Olivia’s face fell. “He came here for something. I don’t know what, but he lied to me about where he was

    going and what he was doing. I wasn’t surprised to discover that he came to you, though I am disappointed that you didn’t immediately send him on his way. I would have thought you didn’t want to be the other woman anymore.”

    Anymore, she said, like she hadn’t broken up with Julian for a time, in which he married me. Like he and

    I weren’t still married.

    But what could I say to her to defend myself here? The only option, the truth, was that Julian hadn’te

    for me but for Alice, our daughter. To admit to Olivia that her child would havepetition to be the heir of the pack felt like opening a door of danger.

    This was just one more reason that Alice shouldn’t return home. Julian should just focus on his and Olivia’s child, make her the heir. Keep Alice out of it.

    “You will send him away, won’t you? Now that you know I’m pregnant,” Olivia said. Her face shifted then, losing its cockiness to take on a more pleading fa?ade. I had no idea if it was real, but I knew she could y pretend very well if she wanted to. I couldn’t trust her.

    “I don’t want him here,” I said, though the words felt like lies on my tongue. “It would be better if he

    returned home.”

    Then you’ll send him away?” Olivia asked.

    “It’s not that easy,” I said. Though I didn’t want to tell her the specifics, I couldn’t just pretend he would actually listen to me if I told him to leave. “You know how stubborn he is.”

    She frowned. “Yes. Unfortunately, I do indeed.”

    “He won’t listen to me.”

    “Is he here?” she asked.

    He was, just in the other room, taking appointments and making phone calls as a dutiful assistant.

    She must have seen the answer on my face. “Take me to him.”

    I’d prefer you have your arguments somewhere else,” I said.

    “You want him out of your hair? Take me to him,” she said again, more firmly.

    I debated just asking her to leave the clinic. I was under no obligation to take her to Julian.

    Yet, now that I knew the full truth of the dangers Alice would face if she were to return to Thom pack, 1 felt a kind of panic rising up within me.

    I hadn’t wanted her in that environment to begin with, but believing now that she would live in constant fear of Olivia and her child, and have topete for everything, it made me even more dedicated to protecting her from that fate.

    So, for Alice’s sake, I nodded and led Olivia to the office where Julian was working.

    When I opened the door, he looked at me with a smile. “Amber. You’ll be pleased to know that I finished filing those…” His voice trailed as he saw who was darkening the doorway behind me. “Olivia. What are you doing here?”

    “Don’t you mean to ask, how did I find you?” she said.

    “I’ll leave you two to talk,” I said, and started backing out of the office, allowing Olivia to step forward into my ce.

    “Amber, wait,” Julian said, standing from his desk chair.

    Olivia immediately stepped into his way. “How could you do this to me, Julian? To us?b” /b

    I didn’t want to hear anymore, so I closed the door.

    I only walked two feet down the hallway before I felt my knees go weak. I stopped, leaned against the wall, and closed my eyes.

    I wanted Julian out of Alice and my lives, but not like this…