Chapter 2

Kayla Hendrix POV:

I strode down the stone steps straight from the doorway and pulled Jamir behind my legs, glaring right into Dale's cold face.

Dale's head snapped up. When his dark gray eyes met the surgical mask covering the lower half of my face, his pupils trembled violently.

His tall frame leaned forward without his permission, his nostrils flaring as he tried to catch a familiar trace in the wind. A werewolf always recognizes their fated mate by scent before sight, a biological law carved into our bones by the Moon Goddess.

All that hit his nose was pungent evening primrose mixed with hospital disinfectant. The heat in his eyes died out, replaced by a deep, restless confusion.

"Who are you?" Dale asked, his voice rough and raspy as he stared into my eyes.

"Healer Melly," I replied in a flat tone, keeping my hands steady at my sides. "Chief attending healer of this sanctuary."

Chelsie stepped forward, her voice pitching high.

"So you're that famous healer? Control your little bastard! He almost broke my leg!"

I turned my head and looked at her powdered face.

"If your eyes still work, Miss Harrell, you know damn well who was attacking a bleeding animal first."

Chelsie flinched at the coldness in my voice and shrank back toward Dale's arm, only to find Dale standing like a stone statue without raising a finger to shield her.

Dale let out a slow breath, shoving his hands into his suit jacket to pull out a gold-embossed Alpha calling card.

"Tell your Pack Doctor, Gavin Foster, to get down here and treat this mutt," Dale ordered, holding the card out to me as if he owned the building.

I didn't raise my hand. I looked at the gold card hanging in the freezing air and left it there.

"My son and I will treat it. Don't waste my time, Alpha Hood."

Taking Jamir's warm little hand, I turned my back on both of them and walked through the front doors into the sanctuary hallway. Behind me, I heard the stiff rustle of Dale's sleeve as his hand remained frozen in mid-air.

I led Jamir up the stairs to my private lounge on the second floor. Only when the lock clicked shut did the tight muscles along my spine loosen.

Jamir looked up at me, his golden eyes wide and serious.

"Mom, that man outside... his smell made my chest feel weird."

I dropped to my knees and rubbed his curly black hair, swallowing the sour lump in my throat.

"Don't worry about him, sweetie. He's just a stranger passing through."

Standing up, I walked to my desk, pulled open the top drawer, and flipped through the new intake charts until I saw the name Chelsie Harrell printed in bold ink.

So she was the VIP patient the director had begged me to examine for severe genetic exhaustion. Of all the patients in this city, it had to be her. More than five years ago she framed me with a fake miscarriage, and now she was delivering her rotten body into my hands.

I walked into the attached washroom, turned on the tap, and splashed freezing water over my face. Looking up into the mirror, I checked the thin prosthetic edges along my cheekbones that slightly altered my features.

Opening my metal medicine box, I pulled out dried silver-leaf herbs and rosemary stems, dropping them into a stone mortar to grind them into a thick green paste.

I smeared the icy herbal juice behind my ears and over my wrists. No Alpha's nose on earth could pierce through a double layer of silver-leaf oil.

A soft knock sounded at the lounge door before my four-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Fawn, poked her blonde head inside, hugging a stuffed bunny.

"Mommy!"

I wiped my hands and walked over, scooping her soft little body into my arms and breathing in her sweet milk scent until my racing pulse slowed down.

"Mommy, Jamir said there's a really mean uncle downstairs," Fawn whispered, blinking her big, watery eyes.

I kissed her forehead and smoothed her golden curls.

"No one can hurt you or your brother. Mommy promises."

Setting Fawn down beside Jamir on the sofa, I buttoned my fresh white coat and tucked Chelsie's medical chart under my arm.

I pulled the lounge door open and stepped into the corridor. Down at the end of the hall, Chelsie's shrill voice was already echoing from the VIP examination room.