Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Chapter 29
Amber’s POV
After agreeing to take part in the project, things moved extremely quickly. Within two weeks Julian arranged for transportation to take me to the highest affected areas of Thom Pack. He’d also identified several patients with landmark cases that I could interview to understand the impacts of the symptoms on the patients themselves.
It was an invisible disease, which affected the poor even more, as their employers would often accuse them of not really being sick when they said they needed time off work to deal with the illness. However, the longer a patient suffered the illness without
treatment, the worse it became, until eventually they would be bedridden, uncertain if they would ever walk again.
The night before my first day of research, I couldn’t sleep. I was excited, of course, but I was also nervous.
It had been a long time since I’d been to the slums. The old Alpha and Luna’s support, followed by the money Julian paid me after our university meetups, had put me in a much better financial position. Once Grandma died and Julian offered marriage, I had no
reason to go back there.
I had such great memories of growing up there with Grandma. Despite our circumstances, she’d given me a great childhood.
That didn’t erase the scars that being that poor can leave on a person.
When I arrived the first day, it felt like walking into a memory.
“Healer Amanda,” I heard someone say. “Healer Amanda, I think we’re supposed to go this way p>
I shook my head, clearing the clouds out of my mind. Noah was looking at me, holding a map in his hands. I was glad to see that,
although Noah grew up in the upper middle class, being in the slums didn’t seem to phase him at all.
As soon as I stepped foot in the first hospital, the clouds and fears cleared from my mind. Part of me felt as though this kind of
work was what I’d always been meant to do.
I interviewed many patients in the clinics found in the slums, the places patients whose insurance or personal funds wouldn’t
cover the world-class Thom Pack Hospital tended to end up. I learned about the patients’ medical histories and collected
pathogens, which I would test in the lab when I returned to Thorn Pack Hospital after a day of field research.
One of my favorite patients was Melanie, a community college student who’d caught the disease from a coworker at her coffee
shop job. Despite her illness, she always had textbooks open around her, pens and highlighters scattered across them like
sprinkles
Hers was a serious case she could barely get up to use the restroom on her own anymore. But she remained dedicated to her
studies.
“I want to be able to pick up right where I left off,” Melanie said to me one day, smiling “I’ve heard about you. I know you’re
going to find a treatment p>
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Melanie’s dogged determination reminded me of my own. I was determined not to let her down the same way I’d failed to cure Grandma. I wouldn’t let her, or Alice, or anyone else suffer ever again.
Soon, I developed a treatment plan. It was exciting to think that my plan may help so many unfortunate people get better. It was
all I’d ever wanted.
Julian’s POV
I sat in Healer Amanda’s office. While I would have loved to accompany her on her research trips, I’d only been able to go along a
few times, as I still had the pack and the company to oversee.
I was sure the pack was in capable hands, but I missed flexing the knowledge I’d picked up in university. Running Thorn Pack had
become routine at this point. The moments I got to problem solve were few and far in between, much of my time spent up by
dignitaries rather than my citizens.
“Hello, Alpha,” Healer Amanda said, striding through the door. “I see you made yourself at home p>
I set down the mug I’d been sipping tea from. “Noah helped me p>
“Noah?” Healer Amanda raised an eyebrow at me over her mask. “You know my assistant’s name p>
Did she really think I was that self-involved? “Of course. He’s been a great help organizing this project p>
Healer Amanda didn’t say anything, opening her file folder instead.
She jumped right into her findings. I’d expected the meeting to be a debrief on her research results and discussion of a possible path to next steps, but Healer Amanda had already used the pathogens she’d collected to develop a treatment.
She set a small vial of potion in front of me. It was a deep purple, an enchanting color to see in such a sterile environment as a
hospital. In such a short amount of time she’d devised such a thorough path to treatment, and I was in complete awe of her
expertise.
“This is incredible,” I said as my phone rang. “Excuse me for a moment p>
I stepped outside and answered.
“Alpha,” Beta said. “I have the results of your investigation into Healer Amanda and her, um, potential connections to your ex-
wife p>
“Wife,” I said, thinking about how I knew where Amber lived, and that she lived with another alpha. Roman.
“Great,” I said. “Send it over p>
“I have to warn you, Alpha,” Beta said. “You may be surprised by some of my findings p>
“What could you have learned that’s worse than what I already know?” I asked.
“You’ll have to look through the documents yourself, Alpha,” Beta responded.
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Now, I was worried. “Just tell me what you found, Beta. I’m serious p>
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“I know, Alpha,” Beta responded, “but I have to insist that you look through it yourself. I’m sending the files over email now p>
My phone buzzed two short times, indicating that I’d received an email. Sure enough, there was Beta’s message, complete with a virtual dossier of information. I opened it, scrolling through the information Beta had compiled for me.
And then I saw it.
There she was. A photo of Healer Amanda after surgery, slipping her mask from her face.
Except the face under the woman’s mask belonged to Amber, my wife.
I almost dropped my phone. Was the woman in the office behind me really my wife? Could it be that the quiet, submissive
housewife I once knew was an accomplished Healer? How could that be possible?
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