Chapter 191

Julian’s POV

After our talk, I felt connected to Amber in new ways, like we were becoming closer than we’d ever been. My heart was full of love, and I felt lighter, even with everything happening around us.

In this, she was my lighthouse in the storm, and as long as I could see her, hold her, and speak to her, I knew I was going to be alright. We both were. We were going to find a way to survive this and everything else, all other hardships that might come our way.

So, at that point, I directed the driver to return us to the hospital. It was time to stop running and hiding, at least from my family.

I was still trying to figure out what to do with Tony, and potentially with Olivia, too, if she was as involved as I suspected she was.

When we walked into the hospital, my family looked at us, but mostly stayed quiet. I noticed that they had seemed to split themselves into two distinct groups, each sitting in a different end of the waiting room.

Ignoring them for now, Amber and I walked into Mom’s room, where Aunt Kathy was sitting at Mom’s bedside, Alice standing beside her. Mom was asleep again.

“The supervisor checked her over himself before she fell asleep again,” Aunt Kathy said, likely seeing the concern on my face. “He believes she is healing.”

“I’ll check in with him,” Amber said.

“Can I come with you, Mommy?” Alice asked.

Amber looked at me, and I could see what she wanted to know without her having to ask. If I needed to have an adult conversation with Aunt Kathy and my family, she would take Alice with her. Else, Alice should probably stay here rather than get bored with the medical jargon that would go on between Amber and the supervisor.

I nodded at her, wanting to have some time with my family away from Alice’s ears. There were some hard truths that we needed to talk about, and I didn’t want to say anything that might upset her, especially with the delicate state she was in.

Amber understood, and looking at Alice said, “Come on, honey. Let’s go then.” She held out her hand. Alice came bumbling forward and took that hand. Together they left the room.

I waited for them to be out of reach, before looking at Aunt Kathy.

“I’m assuming everyone heard what happened between Tony and me,” I said.

“Yes,” Aunt Kathy said. “It was the hot topic here for a good long while.”

“Then you must know where everyone’s opinions lie.”

“I have some idea,” Aunt Kathy said. Her gaze slid away from me to land on Mom’s peaceful, sleeping face. “None of us want to disbelieve Gloria, but we also can’t deny she has been confused lately. I know she believes she is telling the truth, but with the consistent fog in her mind, how can we be sure that she knows what she really saw, or what really happened?”

I did anticipate some of this. Mom, Amber, and I even talked about it some. With wolfsbane making their minds so confused, it would be difficult to be a trusted kind of witness.

Even Mom’s own family was doubting her now.

“I’m sorry, Julian. Even I don’t know what to think,” Aunt Kathy said. “Tony has always been a troublesome child, but to think he would be responsible for all this? My heart is conflicted. I don’t want it to be true. Maybe that’s why I’m being so difficult about it.”

Tears welled in her eyes, and guilt filled me for giving an older woman so much grief. Already, she had learned that her husband had been poisoning Mom too, and had made moves to divorce him. In the past week alone, she had already suffered so much heartache, too much maybe, for a woman her age.

“I just want my family to get along again,” Aunt Kathy said, sounding defeated.

I wish there was some way that I could console her, but I couldn’t think of any good way to. Our family was splintered, now more than ever before, and I wasn’t sure I could mend things, not after what Tony had done. Not with so much of my family divided on who to believe.

“Please, Julian,” Aunt Kathy continued, despite my silence. “Please find a way to resolve this without it leading to violence.”

I wanted to make this promise to her. I knew Amber would like to hear it too. It had been clear from her behavior at the news station, holding me back before my rage could consume me, that she didn’t want to see me in the ring again.

But I couldn’t make that promise. The traditional werewolf way to defend my pack was through violence, through the challenges. And with the way Tony was pushing me, I knew there would come a day when I would have to defend my honor, as well as the honor of Amber, Alice, and perhaps the entirety of the pack.

Tony would not make a good leader, regardless of what he thought. And I wouldn’t just hand over the pack without a fight.

“I’m sorry, Aunt Kathy,” I said, and that, at least, I meant. “I truly wish there was another way.”

Aunt Kathy hung her head, and I felt like a villain.

Amber’s POV

After speaking with the supervisor, I led Alice to the office I had been given. I gave her some papers and a pen to draw with, while I went back to my research.

With everything happening, I felt so powerless. While I couldn’t fix things for Julian or repair his family, I could focus on something that I could control. In this case, that meant continuing to look for a cure for Alice.

I’d found a few leads in my last research session, and this time, I was eager to search out those leads and hopefully find something I could go on.

“Are Daddy and Cousin Tony going to fight?” Alice asked, distracting me.

“No,” I said, but because I didn’t want to lie to her, I added, “Hopefully not, but it’s not certain.”

“I hope Daddy wins,” Alice said. “Like he did against Uncle Roman.”

I swallowed thickly. I supposed, as I had in the past, I should scold her for leaning too much into the violence of werewolf culture. I’d wanted to shield her from such things.

But in this moment, I found myself agreeing with her. “Me too.”

That seemed to satisfy Alice and she went back to her drawings. So I went back to my research.

I lost track of myself then, following one lead to the next. I didn’t know how long this went on for, me searching while Alice drawing, but eventually, and to my great surprise, I found what I thought was promising.

Another necklace, so similar to Alice’s, had been purchased and delivered to an address. I didn’t recognize the town name, but with some searching, realized that it was in Rafael’s pack.

The necklace had only been delivered in the past few days, meaning that this lead was incredibly fresh. If I wanted to pursue it, and hopefully track down the person who ordered it – perhaps someone suffering a similar affliction to Alice – then I needed to move quickly.

But with everything going on, how could I possible ask Julian to leave now?