Chapter 1

My brain short-circuited for a second.

I'd come back to my own clinic, only to be blocked at the door by a pregnant woman wearing my white coat, accusing me of harassing the owner.

I reached out and pushed the door. She immediately braced her shoulder against it.

"What do you think you're doing? This is the Alpha's private territory. You want to force your way in?"

"Move."

Ronan's voice came from inside.

"Ava, who is it?"

He walked to the door and saw me. His steps faltered.

"Why are you back so suddenly?"

I stared him down. "I'm coming back to my own clinic. Do I need to notify you in advance?"

Ava scoffed. "Yours? Ronan is the North District Alpha. The pack clinic obviously belongs to him. You're a rejected ex-mate. What, you think you can come take his territory?"

I finally understood why she felt so entitled.

"Ronan, is that really what you told her?"

Ronan didn't answer. He just braced his shoulder against the door from the other side.

"Ava's due any day now. I already moved your things to the storage room. Go find somewhere else to stay."

Four years together, and I'd lent him a room out of kindness. Five days later, he stood in my clinic and threw me out.

I looked at Ava. "Three months ago, the Northern District Elder Council revoked his Alpha seal and banished him from the pack. He can't even set foot in North District territory anymore. Where exactly is this 'pack clinic'?"

Ava whipped her head around to look at him.

But Ronan frowned first. "You'd make up something like that just to break us apart?"

"Stop trying to cause trouble." Ava immediately stepped in front of him, shielding him. "If he weren't the Alpha, how could he have brought me in here? How would he have access to the security system?"

She said it with such conviction that I was the one who looked like the liar.

I pulled up last week's chat history and held my phone up through the crack in the door.

Ronan's message was still on the screen.

"I've been banished from the North District. I've got nowhere to go. Lend me a room for five days and I'll be out."

Ava barely glanced at it before looking away. "A screenshot doesn't prove anything. Who knows if you faked it."

Ronan jumped right in. "She's never been able to accept that we broke up."

My hands were shaking with rage. "I only agreed to let you stay for five days! I didn't agree to let you change the security codes, and I sure as hell didn't agree to let you use my name to con people!"

"Ava could go into labor any minute." Ronan looked annoyed. "If you had any professional ethics as a doctor, you wouldn't be standing here upsetting a pregnant woman."

I craned my neck to see past them.

The emergency room was piled with a bassinet, a hospital bag, and several large suitcases. The rooms I'd reserved for cross-pack patients reeked of Ava's scent.

A disbelieving laugh escaped me, sharp with anger.

Officer Caleb Marsh, the community patrol officer from next door, was drawn over by the commotion.

I handed over my medical credentials. "I'm the resident physician here. I was away on a house call for five days, and they changed my security codes while I was gone."

Officer Marsh could only verify that the location was listed as a neutral clinic. The system showed no ownership records.

Nobody at the Medical Council was picking up the phone that night, either.

And Ronan's name was indeed on the authorized personnel list.

Ronan pointed at the screen. "See? It's right there. The system says it's me."

Ava straightened up, belly thrust forward. "He's the Alpha, so the clinic is obviously his! She's just jealous that I'm carrying his child. She came here to cause trouble."

"Being listed as temporary personnel doesn't make someone the owner," I said. "The only reason his name is on there is because I gave him a five-day clearance."

But the original authorization documents were locked inside the clinic, and Ronan was blocking the door.

Officer Marsh looked at Ava's belly, then finally told me to wait until morning for verification.

"Go find somewhere nearby to stay tonight. If anything happens to the expectant mother in there, you'll have a hard time explaining yourself even if you're in the right."

The door closed in my face.

In that last glimpse, I saw Ava grab Ronan's arm and whisper, "She said you were banished. What does that mean?"

Ronan pulled her close. "Don't listen to her."

The elevator hadn't even arrived when my phone buzzed.

A security notification showed that Ronan had upgraded his own clearance to administrator!