Chase’s brow pulled together in a mix of confusion and skepticism. “Amber. You literally did the walk of shame out of his hotel room wearingst night’s clothes.”

    “I’m telling you nothing happened,” I said.

    He considered this a moment, then shrugged. “Shame.”

    I looked at him sharply. “I thought you hated Julian. You warned me against him.”

    “I do and I did,” Chase said. “bIf /byou wanted to be in a rtionship with him, I’d worry. But sex? Love, have all the sex you want.”

    The car behind him honked and looking back to the road, he pulled the car forward again.

    Julian was attractive… Gods, those muscles of his, and that handsome chiseled face. Those eyes like twin oceans… And those hands. The things those hands could do…

    Blushing, I pushed the thoughts away and turned toward the window.

    Chase must have seen though, because heughed andughed, all the way to the clinic.

    At the clinic, I showered and changed. When Anna heard I was here, she met me in the locker room as I was putting on my doctor’s coat and pulling my damp hair up into a bun.

    “I’m so sorry aboutst night,i” /ishe said, and exined what happened leading to the decision of leaving me there with Chase. I understood her worry. Her inability to carry me. Not wanting Julian to take me home. Worrying about what Alice would think. Anna also exined that she relieved the babysitterst night and watched Anna, then took her to school this morning.

    All of it was understandable. I couldn’t be mad at her. In fact, I was d she prioritized Alice.

    “I made Julian swear to the Moon Goddess that he wouldn’t touch you,” she said.

    I sighed, immediately more at ease. Though I hadn’t felt like anything had happened, and while I trusted Julian not to be a brute in that way, it was still a relief to have that confirmation. Whatever small worry I had in the back of my mind was instantly squashed.

    Truthfully, the person I hadn’t trustedst night wasn’t Julian, but myself. Though I still didn’t remember most ofst night, I had some embarrassing shes of… heat. I remembered pressing myself against Julian, wishing he would touch me, marveling at his body.

    His body was a marvel, but I didn’t need to appreciate it by feeling it with my own!

    “Thank you, Anna,” I said, forcing my thoughts away from Julian. “I really don’t know how I got like that so quickly.” It was something that was still bothering me. Something definitely felt off, but I couldn’t ce my finger on it. Perhapster, I would draw some blood samples from myself and run some tests.

    7

    For now though, work was waiting. And so was Chase.

    Hurrying, I entered the examination room where Chase was. Looking him over, more closely now, I could see that his bruise was mostly healed. That was good.

    I made a note in his chart. Perhaps things weren’t quite as dire as Chase had been led to believe.

    “You are looking well this morning, Healer Amber,” Chase teased, ying as if we hadn’t already seen each other this morning, and like he hadn’t rescued me from one of the more embarrassing situations of my life.

    I grunted in response. In doctor mode, he was easier to ignore. I scribbled in my notes.

    Then it hit me. Something so obvious. Something I was overlooking.

    A yboy’s reputation. Those blood results. Something everyone wouldn’t see.

    I flipped back through the pages of his blood results, making connections I hadn’t seen before.

    “What is it?” he asked me, suddenly serious now, perhaps picking up on my more serious mood. “Amber?b” /b

    I kept looking through his file. I wasn’t entirely sure, I needed to run more tests, but…

    I think I knew how to fix his condition.

    But there was one question I had to ask first, and I needed him to be honest with me.

    Looking up at him, right in his eyes, I asked, “What happened to your fated mate?”