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“Oh, for the love of—did you just realize Carla flirts with you?” Renee hissed at me from the other side of Carla. She sighed when everyone around us looked at her that she of all people was supposed to word things better. “No, shut up. I get this. You’ve known her for decades and didn’t—”

“Yes, of course I knew she was bisexual,” I snapped back quietly. “I’m not a moron .”

“I’m also not subtle that I like both genders, but you probably missed that I lean heavily towards women,” Carla said with a chuckle. “And yes, I flirt with you because flustering you is my favorite form of stress relief. I know you’re not up for swinging my way and I’m not what you need.”

She leaned in and kissed my cheek to be a brat.

“I love you but yeah, everyone knows she flirts with you, Ellie,” Joyce said in barely a whisper.

Okay then.

Alan interjected before the lecture going over a few things we’d decided and protocol changes.

He made it abundantly clear that Ha-joon was doing something great working so closely with ortho and our amazing occupational therapists, jumping in on surgeries to expand his knowledge, and the way he saved dermatology’s bacon.

“What I’m saying is he is kicking a lot of your asses all over the place and asking nothing extra for it.

I hope a lot of you see that and start checking your egos because we’re getting rid of the toxicity at ASH and bringing in more of this type of doctor.

” He stared down the large room. “He has not tried to steal one ortho patient he’s been called in on.

“He’s consulted . That was the dream having such a huge hospital with this massive campus.

If people don’t start learning from his example—it’s on the agenda to do away with the bonus structures.

” He nodded when people couldn’t hide their shock.

“Most of the department heads want it gone. It was needed once, but now it’s led to darkness.

“Or there are a few proposals coming up that the bonuses will go to the staff and baby doctors of a practice. We’re not sure, but things will be changing.

Already these changes with HR and legal are smacking people back into line.

We’ve cut out some cancer. I promise you that we will eradicate it here, so make sure you’re not part of it. ”

Ha-joon was less than thrilled to go on after that. He cleared his throat and frowned when Alan seemed amused. “Well, I appreciate the glowing praise for everyone to glare daggers at me while trying to deliver this important information.”

“Let’s see how well you can handle the pressure, pup,” Alan threw right back.

I wasn’t the only one surprised when Ha-joon looked way too amused and immediately relaxed. Huh?

He set down his materials and leaned on the podium, staring Alan down.

“This is one of the least intimidating moments of my life, Dr. Carpenter. Being the youngest of one of the most prestigious Alpha families comes with constant intimidation. Full moon pack gatherings are terrifying compared to this or anything you can throw at me.”

“Nice to know and—” Alan started to reply good-naturedly.

“And while I pride myself on not being the typical Alpha who is overbearing or can’t work well with others, I’m still an Alpha wolf and world-renowned in my field.

So the next time you call me ‘pup’ in a professional setting like this, I won’t just ask HR to have a word with you, but let my wolf grind the axe he now has with you, sir. ”

“Shit, that’s hot,” someone whispered from behind us.

I could see Alan’s reaction because he was sitting up front off to the left with Sean and I was towards the back right with my group.

He took in a slow breath and then let it out, keeping Ha-joon’s gaze the whole time.

“You’re right, Dr. Clark. I apologize. We lead by example here and that’s not the behavior I would want any other doctor to have in these lectures.

I will apologize to your wolf because I don’t want any lingering animosity.

I truly meant to break the ice and tease. ”

It was Ha-joon’s turn to take that in a moment. “I appreciate the effort, and I’m one who knows that not everything lands well on a Monday morning. My wolf is fine, I promise. As I said, I’m not a typical Alpha. He normally just needs it acknowledged and moves on.”

“That’s impressive,” one of the other department heads praised.

Ha-joon gave a half shrug. “I’m not a normal wolf. There’s no way for me to hide that, and you’ll see now what that means for the health and safety of shifters.”

“Shit, even I’m turned on that he not only handled it so smoothly but got back on track,” Joyce breathed.

Yeah. Me too… Which is why I backed him up.

Well, because he handled the situation so well, not because it turned me on.

Me: If you give him shit again professionally because I’m involved with him, I will suck you dry and hang you from your toes in the front of my hospital as a warning, Alan. We’ve settled how he got in here and he’s an asset.

Me: I can’t stop you from giving him lectures outside of work or being a shit on the side like you’re my dad, but you fuck with him again professionally because of me and I will open the dam to do the same.

I was glad when I saw Alan glance at his phone and wince. Good.

Dipshit.

Loveable dipshit but still a dipshit.

About five minutes into the lecture, Carla poked me and snapped me out of my thoughts… Which were naughty.

Like picturing Ha-joon in nothing but a towel hanging low on his hips naughty.

“Seriously, where is your head?” she hissed under his breath.

I cleared my throat and sat up. “Nowhere I would admit.”

“Oh, I could scent that,” she drawled sounding like she was losing the battle to laugh.

Yeah, I couldn’t blame her.

Not two minutes later she had to poke me again because I was back to picturing Ha-joon mostly naked.

The third time it was because I was so deluded that I had started imagining him stripping for me right there while giving the lecture. For the love of the gods.

Seriously.

Just… Seriously .

I might have laughed it off, but I realized I was actually distracting people. They scented so much lust off of me—or at least in the area—that it was distracting from his lecture.

Fuck. I needed to get a grip.

“Stop,” I told Carla when she was trying not to giggle. “I’m basically sexually harassing him and everyone here being so—”

She immediately lost her amusement. “That’s intentional and we both know it. This was an accident, and you’re overloaded. Enough. You don’t get to be down on yourself for something natural like lust. Now pull up a picture on your phone that you can’t be dirty in front of. It’s how I get a grip.”

That was actually really helpful and not just for myself. Female shifters had the highest sex drive of any supe because they were so affected by the lunar cycles, so any tricks old and powerful shifters like Carla had should be shared.

It did work, but I missed most of his damn lecture. What I did hear was amazing and compelling. By the time he showed the videos from actual patients and that him forcing shifters to change forms worked, my mind was on the medicine.

I was grateful for Joyce immediately asking a question to help me out, but I realized that wasn’t it and she was truly focused.

“Have you done any testing with potions or other specialties?” Joyce asked the second Ha-joon opened the floor.

“You mean before forcing the shift?” he checked, shaking his head when she confirmed that was what she meant. “No, only pain meds after. My last board didn’t want the stigma of forcing shifts to interfere with—”

“Their money,” Sean cut in, giving Ha-joon a look not to deny it. “You can talk honestly here. Just be out with it.”

He dipped his head to Sean. “With all due respect, Dr. James, but I don’t out people’s intentions, and most don’t trust that an Alpha shifter can truly sense that much.

There was sound reasoning presented to me and that’s what I’ll say.

Everyone can draw their own conclusions.

” I thought he was going to leave it at that, but he went one.

“Especially when people here don’t keep their mouths shut.

“I don’t burn bridges and certainly not with a hospital that supported me doing something people here were ready to immediately shut down. I’ve gotten pushback here and heavily from some. Yes, it was profitable, but I saved one of the board’s grandchildren, so that wasn’t about money to them.”

“Understood, and good on you for having integrity,” he accepted.

Ha-joon nodded and focused back on Joyce. “I have wanted to try a pain management and muscle reliever potion mix, but the ones I’ve worked with are too strong. Or take too long to take effect. I need the patient lucid, and by the time someone gets in front of me, waiting any longer is torture.”

“Yes, that would be painful for them,” she accepted.

He winced. “Well, yes, but I meant me.” He nodded when people froze. “I’m not sure I can explain it—I haven’t been able to so far but—”

“The pain of knowing you could have helped them sooner so they didn’t need to suffer is almost crippling,” I said without even realizing I was going to talk.

His gaze immediately snapped to mine and he slowly nodded. “Yes. My wolf is a protector and—shifters in pain in front of him is hard. Especially young shifters because we both hate the old mindset. Several of them even.”

Yeah, a lot of us hated those old mindsets as well.

He found me after the lecture and dragged me into the stairwell, backing me up to the wall. Ha-joon moved his arm to the wall and his hand to my waist as he leaned in and sniffed me. “You’re killing me.”

I cleared my throat and looked over his shoulder. A weaker woman would have played it off or acted innocent, but I was an adult who owned my actions. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to—”

He chuckled and sniffed me again, inhaling my scent deeply as his nose ran along my neck.

“Thank you for not trying to play it off. I know your lust and apparently can scent it in a full lecture hall I’m so locked in on you.

” He kissed that spot under my ear as he massaged my hip. “I just don’t get what—”

“I’m not playing games,” I defended.

He slowly raised his head, so our gazes met. “I know that, love.” He nodded when I searched his eyes. “You’re not amused when you hesitate; you’re hesitant . I smell it, Ellie. You’re worried. You’re scared and I did that. I made you not feel safe with me.”

He gave me a soft kiss when I tried to object. That was one way to shut me up.

“I did this to what we had,” he whispered against my lips. “And I’ll rebuild that trust. You were gentle with my demons and I’ll be gentle with yours. So take the time you need.” He waited until I nodded. “As long as you’re not mad at me for…” He frowned.

“You’re not playing games either,” I said, pretty sure that was what I felt.

“I’m not, but I am,” he muttered, seeming to confuse himself. “I’m not making light of what happened. I’m—you told Mum you were enjoying it.”

I felt bad that he was tying himself up in knots and decided to give him the answer on this one since I knew it. “It’s touching to see you try so hard for me after walking away or hitting pause too long. That’s what’s in my head on this.”

He studied me again and took a long sniff. “Okay, good. I don’t want to be pushy and that bullshit that it’s okay if the guy is hot—it’s not okay. It’s never okay to pressure a woman when she’s not accepting of the courting. Ever.”

“I’m accepting,” I whispered.

“Then I’ll reach out to you as many times as you need, love,” he murmured, leaning in against me. “But I am going to punish you for giving me a stiffy during my first fucking lecture here.”

Yeah, that was fair.