Page 8 of Ellie 1

“I’m not.” I made it clear in my eyes that I was telling her the truth. “You’re an amazing leader and this hospital a miracle. Because of you. I want to be here to learn from you on how to be a leader as much as I want to contribute as a doctor. That’s the truth. The board can kiss my ass and if they want to yell at me, and good luck catching an Alpha wolf.”

Her lips twitched and she let out a long breath. “Okay, Dr. Clark. You’ve convinced me that you’re not the enemy and could actually be the right fit for what we need. I’ll give you a month’s trial to prove you’re on the right side of all of this and your focus is where it should really be.”

“And then?” I hedged, not sure I was willing to uproot my life and move to America from the UK for a damn month.

Amusement danced in her eyes. “And then I’ll treat you like I had hired you of my own accord instead of the board backing me into this corner. I’ll treat you like any other doctor here andlike you’re on my team instead of someone I have to watch out for and make sure you’re not carrying a knife that I expect you to stab me in the back with.”

Relief swarmed me. “Take sixty or ninety days.” I extended my hand to her over the desk. “Because I can prove it to you as long as you need. I’m on the side of ASH which is you. I just want a chance to be part of this place and what it stands for.”

She gave my hand a brief shake, just long enough for me to feel how soft her skin was and like how her smaller hand fit in mine. “We will see, Dr. Clark. We will see.”

There was a lot more to discuss with her and to my day. I was exhausted by the time I got back to my hotel, but I would say things turned out better than I could have reasonably expected.

I hurried to call my mum knowing she’d still be awake waiting for word no matter the time difference.

“Congratulations,” she said in greeting. “I told you no one could turn down my talented son.”

“More like you were right and being honest with a woman is always best even in a professional setting,” I countered.

“Good, then she is a smart woman who appreciates integrity,” Mum replied, a woman who was the same.

“And a powerful witch who can sense lies.”

She was quiet for several moments, long enough that I checked if the call was still connected. “Ellie Reed is a vampire, Ha-joon.”

“Really?” I whispered, waiting until Mum confirmed it. “I couldn’t tell. She—her energy was funny. She read as both vampire and witch almost. It was weird. I was actually going to ask you about that.”

“Hmm, so she is special. You of all people understand that.”

“Yeah, but can a vampire have magic? I thought that was impossible,” I muttered.

“Improbable, but if you live long enough, you find little is truly impossible,” she countered. “She could be from a line of kitsune that mated with a vampire. There were whispers that some interspecies matings with their bloodlines could yield special ones. They were all wiped out when Japan learned of us—or so we thought.”

I nodded as she spoke, having heard her tell stories of her growing up in Korea and the different shifter species who were more than just people with animals. There was definitely more than we knew in the world, and we knew of a lot.

Ellie Reed clearly was one of those instances.

3

Ellie

Dr. Ha-joon Clark waswaymore accommodating than I would ever have thought in a million years. I actually felt bad for having turned him down previously after meeting him… Assuming he was really the man in front of me and not all an act that got around my magic somehow.

I’d assumed a lot after looking into him. In my defense, it was the persona and image he allowed people to put out there. He was on the damn brochures of the hospital he was currently an attending at. They used him for promo and raising money. He was the son of one of the most powerful Alphas in Europe.

And I didn’t mean physically. The Clarks had power and money and connections that went back so many generations that it would mean a headache for me. Others longed to make those sorts of introductions, but all it meant to me was headaches and people trying to flex their power on me.

That was something I didn’t allow in my hospital. Not from anyone, so if Dr. Clark thought his impressive lineage would make a difference in his career with ASH, he would quickly find out he was sorely mistaken.

He truly didn’t seem the type though and I did feel a bit bad. I’d let my own prejudices against people in power and with those types of backgrounds lead me to turn someone down who couldhave been a good fit for the hospital. In my defense, he was still a risk, and normally I didn’t take those kinds of risks.

Not with so much always on the line.

“Unfortunately for you, I’m not the only one you have to win over since I don’t pull fast ones on my own people,” I told Dr. Clark after we had our heart-to-heart and laid everything out on the table. He probably thought he would get the rest of his tour before signing the paperwork to start, but there were more hoops for him to jump through.

Several more hoops at least.

I slowed down when I saw who I wanted. “This is—”

---