<b>Chapter </b>183


    <b>I </b>was still looking in his eyes. I hadn’t been able to look away, his intensity trapping me like prison walls, holding onto my own focus.


    Maybe lying would save me, it would end this push–pull game we’d been ying. That was likely the right move for me to make. Yet, looking at him, when I opened my mouth, the words would not manifest.


    I couldn’t lie, not even to end this thing that needed to end.


    I couldn’t have Julian, but nor could I bring myself to let him go.


    Instead, I nced away and backed up a step. “Let’s just focus on work from now on, okay<b>?</b><b>” </b>


    “Amber.<b>” </b>


    “I’m going to bed,” I said abruptly, walked around him, and retreated into my room.


    I hated to think I was running away, but I knew in my heart, that was exactly what I was doing.


    Julian’s POV


    The next day, after setting Alice up with one of her tutors, I took a much needed visit to Rafael’s estate, to


    speak with the man myself.


    We were overdue for a one–on–one chat, Alpha to Alpha. We should have spoken privately when I first arrived, to set boundaries. Now, because we’d skipped that conversation, Rafael didn’t seem to understand the nature of my rtionship with Amber, or how she was still my mate.


    <b>I </b>needed to make a few things clear.


    The butler at the door sneered at me as I introduced myself.


    “I need to speak to Alpha Rafael,” I said.


    “I’m <b>sorry</b>, Sir<b>,</b><b>” </b>the butler said. “Alpha Rafael is not at home.”


    “Is that Alpha Julian, Geoffrey?” Rafael said from within, clearly home. “Let him in, it’s fine<b>.</b>”


    Geoffrey the butler’s expression did not change, not even after having been caught in his lie. Instead, he simply stepped back, allowing me space to enter. “The Alpha is in the parlor.”


    <b>“</b>Over here, Julian,” Rafael said. In a room off the entryway, Rafael sat up from an antique sofa. He snapped the old book he’d been holding closed as he turned to me. “I’d been hoping you woulde by.


    We <b>have </b>a lot to discuss<b>.</b>”


    I was d we could be on the same page about that, because I doubted there was going to be much else we agreed on.


    Determined, I walked right into the parlor<b>, </b>saying, “You have to stay away from Amber and Alice.”


    Both of Rafael’s brows lifted high on his forehead. “Do <b>I</b><b>?</b><b>” </b>


    “Maybe you didn’t know,” I said. “But Amber is my mate, and Alice is my child.”


    Rafael tipped his head. “She’s your mate?”


    “And my wife,” I said.


    He hummed, unimpressed. “I read the papers, Julian. I know about your past. How you chose another


    over your mate, how Amber then almost died in a ne crash, how she returned as a star Healer, and how you chased her away again. Maybe you are still mated, but it doesn’t sound like a healthy rtionship to


    me.”


    “She’s taken,” I said firmly.


    “Perhaps,” Rafael said. “But the man who ims to be her mate treats her like a brute.”


    “I do not,” I said.


    “I saw you in the hallway at the clinic. You didn’t even try to hide how you mistreated her. And now, <b>you </be here, on your own. Does Amber know you are here? Does she know that you are attempting to


    intimidate me?<b>” </b>


    Something must have shown on my face.


    <b>“</b>No, I didn’t think she did,” he said, grating on all


    <b>don’t </b>like that.”


    He squared up a little, and I did the same.


    f my nerves. “You are too controlling, Julian, and I


    <b>It </b>was clear we didn’t like each other. That was fine.


    If he wanted to settle this, I’d rather use my fists anyway.