Chapter 168

Cara’s POV

A sense of joy flooded through the room at how quickly and how fully Mia had seemed to recover. Almost all at once, she had gone from being bedridden, too sick to get up from bed, to nearly bouncing out of it. It was all we could do to keep her still until all of the Healers could check her over.

It felt like a miracle.

As the room became crowded, with so many Healers filing in to witness the event, I left Mia’s care to Alaric and stepped closer to Grayson.

Holding out my hand, I said, “Thank you so much. I genuinely don’t know how you did this, but I couldn’t be happier.”

He accepted my hand and shook it. “It wasn’t just me. Richard and Ruby might not have had a name for the disease yet, but they were on the right track. It was a group effort that led to this happy conclusion.”

“Even so,” I said, surprised that he could be so humble after doing so much. “Thank you for your part in this.”

“I’m an old Healer, Miss Auburn. I’ve seen most things, even if many of those things are not around anymore. Or not talked about,” he said. As he spoke, his eyes narrowed. He was studying me, and I felt somewhat like a sample under a microscope. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to hear about your own symptoms.”

“Mine?” I asked.

“With the Lost Pup Sickness, there is typically some correlation with the mother. That traumatic incident during pregnancy, that triggered Mia’s wolf to arrive prematurely… I can only imagine it affected you as well,” Grayson said.

I had just wanted to thank him, not become a patient myself. Worried someone might overhear, I glanced around, but everyone in the room except Grayson was focused on Mia. Even Alaric’s gaze was fully fixed on his suddenly healthy daughter.

This gave me relief. She was who we all should be paying attention to, not me.

Yet Grayson looked at me as if I was the next case to solve. As I still felt like hell, I supposed there was no harm in telling him the truth. Perhaps he could gift me a solution as easy and effective as the one given to Mia.

“Yes,” I said. “I lost touch with my wolf.”

Grayson’s eyes widened slightly, but then immediately when back to regular size. “Yes. I should have suspected that. A wolf imbalance in you could lead to a wolf imbalance in your daughter.”

“So can you give me an injection to fix it, as well?” I asked, somewhat hopeful though still with realistic expectations. What happened with Mia felt like a miracle. I didn’t expect the same kind of luck twice.

“Unfortunately, in your case, things are much more complicated,” he said. “If you would allow it, I would like to have some bloodwork drawn, and maybe run a few other tests.”

“Alright,” I said. “But later, okay? I want to keep an eye on Mia for now.”

Grayson nodded tersely, but added, “Don’t postpone too long.”

It was an eerie warning that left me feeling unnerved. The way he was acting… and the way he was looking at me like I was a puzzle…

It was making me worried. What if something was seriously wrong with me?

I couldn’t think about that right now, though. Right now was cause for celebration. Mia was feeling better than she’d ever felt in her entire life, and all of the Healers were stunned.

Leaving Grayson, I returned to where I belonged at my daughter’s side.

As the Healers filed out, perplexed yet satisfied, Ethan and my brothers came in.

Mia was crawling all over her bed, tugging at the wires attached to her, trying to break them loose.

“Remember how we act at hospitals,” I reminded her gently, guiding her to still.

“But I feel great, Mom!” she countered. It was difficult to argue with that, but she fortunately stopped picking after that.

“How are you feeling, Mia?” Ethan asked, rushing to her side.

“Better,” she told him. “Really, really better.”

My brothers took turns giving her hugs while Alaric and I leaned against one another.

“After all this time,” I said, “I can’t believe things are finally getting better. I’ve been so frightened for her for so long, this almost doesn’t feel real.”

Alaric wrapped an arm around my shoulders and tugging me closer gently, kissed the side of my head.

“Believe it,” he said. “It’s happening. She’s getting better.”

The tears that had been welling in my eyes finally fall.

“Why are you sad, Mommy?” Mia asked, noticing.

“I’m not sad, honey,” I told her. “I’m just so, so happy.”

I laughed through the tears, and others laughed with me. Ruby cried too, and we hugged.

The jovial mood lasted a good long while, and might have lasted longer, had Richard not stepped closer.

There was tension in his presence, both in how Alaric and I were around him and how awkward he was around us. My brothers might have tried to ignore this terseness in the air, but my children were too young to understand this division.

“Mom?” Mia asked. “Who is he?”

She must have been more curious about him than the others. With his hair, Richard was distinctly an Auburn. Grayson looked like any other Healer that had come and gone, and Mia already knew Ruby.

The entire room quieted. Even Richard seemed stricken, like he wasn’t sure what to do or say.

Now was the moment, I realized, for forgiveness to either be gifted or denied forever. Though Grayson had made Mia’s diagnosis, he had already credited Ruby and Richard for helping to reach that conclusion. Without either of them, he might not have found this answer.

That was worthy of praise. Of consideration. And maybe…

I closed my eyes and thought about my family. The Auburns. None of us were perfect. We’d all made mistakes and would continue to do so.

Richard had made some of the biggest mistakes out of all of us, but had spent his time since then self-exiled as a form of penance. He knew I wouldn’t want to see him so he had isolated himself as far away from me as he could.

Yet, instead of just restarting his life and forgetting all about me, when he heard of Mia’s illness, he searched for a way to cure her. He studied so much, per Ruby, that he had dedicated himself fully to that cause.

Had he not earned some measure of forgiveness? Should he continue to be punished, separating himself from his family and his home? Did BloodyMoon not deserve to have one of its best doctors back on the pack lands?

I glanced at Alaric, expecting him to have some input on this, but he just stared back at me expectantly. He was deferring to my judgement on this, I could tell. For better or worse, whatever I decided, I knew he would back me one hundred percent.

More than anyone, I was the offended party here. I was the only one who could decide if what Richard had done properly atoned for the past.

Seeing my little girl healthy for maybe the first time made that choice much easier to make. I felt softer the entire way through my body, filled with relief and light and love.

So I told Mia, “That’s your Uncle Richard.”