bChapter /bb156 /b

    Amber’s POV

    +15 bBONUS /b

    Panic and fear gripping my soul, I was desperate to protect my daughter, even from herselfb, /bso I chased her into the forest. I’d follow her for as long as she needed to run. Every time bI /bnearly caught up to her, she changed pathsb, /bcareful to avoid me.

    Her wolf was frightened and fast, and with her small size, she could zip through ces that I had to push my way through- under bushes and through logs.

    I would chase her forever though. She was my daughter and she needed me. I would never let her get away and be hurt. I would do whatever I had to do to keep her safe, even from herself.

    Finally, I managed to corner her inside the stump of an old, rotted–out tree. Her wolf was small, still a frightened pup. As I towered over her, she shrunk against the stump, whimpering and grunting, still in pain. Still afraid.

    I chuffed a few times in response, trying to beforting. Yet, every time I tried to edge nearer, the pup would panic and push itself further into the stump. It was starting to hurt itself now, the wood rubbing the skin raw.

    So I froze, not wanting to hurt her further, but I couldn’t back off, afraid she might run away and I would lose her permanently.

    Before long, as I was caught in my indecision, Julian came through the brush in his massive Alpha wolf form. As an Alpha, he wasrger, both taller and longer, than a regr werewolf. And his aura demanded obedience and respect.

    My fear for Alice kept my own wolf from immediately submitting to who she viewed as her mate. Alice, though, started to cower in the presence of her father. Her wolf lowered down, belly and snoot into the

    bdirt/b.

    A soft sort of noise escaped from Julian’s throat. Alice immediately returned the sound, all quiet and pathetic. My heart ached.

    bYet/bb, /bthefort seemed to work, as Alice slowly started to shift back into her human form. In human bform/b, she curled up into a small ball, dirt and dried blood on her skin.

    b“/bMommy…” she sniffled.

    bImmediately/bb, /bbI /bshifted back as well. Rushing to her, I pulled her into the safety bof /bmy arms and bkept /bbher /bbthere/b. The cuts she had left on me had already mostly healed. While they were bstill /bbsore/bb, /bI bdid /bbnot /bso bmuch /bas bwince /bas she bgrabbed /bover that raw skin with her blunt human fingers.

    She trembled as I held herb, /bcrying and shaking.

    469

    b“/bIt’s okay now,” I promised her. “You are safe.”

    And while this was the truth, I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring. Without the ne, the bfear /bof

    her shifting was very real again. And there was nothing I could do anymore.

    It had taken so long to track down that ne…

    bTo /bfind another one felt more impossible than finding a cure.

    If only I knew where to even begin. If I had a starting point, I would work diligently to cure her. With other

    medicines and cures, I’d always had other research to build on, to utilize and push fartherb, /bto develop my

    own solutions and treatments.

    With a condition like Alice’s, there just wasn’t enough information.

    My heart cracked down the middle. What kind of healer was I, when I couldn’t even cure my own

    daughter? When I was instead forced to watch her suffer in pain?

    As a healer, I was helpless. As a mother, all I could do was hold my crying, frightened daughter in my

    arms as my own fear rippled through me.

    Behind me, Julian shifted back to human form too. I felt the change in the air, even without seeing it, as his domineering aura was greatly subdued. But then, I felt him too, even as he came up behind me, dropped to his knees, and closed his arms around both Alice and me.