Amber’s POV


    +15 <b>BONUS </b>


    When Rafael stood from the table, Julian and I did the same and then followed him out of the dining room and out through the hallways to a grand ballroom. The ballroom had towering ceilings that went as high as the second story. A pair of winding staircases were the main feature of one wall, as they met halfway up to the second floor, and then descended to the ground level as one massive stairwell.


    Hanging at the apex of where the stairwell met was a massive oil painting. A portrait <b>of </b>a former Alpha,


    Luna, and their family.


    “Is this you?” I asked, pointing to the little boy wearing a crown almost too big for his head.


    <b>“</b>Yes,” Rafael said. “And my two sisters.”


    One of the sisters was nearer Rafael’s age, if not a little younger, holding a doll shaped like a wolf. The other sister was a baby, sitting on her mother’sp…


    I moved to that baby now and looked into eyes that seemed so… familiar.


    “Tell me,” Rafael said. “Did you feel a connection with me when we just met? Something… familial…<b>?</b>”


    “I don’t know,<i>” </i>I admitted. “My wolf came to meter in life and under duress… Sometimes I don’t think I


    feel things the same way others do. My wolf and I are close, but… I’m maybe not as in tune with her as I


    could be. I often feel much morefortable in my human skin.”


    Rafael frowned. “<b>You </b>will have to tell me everything. I want to know it all, everything that happened to


    <b>you </b>in the past, and is happening to you know…”


    “<b>You </b>think we are rted,” I said, slowly realizing.


    <b>“</b>I think you are my lost sister,” Rafael said, nodding toward the painting and the picture of the baby.


    “That’s a big leap with only a feeling for proof,” Julian said. “Before anyone gets their hopes up and gets hurt<b>, </b>we should all think about getting scientific answers.”


    Rafael red <b>at </b>Julian. “What is it to you? You are hardly even part of this.”


    “No,” I said. “He’s right. We shouldn’t make assumptions. I don’t want to get hurt by being wrong, and I


    doubt that you do either.”


    “I don’t<b><i>,</i></b><b><i>” </i></b>Rafael agreed with a sigh. “But this bond I feel with you, Amber. I don’t think it’s nothing. At the very least…” He gave me a small smile. “I truly hope it’s not.”


    All at once, that smile triggered a new softness within me, and for once, I think I could feel what he was talking about. Maybe it had always been there<b>, </b>and I just hadn’t known to listen to it. As I hadn’t been raised with a wolf, I was never really sure what to listen for.


    Now I could feel it, a warm gentle buzz that whispered the promise and safety of family.


    I hoped I wasn’t just imagining it, that my heart, which longed for family, wasn’t just bringing the impossible to life.


    <b>“</b>I’lle to the clinic in the morning,” Rafael said. “We’ll get a blood test.”


    I nodded. “Yes. It would be good to know for sure.” Then, I asked, “Did that servant – Mortimer <b>– </b>


    recognize me?”


    “Yes,” Rafael said and smiled. “When I went to talk to him, he said you were the spitting image of my… our


    mother. She died when we were young.”


    I found her likeness in the painting. The features were simr but…..


    “The painter had to go from memory,” Rafael said. “It’s barely a shadow of the brightness she truly was.”


    “I wish I could have met her,” I said. “And… the father?” I asked, afraid to call him my yet, just as I was uncertain if I should call him your. I didn’t know what he was to me yet. He could have been nothing.


    Or he could have been my father.


    Rafael looked at the painting. The Alpha there had a serious expression, dark hair, and steely eyes.


    “He was a stern man made hard by our mother’s <b>passing</b>.” Rafael said. “But he did his best for us, at least for a while. When you… were taken… He fell apart. Our uncle minded the throne then, until I was old enough to challenge him for it. Life wasn’t kind to our parents, but they loved each other and loved us, of


    that much I’m certain.”


    I could tell that, if only from the soft way Rafael was looking at his family’s portrait.


    “Tomorrow, we’ll get tested,” I said. “And then soon, we’ll know the truth.”


    I hoped these feelings were right. Even if the legacy was filled with tragedy<b>, </b>it would be nice to have one.


    To have a brother!


    The good mood stayed with me even as I parted with Rafael, even as I went back to the hotel, then reconnected with Julian, who had stopped to get Alice, even as I hugged her tight, hoping that soon she would have a blood uncle and a family history she could be proud of.


    The next morning, my good mood turned to nervousness. After hugging Alice and sending her off <b>to </b>the


    tutor, I went with Julian to the clinic.


    <b>“</b><b>You </b>don’t have toe,” I tried to tell him, even as I was d for thepany.


    “I will always be there for you,” he told me.


    At the clinic, Rafael was already there, pacing in the waiting room. When he spotted me, he made his way


    over. He seemed just as nervous as me.


    “Ready<b>?</b>” he asked.


    “We won’t know right away,” I reminded him, and myself. “We will still need <i>to </i>wait a few days for the


    results.”


    “Even so,” Rafael said. “I’m more than eager to start the process.”


    “Me, too.”


    We went in the back, where one of the nurses drew our blood, one after the other, with different vials. Everything was carefullybeled, checked and rechecked, then sent off for gic testing.


    “Guess it’s only a matter of time now,<i>” </i>Rafael said as we returned to the waiting room, where Julian stood to greet us again.


    “Soon,” I said, smiling at him.


    He returned my smile – until he noticed Julian and began to glower instead.


    To my dismay, it truly appeared that Rafael and Julian did not like each other. I had hoped that the revtion that Rafael could be my brother might cause Julian’s jealousy to ease up, and in a way it had. Julian wasn’t nearly as angry around Rafael anymore.


    Yet Rafael, it seemed, had a long memory. He did not seem overly fond of Julian. In fact, I was worried he might actually hate him.


    Whether or not Julian and I continued to pursue a romantic rtionship, he was still Alice’s father. That would never change. And as such, he would always be a part of my life. If Rafael turned out to be my brother, he would also always be in my life.


    If they continued to hate each other, that could lead to things bing somewhat…plicated… in the


    future.


    “What are you even doing here?<i>” </i>Rafael said.


    “I’m here for Amber,” Julian replied.


    “She doesn’t need you.”


    “Rafael,” I lightly scolded.


    “You don’t, Amber,<i>” </i>Rafael said. “And soon, I’m going to help you find a true Alpha to be your new mate.”