Julian’s POV


    “Rafael,” I said into the cellphone. As I answered, I stepped into the hallway, not wanting my mother to overhear in case there was trouble. “What’s going on?”


    “You sound more curious than concerned, Julian,” Rafael said. “Didn’t you feel anything strange today?<i>” </i>


    “What are you talking about? I didn’t feel anything.”


    Rafael sneered, his disgust clear even through the phone. “Perhaps it is time then for you to finally set Amber free. After all, if you can’t feel anything through the mating bond anymore, then it must have run


    its natural course.”


    “Absolutely not,” I said with vehemence, rejecting that opinion with the full entirety of my being, no matter how hazy with the medicinal fog. But then the crux of his words truly set into me. “Did something happen?”


    “You should let her go, Julian,” Rafael said, eluding my question. “Give her the chance to find someone


    who will actually love and protect her.”


    His callous words made my hackles raise. Any other time, I would have argued until I was blue in the


    face, but right now, I was more concerned about Amber. If something happened… If I didn’t feel it….


    “Is she alright?”


    “She’s fine… now. No thanks to you,” Rafael said. “When I went to get her, she was staring at her phone, like she was waiting for you to call her. But her hands were shaking so much she couldn’t call out. You are a disgrace, Julian, just as I expected you to be.”


    “What happened?” I asked. “Tell me everything.”


    —


    “You don’t deserve that,” he said. “If you want to know, ask her if she decides to talk to you, which I


    doubt. Do us all a favor and leave her alone.”


    Rafael hung up the phone then, leaving me speechless. I checked the screen to be sure, and yes, the


    phone said the call had ended.


    How could he leave things like that? Had he called just to scold me?


    Was Amber okay? What could I do from here?


    And why hadn’t I felt that anything was wrong?


    I already suspected the answer – the medicine – but for now, I pushed that to the back of my mind to focus on making sure Amber was okay.


    Finding her contact on my phone, I immediately tried to call. The phone rang twice, before being sent to voicemail. For me to be sent there after only two rings likely meant that Amber sent me there herself, not wanting to talk to me.


    What had I missed?


    If she wouldn’t talk to me, and Rafael wouldn’t tell me the truth, I had to go onto the web browser on my phone to try to see if the news had reported on any incidents involving the new princess today.


    Soon, I had an answer, finding several different sources all telling the same story.


    Amber had been attacked at the clinic by a man pretending <i>to </i>be a patient. The intent? Kidnapping for


    ransom.


    My anger grew as my heart sank, but both feelings were numbed by the medicine that left me in a fog.


    I had to get there, to be with her. If she wasn’t going to answer my calls, I needed to go to her physically. Gods, I should have been on my way already. If the mating bond hadn’t been muffled, I would have been there already.


    Pocketing my phone, I started to walk down the hallway. Unfortunately, this led me right by the waiting room where some of my family was sitting.


    I wasn’t the only one who hade to spend time with my mom. My aunts and uncles were here too, as well as several of my cousins.


    My uncle Peter, the oldest of the group, pushed himself out of his chair and onto his creaky legs. Moving quickly for a man with a cane, he walked quickly, ending up directly in my path, blocking my way to the


    exit.


    “Where do you think you are going, nephew?” he asked, looking at me suspiciously thought narrow eyes.


    X