When I arrived there, Amber had already gotten Alice into her pajamas and tucked into bed. Amber had changed too, into sweatpants and a t–shirt. Her hair was still up though, her makeup still fully on.


    She red at me as I came in through the door, her arms crossed.


    I had barely closed the door behind me, barely asked about Alice, when she stormed toward me, asking, “ What the hell were you thinking?”


    I wasn’t sure which part of the evening she was referring to. Honestly, tonight, I had made a lot of


    mistakes.


    First was probably agreeing to go to this party at all, and everything dissolved from there.


    “You are going to have to be more specific,” I said.


    Her re deepened into a full–on glower. “You epted that challenge. Do you have any idea what this means? If you lose, Julian, Roman could have you leave Alice’s life forever.”


    “That’s not going to happen,” I said.


    She shook her head. “This is such a mess. How could you be so foolish? How could you punch him at all?”


    The way she was digging into me brought my frustration ring back. How could I punch him? Really<b>? </b>


    “How could you kiss him?” I asked, equally as outraged as she was.


    Between punching and kissing, punching seemed the less of the two evilsmitted tonight.


    Though perhaps not, at least from her perspective. She was my mate, and I was suffering through possessive mating strain. Meanwhile, she was a more or less free woman. We were still mated, but she hadn’tmitted to the mating bond. After sleeping with me, she had sneaked out. Clearly she didn’t feel the same way as I felt about her.


    I tried to remember that, as she had no obligation to me, but it was difficult. She was the whole of my future, and to admit that I might lose her…


    Especially to someone like Roman…


    “I didn’t kiss him,” she said tly.


    Was she going to deny it? New outrage, new anger pumped through me. “I saw you.”


    She shook her head. “He kissed me,” she said.


    “That’s the same thing.”


    “Not if I didn’t want him to!” she replied. “Think back. After seeing him, how did I act? Did I really seem


    like someone who would want Roman to kiss me? I got it into my head that we could be just friends, but I was just kidding myself. He’s always wanted more from me.”


    She went from crossing her arms to wrapping them around herself, like infort now, instead of anger.


    “I’m such an idiot,” she said quietly, mostly to herself.


    “No,” I said. Her soft voice deted my anger like a pin to a balloon. As my possessive anger dissipated, I could see things more clearly. The kiss, framed differently now, became more obvious an attempt at him


    to kiss her and her to back off.


    “This is all my fault,” she said.


    “No, it isn’t,” I said more firmly. “It’s mine.” As the anger cleared, the guilt flooded in. Gods, what had I done? Starting a challenge? Risking it all just over a fight?


    She looked up at me, and anger wasn’t housed there as much as concern.


    That concern, that focus, gave me the strength to be honest with her.


    “Amber, I think there’s something wrong with me,” he said. “Since we were together, I’ve been so possessive… I looked it up. I think I’m feeling a strained mating bond.”


    My perfect Healer mate knew right away what that was. A sh of recognition crossed her face and her eyes went a little wide. “Oh…” She shook her head. “This is just one more reason we shouldn’t be together.”


    Amber’s POV