Harper’s POV
By the time I was about to leave the pack, I heard that Lucas, the future Alpha, had found his mate.
I wasn’t taken by the Alpha’s messenger.
Instead, Sierra walked up and told him that whether I went or not didn’t matter. With her usual charm, she expertly pulled him away and sent him on his way.
But none of that matters now. I’ve had enough of a world that only wants to tear me down.
I’ve officially left the pack behind.
It felt as if fate was on my side because, as soon as I crossed into human territory, I stumbled upon a woman badly injured in a car accident.
“H-Help,” she whimpered, reaching a bloody hand out of the broken window.
Quickly, I jumped forward, clearing away broken glass and carefully pulling her out of the car. Her head was bleeding, so I reached out and pressed my palm to the wound. Instantly, it began pulling together as if something were stitching it back up.
“Don’t worry,” I whispered. “You’ll be fine. You’re safe now.”
The woman sighed, and her eyes rolled back as she passed out.
Luckily, the human doctors came soon and took her to the nearest human hospital. I followed so they could ask questions, and when the woman finally woke up, a well-dressed man was at her side. He introduced himself as a leader of a wealthy company and thanked me for helping his daughter.
I tried to deny the money he wanted to pay me, but he kept insisting.
In the end, I accepted the money as a loan, using it to open my clinic. Instead of applying to other packs, I decided it would be best to lay low in the human quarters.
Everything was going well for a while. I had my new clinic, I was helping humans who couldn’t afford expensive and exorbitant medical fees, and I was happy. But, as they say, all good things come to an end.
“Next patient,” I call again. My next patient enters, and as I stand, a wave of dizziness washes over me, forcing me to sit back down. I take a few steady breaths, focusing my healing energy inward. It barely chases away the unbalanced, weak feeling that grows within me.
He explains what his issue is, and I listen while trying to keep myself from passing out.
It’s becoming more and more difficult to push through. My body has weakened immensely from the effects of the mate mark. I tried to use my healing to get rid of it, but it only halfway worked. I got rid of the physical mark, but the negative effects remained.
After a year of blocking the mate bond and not being near the man who marked me, I fear that I won’t be able to hold on much longer. With my body weakening faster each day, I realize that the only way I can keep from losing my life is to find the man who marked me. I need him to formally release me from the incomplete bond.
Only then can I return to my free life.
“Thank you so much, Harper. You’re a life saver,” my patient says as he leaves the exam room.
“You’re welcome, Ronald. I hope I don’t have to see you again so soon.”
“I’ll take my meds, Doc. Promise!”
“That’s the last patient for the day,” Reena, my assistant, says. “And you have a call on your office line.”
My office is a few doors down, and even that walk is becoming difficult. I stagger down the hallway and into my office before dropping into my chair.
“Hello, this—”
“Harper!” Nora, my best friend, and daughter of the pack’s Gamma, screeches. “You won’t guess what happened!”
“Hi, Nora. I’m good. It’s nice of you to call,” I mutter sarcastically.
She huffs and then laughs, “Yeah, sorry, but I have news!”
“What news?”
“Alpha Lucas is looking for a new healer,” she cries happily.
Confusion hits me momentarily as I ask, “Alpha Lucas?”
“Oh, it’s been a few months since we caught up,” Nora says before continuing, “Lucas has taken over his father’s position, and he’s doing an amazing job. In the time he’s been Alpha, our pack has jumped to the third strongest pack, and now, he’s looking for a new healer.”
“And you want me to come back,” I say, knowing that’s where she’s going.
“I do! I miss my best friend, and you’re the best healer,” she says. “Alpha Lucas isn’t satisfied with the healers he interviewed.”
“What makes you think he’ll be satisfied with me?” I ask skeptically. She says I’m the best healer, but I’m not as experienced as those Alpha Lucas interviewed.
I’ve been stripped of my wolf, I’m weak, and I’ve only used my talents on humans. I never got a chance to study under the pack healers since I kept my abilities a secret.
“You know how amazing your ability is, Harper. You healed my broken wrist in minutes, so you can do this,” she says confidently. I can almost picture her slapping her hand on her leg in certainty. “Besides, don’t you want to come back and throw your success in your father’s face? You don’t deserve what he did to you, and this could be your chance to set things right.”
I want to believe her, so when our call ends, I send in my application to Alpha Lucas’s office. I finish out my paperwork for the day, and by the time I’m ready to leave, an email from the Alpha’s office is waiting for me.
My finger hovers over the mouse, but eventually, I open the email.
“Miss Harper Lewis, we would be honored to host you for an interview for the position of Pack Healer on the seventeenth of June…”
I read through the email again, an excited feeling mixing with the nerves that also rise within me. I didn’t think the response would come this fast, and they want me to be there in less than two days.
I never thought I’d go back, but I guess ‘never’ was too strong of a word.
People stare at me as Nora and I walk down the hall toward the Alpha’s office, and I tug the turtleneck higher on my neck. Then, I smooth out my skirt. I wasn’t sure what to wear, so I picked the only dress I had in my closet.
My body is buzzing with nerves, especially since I had to shut down my clinic for a few days while I travel, and the stares aren’t helping. Nora tried to hype me up as I arrived, but she didn’t get rid of the nerves.
I don’t think anything will, honestly.
A hand lands on my shoulder just as a familiar presence and voice reaches me.
“What are you doing back here?” Sierra asks. I turn to find her staring wide eyed at me as she grips my shoulder.
The place where the mark is burns beneath her fingers, but I hold back the wince of pain.
“I came back to apply for a job as a healer,” I answer as coldly as possible.
Sierra’s eyes move down my body, no doubt taking in my pale skin and skinnier form before she sneers, “Healing requires talent. How are you qualified?”
I smile faintly before turning and walking forward. If there’s one thing she hates, it’s when someone brushes her off. It makes her so angry, and I can’t help but smile when I hear the growl of annoyance from behind me.
“You—”
“I came back with the Alpha’s permission, so if you have a problem with me being here, I suggest you take it up with Alpha Lucas,” I tell her.
She growls again, “I am the future Luna of this pack, and I have the right to forbid rogues from entering the territory.”
“Sierra is Lucas’s fated mate and will be marrying him soon,” Nora whispers, cringing when I glance at her. “I didn’t want to bother you, so I didn’t tell you sooner.”
The night I got marked by the unknown man was Sierra’s eighteenth birthday. I knew she was looking for her mate, but I didn’t realize she found him.
“What are you doing?” I snap, slapping Sierra’s hand that reaches out and tugs at my turtleneck.
“Just looking to see if you’re still a disgraceful rogue.”
I bare my teeth at her out of instinct and hiss, “If you didn’t cause me to be marked by a stranger that night, I wouldn’t have become a rogue.”
The shocked look on Sierra’s face was almost comical. I guess people don’t stand up against her much since she’s the Alpha’s mate.
But to me, she’s still the deceiving snake she’s always been.
“What’s this about a stranger’s mark?” A man with short, black hair appears at the end of the hallway. The icy aura floods the hall as his blue eyes sweep over the three of us before they land on me.
He’s Alpha Lucas.
