The Healer's Return

  Astrid's POV 

  I held the glass vial up to the sunlight, watching the liquid inside shift from pale green to amber. Perfect, exactly the reaction I needed.

  "Alice, reduce the wolfsbane by 0.1 milligrams in the next batch," I said to my assistant, not taking my eyes off the solution.

  "Got it, Healer Skarsen," she replied, scribbling in her notebook.

  I sighed, another successful day in the lab. I set down my equipment and climbed the stairs from the semi-underground workspace, heading to my small clinic above. The familiar scent of herbs and antiseptic greeted me…my sanctuary for the past five years.

 Most packs had embraced modern medicine completely, abandoning the old ways. But here in the Silverpine Pack– my grandmother's pack where I'd spent my whole childhood, tradition still mattered. They still valued someone who could mix wolfsbane antidotes and brew healing tonics from scratch.

  "Good morning, Healer Skarsen," an elderly wolf greeted me from the waiting area.

 "Morning, Marcus. How's that shoulder?" I asked, already reaching for his file.

"Better, thanks to you."

  I smiled, a real smile, not the fake ones I used to wear in my old life. Here, I was needed. Here, I was respected. Here, no one knew about the pathetic girl who'd been carved open like an animal.

 I examined three more patients, adjusted prescriptions, and administered two injections. My hands moved with practiced precision, steady and sure. Every time I wrote a prescription, I thought of Teresa. She was the one who first taught me about medicine, back when I was young and desperate for her approval.

  I'd memorized every medical text in our house, hoping she'd notice. Hoping she'd praise me. Hoping she'd see me as more than just Iris's shadow.

She never did.

  When I got accepted to the top medical university in the country, she and David refused to pay. "Iris needs you here," they'd said. "Family comes first."

But I wasn't really family, was I? I was just the spare parts.

 My stomach clenched, phantom pain shooting through the scar that ran across my abdomen. Even five years later, my body remembered. The cold metal. The burning cuts. The paralysis that trapped me in my own skin while they–

"Healer Skarsen? Are you alright?"

  I blinked, finding my patient staring at me with concern. My hand had frozen over his prescription pad.

 "Just tired," I managed, forcing my hand to move again. "Let's continue."

 I finished his prescription and scheduled a follow-up, then stood to stretch. My back ached from hunching over all morning, but it was a good ache, the kind that came from honest work, not from being crushed in the backseat of a car while my so-called parents drove me to my torture.

"Astrid!"

  I turned to find Dustin walking toward me, his silver hair gleaming in the afternoon light. The Silverpine Alpha had aged gracefully in the years since I'd returned, but worry lines had deepened around his eyes and most of them because of me.

"Alpha Dustin," I greeted him warmly.

  "How many times must I tell you? It's just Dustin, or better yet, Dad," he said, pulling me into a gentle hug. "When will my favorite healer give herself a break? The patients will survive without you for one afternoon."

 "Says the Alpha who works eighteen-hour days," I teased.

  "Being your father figure is just as important as being their Alpha," he said, ruffling my now-brown hair. The dye job wasn't perfect, but it was enough to make me unrecognizable from the blonde girl I'd been.

His expression grew serious. "I have news."

  My stomach dropped. After five years of peace, I knew that look. "What kind of news?"

 "The Blackwood Pack is calling in healers and doctors from across the continent. Someone important is sick."

 My heart hammered against my ribs. Blackwood. Darius's pack. My children's pack.

"Do you know who?" My voice came out strangled.

"No details yet, but—"

 "What if it's them?" I interrupted. "What if one of my babies is sick?"

Dustin's face softened. "Astrid–"

 "I have to go." The words tumbled out before I could stop them. "I know it's dangerous. I know I swore I'd never go back. But if there's even a chance my children need me–"

 "I knew you'd say that." He pulled me into another hug, tighter this time. "You're too good for your own safety."

 "They're my babies, Dustin. I carried them. I bled for them. I almost died for them." My voice cracked. "I haven't even seen their faces properly. I only heard one cry before–"

 "Shh." He stroked my hair like I was still the broken girl James had carried through his door five years ago, bleeding and barely breathing. "We'll make sure you're protected. You won't go alone."

 The next few days passed in a blur. I handed off my patients to other healers, organized my research notes, and prepared for a journey I'd never thought I'd make. Alice helped me perfect my disguise– darkening my hair further, adding subtle makeup to change my face shape, and fitting me with colored contacts that turned my blue eyes brown.

  

  “Oh, and I've prepared the medicine you asked for." Alice said, placing a small bottle in front of me. “Although I can't promise its effectiveness." 

  I nodded, not taking my eyes off the mirror. The medicine was supposed to suppress the mate bond since I didn't officially reject Darius before leaving the Pack.

 "You look like a completely different person," she assured me, but I still saw Astrid in the mirror. Just more toned and scared.

  Dustin assigned two of his best warriors as my escorts since James couldn't come without raising suspicions, since his sudden departure from Blackwood five years ago was still questioned. He'd spread rumors that I'd died, leaving false trails to protect me, but showing up with me now would destroy that cover. He also assured me that he'd ask Mateo, his eldest son and my best friend, who was currently away and close to Blackwood pack to check up on me.

  The night before I left, Dustin found me in my lab, obsessively checking my medical supplies.

"You have enough wolfsbane antidote to treat an entire army," he said gently. "Sit with me."

 I set down my bag and joined him on the worn sofa in the corner, the same one where I'd spent countless hours studying, trying to become someone worthy of love.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked.

 "No," I admitted. "I'm terrified. But I'm more terrified of my children needing me and me not being there."

He nodded slowly. "You know David and Teresa might be there. Darius too."

My hands clenched involuntarily. "I know."

"They hurt you once. They could–"

 "They can't hurt me worse than they already have," I said firmly. "They already took everything. My mate, my family, my children, my body. What's left?"

  The next morning, I stood at the pack border, my medical bag slung over my shoulder and my heart in my throat. The road to Blackwood stretched ahead, leading back to everything I'd run from.

"Ready?" one of my guards asked.

 I thought of my children. Their faces I'd never seen clearly. Their voices I'd never heard properly. The life I'd been robbed of with them.

 "Yes," I said, taking the first step toward my past. "I'm ready."

 Behind me, Dustin watched from the porch, his final words echoing in my mind: "Remember, little one, you're not the same girl they threw away. You're stronger now. And this time, you have a pack who loves you waiting for you to come home."

  I held onto those words as I walked toward the unknown, praying my children were safe, praying I was strong enough to face whatever awaited me in Blackwood.