Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Amber’s POV
When Anna had offered to help me pack, I had no idea she also wanted to travel with Alice and me, but when she had shown up with a suitcase, I had been all for it.
She was a dear friend, and it would be nice not to have to go it alone this time, especially when I couldn’t rely on Roman. Alice knew and trusted Anna too, so she was excited for her to join us as well. Alice also didn’t feel any particular affinity for her school. In fact, she seemed excited by the idea of leaving.
I was raising somewhat of a nomad.
After heading north to the town with the necklace, we didn’t stay there long. I simply met with the seller, tested the genuineness and effectiveness of the necklace, and then purchased it for Alice.
I gave it to Alice, asking her to always wear it. I hadn’t seen it work with her yet, as Anna and I had done our best to keep Alice happy. She’d been so excited for the move, that she hadn’t had any episodes yet.
With the necklace secured, we decided to head to a pack we’d never been to, to start a new life in a town buried deep in one of the thickest forests on the continent. We replaced the cities and streets of Julian’s pack capital, for trees and small towns.
Anna and I went in together to purchase a duplex, where she would occupy one side, and Alice and I the other. It was an older brick building, but the roof and plumbing had been updated recently. The interior had hardwood floors and fireplaces to gather around on the colder nights.
It was old and beautiful, and the perfect place to start a new life.
These more rural small towns out in the forest didn’t have much access to quality medical care, so with Anna’s business knowledge, and some investments from her wealthier friends, she helped me establish a clinic, coupled with a charity that was dedicated to treating sick children, complete with free medical care for anyone under eighteen.
Some of the kids that started coming to the clinic had never been to a Healer before, and while most of them were generally healthy, it felt good to help keep everyone on track while treating those that
genuinely needed more help.
This had been a dream of mine, helping the children without having to worry about whether or not they could afford the treatments. For this to happen… I felt blessed.
Alice even seemed to like her new school. I didn’t know if it was because the necklace was working or if
she had found more peace out here among nature. Either way, I was happy.
It felt like life was finally coming together for us.
Then, one day, after a few months of peace, I sat in my office, working on a formula for a potential cure
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Chapter 76
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for Alice. Though the necklace seemed to be helping, I didn’t want to depend on it long term. Someday, I wanted to find the means to solve her illness more permanently, so she never had cause to worry again.
The poor thing shouldn’t be afraid of shifting. It hurt her now, but someday she and her wolf would be more in tandem, as any werewolf should be. If I could help that process along somehow, while protecting Alice from the pain of unexpected and unwanted early shifting, I would do whatever it took to see that happen.
Anna shared an office with me, her desk on the other side of the room. She wasn’t a Healer, didn’t really know a lot about medicine. But she did know about numbers and was crunching them now.
We were both ignoring a massive elephant in the room – news from Roman’s pack that he had finally rescinded his engagement to me, saying that he didn’t deserve me.
Anna had nervously looked at me when she entered, but after seeing the newspaper face up with the related article on top, she just avoided the topic entirely.
I was pleased Roman finally understood what I wanted from him. Maybe, in time, we could work to repair our friendship.
Not yet, though. It was all still too fresh.
Anna and I both continued to work in silence when a soft knock sounded on the office door.
“Come in!” I called, and my assistant Carla stuck her head in the door.
“There’s a representative here who gave me this, ” she said and held up a stack of paperwork.
“What is it?” Anna asked.
“He said it’s some kind of proposal for you to consider, Healer Amanda?” Carla said. Though I wasn’t
particularly hiding my true identity as Amber, I found, when moving to new places, it was easier to revert
to my post–crash identity.
Healer Amber was popular in Julian’s pack because they had already known me, but to the rest of the
world, it was Healer Amanda who had been made famous.
As such, it wasn’t unusual to receive packs of documents like this, proposals and offers and anything else. It also wasn’t unusual for those packets to come at the hands of representatives who would do their best to try to convince me to accept whatever it was they wanted.
At this stage, I’d gotten good at seeing through most of the bullshit. I always read through the proposal before agreeing to meet with the representative. If it was good, it could stand on it’s on merits without needing the spin.
I held out my hand and Carla delivered the packet to me. As I opened and read the first page, which detailed the rest, I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.
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“This is a very ambitious project,” I said.
Anna gave me a curious look, so I explained.
“This representative wants to start a cross–pack initiative to increase the common people’s access to life- saving health care p>
This kind of thing was right up my ally, as if the project had been specifically catered for me. This representative certainly did their homework to bring me this.
I read a little more, knowing a dream wasn’t enough. There had to be steps in writing, an action plan that would lead us to a positive outcome, especially for a project of this scope.
Before I knew it, I had read the pack from front to back. Carla had stepped out in that time, and Anna was
back to work.
As I stood up from my desk, she looked at me again. “Is it a good one p>
“I’m going to speak with this representative,” I said. “This is exactly the kind of project the world needs p>
Anna smiled, even as she said, “Don’t forget to ask about the budget p>
Tucking the packet under my arm, I walked out of the office, then down the hallway to the front desk reception area with the waiting room beyond.
There wasn’t anyone in the waiting room, so frowning, I turned to Carla at the desk.
“Did they leave? Did I miss them p>
“He just went for some fresh air,” Carla said. “He seemed kind of nervous. Oh! Here he comes p>
Putting on a smile, I turned toward the door.
That smile froze right on my face.
The representative was Julian.
Carla called out to him, “Healer Amanda will see you now p>
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