bChapter /bb155 /b

    Amber’s POV

    The moment the ne shattered, I scrambled, trying to collect all of the pieces as quickly as I could. I didn’t care about the massive wolves squaring up against each other right in front of me. Concern for my daughter was the most important thing.

    But there were too many pieces, and they had been scattered all across the concourse from where Alice clutched her neck, softly sobbing, to where Chase hadnded. Near him, I saw the pendant of the ne, perhaps the most important piece.

    I nearly ran across the concourse to grab it, by Alice’s fingers tangled on my shirt, holding me back with her mere touch.

    Looking at her, I saw her panic.

    “M–mommy…” she said, her voice shaky with panic. Her eyes were wide, looking at me for help.

    But I was entirely helpless. What could I do? What could I say? Just like all the times before, my heart broke into tiny pieces, knowing I wouldn’t be able to stop what came next.

    b“/bJust stay calm, honey, okay? It’s going to be okay. Breathe and stay calm.”

    It was far toote for that. She was already scared, and with two big wolves near us, how couldn’t she be? My nervous energy likely wasn’t helping, but everything seemed to be falling apart. I tried to be calm, for her sake, but it was like trying to keep a rowboat right side up in a hurricane.

    Too soon, Alice grabbed her stomach and bent over in pain.

    “Alice,” I cried, rushing toward her. I clutched her against me. She held on like her life depended on it, especially as she began to elicit grunts and grumbles in pain.

    I held on too, even as her fingers turned to ws and tore into my clothes, into my skin. She was my daughter, she was in pain, and she needed me.

    I didn’t care about my own hurt. Helping her through this was all I could do.

    Then, she made the worst sound in the world – she screamed bloody murder, her pain clear.

    Tears fell from my eyesb. /bI was so helpless. Gods, stop hurting this little girl!

    This scream drew the attention of Julian, who immediately shifted back to human form toe closer. What’s going on?” he demanded. “Did Chase hurt her?”

    In ba /bsense. “Alice isn’t well,” I exined. “Her wolf found her early. Her shifting is bso /bpainful.”

    Julian’s eyes went wide with panic. “The neb?/bb” /b

    b1/4 /b

    “A magical trinket that restrained her wolf,” I said. I grit my teeth as Alice’s ws drew blood from my

    arms.

    Alice screamed again.

    Helplessness crossed Julian’s face. I’d never seen him like this in as long as I’d known him. “There has to be something we can do!”

    I mirrored his expression. “There’s nothing…” I hated admitting that. All my searching, all my medical knowledge, and I still didn’t have any answers that could help my most precious patient, bmy /bown

    daughter.

    The ne had only bought me more time. It had never been a full solution.

    I should have been using this time to find an answer. Somehow. Even if I didn’t know where to start.

    Gods, I failed my daughter!

    Holding her, I started to feel fur under my hands. She was shifting!

    Chase’s POV

    Oh, Gods. What had he done?

    Olivia had told Chase that the ne was magical, but she’d also said Amber was only using it to deceive Julian into thinking Amber was his child. She’d said the ne only changed Alice’s scent. She never said anything about Alice bing a werewolf!

    She was btoo /byoung!

    But then… Chase had known better from the start, didn’t he? He had be a genuine friend of Amber, and hade to know enough about her to fully believe that she would not fall to such underhanded

    tactics to keep Julian.

    If anything, she had been trying to push him away, and Julian had been the persistent one in staying.

    Yet still, Chase allowed himself to be manipted, going along with this n, even though he knew it was faulty. Even though he already suspected the ne had more purpose than to shift the young girl’s scent.

    Even if he suspected stealing the ne would hurt Alice, he still went along with it.

    Whyb? /b

    Money. Greed. A life of bluxury /bthat he had grown ustomed to, that he needed Olivia for now that his parents had bcut /bhim off.

    He liked hisvish things, his dinners at the club, his expensive jewelry and clothesb, /bhis sports car. If he

    b2/4 /b

    lost Olivia’s supportb, /bthen he would lose it all. His entire life would change.

    Yet now… shifting back to human form, sitting there on the concourse, watching as Alice screamed and her parents looked on helplessly, an ache welled up inside of Chase.

    Guilt. Regret. Self–loathing.

    What kind of man had he allowed himself to be?

    What would Violet think of him now?

    She would have been disgusted, just as he was disgusted with himself.

    Under his human hand, Chase felt the jut of medal into his palm. Grabbing the pendant, he lifted it to look at it. He could still detect some measure of magic within it, but… it was not nearly as much as it had been.

    The ne was what kept Alice safe, free of this pain.

    By tearing it away, Chase had brought this on to her. He had destroyed her only means of safety, of relief.

    He dropped the pendant from his hand, letting it fall back onto the concrete.

    Gods forgive me…

    Then, suddenly, Alice’s screams cut–off, shifting into wolf whimpers and mournful howls.

    “Alice!” Amber called, as the small wolf pup shoved out of her mother’s arms and darted toward the

    railroad. She zipped over it and into the nearby forest, disappearing into the trees.

    Amber was on her feet at once. Her arms were dripping blood, but still she shifted into a gorgeous silver

    wolf and ran full–speed after her daughter.

    Chase started to stand up, somehow wanting to make this right.

    Julian immediately stepped into his path. His eyes burned with the fire of hatred. It so nearly matched

    the hatred Chase felt for myself.

    “You will stay away from my family,b” /bJulian said, his voice cold, serious and deadly. He was not mincing

    words here, and Chase knew Julian meant all he said. “If I ever see you again, I will rip your throat out myself.”

    A chill ran down Chase’s spin, causing him to freeze in ce.

    Then, Julian turned, shifted into his wolf, and barreled into the woods, chasing after Amber and Alice.

    Chase watched them go, afraid to move for a long moment.

    His life as he knew it was over, that much was clear. He couldn’t go back to his pack, not with Julian thereb. /bThough this hadn’t been a formal exiling, the intention was clear.

    Lab b3/4 /b

    Chase had done everything Olivia had asked to try to maintain his lifestyle, and because of that choice, he was going bto /bblose /beven more than he would have anyway.

    And worse, now he had to live with the knowledge that he had hurt Alice, a young girl who had been nothing but kind to him.

    He had cared for her too, yet that still hadn’t stopped him from her.

    So he would run. He could go to the farthest stretches he could.

    But he didn’t think he would ever be able to run from the guilt over what he’d done.

    bChapter /bb156 /b