Chapter 112

Lucian’s POV

As confident and proud as Dr. A was in this moment, it would be difficult not to respect her. Looking at her, I felt my already hefty admiration for her grow even more. She was a brave woman, willing to leave everything behind for the sake of her dream of helping people.

While I was disappointed, I could never be angry with her for standing behind her convictions.

“I understand,” I said.

My gaze slowly fell to her stomach, where she lightly rested one of her hands over her growing baby bump.

Losing her and her child to another pack was a great regret. Together, we could have worked to make Nightfall even greater. Since Dr. A was so exceptional, her child would undoubtedly be of great character, conviction, and skill as well – if they are anything like their mother.

I still had doubts about the father in this situation. It seemed as if he wasn’t in the picture anymore, but I dared not presume or push too hard for the answers.

Dr. A was incredibly purposeful in her speech and actions. If she wanted me to know something, she would tell me.

“I wish you all the happiness in the world, Dr. A,” I said. “For you and your baby.” I paused, but then realized I shouldn’t exclude the potential father. That could be a misstep, and make her believe that I wasn’t supportive of her entire family. “And for your partner, of course.”

Dr. A’s face tightened slightly, but she still smiled at me.

Even though I’d tried to not misstep, and otherwise prided myself on my diplomacy, I felt like I’d made a major offense here somehow. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned the partner, after all. Or used a more general term like ‘family.’

Too often, I seemed to put my foot in my mouth around Dr. A. Maybe I wasn’t as diplomatic as I had thought I was.

“I apologize for bothering you,” I said. “If you will excuse me. Dr. A. Piper.”

Dr. A nodded. Piper did too, when I glanced at her.

Then, before I could make an even bigger ass out of myself, I turned and walked away.

Aria’s POV

After Lucian had gone, Piper looked at me. “Are you okay?”

Not really. “Not here,” I said, and led Piper back into the relative safety of our office. With us leaving so soon, we’d mostly tied up all loose ends, alerting people to our departure and helping any remaining patients find new healers.

As such, the phones didn’t ring and the waiting room was empty. The last thing for us to finish was our packing. We were going to leave behind most of the supplies and the records, but I wanted to take my medical textbooks, as those were invaluable to me.

I head there now, to take the books off the shelves and deposit them in the boxes we’d already started filling. These boxes would be mailed, arriving at our destination a few days after us.

Piper followed me, a worried expression on her face.

“Should we talk about this?”

“What’s there to talk about?” I asked her.

“Literally everything that just happened,” Piper replied.

I could understand her concern. I was filled with some measure of satisfaction, having watched Sheila finally receive some punishment for all that she had done, and I was also still riding the high of adrenaline after Travis bullied his way into being my fake assistant, setting up the ruse.

I didn’t want to slow down to think about any of this, however. If I did, maybe it would shake me to my core. My focus had to be on the future, now, for me and my child. Though I was pleased to see Sheila face justice at last, it didn’t affect what would happen next.

“The things Alpha King Lucian said…” Piper said, with some hesitation. “Does this change anything?”

Glancing at her, I tried to discern what she meant. Did she think I would fall over myself, wanting to stay with Lucian now that he was having some regrets about the way he treated his wife? That assumed that I even fully believed him.

At the end, it was so easy to put on the rose-colored glasses and view things in a more romantic light. While I was glad he could see that he had mistreated me, and that he supposedly seemed to want me now, I couldn’t trust it.

He had enough chances to fix things with me when we had still been married. Now that things were officially done, I couldn’t trust he wasn’t just being nostalgic about the past. If he truly meant any of his words, he would have acted sooner.

My heart still yearned for him, I couldn’t deny that. I doubted the distance would change that, but I’d been without him long enough now, even when we had been married, that I had become entirely self-dependent. Yes, I wanted him. Yes, I would miss him. But I would not let that stop me from moving forward and doing what was best for my child and me.

The longer I went without answering Piper, the more worried she looked.

“Nothing that was said or done today changes any of my plans,” I assured her. “We are still boarding that plane the day after tomorrow and leaving all of this behind.”

Relief crossed over Piper’s face. “Okay.”

I gave her a small, reassuring smile. “Now, let’s finish packing these books. I want to get them in the mail today.”

Having a task seemed to lift her spirits even more, and we both delved into our work.

The next day, I stood in my personal office, placing my name card and other personal items into a much smaller box. These were more sentimental items, the last to be packed. Once they were secured, that would be the last of my things in these offices.

It already looked so barebones, so similar to when I had arrived. Moving on was difficult, and carried a bunch of weight, even if I knew it was necessary.

A knock on my door brought my attention upwards. I hadn’t been expecting anyone, and Piper was out finalizing her Healer certification.

I was surprised to see Jasper standing in my doorway. Though maybe I shouldn’t have been.

He knew about my plans to leave tomorrow, and I could tell, with how unusually reserved he’d been the past few days that he had been building up to something.

A question, perhaps.

He wanted to come with me, I was sure of that. And I was half-ready to let him. My heart was still tied up with Lucian, a fact he knew, yet he still seemed to enjoy being around me. I found his presence to be a comfort, even if only as a friend.

“Aria,” he said and stepped more fully into the room. “I’ve been meaning to… That is, there’s something that…” He huffed a harsh breath in clear frustration.

It wasn’t typical to see a usually so charismatic man so tongue-tied.

“I’ve made a decision about what I should do,” he said. “Whether or not I should join you. And I’m ready to tell you…”