and out of the house, waking Dorian in the process.

I grab a scarf and a jacket and head over to him to see what's going on. He goes exactly to that place, where I thought I saw a shadow last night. When I arrive at his side while he is kneeling, I realize that after all, I had not dreamed. Jason's POV

It's impossible, I placed traps everywhere. Nothing could have happened so far and yet, I am categorical, the tracks on the ground are those of a Wolf. I was so sure of myself that I let my guard down. I didn't notice anything though, the marks are only a few hours old and prove that the Wolf stayed for a while without moving, observing our house.

So it is there, at least it was because even when I concentrate, I do not feel its scent, nor its presence. He scouted while dodging all my precautions. He was only a few meters from us, yet neither Dorian nor I reacted. I feel Emma approaching and for the first time since we've been together, I growl, ordering her to come inside immediately.

She jumps at my reaction while Dorian is already rushing towards me.

- Now, I said a little louder, turning to Emma.

She is surprised by my tone, by my look but says nothing and returns silently. I know that she saw what I saw, that she knows perfectly well what is happening but I can't do anything about it, my Wolf is beside himself and it's unfortunately she who pays the price. - What's going on, says Dorian while he is still a few steps from me.

I move and in turn, he sees the marks on the ground, on this thin coat of snow just deposited.

- No, it's impossible, he said without taking his eyes off those traces.

- However, the facts are there. You see it like me.

"I didn't feel anything," he said, grunting in turn. I was sure we still had a day or two.

"That's what I thought too," I said, sighing. We weren't careful enough. He managed to come here even though I guarantee you that given the number of traps I placed, it was almost mission impossible.

-He's smarter than we imagined.

- Above all, much more dangerous. I didn't even wake up. He could have entered the house, into the children's bedroom.

at this simple thought, we both look at each other before rushing into the house to rush into the children's room. They are both there and still sleeping to our great relief. We return to the living room, upset, frustrated, angry.

- We have two solutions, either we go hunting and we're going to make him regret coming here, or we prepare to receive him, said Dorian with this sparkle in his eyes that I hadn't seen in a long time.

- We can't go hunting. We would have to leave Emma and the children alone and nothing tells us that he wouldn't take the opportunity to come back another way and attack them directly.

- So we're getting ready to receive him. We need weapons. Emma must be able to defend herself. I'll take care of it. You and I take turns keeping watch, there's no way we're going to sleep at the same time again until we get our hands on him.

-I agree.

He doesn't even take the time to turn towards Emma and rushes outside. This bounty hunter caught us by surprise but it won't happen again. I turn to see that our wife is in the kitchen. I go to replace her and sigh before telling her,

- I'm really sorry love. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that.

- It's nothing, she said without daring to look at me. I know it's not directed at me.

She is uncomfortable, I feel it, but behind that, I perceive something else.

"Tell me what's wrong," I said, moving closer to her.

It's his turn to sigh before answering me,

- I thought it was my imagination. I had just woken up so I thought maybe it was just a remnant of a nightmare.

-What are you talking about?

- About that night, when I saw a shadow where you found the tracks.