The Alpha's Unwanted Healer

Back To The Pack

The Blackwood Estate was not a house. It was a castle.

Stone walls so high you had to bend your neck to see the top. Big iron gates that made a loud noise when they closed. And wolves. Real wolves walking around the fence, watching everyone.

It smelled like home. And it also smelled like the heartbreak I tried to forget for five years.

A butler in a black suit led me through the hall. The floor was marble and my shoes made a clicking sound. Everything was cold and rich and perfect.

"The Alpha is waiting in the east wing," he said.

My stomach turned. I held my doctor's bag tighter.

I knew this walk. I used to run down this same hall when I was eighteen. Now I was 22, and I was coming back as someone else.

He opened a big door. Inside was a hospital room, but it was inside the castle. White curtains, machines beeping softly, and a small bed in the middle.

A little boy was sleeping in bed. Ethan. Five years old, pale, his dark hair wet with sweat.

And next to him, sitting in a chair, was Damien.

He looked bigger than I remembered. Shoulders wide, jaw sharp, eyes gold. His shirt sleeves were pushed up. He looked tired. Not like an Alpha. Like a father.

He looked up when I came in.

"Dr. Carter."

My heart stopped, then started beating too fast.

"Alpha," I said. I kept my head down. I had practiced this. Be professional. Be distant. Don't feel anything.

He pointed to the bed. "He spiked a fever again last night. The other doctors don't know what it is. They said it is a rare wolf-blood illness. Only pups under five get it."

I nodded and walked to the bed. This is something I can do. Medicine does not hurt.

I checked Ethan's chart. Temperature 102. Pulse fast. His skin was hot. I touched his forehead gently and checked his throat. I listened to his chest.

My mind started working, I was listing all the possible diseases it could be.

As I worked, I could feel his eyes on me. Watching my hands. Watching my face.

"You move like someone I used to know," he said suddenly.

My hands froze on the IV drip. I almost dropped it.

"Lots of people move the same way, Alpha," I said quickly. My voice was too small.

"Don't call me that," his voice dropped. It became soft. "When we are alone."

Alone.

That one word hit me like someone punched me in the chest.

I remembered the last time we were alone in this estate. He told me I was his mate. Then, three days later, he rejected me in front of the whole pack because I was too weak, not from a strong bloodline.

I finished fixing the drip. I needed to look anywhere but not at him.

"He needs rest and moon flower extract. It is rare, but I know where to find it," I said.

"I will send my men to get it," he said.

"No." The word came out too fast and too loud. I swallowed. "It has to be picked at dawn by a healer, or it loses its power. If your men pick it, it will be useless."

Damien stared at me. His gold eyes were trying to read me.

"You are not from any pack I know," he said. "I know every healer pack in the north."

"I am a rogue," I said. The lie tasted bitter in my mouth. "I left my pack years ago. I work alone now."

"Rogues are dangerous." he said.

"So are Alphas who reject their mates," I said before I could stop myself.

The words just jumped out.

The room went dead silent. You could hear the clock ticking. You could hear Ethan's soft breathing.

Damien stood up slowly. He was so tall. He stepped closer and I could smell him. The same scent that used to make me feel safe. Now it makes my knees weak.

"What did you say?" he asked. His voice was very quiet. That was more scary than if he shouted.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I stepped back until my back hit the wall.

Then we heard footsteps in the hall. Fast, small footsteps.

The door opened.

Two little nurses walked in with lunch trays.

But they were not nurses.

It was Liam and Luna.

My blood went cold. My heart fell to my feet.

I told the driver to drop them at the daycare in town. I told him very clearly, do not bring them here. Not here. Never here.

But there they were. Liam was holding Luna's hand tight like a big brother. Luna with her little pink backpack that was bigger than her.

And they both had Damien's gold eyes. Bright, shining gold. There was no hiding it.

Luna looked around the big room and smiled. She saw Damien and smiled wider.

"Hi mister. Are you sick too?" she asked in her small sweet voice.

Damien did not answer.

He was staring at Liam. Liam was staring back. Same eyes. Same frown.

The air in the room changed. It became heavy like before a storm. The hairs on my arms stood up.

Liam squeezed Luna's hand. "Mama?"

I pushed myself off the wall and stepped in front of my children. Fast. Without thinking. Like a mother wolf protecting her pups. My instinct was stronger than my fear.

"Mine," I said. My voice was shaking. "They are mine. Now, if you will excuse us, the patient needs quiet."

I tried to grab their hands to pull them out.

"Like hell," Damien said.

He moved so fast I did not see it. He grabbed my wrist. Not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough that I could not move.

His hand was hot. Burning.

"Explain. Now," he said, his voice was deadly. He was not looking at me now. He was looking at the twins. "Who are they? How old are they?"

Liam, my brave boy, stepped forward even though he was scared. "We are four. I am four and she is four. We are twins."

Four. Almost five.

Damien's grip on my wrist tightened. His eyes flashed.

"Four," he repeated. He looked at me. Really looked at me for the first time. "Selene?"

I had changed my hair. Changed my name from Selene to Dr. Carter. But those eyes knew me.

It thundered loudly outside. The sky went dark even though it was afternoon.

Luna started to cry because everyone was shouting and she did not understand.

And my secret, the secret I kept for four years, the secret I was protecting, was now standing in the open for everyone to see.

It was three seconds from being exposed.