Chapter 29

Chapter 29: Kingston It had been two weeks since I brought Ayla home from the hospital. I continued to sleep in the bed with her after the first night she asked. I wasn’t about to turn down the opportunity to be so close to her. I understood that it was because I had some kind of effect on the pain caused by her broken mate bond, but I even saw that as a good sign.

I was more careful about how far I took things. I wanted her to come to me when she was sure she was ready. There were still a few stolen kisses here and there between us, each one better than the last, but we both made sure to stop things before they went any farther than that.

But it was getting harder.

I pulled into the parking deck of the hospital. Ayla had been feeling a lot better. Her head wound and ribs seemed to heal quicker than expected, so I pushed her follow–up forward to today. They would do some x–rays and see if there was any progress with her broken leg.

I led her through the halls to the doctor’s office, where we were immediately sent to the radiology department to complete the X–

rays. The process went quickly – one of the perks of being the Alpha – and we were heading back to see the doctor.

We figured it would still take some time before they had the results for us, but they were kind enough to put us in a private room to wait.

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O r Chapter 29. Kingston 288 Vouchers “So, have you thought more about what you want to do as far as a job goes?” I asked as I ran my thumb along the back of her hand that I was holding.

She shrugged. “I still keep coming back to either going back to school or getting into publishing. Maybe even both. Goddess knows I’m used to keeping busy.”

“And you’re sure you don’t want to just keep writing? I’m sure finding you a new publisher wouldn’t be hard.”

“Yeah, I think I want to take a break from novels for now,” she said. “I still love writing. But that still feels so much like my old life.

After everything that’s happened, I’m not sure I have the inspiration I used to. I’ll go back to it one day. Just not right now.”

“Okay,” I said with a smile. That made my plans for after the appointment more exciting. I was hoping she didn’t notice that I was about to come out of my skin with excitement.

There was a knock, and the doctor finally walked through the door.

“Ms. Garner,” he said politely. “It’s lovely to see you again. Especially in such great shape.”

“Yes,” Ayla said with a smile. “I have been feeling much better.”

“I’m going to start with an examination, then we’ll go over the results of the x–rays.”

He checked Ayla over thoroughly. I checked her bruising daily and knew they had all cleared up completely. Even the nastiest ones around her ribs. The stitches in her scalp had 2/5 |||

O Chapter 29: Kingston 288 Vouchers dissolved, and there was only a small raised scar where they had been.

“Well, Ms. Garner, you appear to be in great shape, considering you don’t have your wolf to heal you,” the doctor said. “In fact, you’re still healing rather quickly. Including” – he rolled his chair across the floor and pulled out the X–ray images, clipping them to the lightboard on the wall – “your leg. We had to put a small plate in to restore the bone. In a human, we would still expect to see space along the break line. But yours seems to have closed quite well already.”

“Not that I’m complaining, but what do you think is causing that? I still don’t have my wolf. I haven’t been able to reach her for weeks,” Ayla inquired.

“It could be that your wolf isn’t completely dormant. You’ve had her and shifted for years, so she may have just blocked herself off from you. But that could mean you can still access her residual healing ability,” the doctor explained. “Even shifters whose animals stay dormant from the start still heal faster than the average human. Not nearly as fast as a shifter with their animal, but still.”

“So, Dasha may still be watching out for you,” I told Ayla.

The corners of her mouth twitched with a small smile.

“Either way, we can remove the cast today and switch you over to a walking boot.”

“So I don’t need the crutches any more?” Ayla asked brightly.

“You may want to continue to use them for today while you adjust,” the doctor clarified. “But you should be good without them by tomorrow.”

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O r Chapter 29: Kingston 288 Vouchers I waited while they removed her cast and fitted her in the boot. The appointment took longer than expected, but I was glad it was because Ayla was doing so well. When we finally got back to the SUV, I was ready to take her to the surprise I had for her.

“You ready?” I asked as she buckled in.

“For what?” she asked, confused.

“I have a surprise for you,” I said with a smile.

I pulled out and headed straight for an office building on the other side of town. I scanned my badge for the parking lot and found a spot close to the entrance.

“What is this place?” Ayla asked.

“There’s someone I want you to meet,” I said, squeezing her hand before I got out of the vehicle.

We entered the building, and I led her to the elevator. We rode it up to the fifth floor, and I took her straight to a corner office at the end of the hall. The door was open, so I knocked on the doorjamb. The woman behind the desk looked up and smiled.

“Alpha Kingston,” she said brightly, standing up and walking around the desk to greet me. “Welcome. And this must be the Ms.

Garner you were telling me about.”

“Yes, Ayla this is Erica DeSantos. She’s the lead publisher here at Second Story Publishing,” I introduced. “Erica, this is Ayla Garner.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Ms. Garner,” Erica said, shaking 4/5 |||

O 5/5 Chapter 29 Kingston 123% Nouchers her hand. “Alpha tells me you’re the real Sabina Heartwood. I must say, I’m a big fan of your work.”

“Thank you,” Ayla said with a smile. Although I could tell she was still confused. “It’s nice to meet you as well.”

“I hope you don’t mind,” I started, “but when you were talking about finding a job after you first got here, I reached out to Erica.”

“Well, we’ve talked a few times since then,” Erica cut in, “and he mentioned you were thinking about possibly going into publishing, maybe even opening your own publishing company.”

“Well, perhaps,” Ayla said. “I hadn’t really nailed the details down yet.”

“That’s why you’re here,” I said. “Erica plans to retire in a few months but still hasn’t found anyone to replace her. She wants to interview you and see if you are open to an internship.”

“I’d be training you to take over the company,” Erica clarified.

r Chapter 30 Ayla 11 233 Vouchers