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“She prayed to the gods every night that they give me the answer to save you and stop punishing vampire children needlessly. She told me every time she saw me that she knew I had the answers inside of me and I wouldn’t regret saving you when I figured it out.

She was so sure I could do it that I could not fail that woman and be the reason she lost you. ”

“You never told me that,” he rasped, wiping under his eyes.

“You lost her not long after you recovered and…” She trailed off and gave a half shrug. “Now you know my own mother issues. I’m not perfect.” She snorted. “We’ll talk. You were young and deserve the stories.”

“Yeah, in our spare time, Ellie.”

I doubted I was the only one who snorted then. Right, the owner of ASH and the president had tons of downtime.

Sure they did.

“ASH isn’t about me, but maybe you all understand now that you are the writer of your own story.

I’ve written several stories that I’m proud of.

I’m the founder of Amanda’s Hope. Amanda Hope saved my life.

She saved a lot of female vampires, and I carried on her work.

With the help of Alexis Gomez and others, we have saved countless females.

“I have medical patents and discoveries that have changed this world. And yes, I discovered the additive we put in the blood we sell to fund ASH. But no, I’m not sitting on piles of money from that as too many assume.

Many assumed the owner was just living on a yacht somewhere burning his piles of money.

“I’ve reinvested just about every dollar ASH has made besides a sizeable emergency fund.

Enough to cover your salaries and rebuilding ASH should something happen.

” She smiled when several of the department heads chuckled.

“Would an asteroid or satellite crashing into ASH be the weirdest thing we’ve seen?

“If you had asked me when I was young if humans would ever find out about us, I would have answered a firm no. A confident no and without wavering.” Murmurs in the crowd agreed.

“So that is the only riches I have from ASH.

Many of you know I have other companies and some of you own condos in my buildings.

“Yes, I’m rich.” She shrugged. “But all of the department heads know the budget and see the financials.” She frowned and looked over at the presidents.

“I’m sure you all have seen them and the accounts.

I mean, you’re in charge of taxes and all of that.

” She nodded when a few did. “Plus, I think one of you had to sign off on some sort of insurance whatever.”

“Yes, because it was a policy to basically cover rebuilding Atlanta,” one of them drawled.

“That was a headache and a half, and the amount we pay in insurance…” Ellie shivered.

“We’re so far off point.” She looked out at us again.

“I’m sorry I had to lock this to your minds.

Over a hundred of you are out of jobs for the shit you pulled.

You don’t deserve the knowledge. The rest of you—some of you don’t like me.

“That’s fine. We don’t have to like each other.

I hope you care enough about ASH to realize I keep this quiet because being the founder of ASH is dangerous.

The world is still sexist. Hell, humans have been trying to find out who I am since the start of it because taking me out would cripple supe health care.

It would end the advanced blood we sell. ”

“Why will you not share it?” someone called out, a female doctor I sort of recognized.

She stood and raised her hand so Ellie could spot her.

“I ask without malice but—it’s the one thing that always irked me.

I understand it funds ASH, but we can’t produce enough, and there are vampires who are hurt by that.

And now it dies with you? I’m sorry but… ” She shook her head.

“You’re taking it personally,” Ellie said gently. “You’ve worked with me for years. You’ve known me six or seven years. You know the answer. You do.”

“It’s something that can be used against vampires if not done right,” I called out, already having put that together.

“If not in the right amount, it can hurt them. Or it comes from a particular source you’re protecting.

It’s limited somehow or—I have other theories, but you are keeping it secret to protect your kind. ”

She met my gaze and couldn’t hide she was impressed.

“Yes, one of the ingredients is finite. And very, very complicated. Beyond words complicated and I am protecting—yes. It’s not a medication we can synthesize limitlessly or put on a production line.

It’s why no one has ever been able to replicate it, and people have sunk billions into trying. ”

“I think I just needed to hear you say,” the woman admitted. “I wanted to believe that of you, but… Sometimes you just need to hear it.”

“Fair enough,” Ellie accepted.

There wasn’t much left to say after that. She addressed some of the other rumors and weird things people said about the founder, but that was it. People were shocked at the reveal but also how she left it.

What had they really expected?

She chuckled and reminded them that there was work to do, lives to save, and people to help. This didn’t change anything. Now they just knew the changes that were being made around ASH came from the founder, not the “paper-pushing middleman” some still accused her of being.

Even after learning she was a multi-board-certified doctor.

She asked those who had thrown the mutiny and hadn’t stormed out like petulant children to stay after. And to not be petty and try to deny they had been a part of it. Security had the list and she’d be annoyed if she had to chase them down among everything else.

Ellie raised an eyebrow when I stayed. “You? Really?”

“I want to see the full show so I can congratulate you,” I said with a grin. “Also, apparently, the president wants to grill me before my office hours start.”

“Excellent,” the president joked.

“I will beat you,” she warned, rolling her eyes when his security went on edge.

I think I was more surprised to find she was on such good terms with the damn President of North America than I had been she was the founder.

Ellie was gracious with those who stayed and handled themselves better than they had.

She didn’t tell them to get out right away.

She said she’d take two weeks or a month’s notice, but she expected their best their last days.

It was all she would give them so their next employer didn’t find out they were part of the mutiny.

Like everyone would know about the others who stormed out. That threat was clear, and Ellie would make it happen for sure.

Also, that she expected no issues with people training their replacements or they would be fired on the spot and she would make their lives hell.

This wasn’t even personal and she wasn’t settling a score.

People didn’t seem to believe that, but she reminded them that this was a hospital that saved lives and a chunk of the staff threw a mutiny.

Yeah, this needed to be handled well and handed over better than things had been. They did that well and she’d be gracious too.

That seemed to cut through their stupid and wrapped things up.

Awesome. Seriously, she was so fucking awesome.

Now I just had to meet the current—and several former—presidents.

Good times.

Actually, it was. Ellie didn’t brush off our relationship or try to dodge it. She warned them it was new so not to scare me off or she’d be pissed. It was pretty damn perfect, but now that it was beyond ASH, I quickly texted my parents that we were official and out.

I didn’t want them blindsided even if I couldn’t tell them she was the founder of ASH. It shouldn’t matter and they didn’t need to know.

I wanted Ellie to be my family one day and that meant protecting her as well. Some of my “family” would try and use that information to their benefit.

It was fairly amazing to see how respected Ellie was by presidents when so many in the hospital treated her like crap. I was pretty sure that was why Dr. Carpenter allowed most of the attendings to join the brunch. He wanted them to witness that and maybe it would trickle down to their staff.

Maybe—just maybe—this bullshit of how people treated her could seriously end. Nothing would ever be perfect, but the animosity and blatant bullshit needed to stop. Even if she was only the position she said, that wasn’t a paper-pushing admin like she was fucking entry-level.

No shade on people who were in that position, but she wasn’t. She ran ASH and… It was all jealousy and pettiness, other idiots who didn’t understand that was where it stemmed from.

Now maybe others would see the truth. She shined and was in her element cracking jokes and deflecting questions with presidents.

“So how does a pup wolf land maybe one of the most impressive women our world has ever seen?” one of the former presidents asked when there was a lull in the conversation.

I snorted, not bothered by the jab. People didn’t hide their shock that I reacted that way, dismissively even.

“I’m the youngest and strongest child of one of the most powerful packs.

There’s nothing you can throw at me to set me off, sir.

” I gestured around the room. “I grew up in this setting. It’s not my favorite, but I swim just fine in these waters. ”

“And he’s very impressive in many ways,” Ellie added, rolling her eyes when several people chuckled or choked on their drinks. “Oh, you’re all dirty.”

But she’d said the innuendo intentionally to completely shift the conversation and turn it back on them. I knew that much about her.

“I meant his mind ,” she drawled. “We had many presentations of ideas and how to develop ASH. He was the only one who had four and they were all great. All the department heads agreed. Hell, one was an idea I was pushing for with the board for years. He made my version better.”

“Yours was better than mine too,” I praised. “You’re way more read in on the state of things and where to start. I didn’t have the time to do more research, and I felt bad when I realized it was so incomplete.”

She snorted. “You weren’t making a final pitch.

You’re—you are too damn perfect. Every single proposal you made was more fleshed out and researched better than almost anyone’s.

You were a rockstar, not lacking in any way.

” She smiled up at me. “I’m so glad I was wrong about you and the board forced me to hire you.

It’s the only good thing they ever did.”

And I no longer felt guilty for using their greed and how they went behind her back to get me in. Her saying that was what I needed to finally forgive myself for being underhanded to get into ASH.

I was also relieved she felt I’d been worth it and it wouldn’t hang over our relationship.