Julian’s POV


    ? 49%


    I arrived at the hospital a few minutes earlier than necessary, wanting to speak more to Head Healer Eric before his press conference began. The timing of the announcement of this new cure just felt… off to me. I didn’t know how else to describe it.


    My contract, and therefore the funding, had been made with Healer Amanda. Unless Head Healer Eric had also been working on a


    cure on his own…


    That seemed unlikely.


    I didn’t want to go around using anyone of anything, especially someone like Head Healer Eric, who had been a respectable


    member of the pack for even longer than I’d been alive.


    But the timing…


    It just didn’t make sense.


    I was certain that by speaking with Head Healer Eric, he could quiet the rm bells ringing in my mind and put me at ease.


    Perhaps he had been working on his own cure, maybe for some time.


    Though wouldn’t he have mentioned it then when I made the proposal? He knew what I wanted to do, and that I was contracting


    Healer Amanda to help do it. Surely, at that point, he should havee forward with his research….


    After asking a few hospital staff where Head Healer Eric was, I found him in one of the offices near the front of the building. The


    press conference was to happen outside on the stairs leading up to the hospital main entrance, so I wasn’t surprised to see that


    Head Healer Eric had turned this room into a sort of hair and makeup dressing room.


    He was sitting in a chair, while a beautician was adding powder to his face. Another was carefullybing his hair.


    “Not that way,” Head Healer Eric barked at the woman with theb. “I prefer my part going the other way. Do you want me to


    look unprofessional?”


    The woman seemed flustered but she quickly replied, “No, Healer.”


    “Then do it right,” Head Healer Eric said.


    I frowned as I approached. Head Healer Eric had always appeared calm and kind in front of me, but then, so did so many people. As Alpha, everyone wanted me to see their best face. I oftentimes had to look deeper on my own to see the true heart of the individuals in my pack.


    Yet I’d known Head Healer Eric since I was a boy. His reputation had always been as a caring and dedicated Healer. Perhaps it was the stress now that was making him snap where kindness would do.


    I didn’t want to believe that this was the way he’d always been.


    12:39 PM Tue 26 Aug


    49%


    Head Healer Eric spotted me in the mirror and immediately straightened. “Alpha! You came early!”


    “Yes,” I said. “I was hoping to speak with you privately for a moment.”


    “Of course! Ladies. Please.”


    The beauticians set down their equipment and made their way to the door. I waited beside it for them to disappear through it and


    then closed it behind them. With it secure, and us now alone, I approached Head Healer Eric.


    “What’s this about, Alpha?” Head Healer Eric asked. He turned in his chair to look at me more fully.


    .” I wanted to broach the topic gently, but there were very few ways to ask someone if they stole someone else’s hard


    work. “How long have you been working on it?”


    “Oh, very briefly,” he said. “In fact, it just came to me…” His eyes slipped to the side. He was lying.


    I pressed onward. “Did you work with Healer Amanda on this? You knew she was also developing a cure.”


    Head Healer Eric stilled for a moment, even as his eyes darted frantically around. It was like watching the cogs in his head turn, as


    he must have been thinking wildly. Then, he sighed.


    “Healer Amanda came to me in tears,” he said. “She was in over her head. She’s under a lot of stress, you understand. She’s a good


    Healer, but young. She was totally lost on what to do with the potion. It was only in my good nature as a man and as Head Healer,


    that I should step in and do the job myself.”


    12:39 PM Tue 26 Aug