Chapter 240

Julian’s POV

Over the next few days, Amber’s condition improved enough that we were certain she would be able to come home soon. In preparation, I installed more cameras, and more security measures around the house, desperate to keep my family safe.

I had matching necklaces made for Amber and Alice. They were stylish and cute, silver moons with a wolf etched inside. But they were also trackers and panic buttons. If they pressed down on the moon it would send an alert to me and to the head of the guards I was employing, summoning both of us to act.

Alice liked the new necklace, especially because it matched Amber’s. Amber agreed to wear it, but she looked at me somewhat worriedly.

“Maybe you should have one too,” she said.

I brushed off that concern. As Alpha, I was constantly being protected, even though I was already the strongest werewolf in the pack.

I wasn’t worried about me, but about her and Alice. They were more vulnerable, and more likely targets for Olivia.

When Amber was finally cleared, it was late in the evening. I’d already sent Alice home with Aunt Kathy and Penny. Still, Amber was ready to sleep in an actual bed, and I was happy to see her out of this place. So we gathered her things, said goodbye to the rest of the family, including my Mom, and then went to my estate.

At the base of the stairs, Amber looked up at them like they were insurmountable.

“You okay?” I asked, a bit worried we had pulled her from the hospital too soon.

“Just tired,” she replied. “I might need a few breaks to tackle these.”

She needed to get to bed as soon as possible, not take breaks trying to climb the stairs. Immediately, I went closer and opened my arms.

“Your chariot awaits, my lady,” I said playfully.

She laughed, but still complied. Stepping closer to me, she wrapped her arms around my neck. I scooped down then and lifted her up against my chest. She’d lost weight these past few days. I didn’t like how light she had become. But it still felt nice holding her in my arms.

Easily, I carried her up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, I turned toward the bedroom she had been staying in.

“Wait,” she said softly. A hint of red dusted her cheeks and her gaze was dropped away from mine.

I stilled and asked her, “What is it?”

“You are going the wrong way,” she said.

“I am?”

“Yes. From now on, I would much rather stay in… our room… if that’s okay with you.”

It was more than okay. At once, my heart started racing in my chest. “Yeah. Okay.” I turned on my heel and started carrying Amber to the room I had been occupying, the room we had once shared in the past before things truly soured between us.

Our bedroom activities had never been a problem for us, even if everything else had fallen apart back then.

But I pushed those thoughts from my head right now. I couldn’t even think about that. Amber was still recovering. She needed rest. I wouldn’t push for sex, just because she was still hot as hell and the only woman I ever want to be with again.

With forever planned, I could wait.

When we were in the bedroom, I gently lowered Amber down onto her feet. She looked around. “You changed a few things.”

“You can change whatever you want,” I told her. “Sleeping next to you is all I need.”

That light blush on her cheeks deepened substantially.

“Perhaps we should just get some rest for now,” she said.

I quickly changed, then ran down the hallway to get some clean pajamas for Amber too. We would have to move her things from her room to ours, but that could wait for now.

Once we were both more comfortable, we got into bed, both of us on the sides we had always used when we had been together.

There, we laid side by side, not touching for a minute.

“Julian,” Amber said, and that was all she needed to say. Rolling toward her, I opened my arms. She rolled into me at the same time and we came together, slotting next to each other like we had been made to do so.

“I was thinking,” she said, “about the future.”

“Yeah?” I asked, my throat getting tight. Any future she wanted, I would make happen for her. I only hoped that she was including me in her thoughts.

“I think we should make more solid plans. Enroll Alice in a school here, and I can get a job at the hospital. I’ll move my clothes into the dresser here, and… maybe we can start being a full-time family again.”

“I’d like that,” I said, breathless. She was describing everything I wanted. But I was also a little confused. “You’ve been holding back until now. What changed?”

“When I was unconscious, I dreamed. And I… I don’t know. I realized that all the resentment I held over the years was really just my insecurity in the now. But, with everything you’ve done, and everything we’ve done together, I let it go. I let it all go. I just want to live now, with you, the man I love. I want to raise Alice and other children we could have and be happy.”

My heart soared, and I couldn’t wait to lean down and kiss her. I had to remind myself to be gentle, not pressing too hard, when my body was ready to start making those other children right now.

“Marry me,” I whispered against her lips.

She laughed. “We are still married.”

“Then marry me again. Renew our vows. Whatever you want to call it. Just be my wife, out in the open this time. I want everyone in the pack – no, the world – to know that you are my Luna and I love you.”

She smiled at me and even in the darkness, that smile could have lit up the whole room. “I love you, too, Julian.”

I leaned in and kissed her again.

Olivia’s POV

“This settles our debt,” said my last remaining contact in the city. “No more favors, no more debts. You take this and you get the hell out of my life forever.”

He passed a gun and a few silver bullets over the counter.

Despite my calling, everyone else in the city had totally ignored me. This one only answered because I threatened to tell his wife about the favors he had asked from me, both for money and in the bedroom.

“We’re done, got it?”

“We’re done,” I agreed. I accepted the bullets and the gun, immediately loading the gun. I wouldn’t have any need for contacts and favors after this.

My life was basically over, my reputation ruined. But if I was going down, I was going to take Julian with me.

This was all his fault. If he had simply chosen me from the start, all of this could have been avoided.

And as it was his fault, he was going to be the one to pay for it.

The last contact looked at me like he was afraid of me.

Good. Everyone should fear me now.

I was a woman with nothing else to lose.