Julian's POV~
The news of Elara’s father being shot came to me as a gift. The topic had come up in a pack meeting with a coworker of Gideon Jules', and I finally heard they needed a healer. I didn’t give a shit about Gideon, not really, but Elara—Elara was everything. If I could swoop in and be the hero and upstage Damien, I’d have her thanks, maybe even her heart. I called Healer Torren, a devoted servant of my family’s pack, and hurried to the hospital, my mind racing through the possibilities. And this was my chance to show I was better than Damien, to show Elara who she could trust.
The look on Damien’s face, when I arrived with Torren, made every second of the rushed trip worth it. His eyes widened, then narrowed, his jaw tightening as he searched for the right response, for the right arrangement of words that conveyed that I’d gotten there before him. Elara’s gratitude, her gentle, soft “Thank you,” was music, and I squealed in the way Damien’s forced smile didn’t touch his eyes
