Amber’s POV

    Returning into Alice’s exam room, I approached her bedside while holding the ne.

    Julian zeroed in on it at once. “Is that…?”

    “The magic is not as strong, but, yes. Anna and Ca collected and tried to repair it. I just hope it helps somehow.”

    Julian helped me lift Alice up and then slowly I lowered the ne over her head. Immediately, she seemed to rx more fully, the crinkle in her brow smoothing out, her frown lifting slightly.

    It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it did seem to be helping, which was a relief.

    “She’ll still be in danger if her emotions overwhelm her,” I said. “But this should give her some sense offort.”

    Julian nodded, though his own face remained hard with tension. I couldn’t tell him not to be concerned or protective or to want to fight for his daughter. I felt all of those things too. So, for now, together, we just stood at Alice’s bedside, stewing in our own unhappy feelings while making sure our daughter was safe.

    After a time in the silence, Julian said to me, “We should continue on with our trip.”

    I nced at him. “It’s too dangerous. With Alice unwell again, I can’t chance it. And Olivia is still on the

    loose.”

    “Olivia being on the loose is precisely why we should go,” Julian said. “She’s been here. She knows where everything is. If we were on the road, she wouldn’t be able to track us as much.”

    “I don’t know,” I said. “I can’t think of anything right now. Ask me another time.”

    To my surprise, he backed off, not bringing it up again as we watched our daughter sleep.

    It wasn’t untilter, after Alice woke up and we took her home, after Julian excused himself to take a long phone call from his Beta, that the topic came up again. This time, it wasn’t Julian who brought it up, but

    Alice.

    We were sitting side by side on the couch in the living room, with Julian just returned from the kitchen, his phone still in his hand, when Alice said, “When are we going on our trip?”

    b“/bI think the trip is canceled, honey,” I said, as gently as I could.

    Still, her eyes went as wide as saucers. “Because of me?”

    My heart twisted in my chest. “No, honey. Oh, no.”

    “Because of my wolf?” she asked next.

    “No,” I said, though that was part of it, I wouldn’t tell her. “There are still bad people out there.”

    She frowned deeply then. b“/bLike Uncle Chase?”

    +15 bBONUS /b

    She should stop calling him Uncle, after what he had done, but I would wait until she was in a better emotional ce to talk to her about that. After all, the stuffed animal he gave her was still packed away in her suitcase.

    What a mess.

    “Yes,” I said. “Unfortunately, like Chase. And Olivia.” I didn’t want to frighten Alice by telling her she should be afraid, but if Olivia was bold enough to approach the schoolb, /bthen she might try approaching Alice. It was better for Alice to know who to be cautious around.

    To my relief, and a bit to my rm, Alice didn’t seem surprised by my inclusion of Olivia. Maybe her intuitive sense – or her wolf – had been keeping her on guard against Olivia all this time.

    Julian spoke up then, “Would you want to still go on the trip, Alice?”

    “Yeah,” Alice said, coiling her fingers together on herp. “I wanted to go really bad.” She turned her doe eyes from me to Julian and back again. “Could we still go?”

    “We have to talk about it,” I said.

    She perked up immediately. “Oh, Mom! We have to go! Please! I really, really, really want to.”

    X