Chapter 1

Standing in the treatment room of the pack children's hospital again, I couldn't stop my body from trembling.

My parents, Henry and Eleanor Hart, carried stacks of evidence from pack to pack as they fought to appeal my case.

They had devoted their careers to pack medicine, only to die surrounded by scorn and curses.

And I had been in prison, unable to attend their funeral.

As for the families who had innocently lost their children, the only thing left in their eyes when they looked at me was endless hatred.

But what tormented me most... was that the vaccine had clearly been contaminated. Why had every testing agency said there was nothing wrong?

I'd been a pediatrician for fifteen years. Even the Alpha King had commended my expertise.

VRX-17 was a highly regarded vaccine, and I was the one who had introduced it. There was no reason for every testing agency to conspire against me.

So where had things gone wrong?

I quickly stopped the nurse and stared at the syringe in her hand.

For the first time in my life, I doubted my own abilities.

Seeing the hope on the nurse's and families' faces, I felt cold sweat bead at the nape of my neck.

I picked up the syringe and examined it closely. I still couldn't see anything wrong, but this was the very drug that had caused the disaster in my past life.

My heart pounded so hard it felt like it would burst through my chest. What was I supposed to do? Was I doomed to relive the same nightmare?

No. Absolutely not. I took several deep breaths and forced myself to calm down.

Then I ordered the nurses to recall every dose of VRX-17.

Once every syringe had been recovered, I refunded the families' payments.

I immediately called Alpha Alaric Vale, the hospital director and my fiance.

"Alaric, the new VRX-17 shipment has a problem. I need to request testing."

He arranged for the lab to run the tests. Results didn't come back until evening.

"Dr. Hart, the test results are negative. There's nothing wrong with the vaccine."

How was that possible? In my past life, I'd tested it myself and found clear problems.

I told them to run the tests again using different methods.

The lab technician, Aaron Fletcher, asked me to put on a sterile suit and stand beside him while he worked.

He used two different testing methods right under my nose and showed me the results.

The vaccine really was negative. No abnormalities whatsoever.

"Dr. Hart, try not to be so tense. Maybe all these sick children lately have simply left you exhausted."

Staring at the two test results, I began to wonder whether I had imagined the whole problem.

Maybe it really was just my nerves?

From medical school onward, I'd tested countless medications over fifteen years without making a single mistake. How could I suddenly become unreliable?

Still uneasy, I asked Alaric to either retest this batch of VRX-17 or destroy it outright.

Alaric frowned.

"There's no confirmed abnormality. This batch was purchased with funds the Alpha King just allocated for pack healthcare.

"The children are waiting for their vaccinations, and the next shipment won't arrive for over a month. If you're really that worried, vaccinate the healthy children first. Once the patient load eases, we'll send the vaccines out for external retesting."