Chapter 187

Amber’s POV

“Mom?” Julian asked, immediately moving closer to Gloria.

I muted the television at once, not wanting Tony to ruin this moment any more than he already had. Then I joined Alice and Julian at Gloria’s side.

Gloria looked between the three of us, before her gaze fell more permanently on her son. “Julian. My precious little boy.”

“Mom,” Julian said. “You’ve been out of it for so long.”

“I’m sorry for that, son.” She looked from him to me. “Are you alright Amber?”

“I think so,” I said. “Though I’ve been having some holes in my memory.”

“Me, too,” Gloria said. “But they are starting to fill in. Especially now that I see his face.” She nodded her head toward Tony on the screen.

Julian and I followed her gaze. Julian set his jaw. I wasn’t as angry as he was. Instead, I felt somewhat validated. I knew I had a bad feeling about Tony for a reason, but until now, I hadn’t been able to figure out why.

Now, seeing Gloria’s reaction, it was starting to make more sense.

“Did he do something to you?” Julian asked.

“What upsets me are the things he is planning to do to you, Julian,” Gloria said. “He wants to be Alpha and he will do anything to make sure that he usurps you.”

Listening closely, I noticed the way she put a lot of weight on the word anything. I looked at her, to find her looking right back at me.

“Amber has already been a victim of his ambition, though she probably doesn’t remember,” Gloria said.

“I suspected,” I said.

Julian looked at me now too. “What do you mean? Has he hurt you?”

“Julian,” Gloria said with a mother’s patience. “Tony has been the one who has been poisoning us. It started with me, almost a year ago. I caught wind of his ambitions and tried to squash them on my own. You know how flightless Tony had been in the past. I had thought this was another one of his foolish distractions. Something he would tire of pursuing once the new season started at the theater.”

“It didn’t go away,” I said, following. “Did it?”

“No. For whatever the reason, this particular ambition of his has stuck around and expanded. It’s almost as if another force is keeping him on course,” Gloria said. “Or maybe that’s wishful thinking on my part. I don’t want to think that my nephew would want to hurt me like this. Or hurt this family.”

“So he poisoned you?” Julian asked through clenched teeth. “Because of me?”

“No,” Gloria said quickly. “Because I caught on that he wasn’t going to be distracted. I started asking questions, and started getting in the way of his plotting. I was in the way.” She sighed. “He could have just killed me, but he didn’t. I have no idea why.”

Her words pinged some kind of memory inside of me, of Tony telling me something similar. I clutched my head with both hands and cried out, a sudden splitting pain striking through my mind.

“Amber?” Julian moved toward me.

“Mommy?” Alice asked, fear in her voice.

For her, to keep her calm, I bit back the pain and forced my hands away from my face. I tried to stand upright, but I kept wincing.

“I’m… okay… Alice…”

“You don’t seem okay,” Alice said.

“Here,” Julian said quickly. “Sit down for a minute.”

With one hand on the small of my back and the other holding my hand, he led me toward one of the chairs at Gloria’s bedside and helped me sit down.

“You were attacked again,” Gloria said, watching me. “Recently. I know the signs.”

Julian lowered himself down, to look into my eyes. “Amber?”

“She’s right,” I admitted. “I don’t remember, of course, but my blood test showed that I was. This whole morning is a blank, but…” I glanced at Alice. She was watching all of us with wide, frightened eyes. “It’s okay, Alice. Everything is okay.”

“Everyone is talking scary,” she said.

“There’s nothing scary here,” Julian said. “Nothing that your Dad can’t and won’t protect you from.”

At that, Alice rushed closer, then hung onto his leg. At the same time, she reached out for me and taking her hand, I held it. I felt her small fingers turn to sharp claws, piercing against the tender skin of my hand. But I watched her; she didn’t fully turn. Not yet.

Even with the fear, she was managing it with us beside her.

“Do you think it was Tony, this morning?” Julian asked me.

I nodded. “Alice saw us talking.”

“Alice?” Julian asked.

She nodded. “I did. But that’s all I saw. He scares me so I hid.”

“That’s okay,” Julian said. “You did the right thing.”

“I’m glad you hid,” I told her, wanting to praise her as well. If she hadn’t hid, Tony might have done something to her. I didn’t want to think what that poison might have done to her small form, especially with her unpredictable wolf. The side effects could have been deadly in a more imminent way than the long term way I was facing.

I didn’t want Alice anywhere near Tony.

Julian huffed an annoyed breath. “He saved my life. Why would he do that?”

Gloria frowned. “I’m sorry, Julian. I don’t know. But I’m sure it’s connected somehow. He’s become something of a schemer these last few months.”

We sat in silence for a few moments, each of us dealing with these new facts and revelations.

Then, Julian looked up at the screen, as Tony was still giving his interview. Even though I had muted the volume, his determined look gave him away. He was still angling to win himself the pack.

I knew, just from watching Julian, what he planned to do.

His mother must have known too. As she raised him, this didn’t surprise me. That she was still that attentive to him, did surprise me a little.

“Julian, you can’t go there,” Gloria said, echoing my thoughts.

“I have to.”

“Then you aren’t going alone,” I said.

He shook his head vehemently. “I’m not taking you and Alice there. We already know what he’s capable of.”

I knew he was going no matter what I said. But I could be as stubborn as he was, and I was ready to insist on going until I was red in the face if necessary.

“You will need back up,” I said.

“I’ll take enforcers,” he said.

I touched his arm, getting him to look at me. “I’m not talking about physical backup.”

Julian needed me, his mate, there to help him maintain his emotional center. If his rage kicked in at a time like this, and all the cameras caught him, there would be no amount of talking to save his reputation then.

Right now, this was still salvageable.

“No,” Julian said, and headed for the door.

“Julian, wait!” I said, going after him, Alice quick behind me.

He threw open the door, stepped out of it, and froze.

Glancing around him, I could see the reason why.

His entire family was standing in the waiting room, all of them converging towards us, and none of them looking happy.

“Explain this!” one of the relations said.

“We trusted you, Julian. Is Tony really the better choice now?”

“Why shouldn’t we support Tony?”

In the back, Olivier and Oscar started chanting Tony’s name again and again.

“Well? What do you have to say for yourself?” said one of his cousins.

Julian squared up like he was preparing for a fight.