Chapter 178

Amber’s POV

I paced by the doors to the emergency room. While most of the doctors continued to see the other patients, two were set aside specifically for the arrival of the Alpha. Silver anti-toxins had been prepared. A room had been set aside.

Right now, we were all just waiting.

I appreciated the trust the supervisor and others were placing into me. No one really questioned me when I alerted them what I was feeling and what I was suspecting was happening. Instead, they simply prepared.

I felt like we were all holding our breaths. Silver bullets, even for the Alpha, could be fatal.

Closing my eyes, I sent a quick, silent prayer to the Moon Goddess for her to protect Julian. The fear coiling in my heart hurt so much more than the echoes of Julian’s pain in my legs.

That echoing pain, as much as it hurt, was also something of a comfort. For me to still feel it meant that Julian was still alive, still fighting through this.

He had to come back to me. He had promised he would.

Then, finally, Tony’s sports car came screeching up the drive toward the emergency room. The tires screamed as he slammed on the brakes. As soon as the car stopped, everyone moved at once. We all rushed forward.

The nurses and Healers pulled Julian from the car and stretched him out on a gurney. The sight of his legs was gruesome. Julian’s typically fast healing had been entirely stilted by the silver.

“Julian!” I cried out. He looked at me, his eyes hooded. He couldn’t speak, and didn’t have the strength to lift his arms, but I know he saw me, because he looked at me with love.

The supervisor had already made me promise not to interfere in Julian’s treatment. As his mate, it was unethical for me to try to help. Any pain to him, I would feel myself, which could be a liability in surgery. Removing silver bullets required a steady hand, one I wouldn’t likely have while trying to work on Julian.

Instead, I was helpless but to watch as my mate was wheeled away into the emergency room.

My only comfort was that Alice was in the waiting room with Penny on the second floor. She had no knowledge of her father’s pain and wasn’t here to witness his condition.

That was a small comfort, but one that I clung to with both hands as I turned and faced the source of my earlier dread.

Tony had exited his car and was watching the sight unfold.

As Julian had been wheeled straight to surgery, he wasn’t going to be able to tell us what happened. That meant that Tony was the only one with the knowledge and the ability to share it.

I was determined to find out the truth. So I pushed my own fear aside and stormed toward him.

“What the hell happened?” I demanded. My fear of Tony was easy to hide under the roar of anger that was igniting within me. I wouldn’t back down now, not until I had all the facts.

“Healer Kevin set a trap for us,” Tony said. “It was all a ruse to get Julian out there and vulnerable. He attacked him.”

I narrowed my eyes. Healer Kevin had always been a dick, and I knew he didn’t like me. But to attack the Alpha? What had Julian ever done to the man?

Some attacks didn’t need reasoning, I knew that. Some people were just vicious, or they had mental conditions that made them violent or unpredictable.

But it was still difficult for me not to blame Tony, even if I didn’t say it aloud.

Though I didn’t outwardly accuse him, he must have seen it on my face. His own expression went stony.

“I saved his life, Amber,” Tony said. “You should be thanking me, not accusing me.”

“It’s only because of you that he was there at all,” I said.

“Because I was trying to help Alice!” Tony snapped. “Or do you want me to not care about your little girl?”

I glowered at him but closed my mouth. I knew that speaking with him was only going to make me more upset, so I turned and walked away.

The family came down to the first floor a few at a time to check on Julian and Tony. They heard Tony’s story and were worried for him, as well as proud of him for his intervention. They all seemed to believe his story, reacting much kinder than I had.

Maybe I should have felt guilty for assuming the worst about Tony when all I had to go on was a gut feeling. Yet I couldn’t illicit any guilt inside of myself, no matter how hard I tried.

There was something off about Tony. I didn’t trust him. And until I heard the full story from Julian himself, I wasn’t inclined to believe anything Tony said.

Alice’s POV

My new family was acting sort of strange. No one would really tell me anything, and I hadn’t seen Mom in a long time since she stormed out of here like she was going to scold someone. At the time, since I hadn’t been the one getting scolded, I didn’t think much about it. But now I was starting to worry.

Since I was just a kid, sometimes the adults thought they could say stuff around me and I wouldn’t be smart enough to listen or to understand.

But I was smart enough.

I heard their whispering, so I knew Daddy was in some kind of trouble. I also knew that he had gone with Cousin Tony to try to find a necklace to help me.

No one ever thinks I’m paying attention.

If they were out doing that when Dad got hurt… did that make his getting hurt my fault?

Guilt crashed down over me, making me feel sick to my stomach.

Everyone kept getting hurt because of me. Maybe it would be better if I just ran away.

That would cause a lot of trouble though. Mom and Dad would be worried.

Penny was distracted talking with the rest of the family so I walked by myself over to Grandma’s room. There was no one else in there right now, so I went in to stand beside her. She kind of looked like Dad in a way, which made me like her, even though I had never talked to her.

Since I didn’t know her, I wondered if she would like me.

Or maybe, she’d be afraid of me too.

Tears started to well in my eyes. I didn’t want anyone to be afraid of me.

Quickly, I blinked those tears back. I had to be strong. If Dad was hurt, he would need me to be a big girl, so I could help take care of Mom.

I really hoped Dad was okay.

As I stood there, looking at Grandma’s face, someone came to the doorway, blocking it.

I chanced a look behind me, and my stomach dropped. Fear prickled at my skin and an unpleasant chill zipped down my spine.

Already I could feel my wolf rising up within me protectively, and it was everything I could do to hold it back.

Not now. Please not now.

Cousin Tony looked down at me. “Alice? What are you doing in here?”