Amber’s POV

    Olivia was likely here to see Julian, so hoping to avoid her, I looked around for my morning appointment, to get that patient to the back before Olivia could see me. Unfortunately, Olivia was the only one in the

    office at the moment.

    This gave me a sinking feeling, like a dark intuition, I could almost predict what was about to happen…

    “Oh, Healer!” Olivia said. Spotting me, she stood and walked over. “Thank you so much for epting my appointment at thest minute.”

    I nced at Ca who gave me a thumbs up.

    Yes, I did takest minute appointments for people in need, but I’d left Olivia in the hands of Healer Eric and others from the Thorn pack. With her infertility cured, those doctors should have been able to look

    after all of her needs without issue.

    Her appearance here felt like a trap, but since I didn’t know what she wanted, I didn’t see anyway of not

    walking right into it.

    “What’s the problem?” I asked her, with us both still out in the waiting room.

    Olivia lifted a brow. “Isn’t that something we should discuss privately? I doubt you make your other patients discuss their personal health issues right here in the lobby.”

    She was right. Even Ca was starting to look at me strangely.

    “Very well,” I said. Turning, I led Olivia into the examination room that I had intended to use for my first patient of the day. That patient, I guessed, was Olivia.

    I held the door, waiting for her to enter as I always did with patients. Once she was inside, I closed the door to give us the privacy she insisted upon.

    Looking at her, I didn’t detect any difort. She was standing confidently, with her hand on her hip and her head held high. With a smirk on her lips, she didn’t appear to be in any kind of pain.

    “Have you had some reaction to the fertility treatment?” I asked her. I was grasping at straws, trying to guess her issue. I didn’t want her to be unwell, but I was hoping she had some actual medical issue foring to see me, and not what I suspected, that she was here to stir up trouble.

    I already had plenty of that all on my own without her help.

    “No, nothing like that,” she said. “In fact, your treatments worked like a dream.” Delicately, she ced her hand over her stomach, which was t as a board. “I’m carrying Julian’s child. Soon, we’ll have a baby all bour /bown. Isn’t it wonderful?”

    Of course she was. Of course Julian would want a child with Olivia, his fated mate, as soon as possible.

    Yet… if she was pregnant, what was he doing here? Committing to a three month project to travel to different packs with Alice and me. Shouldn’t he be at home taking care of Olivia?

    Inside, my heart seemed to shrivel and my wolf whimpered in pain.

    I thought of Julian, Alice, and me sitting around that table at the ice cream ce, and how we could have

    been a happy little family.

    Who was I kidding? Julian was never going to be a part of my family. In fact, he probably wanted to take

    Alice back to the pack so she could be raised by Olivia.

    The thought made me so angry that I very nearly started to shake. It was only by my strong will that I

    kept from showing my fury on my face. I’d handled difficult patients before. I knew how to wear the mask of indifference even as my emotions raged just beneath the surface.

    “You surely didn’te all this way just to tell me that,” I said, though knowing Olivia and how much she

    seemed to dislike me, maybe she would travel this far just to see the look on my face when she told me. I

    kept my features schooled, hoping to deny her the satisfaction.