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 particr 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 ne, we didn’t stay there long. I simply met with the seller, tested the genuineness and effectiveness of the ne, 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 ne 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 reced 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 upy 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 fireces to gather around on the colder nights.

    It was old and beautiful, and the perfect ce to start a new life.

    These more rural small towns out in the forest didn’t have much ess 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,plete with free medical care for anyone under eighteen.

    Some of the kids that starteding ito /ithe 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 ne was working or if

    she had found more peace out here among nature. Either way, I was happy.

    It felt like life was finallying together for us.

    Then, one day, after a few months of peace, I sat in my office, working on a form for a potential cure

    for Alice. Though the ne seemed to be helping, I didn’t want to depend on it long term. Someday, bI /bwanted 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 ido /iwhatever 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 rted 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 Ca stuck her head in the door.

    “There’s a representative here who gave me this,i” /ishe 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?” Ca said. Though I wasn’t

    particrly hiding my true identity as Amber, I found, when moving to new ces, it was easier to revert

    to my post–crash identity.

    Healer Amber was popr 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 toe at the hands of representatives who would do their best to try to convince me to ept 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 Ca 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.

    “This is a very ambitious project,” I said.

    Anna gave me a curious look, so I exined.

    “This representative wants to start a cross–pack initiative to increase themon people’s ess to life- saving health care.”

    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 n that would lead us to a positive oue, especially for a project of this scope.

    Before I knew it, I had read the pack from front to back. Ca 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?”

    “I’m going to speak with this representative,” I said. “This is exactly the kind of project the world needs.”

    Anna smiled, even as she said, “Don’t forget to ask about the budget.”

    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 Ca at the desk.

    “Did they leave? Did I miss them?”

    “He just went for some fresh air,” Ca said. “He seemed kind of nervous. Oh! Here hees.”

    Putting on a smile, I turned toward the door.

    That smile froze right on my face.

    The representative was Julian.

    Ca called out to him, “Healer Amanda will see you now!”