Penelope POV
"Bring me the silver tray from the sterilisation unit," I said.
The Pack physician did not move. He stood frozen by the edge of the polished steel counter, his fingers twitching against his white coat. He glanced toward Julian, waiting for a nod, a sign, an alpha command to override my breath.
"I told you to move," I said.
Julian stepped into my space, his shadow cutting off the harsh fluorescent light above us. His scent rolled off him in thick, suffocating waves, heavy with winter pine and the aggressive weight of a Blue-Claw Alpha. He was trying to force my knees to buckle. He wanted me on the floor, weeping and compliant, the way I had been for three long years.
"You do not give orders in my hospital, Penelope," Julian said.
"Then you look at the life essence diagnos
