Chapter 230

Amber’s POV

At the last minute, I turned my body, shielding Alice as the bullets came raining down.

On bullet plunged into the meat of my back, giving me extreme pain. I cried out, but tried to bite it back, not wanting to frighten Alice.

Then, from the radio, I heard Julian cry out, “Amber!”

Hearing his voice cracked something inside of me.

My wolf howled from within me, and in flash, I shifted.

My wolf had always been more restrained than most, choosing to stay deep within me, silently supporting me without taking over. But in this moment, with my fear and hearing Julian’s voice, she came rushing to the surface.

Holding Alice gently, I leaped from the ridge of the side of the building where Alice and I had been holding on, over Olivia, and down onto the roof on the other side of her. I lowered Alice down to her feet, then turned to face Olivia, shielding Alice with my entire large wolf body.

Like this, I stalked toward Olivia.

Paling, she lifted the gun and fired a few more shots at me. Two more caught me in the chest, one in the leg, one in the shoulder.

I didn’t let them slow me down. I could barely feel them now, with my wolf so angry.

Olivia backed up, recoiling as if she was frightened. She tried to fire more bullets, but the chamber was now empty. She had no more bullets to shoot.

I lunged toward her.

She stumbled backwards, trying to dodge me.

She was closer to the ledge than she thought she was. The backs of her knees hit the edge of the roof, and she toppled, head over heels over the side.

She screamed the whole way down.

Julian’s POV

I ran down the street, following the pull of my bond to Amber. Once I reached where I thought she would be, I ran into the building and to the stairs, not trusting the elevator to be fast enough.

I soared up the stairwells as fast as my Alpha body would go. I was tired, but healing, but pushed myself past my own limits, not willing to slow down until Amber was beside me again, safe and sound.

The top of the stairs opened out onto the roof. I pushed through the door, arriving out onto the roof just in time to watch Olivia go toppling over the edge.

I tried to take in what I was seeing. Alice, terrified. Amber, in her wolf form… bleeding?

Seeing the danger was gone now, I shifted back to my human form. I walked toward her. “Amber?” I said, my heart up in my throat.

Amber shifted too, back to her human form, as she turned around to face me.

Gods, she was covered in blood.

“Jul…ian…” she said and collapsed.

“Daddy?” Alice asked, fear making her voice small.

“Stay back, Alice,” I said, holding my arm out to keep her back as I hurried forward.

I turned Amber over in my arms and inspected her. From what I could tell, she had a bullet in her back and several in her front.

Were they silver? The subtle smell of burning flesh told me that it was.

Gods, I wasn’t the Healer here! I didn’t know what to do in this situation. Amber was the healer, I needed her to tell me what to do.

She was still conscious, her breathing slight and her eyes hooded. Through her eyelashes, she looked up at me. She parted her lips but didn’t say anything.

“You have to hold on, okay?” I said.

Her eyes shifted away from mine as if she was searching my face. “Are you… okay?” she asked me.

She was unwell, barely hanging on for her life, and it was me she was worried about. I did not deserve this woman.

“Yes,” I said. “I won. We won. Everything is going to be okay now, but you have to hold on, okay? You can’t give up. I didn’t come this far just to lose you now.”

“I don’t know… if I have… a choice…”

Her voice was so weak.

I clutched her hand in mine and brought it up to my cheek. Her skin was so cold, pressing to mine.

“I love you, Amber,” I said. “The future I want doesn’t work without you.”

“I’m sorry…” she said. Tears welled in her eyes then dropped down her cheeks as she blinked. “I wanted that too… Wanted you… I love you… so much…”

“Amber, please. Don’t say it like that… Like you are saying goodbye.”

My entire heart was breaking, and the world was cracking around me. I would never recover from this moment, especially if I lost her. I couldn’t lose her.

She couldn’t be saying these things. I couldn’t say goodbye.

“Please…” she said, her eyelashes fluttering closed. Her voice was growing even softer. Soon, I knew, I would lose her entirely. “Take care… of Alice…”

“No,” I growled. “Don’t you dare give up, Amber. We have to take care of Alice together, like we always said we would. I’m not going to lose you. I can’t.”

My voice cracked, but I pushed that down. I wasn’t going to give up, not on her, not on our future.

“Don’t you dare give up,” I told her. “Because I never will.”

“I… love… you…” she said, and stopped responding.

My chest clenched tight. Throwing back my head, I howled.

Emergency healers came. I didn’t know how long it took. Time had no meaning while Amber was fighting for her life.

As Amber was taken away, headed toward the hospital, I got ahold of myself enough to notice Alice with her arms wrapped around herself, trembling against the opening to the stairwell.

I moved toward her, then, kneeling beside her opened my arms.

I must have looked like hell, covered in my own blood and now in Amber’s, but Alice didn’t seem to care.

She rushed toward me and eagerly hugged me. I hugged her back.

Her tears persisted for a while. As she buried her head into my shoulder, her tears dampened my shirt, soaking it more than even the blood had.

I held her through it while holding back my own tears.

“What if she doesn’t make it?” Alice asked, sniffling. “I can’t lose Mommy…”

“We won’t lose her,” I said. “Your mom is tough as nails. She’ll hold on. She’ll fight for us.”

Silver bullets were enough to kill a werewolf, but I had to believe Amber would hold on. She would need us, though.

“We have to get to the hospital to be there for her,” I said.

“Okay,” Alice said.

As we ended our hug, I held out my hand for her to take. She did at once.

We arrived at the hospital after the ambulance.

As we walked toward the front door, I tensed. The last time I had tried to pass through these doors, I had been stopped by guards. If they intended to stop me this time, I was going to draw blood.

But the guards simply looked at me and lowered their heads in reverence.

“Alpha,” they said with respect.

Alice and I walked back without issue.