Healer?” I looked at Julian in surprise. I could accuse the Head Healer until I was blue in the face but even as somewhat of a celebrity, I wasn’t sure to be believed. The Head Healer had been around for a long time. He was trusted in the pack.
He didn’t reply to the accusation, though his shoulders did slink down. Looking at me, he said, “Is it truly not ready?”
I nodded. “I’m working on a fix at the moment. But like I said, it will need tested too…”
“This kind of behavior cannot stand,” Julian said loudly. He was all Alpha now, the strong and confident leader of our pack. “Head Healer Eric, you have shamed yourself and the pack with this action. As such, I will see you punished. For a crime like this, exile might be in order.”
“A-alpha, please…” Head Healer Eric said, fumbling now, looking every inch the old man that he was.
Something stirred within me. He had committed a serious crime here, that was true. But… exile?
Julian started to open his mouth, likely ready to dole out the punishment.
Quickly, I said, “Wait.”
Amber’s POV
Healer Eric did not get to be the Head Healer at the hospital because he was lousy at his job. It was the opposite, in fact. He was a talented Healer most of the time. In my days at university, I’d even looked up to him and some of the breakthroughs he’d helped contributed to over the years.
That didn’t excuse his behavior now, of course, but it did make me somewhat sympathetic to the man.
It was difficult to connect the man I knew to be a talented Healer with the man who would steal an untested potion from a lab and then try to pass it off as his own work, without even running the necessary tests first!
What could have happened to him that led him to fall so far to this moment? Was there too much stress on him in his present position? Or was it his hubris that overwhelmed his judgement? Or perhaps the call of standing in the limelight that made him blind to everything but his own success, no matter the cost?
Julian looked at me patiently, waiting for me to explain myself. It took me a little while to define the mixed feelings swirling within me, and even longer to put what I wanted to say into words.
Speaking to Healer Eric, I said, “You have always been better than this. So many years, you proved to be a good and decent man.
You contributed so much to modern medicine, and you have so many patients that trust you. I personally know you are capable.
But this? I just don’t understand.”
He lowered his gaze away in shame.
“If you wanted to help with the cure, I would have gladly welcomed your input,” I said. “I would have given you equal credit. There was no need for this kind of deception… And it was so reckless. You could have hurt this man.” I motioned to Jon. “Did you even think to run tests on the potion?”
Head Healer Eric swallowed thickly. “I assumed you had already…”
“They were in progress,” I said.
“Yes. I can see that now.”
“Amber, Healer Amanda,” Julian said. “Do you not feel this action warrants exile? Or did you wish to speak in the Head Healer’s favor?”
He looked at me like my opinion carried weight. It was a bit of a newer feeling. In the past, his word was law, and I was just the foolish girl in love with him who went along with everything. Yet, right now, he was looking at me like he actually wanted my opinion.
The remnants of that girl inside of me who had loved this man so fiercely at the attention and consideration we had finally been given from Julian. The rest of me, the parts that had strived so hard to move on and bury that girl down deep, focused more on his question. “I believe that Head Healer Eric is still a capable Healer. He has many patients that respect him and depend on him, and I would hate to see them fall to the wayside if the Head Healer is cast out of the pack,” I said. “That said, I think perhaps the stress of a management position has gone to his head…”
“Say no more,” Julian said, seeming to understand what I mean. He turned his full attention to the Head Healer.
In the crowd, some of the cameramen were inching closer for the perfect shot, as were the reporters holding forward their microphones to try to catch the exchange for their news stations.
I was sure I’d see all of this on the nightly news tonight.
“Healer Eric,” Julian said. “I hereby demote you from the position of Head Healer at the hospital. You will now simply work as a regular Healer, giving you more time and energy to focus on your own patients.”
“Thank you, Alpha,” Healer Eric said, and there was some relief in his gaze as he looked at Julian, and then at me. “Thank you, Healer Amanda. Your charity here will not be forgotten.”
“I simply ask that you not forget your oath again,” I said. “Your patients need you. Please put them first in the future.”
“Of course,” Healer Eric said and dipped his head in acknowledgement. “I will be forever grateful for being allowed to stay with the pack.”
“Don’t disappoint me again,” Julian said.
Healer Eric nodded once more.
With that resolved, Julian seemed to notice the gathered crowd for the first time, and nearly startled.
The press conference. Right.
With the Alpha’s attention now on them, he reporters started calling out questions. The loudest of which was, “Alpha! Who will be the Head Healer now that Eric has been demoted?”
It was a good question. To keep hospital operations running along smoothly, a new Head Healer would need to be promoted immediately.
To my surprise, Julian looked at me.
“I would nominate Healer Amanda,” Julian said to the crowd.
The blood drained from my face and I felt a little dizzy. While it was an honor to be considered, and certainly a position that I would want to hold at some point in my life, I wasn’t ready for that kind of thing right now.
Particularly because being Head Healer was a long term position, and I had no intention of staying with this pack for any longer than necessary.
I just needed the money, enough to buy the necklace to repress Alice’s wolf. Then she and I would get out of this pack once and for all, and we wouldn’t look back. “I’m sorry,” I said to Julian. I was certain the microphones were picking it up, but I didn’t care about them in this moment. It was Julian I was talking to. “I am grateful for the consideration, but I must decline.”
Julian’s face stays hard even as a flash of hurt crossed his eyes. I blinked and it was gone, like it had never been there at all. Maybe I imagined it. I must have. I couldn’t imagine Julian being too torn up about my decision.
He had Olivia now, and once I finished her treatments, she could give him children.
He had no need for Alice or me.
I hated how much that thought still hurt me. After all this time, all these years, I had thought I was reserved to my life without
Julian. Yet, having him beside me, having to tell him I had no intention of staying, it felt like fresh hurt all over again.
“Why?” he asked me, his voice soft.
“I’m just passing through,” I explained. “This isn’t my home anymore.”
Once I had that necklace for Alice, or found a cure gods-willing, I would be gone from this place. I’d be happy to leave and never have to deal with Julian, Olivia, or the drama they brought to my life ever again.
Julian’s face was hard. I thought for a moment he might reject my rejection and demand that I stay.
Instead, he said, “I understand. I’ll find someone else.” Then he turned back to the crowd to try to answer more questions.
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