Page 7 of Ellie 3

The attending looked properly chastised. “I honestly never heard what happened. I didn’t really care. It’s been a fucked day.” He handed over a clipboard to me. “Give me your cell and I’ll text you updates and results. I’ll give him the full workup pluswhat you wanted. Let me know if you think of anything else and we can loop in Dr. James.”

“I appreciate it, mate. Really. This isn’t being—”

“Lions are one of the shifter species that can damage their bond and they lose their ability to shift,” Gerald spelled out. “Their animal falling asleep after changing forms is one of the first signs. Clark is being careful. I’ve done it before because of exhaustion, but he’s right and I shouldn’t be flippant.”

“Okay, good to know the most concerning possible issue,” the attending said as he took the clipboard back from me and jotted a few things down. “All over it. You go help Ms. Reed with what she needs.” He rolled his eyes when Gerald snorted. “Not what I meant.”

“He wasn’t being dirty either,” I admitted. “I think he meant more it’s hard to know what she needs right now.”

“Yeah, that,” Gerald confirmed. “I’m more professional than cracking locker room jokes with someone I’ve never spoken with before.”

“Glad to hear it,” the attending muttered, still writing more. “We’ve got things here. I’ll update you.”

I took the nudge and left, checking my phone to find that Ellie replied saying she’d meet me at my vehicle. She felt too shaky to drive home at the moment and I was proud of her to admit that.

“I think I need to do something about Gerald,” she muttered when I reached her. “He was so—”

“I just forced Gerald to the emergency department for tests,” I interjected, nodding when she did a double take. “I’m not defending him, but we talk—let me fill you in on the way home. What do you want to eat for dinner?”

“Sushi,” she sighed, thanking me when I opened the door for her. She sighed again as we drove off and I filled her in. “Okay,that explains a lot, but—he wasn’t hearing me to back off and let me breathe. It was very disconcerting and…”

“I know.” I reached over and took her hand, my heart hurting when she sniffled. I wanted to gut the lion for upsetting her. “We’ll kick his ass and ground him after he’s better, okay? Full over my knee spanking.”

She snickered, which had been the goal, so I was glad it worked. Then she chuckled and it built into a laugh. “You are such a shit. Seriously. Sometimes—I can’t get over you.” Ellie let out a long, exasperated sigh with absolutely no malice in it as she gave me a loving look. “I really do need you in my life, my sweet kimchi. It’s so much better with you in it.”

I blinked at the road and almost missed the light change, braking harder than I should have given the time I’d had. I muttered an apology before turning and kissing her deeply. “Yeah, you do need me just like I need you. Don’t ever forget this moment. Don’t let me go, Ellie. I wouldn’t survive losing you.”

I cupped her face and didn’t hide that I was worried.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she promised, knowing this wasn’t normal relationship fears and that I saw she was drowning.

Good thing I was an excellent swimmer then.

3

Ellie

As much as I wanted to take a few days and do nothing but lie in bed with Ha-joon and let him comfort me, I had a big interview with the most popular Saturday morning show to announce another change at ASH. I was rolling out the idea that Ha-joon and I both came up with—the one I’d fought the board on several times—about having scheduled portals opened in certain areas.

It wasn’t all finalized, but over June we were doing locations in conjunction with hospitals that I’d spoken with that were overloaded or had patients they couldn’t handle. Ones they wanted to refer to ASH, but they couldn’t afford the travel or manage how to get there. The only flaw I’d missed in the plan was translators.

And it was something in Ha-joon’s presentation… Which really was a glaring sign once again that we were better together. We always seemed to make the other better from work to life—all of it.

There was one thing I needed to attend to first.

“Where are you going?” he asked as I got out of bed. “Your interview isn’t for a few hours.”

“There’s something important to handle first,” I said firmly.

Then something hit me. I actually changed the plan and went down to his condo to wake Aurora. I brought clothes for her to change into even if our sizes were different. She could make the dress work with a belt—it wouldn’t be too bad.

“I’m going to help you learn the world safely, but you also need to do some penance for your sins,” I told her. “I want you to see the power of women who fight togetherforeach other instead of against each other like you did. I want you to see the reality versus what you attempted.”

“As you wish,” she accepted, swallowing loudly.

We were ready thirty minutes later, Ha-joon driving us since my vehicle was at the hospital. He promised he’d take Aurora back home. I asked if he could take her shopping for basics and gave him my black card.

“I must really care about you deeply if I’m willing to brave the mall in Atlanta on a Saturday morning and I don’t even get to see you in lingerie,” he grumbled as he took it.

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