Amber’s POV


    “I hope you will allow me to personally escort you to the clinic,” Alpha Rafael said.


    “That would be wonderful, thank you,” I said. Turning to Julian, I was surprised to find him ring at Rafael, when the man had been so nice to us, and shown us such curtesy, To Rafael, I said, “Please excuse


    us for just a moment.”


    Then I pushed Julian slightly, urging him to back up so we could quietly speak.


    “What is going on with you?” I asked him, keeping my voice low so that we wouldn’t be obviously overheard. The werewolves could still hear us, I was sure, but I was hopeful they would give us some


    measure of privacy.


    “I don’t trust him,” Julian said, still ring at Rafael. “He’s being too familiar with you.”


    “He’s just being friendly,” I said. “It’s nice.”


    “You have to be careful,” Julian said, shifting his gaze to me. It softened as he did so. “You said you


    wouldn’t trust anyone.”


    “I don’t have to trust anyone to treat them with respect,” I said. “But you are acting hostile for no reason.”


    Julian frowned deeply, but didn’t dispute my words.


    “Alpha Rafael is going to show me around the clinics where I’ll be working. Why don’t you take Alice and


    get settled in at the new hotel.”


    “And leave you alone with him? I don’t think so.”


    “You are being stubborn,” I said.


    “After what happened, I’m trying to protect you,” Julian insisted. “You can’t ask me to leave you alone


    right now<i>.</i><i>” </i>


    Perhaps he was right. Perhaps I was letting my guard down too soon with Rafael. This strange feeling


    that I knew him was getting the better of me. Could I even trust it? Should I? Perhaps it’s just another


    trick.


    I didn’t want to believe that. I liked this feeling ofradery I shared with Rafael. But I couldn’t deny the truth of it. I’d truly only known him for a minute. That wasn’t long enough to trust him.


    “Fine,” I said. Moving toward Rafael again, I said, “Alpha Rafael. Have you met Alpha Julian?”


    <i>“</i>On a few asions,” Rafael said. The look he gave Julian was no warmer than the one Julian was giving him right back,


    I didn’t need them to be friends but it would certainly make things easier if they weren’t enemies,


    As Alice came down from the ne, she immediately caught Rafael’s attention. His smile warmed in an


    instant


    “And this must be your lovely daughter,” Rafael said.


    I waved Alice closer. She took my hand, but half–hid behind me, looking up at Rafael with curious eyes.


    “Alice, this is Rafael Alpha of this pack. Alpha Rafael, this is my daughter, Alice,” I said.


    Delighted to meet you little miss Rafael said and held out his hand for Alice to shake. Alice looked at


    him strangely. People didn’t usually greet her this way, but then she epted his hand and shook it. After, she seemed reluctant to let him go.


    like you” she said suddenly. “Can I call you uncle?”


    Rafael positively beamed. “I would love that! But only if I can refer to you as my little niece.”


    Alice noddedically, her head bobbling enthusiastically.


    “Wonderful” Rafael said. “Thene along, my niece. Your chariot awaits.”


    Julian’s POV


    On the phone, I had been willing to give Alpha Rafael the benefit of the doubt. He seemed friendly enough, and like a good person who had his pack’s interests in his heart. He’d even promised to help


    protect Amber.


    That offer to help had not included being so overly familiar with Amber, or taking Alice on as his adopted


    niece!


    <b>And </b>Amber was allowing all this, while I followed behind, grinding my teeth in anger and frustration.


    What was it about this man that made her trust him so quickly, sopletely, that she would even entrust him to hold our daughter’s hand?


    It took everything in me not to surge forward and rip Rafael’s arm off.


    When we reached the cars, Rafael gestured for Amber and Alice to join him in his while I was to go in the following car


    Like hell would I allow that to happen! I pushed through everyone who stood in my way until I was in line to enter the car with my mate and my daughter.


    “You don’t mind if I ride with my family, do you, Alpha Rafael?” I asked, perhaps a bit too sharply.


    Rafael stared back at me, his features hardening. “I don’t mind if that is what Amber wants. Though I would ask you, Alpha Julian, to remember whose pack you are now in, and whose help you requested


    <b>+15 </b>BONUS


    only this morning.”


    “That help does not require separating me from what’s mine,” I growled, unable to stop myself. “In fact, it requires the opposite of that.”


    Rafael pitched his voice lower. “You would do well not to growl at me in my own packnds, Julian. I have been tolerant of your clear dislike, but I will draw the line at disrespect.”


    “I am only protecting what belongs to me.”


    “Does Amber know you view her as her property?” Rafael asked. “Does she agree to that?”


    “I certainly do not,” said Amber, as she climbed back out of the car. She pushed on my chest again, but I


    wouldn’t let her move me this time.


    This was a standoff, Alpha to Alpha. To move away was to surrender.


    “Julian, if you start a fight with this man, I will not forgive you,<i>” </i>she said.


    That was enough to give her my attention. “He’s too friendly,” I said again, not caring enough to keep my voice quiet.


    “And you are overstepping,” she replied. “I have not belonged to you in a long time.”


    She was my mate, and I wanted to remind her. But with the fierce look in her eyes, I knew she would argue, and this wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have in front of anyone else, especially Rafael.


    Dismissing me, she turned to Rafael instead. “I’m sorry. Sometimes he can be a brute.”


    For her to do this, to scold me and not Rafael, she was showing him her favor while rejecting me.


    “I’m only sorry it upsets you,” Rafael told her while helping her back into the car. When she was sitting once more, he red at me. “You would probably feel morefortable in the following car.


    Dismissed as I’d been by Amber, I could only fall back for now, doing as Rafael wished.


    As I turned away, I heard Alice from within the car, “Don’t be mean to Daddy, Uncle…”


    “I’m sorry, little one,” Rafael said. “We only had some adult matters to sort out. Everything’s fine now.


    Only it wasn’t. At all.


    Though I had to stand aside for now, I would not roll over and allow this new Alpha to move in and steal my family. I had worked too hard to earn their trust once more.


    Once I could be alone with Amber, I would help her see that this Alpha was trying to separate us.


    She would surely understand things if I could speak with her privately.


    I would not lose this fight to Rafael, my new rival.