Gods, I wished I could hear Amber’s voice. If only she would answer my calls. But, texting seemed to be all


    she wasfortable with for now. I wouldn’t press her. If that was as much as she was ready tomunicate, then I could meet her in that.


    Truly, I just wished she was here next to me. These burdens I was carrying wouldn’t be so heavy with the


    woman I loved at my side.


    Instead, I walked the rest of the way alone. By the time I reached the machine, the coffee was cold.


    Amber’s POV


    Reading Julian’s message, I slowly came to understand what was happening, and with that understanding, came forgiveness.


    . Julian hadn’t realized I was in trouble because of the medicine he was taking to dim the effects of our


    bond. With the bond dimmed, it made sense that he hadn’t felt me calling him out to him through it.


    What a fool I had been, forcing that medicine on him. I hated everything about it.


    And how kind he was to ask me permission to stop taking it. He truly trusted me and respected me, giving me the choice like this.


    At once, all of the misced hostility I had felt toward Julian disappeared, and in its ce, I really just


    wanted to see him.


    And why shouldn’t I?


    I couldn’t go back to my clinic with Anna, as that town was too small to offer the kind of protection I needed. But Julian’s pack was the opposite. His was thergest pack on the continent, evenrger than Rafael’s. As the Alpha’s mate, I’d have privileges and protections there that I wouldn’t have other ces, assuming Julian was willing to share the truth of who I was, and who Alice was. Not just in our past, but what we presently meant to him.


    And he would. If he trusted, respected, and loved me as much as he said he did, then surely he would make sure Alice and I were protected, even if it outed us publically as still being tied to him.


    It was better than staying in this mansion.


    Decided, I went down to Rafael to tell him my idea.


    “I think Alice and I should go to Julian’s pack and reconnect with him,” I said. “He will protect us better than anyone.”


    Rafael’s expression was grim. “I don’t like it,” he admitted.


    Oddly, I found an ally in an unexpected ce. “Just let her go, Rafael,” Mary said. “You can’t keep the girl


    a prisoner, and she should be with her mate.”


    Rafael gave Mary an odd look that mirrored the one I was giving her, but she just shrugged us both away


    and continued her drink.


    Rafael looked at me, then. “If you are sure…”


    “I am,” I said.


    “Very well. I will arrange it.”


    Mary’s POV


    Honestly I didn’t care if Amber went or not, but her leaving did benefit me and what I nned to do.


    After having said what I wanted to, I retreated back to the guest room where I had been staying and withdrew a letter I had personally received only this morning from my local post office box. I’d already opened it, and knew it contained the results of the blood test I had personally ordered for Rafael and


    Amber.


    I already knew she was in fact our rtion. There were no doubts about it now.


    But that didn’t mean I epted it. Moving into the bathroom, I dropped the letter into the sink and then


    lit a match. Dropping the match down onto the sink, I watched as the letter caught fire and burned to ash.


    As the cinders glowed, I unlocked my phone and called a familiar number, someone I could trust


    implicitly.


    “I need that altered document,” I said. “Get it to me as fast as you can.”


    If I could have that in hand and show Rafael before Amber came back, maybe I could put a stop to this


    entire rtion business.


    Our family didn’t need to be any bigger, no matter what the test results said. <fn30dd> The source of th?s content is find?novel</fn30dd>