Chapter 212

Amber’s POV

After the phone call, things remained so tense at the house that Alice seemed to notice. She would stop playing with her toys or studying her schoolbooks every so often to find Julian and me in the house and ask us if we were okay.

It broke my heart each time she did so. I had wanted to shield her from the drama. Perhaps it had been wrong to bring her with us at all, even though at the time, it had made sense to keep our family together. I didn’t want her to worry, but even with her here, it seemed as if worrying was all we could really do.

I could see the toll this was taking on Julian as well.

He was short-tempered, seemingly standing on the knife’s edge at all times. Though he didn’t take it out on Alice, me, or any of the staff, I heard him cursing out the inanimate objects that displeased him, like the door that didn’t close all the way or television remote when it didn’t click fast enough for his liking.

The biggest problem with all of this was that I was also on edge, and couldn’t relax enough to help my mate and my daughter calm down.

The three of us were all in the same amped up basket. The house felt like a powder keg, ready to explode.

Hoping to help all of us calm down, I decided what we needed was a night out. Alice and I had several favorite restaurants from when we had been in the pack last, and Julian had even more besides.

These were places that had thought highly of Julian in the past and that I thought we could trust to think highly of him still, even if the opinions of the rest of the pack was floundering.

When I talked to Julian about it, he seemed to like the idea.

“It might get all of us out of our heads a little,” he said. “And honestly, it would be nice to be around some members of the pack who might still like me. I’m starting to feel like everyone’s against me, but I know that can’t be.”

Alice also seemed agreeable to the idea, when I presented it to her. “If you and Daddy are going, I want to go too,” she said. That was simple enough.

We picked one of Julian’s favorites, where Alice and I had eaten a few times. We thought it the safest choice and were confident that a place so regularly frequented by Julian himself would now be filled with his supporters.

So we dressed in our Sunday best, and then Julian drove us to the restaurant. After we parked and headed inside, the hostess at the station seemed surprised to see Julian but also smiled wide.

I wasn’t sure why she was surprised. After all, I had made reservations.

The hostess recovered quickly though. “It’s good to see you, Alpha. Please follow me.”

As she led us into the dining room, I immediately realized this might have been a mistake. At once, we were the center of attention, with every eye in the place turning to take in Julian and us.

Alice, already holding my hand, inched a little closer to me as we followed the hostess to our table. Unfortunately, she had decided on one in the center of the room.

At this point, I thought about just walking out, but Julian was still confident and gestured for us to sit down. When we did, Alice immediately lifted her menu to hide behind it.

To Julian, I whispered, “This was a bad idea. Should we just go?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said. “We have just as much right to be here as everyone else.”

“They are staring.”

“We’ll make the best of it,” Julian said. “Alice. How are your studies going? Do you like your tutor? Alice?”

Alice was still hiding behind her menu and it took a few more calls of her name to convince her to lower it. When she did, it was only enough to peek out at Julian over the top of the laminated paper.

“She’s okay,” Alice said.

Julian opened his mouth, presumably to ask another question. Before he could speak, a man from the table beside ours spoke up.

“I’m surprise you are back in our pack, Alpha.” The man stood. He was slightly wobbly, like he’d had too much wine. He leaned into Alice, which immediately had Julian and I both jolting to alertness. “Hopefully you like Rafael’s pack, sweetie. Because soon you and your whole family won’t be allowed in this one anymore.”

Enraged, Julian and I push jumped to our feet. Julian stormed forward first, swatting the man’s arm away before he could even think to place a hand on Alice’s shoulder. I went to Alice in the next instant, and wrapped her in a hug, holding her close as she trembled with fear.

“You forget yourself,” Julian growled. “I am still the Alpha of this pack and that isn’t going to change.”

The drunken man stumbled back, but another from somewhere else in the restaurant shouted, “That’s not what Tony said.”

“Tony has no authority!” Julian snapped. “Whatever he said are lies. He hasn’t been speaking any truths!”

Julian turned slowly, meeting the eyes of any who might dare to look at him in the room.

“Anyone who doubts my abilities as Alpha can challenge me directly,” Julian said. “Else you should stay quiet and respect me and my family. You frightened my child.”

Julian was dangerously close to losing himself. I could see the signs at once.

“Julian,” I said.

“Sit down, Amber. The waiter will be by soon to take our order.”

We weren’t staying here. He was being stubborn right now, trying to throw his weight around, but that wasn’t going to work with our little girl.

“Julian,” I said again, with a touch more softness.

Hearing the change, he turned to look at me, a question in his eyes.

I held his gaze a moment, then looked down at our trembling daughter.

Julian cursed again, lighter, under his breath.

“Yeah, okay,” he said, after. “We’ll stop at the drive thru instead. Come here, Alice. You want to go home?”

He held open his arms and Alice flew into them at once. Julian lifted her, holding her against his side. As he held her firmly with one arm, he held out his other hand for me. I took it.

Together as a family unit, proud despite having been driven from this restaurant, we walked toward the front door with our heads held as high as we could lift them.

Only when we were outside, away from the onlookers’ line-of-sight did we start to deflate.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “That was a terrible idea.”

“It wasn’t,” Julian insisted. “The food here is great, and the service was going to be fine. You can’t control other people’s bad behavior.”

“I should have anticipated this might happen.”

“Hey,” he said, turning to me, stopping us in the middle of the parking lot. “You just wanted us to have a nice time. None of this is your fault.”

I knew that was true, yet I felt as if this could have been avoided.

Yet, as I put my own self-pity to the backburner, I saw how upset Alice still was.

She was trembling like a leaf. Any other time, this fear would have been enough to cause her to shift.

Yet, as I looked closer at her fingers, they were all distinctly human.