I was preparing myself to knock when the door opened itself, revealing a surprised looking Dr.Dixon.

"Lara, good morning. I was just going to fetch you from your cabin. I didn't aspect to find you here." He greeted me while locking the door behind him.

"I'm sorry Robert, I didn't want to break our plans, but I had time to spare so I decided to take a walk to the pack house to scout the place a bit." I explained to him.

He smiled softly to me, but from his eyes I could tell that he was tired.

"No problem Lara. I'm quite happy you decided to come here on your own. However how did you find my house?" He asked me, cocking his eyebrows in curiosity.

"Nora helped me, she showed me the way."

"Ah yes." He nodded. "She is quite an handful, isn't she? Anyway, are you ready to start the day ahead of us?"

I was ready. I was ready to affront every difficulty and unexpected events this case would throw my way, so I nodded.

"The infirmary is close by..I have to live in a place from where I can easily reach the infirmary in case of need, so it's just a five minutes walk from here. Have you got everything you need?"

"I do. I am ready to go." I reassured him and he nodded.

We began walking, Robert in front of me while I was following right behind him.

"Have you slept well yesterday night Lara?"

Not really. Thanks to that overbearing, preposterous, intimidating, handsome and blue-eyed...what the fuck?! Why was I thinking of him in that way? My wolf let out an amused bark before curling up and putting her tail over her muzzle, her golden eyes shining in amusement. That devil beast was mocking me for letting the bond affect me more than it should. Damned wolf. She growled playfully before setting her head on her paws, waiting for what my day of work had in store for us.

"Yes Robert, very well. I found the atmosphere of the cabin quite relaxing in fact..and I love waking up with the sounds of nature."
I didn't completely lie as I thought that the cabin was indeed relaxing and actually loved waking up to the chirping of birds.

"That's great." He seemed appealed by my words. "I will take you on a proper tour of the building and then we will meet with Sarah and her mate. She lives at home, but I asked her to come by the clinic today to supervise her condictions, this way you two can propelly meet each other."

That was fine by me, I didn't want to waste any more time doing nothing. I wanted to get straight into work to get at the bottom of her peculiar situation.

Soon we reached a brick building and it was actually the first that I saw in the pack, every other building I saw was made of wood. It wasn't big, but it wasn't small either. It was the right size for a place not usually used, but capable of working in case of need.

"Here we are." He said while reaching the door and pulling it open.

The acre smell of disinfectant reached my nostrils and I inhaled deeply, letting that more than familiar smell make me feel at home. The inside of the infirmary was completely impersonal, like every other one: white walls, white ground and light green curtains, nothing you couldn't find in every other one in the state. But, as a point to the Silverblood pack, this one was extremely clean and sterilized as I couldn't find a single spot on the immaculate walls.

"Welcome to my world, Lara. Now, it will be yours too."

A small smile spreaded on my lips. I loved doing my job more than anything and I couldn't wait to get started.

"Thank you Robert. I hope I will not disappoint all of you."

He smiled at me, his smart green eyes holding certainty. "I know you won't Lara. I'm sure you will do your best and I, and every other one member of Silverblood, couldn't be happier about your decision to help."

I nodded at him. I was still cautious about all the gratitude the Silverblood pack was showing me. I didn't know if I could trust them enough to let my walls down, my wolf on the same page as me. She craved for the company of someone like us, but at the same time we couldn't let them treat us like Alpha Abel's pack had done all those years ago. Just at the thought of his name my beast began snarling, bloodlust for his blood boiling in my veins.

Robert stiffened under the power my body was emitting and distanced himself. I tried to regain composure, but my beast was still snarling in anger, showing her teeth at the image conjured in my mind of Alpha Abel trying to rape me. She was furious, fangs bared and hackles raised. She wanted to take over and run in Alaska to taste the flesh and blood of the old bastard. I couldn't let her do that. Years ago we had decided not to succumb to the sweet promises of revenge and that would not change now. I closed my eyes, taking deep breaths, reaching the border in my mind that separated me from my wolf. I calmed her, soathed her, promised her that we would go hunting as soon as my work was done.

Once I regained control over myself, I snapped my eyes open, noticing that me and Robert, who was still stiff and tense, were not alone anymore. A middle aged she-wolf was watching me with wary eyes, her wolf still feeling the power of my rage.

"I'm sorry," I said, "I was lost in a train of not so pleasurable memories."

Robert relaxed, while the brown-eyed she wolf was still in a tense stance.

"Nurse Gina, this is Dr. Lara Crawford. Lara, this is Gina, the nurse who is helping me here."

I smiled at her, trying to result the most friendly as possible. I knew that the first approach with an Alpha wolf wasn't very comfortable, especially in a situation like the one we just shared.

I extended my hand to her, still smiling.

"Nice to meet you, nurse Gina. I'm deeply sorry for what happened before, but I assure you that  it will not happen again. The last thing I want is being unconfortable around work partners. We have to work as a team to provide the patients with the best we can offer."

She seemed still a bit uncertain, but she shook my hand nontheless, nodding her head.

"The pleasure is mine, Dr. Crawford. Dr.Robert told me a lot about your abilites and I look forward to see you work."

"You definitely will." I promised her.

She nodded once again, before entering a door on the left side of the room.

"Well, Gina is a great nurse. She helps me all the time and she has never done anything wrong in her 20 years of working for me. I'm quite lucky to have her as an asset."

"I bet she is."

He looked at me with a small smile on his lips, before diverting his gaze towards a door in the right side of the room.

"If you would like to follow me I will show you now the clinic."

He began pacing towards that door and I followed suit, throwing occasional glances at my surroundings. Behind that door stood a long hallaway with several doors long its sides.

"So, the first four doors lead to the clinics, which we use to visit patients or as degency rooms depending on the necessity. Then, the third one on the left is the storage room in which we put the medical equipment, instead the third one on the right is the surgery, but it's barely used. The last door on the right is my office and, on the left side, we have yours."

I had an office? Well, that would be quite useful in order to do my researches in peace.

I pushed the door open and I was greeted by the sight of a big, beautiful wooden desk on the left side of the room, while the right one was occupied by a table with lab struments such as a microscope and other equipments. I smiled to myself. Such a beautifully equipped office to begin with.

"Do you like it?" Robert's voice reached my ears while I was still oagling the high-tech machines I was provided with.

"Love it. I haven't got such expensive machines for myself at the hospital..I suppose Alpha Hercules really likes to take care of his pack."

I turned to look at him and I found him chuckling.

"Well Lara, we could be wolves but we aren't barbaric you know?"

I turned my nose up.

"We will see about that Robert. I have yet to decide."

My wolf sneered in response at his statement before sitting on her belly and eyeing the male in front of us with attentive eyes; she was studying him, trying to decide if this male was worth of our trust.

"I hope you will see that we are not beasts." He said averting his eyes from me. "On the other side of the building there is the nursery. We actually have two females there. One has already given birth to a healty boy, while the other has her delivery time scheduled in a very short time. Gina takes care of them."

I nodded.

"Well..if everything is clear I would like you to finally meet Sarah, she is in the room number 3."

"Of course Robert. Please introduce me to her." I said with a firm voice. I was ready. I was ready to finally meet Sarah Reid and treat her the best way I could.

When I entered the room, following Dr. Dixon, a scent as a sweet as mint lingered in the air.
A woman sat on the bed in the center of the room, her body turned in our direction. Long light brown hair reached her waist, framing a long shaped face sculpted with soft and feminine features and caramel eyes shone with kindness, but they also apperead slightly dull, bags visible under them. Her appereance seemed strangely familiar, but I couldn't pin point exactly where I could have seen features like hers.

"Sarah, this is Dr. Lara Crawford. She is the doctor I told you about."

We smiled at each other.

"Sarah, nice to meet you. I'm Dr. Crawford and I promise you I will do my best to get at the bottom of your problem."

" I know you will. Robert here talked a lot about you.." She said while looking at Dr. Dixon.

I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Oh." I let out an uncomfortable laugh. "I hope he said positive things about me."

"Indeed he did." She assures me. "He couldn't stop talking about your researches on human medicine".

I turned to look at him to see if it was true and, by the faint blush spreading on his cheeks, I could tell that it was. I was deeply pleased that my work could be appreciated even by a physician who wasn't completely human.

"Yeah, well.." He said while nervously scratching his neck, "I studied your files before contacting you.. I had to make sure you were the right one to ask help."

"I would have done the same." I reassured him.

"Well, I will now leave you two alone. I will be in my office if you need me." He said to us while reaching for the door. He turned before exiting to cast a last glance at us. "Sarah, Lara, I will see you later."

Finally alone in the room, I turned my attention to the she-wolf who was seated on the hospital bed.

"Here we are Sarah. It's time to understand what happened to you. I would like you to tell me exactly how and when everything began. Please enlighten me also about your previous diseases and the anamnesi of your family."

Before she could start talking, the door busted open and a high pitched shout resonated through the room.

"Mommy!"

A little bundle of dark hair came running into the room, aiming straight to bed, and jumped, landing on Sarah's lap. The pup threw his arms around her neck, hiding his face in the crook of her neck. Sara was surprised by his appearance, but left a tender peck on his head.

"Sammy, baby, where is your father? You tricked him again?"

The boy turned his face up to look at her and blushed profusely. He couldn't be older than four. The door opened again, this time revealing a tall male whose eyes were dark with worry.

"Sammy! I told you that mom was occupied! You can't enter in clinical rooms without being invited!"

The pup, whose name I gathered was Sammy, looked ashamed and muttered, "Sorry daddy. I only wanted to make sure mommy was okay.."

He was so cute my chest constricted. I looked at this family with longing, my wolf whimpering in the back of my mind. She softly whined at the sight of the little wolf with his scrawny arms around his mother's neck, looking at her with deep love in his dark eyes that resembled his fathers' so much.
A future I would never have.

"Sam, I'm fine. Dr. Crawford here is taking care of me."

Sarah said to him, while petting his hair.
Sammy turned his head towards me and smiled sheepishly.

"Hi Sam. I'm Lara and I'm here to make your mommy feel better." I smiled at him and he blushed, a deep shade of red coating his chubby cheeks.

So cute.

"You are very cute." he said to me, showing me his toothy grin.

I laughed, his innocence warning my heart.

"Thank you Sam. So are you."

And he was. He would definitely grow up to become an handsome boy.

He blushed deepened and he turned to look at his father.

"Daddy always tells me to compliment pretty girls, because they love being told that they are pretty. He also told me to be sweet to my girlfriend, but I don't have one.. do you have a boyfriend?"

My heart melted. Such a little sweet thing he was. Daddy taught you well boy.

"No, I don't." I told him.

His sheepish smile broke into a wide grin and his dark eyes sparkled in excitement.

"Be my girlfriend?"

His parents were both looking at him with soft smiles on their faces and the father seemed even a bit smug, as to say 'I taught him everything with the ladies'.

I looked down at Sammy and smiled.

"I would love to. But every time you see me you have to tell me how pretty I am."

"I will! I will!"
He happily shouted before jumping off the bed and rushing to hug my legs.
I thought my heart stopped beating.

"Come on, playboy. We have to leave our ladies alone now." The male said, extending his hand to me. "Nice to meet you Dr. Crawford. I'm Jonathan."

I eyed his hand a bit reluctantly, but then clasped it.

"The pleasure is mine."

Sam was now making his way towards his father, an happy sprint in his steps.

"Hey boyfriend, aren't you forgetting something?"

He turned to face me and a small pout reached his face as he was thinking deeply. Adorable.

"Come give your girlfriend a kiss." I said, crouching on my knees.

He grinned, showing me his missing teeth, and came to give me a peck on the cheek.
Then, he and Jonathan exited the room hand in hand.

"He's adorable." I commented to his mother.

"He is. Me and Jonathan hadn't planned to have him, I got pregnant when I was quite young. I was only 22, but he is the best thing that ever happened to us."

By the way her face lighted up it was clear that her son was her whole world.
I cleared my throat.

"Returning to us, please tell me everything."

I switched to my professional self, focusing on the female while she explained to me the source of her symptoms. I picked a small notebook from my pocket, wanting to take notes about her situation.

"Well.. I never had health problems and neither my family..I began feeling strange last month, after I returned from a mission in Alaska."

So no previous episodes like this. Good. I wrote Alaska down and circled it, highlighting the word.

"What kind of mission?"

"I'm a scout. Basically, my job is searching for people. Two months ago, a group of rouges attacked our pack. Fortunately they didn't succeed in taking us down, but some of them managed to escape before we could capture them. Nothing wrong there, as rouges' attacks are frequent, but that one was different. That one seemed organized, planned in details and that was extraordinarily strange. So, I was sent with my team to track them down and interrogate them. We were able to track them in Alaska, but unfortunately it was a trap. They captured me, as I was the leader of the expedition, and kept me hostage for two days before my other members were able to set me free." She took a pause, uneasiness marring her features, and then she continued her retelling. "They kind of tortured me, but not in the classical way. No harm was physically done to me, but they injected me with something I still don't know what was. I thought it was silver, or wolfbane, but it wasn't. It didn't burn or pain me, I was fine. So, after being set free I came back home and everything was fine and normal. Two weeks after my return, I began feeling strange. I was always tired, I had no appetite. Dr. Dixon thought it was a case of fever as an answer to the shock of the capture, but the symptoms didn't fade away with time. Now it's about two weeks that I feel this way. "

She had such a dangerous job, despite having a family waiting for her at home. It was honorable, but also kind of reckless.

"I know what you are thinking. But I can't let go of my job. I have an obligation towards myself and my pack. Alpha Hercules tried many times to convince me to leave my position as track leader, but I can't. Jonathan knows that and accepted it long time ago. Samuel doesn't know yet, but he knows that I have an important job and that sometimes I have to go away from home."

She was such a courageous and fierce she-wolf.
Her devotion to her job and her pack was admirable. Not everyone would put their life at risk like she did for the sake of others.

"Your commitment is admirable Sarah, but for now, while you are still recovering, I strictly forbid you to even think about work. You have to stay relaxed, preferably at home, while I'll work to try to understand what happened to you. With your permission I will take a sample of your blood to run a few blood analyses. Please stay at home, relax, eat regularly and stay hydrated."

I looked her straight in the eyes while saying that as I wanted her to receive the message loud and clear.
She nodded, her expression somber, while I was preparing herself for the blood sampling.

—

I knocked on Dr. Dixon's door twice before hearing a muffled "Come in" from inside.
Ha was seated at his desk, papers spread everywhere, with a cup of coffee in his hands. He was focused on reading a file, but when I entered the room he closed it and placed the cup down.

"Lara. I suppose you finished visiting Sarah. Everything went well?"

"Yeah. She told me about her line of work and about what happened last month in Alaska. I took a blood sample to examine. Did you perhaps have ran another blood sampling when she came to you? I would like to compare them."

"Yeah, of course. Just a minute, I have to find her file."

He began rummaging trough the drawers of his desk, scattering papers on the floor. He was even messier than me. I took the time to examine his study; it was quite simple, similar to mine, but his had a window with the view of the path to reach the clinic.

"Here it is."

He handled me few papers and I thanked him.

"What do you think about it?"

His tone was cautious, as he was dreading my answer.

"Actually, I don't know yet. I prefer to run some tests and exams before taking a guess."

I didn't want to make assumptions without having anything concrete in my hands.

"I will have the results ready on Tuesday. Tomorrow I will be at the hospital for my shift. Now, if you excuse me, I would like to return to my cabin to do a bit of research. I will move my books and my equipment to my study afterwards."

"Yes, of course. Let me walk you out, Lara."

He got up from the chair, his burly frame blocking the rays coming from the window.
I followed him down the hallway, thinking about the way back to my cabin. When we reached the waiting room, I saw a male sat on one of the uncomfortable-looking chairs, his form slouched onwards. Upon hearing our steps, he lifted his head, showing us his identity.
The Beta male was sporting a big bruise on his face, covering his right cheekbone to his chin, his lips were swollen and he had a deep scratch on his nose.

I wanted to smirk at the sight, remembering his chauvinistic comments, but refrained myself from doing so. My wolf, however, licked her muzzle and smirked, if a wolf could smirk.

Robert seemed taken aback by the sight and promptly reached for him, examining the bruises and slashes on the man's face.

"Beta Cameron what happened?"

"Nothing relevant." He answered while touching his swollen lips and twitching in pain.

I was curious myself, what happened to him?
He met my curious stare, assessing my presence, but quickly averted his gaze to Dr. Dixon.

"Come Beta, I'll stitch you up and give you some painkillers to relieve the pain. Follow me to the room number.."

He was interrupted by nurse Gina, who came running into the room with a frantic expression on her face. Her hair was sticking out of her bun and her scrubs had a very large wet stain on them.

"Dr. Dixon! Come, Shelby is ready to give birth to her twins!"

Robert widened his eyes, before casting a nervous glance towards the Beta male. He was clearly torn between helping his superior or going straight to the female giving birth.

"Robert, go. I'll stitch him up myself."

I didn't like the male, but he was hurt. He needed help cleaning the cuts before they could get infected and I was a doctor. Duty before everything else.

"Thank you Lara."

Robert then ran after the nurse towards the nursery hall.

"Well, Beta Cameron, please follow me."

The brown-haired wolf was looking at me shocked, his eyes untrustworthy. He was probably scared I was going to hurt him, seeing as he had treated me in the morning. I smirked. The thought was appealing.
He grunted something in response before standing up and limping behind me.

As I entered the second room on the right, I casted him a glance, indicating the bed.

"Please sit. I'm going to clean your wounds and then stitch them up."

He followed my orders while I occupied myself with searching for gauze and the disinfectant. Once I found them, I cut the gauze in tiny pieces, soaking one with the liquid.

" So.." I started, cleaning the scratch on his nose. "What happened to you?"

"Your mate happened."

The piece of gauze I was holding fell to the floor.

"What?" I crooked out.

How could he know about my mate? I didn't tell anybody. Not a single soul knew, my supposed mate excluded. Could had been him? It had to be him. Why though? It was a private matter and I wanted it to stay that way. None needed to know about me being their Alpha's mate. I only wanted them to see me as a doctor who was here in order to help, nothing more. Even because if they discovered my bond to their Alpha, I didn't know what reaction would be worst: being shunned away as an abomination or being forced to stay?
Hercules had no right to choose for me, had no right in telling others about what happened between us.

"He didn't tell me."

My eyes snapped to the male on the bed, studying his expression. He was calm.

"By the way your face turned murderous I kind of guessed where your thoughts were. He didn't tell me, not directly anyway."

"How could he not directly tell you?"

"Well.." he said, readjusting his position on the bed, "we were facing each other during training and he was having the upper hand, as usual, so I wanted to distract him. I made another appreciation, kind of sexual sorry, towards you, thinking he would lose his focus, but instead he became a raging beast and so.. here I am."

So Hercules wanted to defend my honor? I wanted to laugh at the thought. I needed no male to protect me. I was capable of doing that by myself. On the other hand, if Hercules had beaten his second in command like this, I couldn't imagine how he could reduce one of his enemies.

"You didn't explain how you know about us."

Picking up another piece of gauze, I began cleaning his split lip, applying just a little more pressure than necessary. He flinched, but kept from complaining. Served him right for using me and my body as a mean of distraction during their training.

"I was taken aback by his sudden outburst at the mention of you because Hercules never loses his calm, you know? I pressed him long and hard, but he still didn't want to spill the beans. But I can be very persistent when I want to be, and I wanted to know the reason behind his reaction. At the end he caved and told me you two are mates, but he made me promise to not tell anyone and I can't exactly disobey an Alpha command, so your secret is safe with me."

I exhaled a breath in relief. At lest Hercules had been cautious enough to forbid his Beta from telling other people. Even with only Cameron knowing, it was already one person more.

"Here, you are all cleaned up. Now I will stitch you, it may sting a little."

I retrieved the sawing kit, deciding on using the sterile strips as his wounds were not so deep.

"Hey Lara.."

"It's Dr. Crawford to you." I interrupted him.

He tried to smirk, but then flinched in pain.

"So, Lara, I want to apologize for the way I acted this morning.. I was a dick and I'm sorry. It's just that I love women and the flirting comes natural."

I was taken aback by his apologies, so I decided to fly over the fact that he decided to call me by my first name.

"Apologies accepted. Just don't make comments like those anymore. About me at least. The Gamma Female told me that women usually like your flirting."

I was stitching a cut on his eyebrow when I felt him sigh.

"It's just that...no. Never mind."

I lowered my gaze, looking at him in the face. It was clear that he wanted to share something, but by the way his forehead was crinkled he was nervous about it.

"Stay still. Or you'll end up with an asymmetrical face and the ladies won't fall for your charms anymore."

He tried to answer, but I swatted him on the head. Applying the last strip I took a step back to study my work. His nose and forehead were done, now it was the turn of his lips.

"Lara, I know that you aren't accustomed to our traditions and things like that, but when you are twenty-eight and still haven't found the person with whom spend your life with... your soul crashes. I waited for five years without glancing or touching another female, but when you see your friends sharing the mate bond, you snap. I snapped. My beast snapped. I lost hope and here I am..a man-whore who feels deeply and utterly lonely."

My heart ached a little for him. I partly understood him. I understood his loneliness and his desire of having someone loving him. I was preparing myself to stitch his lips when he spoke again.

"He isn't like that, you know?"

I arched my eyebrows. What was he getting at?

"Hercules isn't like me. Well, he did have his fair share of one night stands when he was younger, but he stopped because he was waiting for his female. When she didn't come, he pursuit a relationship with a she-wolf because he needed someone to rule beside him, but it lasted only a few months. He couldn't stand having someone at his side that wasn't his female, so he called quits. He hasn't even looked at a she-wolf in one year and half."

I sighed. I didn't care about Hercules' past. I didn't care if he was a fuck boy or a virgin. That was his life, his choices.

"Listen, I won't judge you or him. Your life, your choices. Honestly, I don't care about his past, nor about the females he bedded. I'm not going to be in his life for long, so I have no right to act upon it. Now shut up that I have to stitch your upper lip."

With the last sterile strip placed, I removed my gloves and threw them in the dustbin.

"All right, all done. Come back tomorrow and we will remove them."

When he didn't answer, I turned to look at him, noticing that he made no move to go away. He was wearing a determinate expression on his face, his eyes fixated on mine.

"Give him a chance. I don't know why you are rejecting him, but he is a good guy. Take it from someone who had known him for all his life. He deserves a chance, he deserves a shot at happiness. He dedicated all his life to the pack, it's time for him to be happy."

When I didn't answer, he sighed and shook his head.

"At least think about it."

"I don't make promises that I can't keep."

—

When I came back to the cabin in the late afternoon I was quite tired. After Cameron left, I stayed at the clinic helping people out while Dr.Dixon was still in the nursery. I had promised myself to proceed on my research and then to go out hunting a bit, but I was too tired to do both things.

Stepping on the porch, I saw something unusual laying on the wooden floor.

A snowdrop.

The scent of chocolate and spices was still lingering in the air and I inhaled, secretly enjoying that his scent seemed to wash away tiredness from me.

I picked the flower up and entered the cabin.
I filled half a glass with water before placing the snowdrop in it. I spent the evening throwing subtle glances at it and when it was time to go to sleep, I picked the glass up and took it in the bedroom, placing it on the drawer next to the bed.

Maybe he wasn't as bad as I thought he would be.. maybe Cameron was right about him and he was a good man.
With those thoughts swirling in my mind, I fell asleep.

—-

Hello beautiful readers!
I'm sorry for the delay, but I wasn't able to write for a while!
Anyway..we are entering the real plot of the story! What do you think about it?
What do you think about Cameron?
I know there is no Hercules in this chapter, but he will return in the next one 😏
If you liked this chapter please vote and leave a comment, I really would like to hear your thoughts!
Ps: would you like for me to choose a cast?
Let me know ✨
Kate x