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She was right and I had been an adult for that.

My mum’s family had said that while they hated outsiders sticking their noses in too much, that was the one time it was excused.

When it kept peace, which was the whole point of sending the humans to Africa and streamlining supe governments.

We needed peace and for things to be fair.

It always affected more than our own country.

That was maybe the only thing I could remember agreeing with Mum’s family about. I wouldn’t expect anything else anytime soon.

But miracles could happen.

Again, Ellie was right and things got better after that.

A month after the crisis and things at ASH weren’t just back to normal but better .

Plans were underway to build an extension onto ASH with my idea.

It was so far beyond my original idea that it was amazing.

There would be whole new types of specialties and doctors.

It was going to be a breakthrough in medicine. I was glad to have been a part of that.

My practice had expanded. One of the attendings in my department was part of the last coup that tried to get Ellie out.

She talked to all of us and I was the one who could absorb that attending’s practice.

I had the most experience with a larger practice and it made sense location-wise since it was next door to mine.

Plus, I had the resume to teach and take more residents under my wing.

Renovations to make it work were underway and my contract was renegotiated with my mate’s help.

I didn’t care about, nor want the bonus structure.

I didn’t ever want patient care to become oil changes in a bad way where I made more money and looked at them that way.

The efficiency and expediency were good, but… People were people and needed a different touch than cars. Duh.

But that was why I had five new residents and ten new nurses. I’d gotten the bad apple out from my practice and five were out from the other doctor’s staff. There were maybe a few PAs I wanted gone, but… They had a chance to redeem themselves and I wanted to give them that.

I just made it clear that they were on warning. I could give people the path to do better, but I’d already made the mistake of letting people treat me like a doormat at ASH.

It wasn’t a mistake I was going to repeat.

Others were talking about the efficiency and even how we could start earlier with all the extra doctors.

I had more than one attending from other departments ask if they could come shadow and see how it all ran.

I told them that it was fine but asked they wait until I shifted the schedule because… I was shifting the schedule.

I didn’t want to work Saturdays, but Ellie normally did already. Now I would have Mondays off to do adulting that I needed to and maybe I could talk her into going in afternoons only.

Maybe.

But that helped as well. People needed Saturdays for quick appointments. And other doctors weren’t assholes about it because I wasn’t stealing their bonuses for myself. Sure, they weren’t getting it, but no one was.

I wasn’t sure how that really worked out in their heads, but it was less stress and petty for me, so I simply took the win and didn’t complain. It was nice when people weren’t bitchy with me after all.

Sean—Dr. James—was thrilled . Two months after the crisis and it was clear that my changes made my practice thrive and he wanted to make it the new standard.

Not just for Shifter Health and Wellness, but the whole hospital.

Carla had her attendings who had merged practices shadow me and they said they’d learned a lot from it.

Mostly that they definitely needed to shift hours as well. No matter how important dermatology truly was, it would always be seen as extra, cosmetic even.

And people didn’t have time to take off work for cosmetic when work paid the bills. But it was more important than ever to change that mindset and attitude with the addition and more coming.

Overall though, two months after the crisis and my life was aces.

Things with my family had taken a turn and that situation was on a better path.

Same with Ellie’s family—though neither of our family dramas were settled.

It wouldn’t ever truly be. That wasn’t how families worked even if they were cut off.

The company I’d formed with my mates to invest in Ha-yun and then the deal with Ellie were doing better than projected.

Ha-yun and my mates were really all over it.

I’d done more to help the marketing, even being the face of the new buildings going up.

Saying they were partially owned by a doctor to help medical personnel and first responders with housing was a hit.

Of course, Ellie was a marketing genius as well.

So really, that left her blood situation and that was the meeting we were currently in. She’d looped in Carla who had a lot of lab work experience, Sean since he was an Alpha shifter as well, and Dr. Joyce Tai… Because she’d already figured it all out and demanded to be allowed to help.

Of course she had. That woman might come off as adorably clueless, but she wasn’t. She was sharp. She tuned out a lot more than I could, and honestly I was a bit jealous about that and wished I could learn how to do that more.

“So that’s it? Three pints from me a week and you’re getting the results to double the production?” Sean asked, his tone incredulous.

“If she’s regularly feeding from Clark,” Alan reiterated. “It’s all contingent on him.” He glanced at Joyce. “And yes, again, we’ve tried to use the blood with her additive on her. We’ve done that.”

“It made me ridiculously sick after a few weeks and we didn’t know why,” Ellie grumbled, rubbing her stomach as if the memory made it sour even after all these years. “It’s not worth the risk.”

“No, you just have to keep me,” I chuckled, sitting up a bit straighter and not hiding my amusement.

“Like you wouldn’t donate to keep…” Carla started to say but then clucked her tongue. “Oh, pup, I’m disappointed.”

“Only I get to call him that, thank you,” Ellie muttered. “And he’s not food. If something happened and we don’t work out—why should he have to? It would be hard on his wolf to give an ex-lover—could he even if he found his mate?”

“No, but let’s not talk about this because it would agitate my wolf now.” I met her confused gaze. “He’s met his mate. We’re fine and sure of our relationship no matter how slow you need it.”

She was the one still hesitating. That was what I was trying to say nicely and without poking her.

She gave a swift nod and glanced at the numbers. “Sean, I think we take five pints a week from you just to be safe and have extra. That’s better than stuffing Ha-joon with so much extra iron—how horrible has that been?”

I shrugged. “Other than the blood burps you have to suffer with as well, it’s fine.”

“Iron supplement burps,” she chuckled. She was always amused when I referred to them as blood burps when it wasn’t like I tasted blood in my mouth. It was just burps from the iron supplements.

They were pretty gross though. I would do way more for Ellie, but… Ick.

“And you’ll never have a shifter complain about more meat and fish,” Carla muttered. “I’d like to make the changes to my own diet with the supplements and try again.” She held up her hand to us. “It’s not about pride. Sean is older and more Alpha. Fine. Who cares?”

“I was going to suggest the same thing for the science,” Joyce muttered.

“I think Dr. James should do the same. It can’t hurt besides possible burps.

It might be a good idea to have the data to even push it with shifters the week or two before their blood drives.

Get more bang for their buck when some of this is a PR campaign for them. ”

Sad but true. Many were doing it just to appease vampires when they were reminded the vampires were everyone’s military.

Seeing how quickly South America was overthrown by pissed-off vampires whose warlock president had risked the lives of their fellow soldiers for a cash grab to get ASH and control of the best blood… Yeah, people were behaving better.

As. They. Should.

The meeting was another way things were going well. Ellie wasn’t being pushed so hard, more blood was being made to sell—all positive all around. Would there need to be more in the future and other plans?

Yes, absolutely.

But it was handled for today and the near future.

Total win.

Which was why she seemed a bit confused when I followed her to her office and locked the door behind us.

“Are you feisty after we were talking about you biting me, Ha-joon?” she surmised.

“I’m always feisty around you,” I drawled, but then snorted. Yeah, that was completely accurate. “But no.” I pulled out a gift bag that I’d been hiding behind my back and set it on her desk. “For you.”

She set down what was in her hands and went over to the bag, frowning as she looked inside, which confused me.

Nothing should make her frown in my mind.

She pulled out the stockings and garters, something coming off of her that I couldn’t put a name to.

She cleared her throat and set them back in the bag.

“No, sorry, but no.”

Well, I hadn’t seen that one coming.