Chapter 184 Pack Doctor


    Chapter 184 Pack Doctor


    TESSA


    “Tessa, no!” a voice shouted, panicked, blurred in my haze.


    “We’re losing her!” someone else cried.


    My head was heavy. Everything hurt. My whole body felt torn in half. Every push felt like it split me apart.


    “Tessa, keep pushing! We need to see her! She needs to breathe!”


    s


    I tried, but the agony only climbed higher and higher. I wanted it to end. I wanted someone to be there with me, to hold me, to tell me it was going to be all right.


    I clenched my teeth and pushed again, and the sound I made didn’t sound like it came from me. It was guttural like an animal ripped out from deep inside. My nails tore against the sheets.


    “It hurts!” I sobbed, thrashing my head to the side. “It hurts-”


    “We’re so close!” someone urged. “Come on, Tessa, one more time! You can do it!”


    No, I thought. I couldn’t. My body felt squeezed dry, but I still pushed because I had no other choice. The pain was so sharp that it blurred everything else around me.


    My eyes closed, and for a moment, I thought I would never open them again.


    The second I woke, I gasped. My whole body shot upright, and I quickly turned to look for her. I sighed in relief when I saw she was still lying down beside me.


    The small, fragile being that breathed quietly. Relief broke through me like sunlight through the darkest clouds.


    I sagged back down, my chest rising and falling too fast, and I whispered, “Thank the Goddess…”


    That memory still haunts me these days. Giving birth was truly not an easy feat. However, I was d it wasn’t as cruel as my past dreams of the car crash.


    I turned my face to her again, a small smile tugging at my lips.


    Ca.


    I had named her Ca, after the lilies that grew everywhere here. A flower that looked fragile but always seemed to bloom again after storms. Theyforted me. And when I looked at her, my baby, it was all I could think of.


    She was perfect.


    I couldn’t stop staring at her. Her little face was smooth, calm, untouched by the world’s cruelty. A nose like the faintest button. Her lips were small and pink. Her eyes closed in sleep,shes brushing against her skin.


    How could she be so perfect?


    Maybe it was because she was mine. My blood. My child. My miracle.


    No, she was perfect as she was. She didn’t need me to define her. She was simply herself–angelic and beautiful. My baby.


    I had been so hard carrying her. Sometimes I wonder how I even managed. They say that wolf pregnancies are harder than human ones, because the child isn’t just nourished by the mother’s body, but by the bond between two mates. The threads of energy weave together to carry the little life to full term.


    But I didn’t have that. I didn’t have him.


    Without the mate bond, the pain was doubled and the risk <b>was </b>higher. Some mothers don’t survive. Some babies don’t make


    it‘


    4:34 PM <b>P </b><b>P </b>


    Chapter 184 Pack Doctor


    Somehow, I did it.


    ?


    s


    I shook off the heavy tide of memory and stood. My knees creaked, my hands brushing against the rough wood of the small table we called our dining space. On top of it was the cake I had prepared the night before, after work. The sweet smell lingered faintly in the air, a little too strong for such a small house, but it made me smile anyway.


    Carrot cake.


    I lit the tiny candles and carried them carefully to her bedside. She stirred when I crouched down, hershes fluttering before her sleepy eyes blinked open.


    “Ca,” I whispered gently.


    She stretched her small arms and rubbed her eyes with her fists, then looked up at me. “Mommy?” she murmured.


    I smiled wider and lowered the cake into view. Her eyes widened, and her little mouth dropped open.


    She gasped.


    Her favorite.


    I know it makes no sense. She’s so young. What kind of three–year–old loves carrot cake more than anything else?


    “Happy birthday,” I whispered, my voice breaking into a quiet tune. I sang softly to her in our small house, the words filling the little space with a kind of warmth no fire could give.


    Her shoulders wiggled with the instinctive little dance she did whenever she was happy, and I giggled.


    “Happy third birthday, my Ca.”


    She leaned forward and blew at the candles, her cheeks puffing, her little breath making the tiny mes flicker out one by


    one.


    I watched her, my hands folded close to my chest, my heart heavy and light all at once.


    It had been a little over three years since we left. Three years since I stepped away from everything I thought I was.


    Three years of just us.


    The path crunched beneath our feet as Ca and I made our way toward the cottages. The air was cool this morning, making me want to breathe in deeper.


    Our cottage sat farther out than most, tucked away at the edge of the trees. Owen always said his father insisted on istion, something about distance–even inside a liberal pack like ours. At first, I thought it was strange, but over time, I began to understand. There are days when the noise of the world <b>presses </b>too close, and all you want is silence. Maybe Owen’s father just wanted his own small world away from everyone.


    Ca hummed beside me, skipping along the dirt path with her usual lightness. She carried that brightness in her–sunshine bottled up in the form of a child. The closer we got to the cottages, the livelier it became.


    “Ca! Happy birthday!” a pair of women called out from their porch, smiling widely.


    “Good morning, Tessa!” another voice greeted warmly, and I lifted my hand in response, returning their smiles with one of my own.


    This ce never rushed its mornings. It always started slow, as though time itself stretched to allow space forughter and greetings and conversations that didn’t need to be hurried. Children were already ying near the center of the cottages, and the moment they saw Ca, their eyes lit up likenterns.


    Ca is so pretty, like Dr. Tessa!” one of the little ones eximed as they ran up to us.


    I couldn’t help but chuckle.


    <b>4:34 </b>PM


    Chapter 184 Pack Doctor


    Dr. Tessa.


    It sounded gooding from them. I bent down to ruffle their hair.


    s


    Somewhere along the way, after Ca was born, I’d chosen to follow the dream I’d tucked away when I was younger. I’d always wanted to heal, to understand the body and the mysteries of our wolf kind, and bringfort in a world where pain so often took center stage.


    There had been a doctor in the pack, Dr. Sally Saylor, who became my mentor. She said I had the potential, and I took it as words of encouragement.


    Under her watchful eyes, I learned everything from poultices to advanced werewolf healing, from setting bones to understanding rare wolf illnesses. I spent long nights studying with sses perched on the bridge of my nose, squinting at medical texts under dimmplight after Ca was asleep. For years, it was both exhausting and fulfilling, my days full of being a mother and my nights with being a student.


    Three months ago, I finally earned my licence. Now, I wasn’t just Tessa Fen. I was officially the pack doctor. Unfortunately, the moment I got my certificate, like fate, Dr. Saylor also died.


    The children tugged Ca’s hands and spun her around in y, herughter ringing out like bells. For a moment, I simply watched her, my heart swelling.


    “Tessa, over here!”


    I turned my head at the sound of my name being called. Noelle, who was also studying to be a doctor as she was inspired by me as she imed, waved me over. Beside her was Sol, who was sipping on some coffee.


    There was a table in front of her, filled with medical screening items.


    “The medical mission’s going to start once the guests arrive!” Noelle shouted with a grin, waving me