Julian’s POV

    “Amber, you can’t mean that,” I said quickly, bordering on desperate. “I’m sorry I had to cancel our nsst night, but –”

    “Why did you cancel our ns?” she asked. She spoke like she already knew the answer.

    Still, I wasn’t about to admit that I had to call off our dinnerst night because I had gone into an Alpha

    rage and couldn’t trust myself to be around anyone.

    That would irrevocably harm our rtionship.

    “I had reasons…” I said.

    I’d never lost my temper like I had with Chasest night. But what he had been saying had been so vile,

    so low, I had acted without thinking. I couldn’t let him get away with saying any of those things. And if

    he were to try to act on them…

    Just thinking about it made my blood turn to fire as my rage once more pushed on the edge of my

    consciousness.

    No. Not herei. /iNot with Amber.

    I breathed deeply, forcing myself to calm.

    All the while, Amber watched me closely. Maybe she could see the change in me, I didn’t know. I tried

    hard to hide it, but that didn’t mean anything to someone who knew me as well as Amber did. She knew

    me maybe better than anyone.

    At least, she used to.

    I tried to think of reasons why Amber would turn on me now. Perhaps Chase had spoken to her about what happened. Worse, perhaps he had used that to somehow break through her walls.

    Gods, what if he already wormed his way into Amber’s heart?

    “I don’t want to see you hurt,” I said. “I know Chase from the pack. He’s not a good guy, Amber. He’s a yboy, with a different woman every night. If you let him into your heart, he will only hurt you.”

    She frowned at me. “Who I let into my heart is none of your concern.”

    I grit my teeth, knowing that was true, but wanting so much for it not to be. To me, she was my wife and my mate, and that hadn’t changed even after all this time.

    I knew she saw things differently, though. And I also knew that if I pushed the issue, I might lose her forever.

    Damn it. For now I had to back off.

    “Besides,” she continued. “My decision to cancel our ns tonight has nothing ito /ido with Chase, and everything to do with you.”

    “Me?b” /b

    “Yes,” she said. “In fact, I’m starting to reconsider this project entirely.b” /b

    How could she say that? Wasn’t this project part of her dream? Why would she be so willing ito /iturn that away?

    She said it wasn’t because of Chase, but I struggled to think that was true. Before Chase, things had been tense between us, but we were mending things. Since his arrival, everything seemed to be falling apart.

    Chase was themon denominator in all of this.

    He had to be the one to me.

    “Don’t do that,” I said. “Don’t even say that.”

    “Then don’t make mei,/ii” /ishe replied. “Give me the space I need now.”

    I hated this. Trapped between a rock and a hard ce, I didn’t have much choice. “Very well.”

    Olivia’s POV

    Sitting on the foot of the bed, Olivia filed her nails, barely paying attention as Chase, in the bathroom,

    stared at himself in the mirror andined.

    “I can’t believe I let you convince me to go along with this,” he whined. “You told me it would be amusing.

    I didn’t realize I’d be punched in the face.”

    “It’s just a bruise,” Olivia said. “I’m surprised it hasn’t healed already.”

    “You know why it hasn’ti,/ii” /iChase said. “I told you about my condition.”

    “Oh, right.”

    Olivia had forgotten. The first time Chase had told her about his weak heart, she’d assumed it was a line to get her to pity him enough to sleep with him. It was only over time that she came to realize he’d been genuine. It didn’t fully matter to her though, so she sometimes forgot.

    “Well, even so. It will heal soon enough. You are being dramatic,” Olivia said.

    “You wouldn’t be saying that if it was your face,” Chase grumbled.

    Sighing, Olivia set the nail file away and stood. Slowly, she sauntered to the bathroom.

    “Chase, this was a necessary evil,” Olivia said. “We have to drive a wedge between Amber and Julian, and making her doubt his temper is the fastest, easiest way.”

    “It hurts,” Chase said, touching the edge of the bruise.

    “Stop touching it then,” Olivia said.

    Chase lowered his hand, but continued to stare at himself. He looked somewhat pensive as the pain

    ebbed from his features.

    “This… Amber. She doesn’t seem all that bad,” Chance said.

    “Excuse me?” Olivia snapped.

    “Well, it seems like she actually wants to try to treat my condition. I’d never had anyone want to actually try before…”

    Stepping closer to him, Olivia ced one finger under his chin and turned his face toward hers.

    “Don’t fall under her spell, Chase,” Olivia said. “I need you to keep your eyes on the prize.”

    “I haven’t forgotten the money, love,” Chase said.

    “Well, maybe it would be easier to remember if I doubled it,” Olivia said.

    Just like that, the doubts swept away from his eyes. “Double?”

    Olivia hummed in the positive.

    “You spoil me…”

    “This is important to mei,/ii” /iOlivia pressed. “I need you to be focused.”

    “Focus is goodi,/ii” /iChase said, leaning in. “But maybe we could both let ourselves be distracted for a while.”

    Olivia lowered her hand, allowing Chase to kiss her.

    Muchter, after I had my fill of Chase and sent him on his way, after I showered away any trace of him, and changed into a tight dress and heels, I set my new n in motion.

    After checking my hair and make–up in the mirror – immacte, as always – I grabbed a wine bottle out of the fridge, two sses from on top of it, and then stepped out of my room. It was a quick walk to Julian’s room, where I knocked on the door.

    “I don’t need housekeeping today,” he called through the door.

    Infuriating. Did he even look through the peep hole?

    I knocked again, this time calling, “Julian? It’s Olivia.”

    There was silence from within for a long moment before he finally made his way to the door. He threw open the lock and opened it.

    Standing inside, he looked like hell. His hair was a mess, like he’d been dragging his fingers through it, and he was informally dressed in a white t–shirt and cks. His shoes and socks were gone, leaving him

    barefoot.

    It was odd to see him like this. Usually he was a pinnacle of suited fashion.

    “What are you doing here, Olivia?” he asked, sounding tired.

    I held up the bottle of wine with one hand and the pair of wine sses with the other.

    “I thought you might be feeling low and could use a pick me up,” she said. “This isn’t great wine, but I’m sure it will do the trick. What do you say? Let an old friend in for a drink?”