The Healer

Chapter 35

Tori POV

I stood there with my jaw on the floor. Did he just say no?! Did he just tell me that he has no intentions of introducing me as his daughter? I am utterly shocked, angered, and most importantly, embarrassed. I could feel my face burn red and my anger even more.

I shook my head and took a few steps back. I tried to take a deep breath but only managed to take a deep sob. Victor and Eric stood still with emotionless faces, obviously knowing what kind of mood the Alpha was in. I saw pain and regret in Victor’s eyes. He wanted to come console me, but he would be punished if he did. I didn’t quite understand what just happened, but I need to leave here.

The last few days have been quite a whirlwind of happenings. I got cheated on by my boyfriend, found out that my best friend is mated to a Gamma wolf, I found my long-lost father, found my childhood friend, learned that I have a Genesis wolf, a crazy person tried to kill me, and I’m supposed to travel to another pack to heal their Alpha. Now I’m being rejected by my father. Does he not want me as his daughter anymore? Was he lying to me?

Right now, I must just accept his word and hide my disappointment. His words hurt me. His words have cut my heart in two and he doesn’t seem to care. It’s obvious that something else is going on with him, unfortunately, I’m taking the brunt of it. For now, I must follow along and deal with it.

“Yes Alpha. Whatever you feel is best.” I deadpan without showing my pain on my face. I refuse to look at him and keep my head down. The tears are burning behind my eyes, and I struggle to hold them back. I can feel his eyes on me as I continue to stare at my feet. My heart is broken and in pieces. The father I have always wanted, now I’m the daughter he always wanted to forget.

“Tori…?” I refuse to look up at him as he calls my name. “.. It’s not that I don’t want to….” I shake my head before lifting my gaze to him.

“Alpha, I have a meeting to attend in thirty minutes. I would request my leave, so I won’t be late.” I stared him right in the eye. I see the emotions fighting with one another. I can see Apache trying to come forward and I can feel the turmoil inside him. Right now, he has told his truth to me about how he feels. I will not show my weakness. He takes a breath and I shake my head. I have nothing more to say. Victor has a resigned look on his face as he stands tall beside his Alpha. Eric looks like he wants to cry. Tammy’s nerves were all over the place. As much as she wanted to stand by me and comfort me, she was held in place by her respect for the Alpha.

Sighing, Rick looks up to Victor, then gazes at Eric before his eyes land on me.

“Very well, you are dismissed.” I almost scoffed at his use of words. ‘Dismissed’ as if I was a lowly pack member. I guess I kind of am now. He won’t announce our kinship to his pack, and nobody knows why I’m here. I need to leave this place. I am very uncomfortable around him in this moment.

Instead of answering him. I just give a slight bow and leave the office. As I’m walking down the hall, I feel a presence behind me. Without turning around, I know it’s Tammy and Eric. I feel their need to say something, but right now my aura is probably bright red with anger.

We leave the packhouse and Eric drives us over to the hospital. Tammy and I reach the administration floor just in time for the meeting. We approached the door and I knocked and waited for a response.

“Come in” I hear Dr. MacDonald’s voice and I open the door ready to greet him. He is sitting behind his desk and there is someone seated in the chair in front of him. I don’t see his face, but I get a weird feeling from him.

“Good morning, Dr. MacDonald. How are you doing today?” Tammy and I step up to his desk and smile.

“Ladies! Good morning. It’s good to see you. How was your weekend?” I share a knowing look with Tammy before I respond.

“Fine, just fine, sir.” He nods his head as he stands to walk around his desk.

“Ladies, I’d like to introduce you to someone.” He stands next to the man in the leather chair, who remained sitting. Okay, rude.

“This here is Mr. Black. It’s his nephew that you will be helping.” I shift my eyes over to him and see judgement in his pale blue eyes. Instantly, my skin crawls and I get an unsettling vibe from him. It’s so bad, I can feel Mystic come forward and peer through to see for herself.

‘I do not like him’ Mystic says, shocking me so bad, I almost hit the floor. Tammy glances at me with questions in her eyes. I shake my head slightly.

“I’m sorry Doctor, I had no idea that we would have company at our meeting.” I asked, still staring at Mr. Black. I see Tammy’s eyes fog over and within minutes, Eric came through the door.

“Doctor, I’d like you to meet our bodyguard, if you will. Eric Hanson.” Eric stands tall until he looks at Mr. Black and immediately bows his head.

“Alpha” Eric keeps his head down as Mr. Black stands and begins to circle Eric. I study the scene before me and realize that Alpha Black is studying, judging, and attempting to intimidate Eric. Being helpless, Tammy stands to the side wringing her hands and trying to control her breathing.

“You are only a Gamma” He states matter of factly and stands before him. The Alpha only had a couple of inches on him, so Eric stood tall and gazed straight ahead as if in warrior inspection at the pack.

“Yes Alpha” Alpha Blacks scoffs at Eric’s response and continues to glare in judgement.

“How long have you been a Gamma?”

“Four years” Alpha rolls his eyes.

“What pack do you come from?” I stood there in awe just shaking my head. This is ridiculous.

“Knock it off!” Black’s head whips up to mine with the deadliest eyes I’ve ever seen. “What is this? The Spanish inquisition!” Black comes over and grabs my arm tightly. I show no emotion towards his move, inside, yeah it hurts like hell.

‘Mystic? A little help here? Please?” I can sense Mystic’s anger and frustration at someone touching her human out of malintent. Mystic does not like anyone touching us.

“Get your hands off me, now!” He stares wide-eyed at me in shock but does not release me. I stared right back at him. I can feel Mystic coming forward and diving into his realm of healing souls.

‘Oh, this one has many black fogs. He has so much to hide. He has no positive intentions, Tori. Be careful of this one. He aims to take over as permanent Alpha.” Mystic pushes forward her own aura and I begin to glow. Black shakes off his hand like I’ve burned him and steps back. Eric quickly stands before and pushes me back. Tammy grabs my arm and pulls me behind her.

“What is the meaning of this? You call yourself a healer?” He shouts into the room. Dr. MacDonald seems to be having trouble figuring out what is going on. Looking back and forth between the two of us, he lifts his hands in defense; trying to calm us all down.

“Alpha Black, Tori, please! We are here to discuss an amicable plan to help the young Alpha recover. No need for all the bolstering!” I step aside from Tammy and watch the eyes of the Alpha. They switch from pale blue to black and back again. He is fighting his wolf over the disrespect shown to him.

“I was ready to accept the offer of healing the young Alpha, but there are some conditions.” Black looks like I just slapped him across the face.

“Stand down pup, I have not accepted you, yet.” My eyebrows go high, and I can feel the anger roll from Mystic. ‘Calm down girl, I want to know what he is thinking.’

‘This poor excuse of an Alpha has no intention of allowing you to heal his nephew. He will find any excuse for you not to go.’ Mystic whispers carefully to me and sits back to watch the exchange.

“You asked me here. Your pack asked for my help to heal Ronin. I’m a bit surprised of your negative behavior.” I respond low and slow. He gazes upon me with black eyes and cool demeanor.

“How do I know you are a true healer? For all I know, the rumors of you being human could be real!” Rumors? Didn’t know there were rumors about me. That is a bit unsettling.

I was done with this a**hat’s attitude. I stomp over to him and grab his hand and squeeze tight. A small glow of light came from our connection, and I heard a sharp intake of breath. I close my eyes and search for a simple gray cloud. As much as I don’t want to heal anything from this b*stard, I guess I have to prove my integrity just for face sake. I find a small gray bubble towards the back of his realm and look inside. I see a battle going on and he is fighting a rogue wolf. He was just about to end it by tearing out his throat when the rogue stretches its hind legs and tears apart his shoulder. Taking a large chunk of skin and muscle with it. We bounce forward a short amount of time and see that he is unable to use his left arm completely. I focus on the injury and will the muscle, bone, and tendons to be born again and wind themselves into each other. The shoulder is reconstructing itself. I hear grunting from him but continue to keep my eyes closed. When the fog lifts and becomes white, Mystic backs off her power and disconnects her bond with the man’s soul. Hopefully this will be the last time I have to spend this much time in the same room as him, so she breaks the bond of healing right away so there will be no need to connect again to do it. I opened my eyes and let go of his arm. Stepping back, I see him watch me carefully as he grabs his shoulder and rotates it around. We all noticed the appendage grow to normal size as the reconstruction takes place. He is now asymmetrical with himself. Too bad I can’t fix the sh*tty attitude in his head. That’s a little out of my reach.

My head feels light, and my stomach was queasy, but I don’t show any outward signs. Eric looks at me with concern.

“Tori?” He softly asks, as he takes me by the hand leads me to the couch on the other side of the office. Handing me a glass of water he poured from the pitcher I gulped it down. I nod in thanks to him as he stands guard next to me.

“Alpha?” Dr. MacDonald hesitantly asks as the man is still in wonder over his healed shoulder. I can surmise by his reaction that he has never seen a true healer let alone been the patient of one.

He takes a moment to gather himself and rolls his neck as he peers down at me.

“I will need to confer with my elders and have them discuss the final decision.”

“What final decision? You asked for my help, what did you think I was a snake oil salesman? Either you want me to heal him, or you don’t. Yes or no.”

“You need to watch your tongue young pup! I will not tolerate disrespect!” I sigh heavily and stand from the couch. Grabbing Eric’s arm to keep my balance, I lean into him as I feel like I’m going to pass out. I will myself to stay strong in front of the Alpha.

“You want me to heal him, then you allow me to heal him. Unless….” They all stared at me in anticipation. Tammy is looking like she is begging me to keep quiet, I’ve disrespected him enough to warrant a death sentence. “…You don’t want him healed” I asked with raised eyebrows. I can hear him growl deep in his chest across the room. Too bad there are humans in the hospital, otherwise I think he would’ve shifted. The look on his face was first in shock as if I released some secret of his to the world, then one of outrage.

“I’m sure your elders would want everything in your power as Alpha Temporalis done to heal your nephew. After all, he is family, is he not? Your elder brother’s son? Rightful heir to the Hidden Valley Pack? It would be devastating to find from the investigation that it was intentional and the heir to the pack is the next target.” I heard Mystic snicker in my mind and had to bite my tongue to keep from letting one of my own be heard.

Alpha Black was about to blow a gasket when Dr. MacDonald spoke up.

“Uh...thank you Tori for coming by today. I’m sure Alpha Black will speak with his pack elders and decide the next step.” The Alpha grabbed his coat and locked black eyes with me as he stepped toward the door.

“You will be seeing me again. Soon” he flashed his eyes once more.

“Looking forward to it” I grinned as I flashed my own amber fire eyes as he left the office slamming the door in his wake.