I led Julian to my office, my heart racing. I was sure he still didn’t know that “Healer Amanda” was really his ex-wife. If he did, he wouldn’t have approached me so calmly. Images of Julian’s behavior at the open house shed through my mind.
Him grasping my wrist outside the school at the open house.
Him showing up at my door unannounced while I was cooking my daughter dinner.
No, if he knew that I was Amber, he’d be acting much differently.
I sat behind my desk, motioning for Julian to do the same in one of the chairs sitting next to the exam table. He sat down,
stretching his long legs out in front of him, then leaned towards me.
“I have a proposition for you,” he said, his voice low and serious.
I was still extremely upset with him, but that familiar warmth ran down to my groin again. Thest time he’d said those words to
me, it had resulted in our situationship. Eventually, it resulted in our marriage.
But we’d seen how that turned out.
“Go on, Alpha,” I said. “With all due respect, I have a lot to do today. Getting held up in Head Healer Eric’s petty drama already put
me behind.”
“Please, just hear me out,” Julian said. “You’ve definitely proven your worth as a healer at this hospital. I respect your decision
not to take the Chief Healer position, although I do wish you’d reconsider. However, I’d like you to work with the government of
Thorn Pack and me on a special project.”
“No,” I said immediately. I didn’t want to agree to anything that would result in me working with Julian long-term. The amount
of contact I had with him now was already too much.
I stood up, heading towards the door.
Julian stood up. “Wait, Healer Amanda -”
“No, Alpha. As I said, respectfully, I already have a lot of work to do.” I twisted the handle, letting Julian out of the office.
He exited, then turned back to me. “I can send the papers to your office. I really think you’re the right fit.”
I rolled my eyes. Of course he thought so. Julian had a way of attaching himself to me, even when he didn’t know it was me.
“Don’t bother.” I closed the door behind me.
The next morning, I was sitting behind my desk between patients when the phone rang. “Hello?” I answered.
“Healer Amanda? I’m calling back about my proposal.” Julian’s voice came through the phone. I sighed, wishing that Noah was
12:38 PM Tue 26 Aug
here already to take my calls.
20 50%
“I already told you, Alpha,” I said. The one thing I’d always despised was calling Julian by his title instead of his name. The title
was so stiff, and his name was so lovely.
Even though he’d turned out to be just as hard-headed and immovable as the title, it still felt awkwarding out of my mouth.
“I’m not interested in a long-term project. I’d rather focus on my lengthy list of patients.” I rolled my eyes, grateful he couldn’t
see me through the phone. “Of which your Luna is one, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Agent Luna,” Julian responded, the wordsing out immediately, like a reflex more than a conscious choice. “This project
would have a muchrger impact than any of your current cases, Healer Amanda.”
“I’m not in this for fame or fortune, Alpha. I appreciate the thought, but, once again, I’m going to pass.” I ced the phone back
on the receiver before Julian could get in another word.
I thought that was the end of it, but I should have known better. A couple dayster, Noah approached me in my office, a packet of
documents in his hands.
“Healer Amanda, I found this envelope unopened in your trash. I saw the Thorn Pack crest on it and thought it might be
important, so I fished it out.” Noah paused. “Have you read this, Healer Amanda?”
“No, Noah, I don’t have time for the Alpha’s petty distractions right now. You know that more than anyone.” I shuffled patient
folders around on my desk to make my point.
“Healer Amanda, this proposal is about a project that seems perfect for you.” Noah hovered in the corner, turning the envelope
nervously in his hands. “You’ve talked to me a little about why you got into medicine, and I don’t think it was to take patients like
you treat here, nobles and dignitaries. This work is great, but this proposal is an invitation to do even more.”
I paused. I trusted Noah. He’d impressed me with his work ethic and his problem solving.
Something about his presentation of the proposal intrigued me.
“Noah, I really don’t think I can take it.” I’d stopped shuffling around the files on my desk. Noah ced the first page of the
project proposal down in front of me instead.
“Read that,” he said. “I’ll be working on your schedule for next month.”
He didn’t even have to tell me to read it. As soon as I’d caught the end of the first sentence, I’d been intrigued.
It turned out that the proposal involved researching and formting treatment for a contagious disease that was tearing through the poorermunities in Thorn Pack at an rming rate. The recovery period was incredibly slow, which caused the people affected to fall even further into poverty while they were unable to work.
It all reminded me of being a kid with nowhere to go, having to depend on the charity of certain kind rich people in order to get into school, having to ask Julian for money and causing him to think that I was after wealth, when really I was trying to save my grandmother on a zero dor budget.
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Now, I had the opportunity to put the medical degree I earned for my grandmother to use helping others who couldn’t afford to
help themselves. My heart couldn’t help but leap.
Along with the way it resonated with my own past, the project softened me towards Julian as well. His character remained beyond critique, and I remembered falling in love with him back in school. He’d always stood up for me against the bullies who put me
down for being born human, as we’d all thought I was back then.
He’d never discriminated against the lower sses, and respected everyone, even orphans like me. He was, at least in this regard,
still a man of integrity.
I picked up my phone, dialing the number for Julian’s office.
“Okay,” I said when he picked up, after the receptionist transferred me to his line. “I’ll do it.”
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