Chapter 43

Aria’s POV

My feelings for Lucian, as Aria, were a jumbled mess. My outrage with him was bundled up with my confusing, lingering love for him. It made me passionate and emotional, quick to anger. As Dr. A, I had to keep all of these feelings under lock and key.

Above all, he couldn’t know that the wife he refused to divorce was also the mysterious Dr. A.

So, instead of denying his request to speak to me alone outright, I found myself forced to comply. He seemed determined and persistent, and I didn’t have a good enough reason to push him away.

Besides, if I removed my complicated feelings as Aria, and focused only through the lens of Dr. A, Lucian just came to my rescue. He didn’t have to side with me, standing against Caleb’s family, and yet he still did so. Even with the potential consequences of such an unpopular action, he chose to do the right thing.

At his heart, I knew he was a good man. Though, knowing that didn’t make our situation easier.

He was a good King who cared about his people, yet, when I was Aria, he denied me any true affection. He treated me as he had all of his people, with no favoritism, despite the fact that I was his wife.

With my feelings for him so complicated and confusing, I had no idea how to treat him now. Even with my Dr. A disguise in place, I couldn’t quite bring myself to push forward a false sense of comradery as I would typically do otherwise.

After what happened during his confrontation with Matt, and then with the things that were said afterwards, I couldn’t fake anything anymore. I was just so tired.

Touching my stomach, I inwardly vowed to leave the Nightfall pack with my child as soon as physically possible. Once I had enough money…

“Come to my office,” I said. “We can talk there.”

I wouldn’t fake pleasantries, but I couldn’t deny speaking to him. He was still Alpha King.

But I stayed quiet the entire walk back to my office.

“Welcome back, Dr. A!” Piper said happily when I walked through the door. When she saw Lucian behind me, that joy dimmed. “Alpha King…”

Lucian gave her a strange look, like he couldn’t understand what he did to make her dislike him.

Piper had only recently discovered the truth that I was both Luna Aria and Dr. A, but she’d already decided her loyalties. I was grateful for it, but would have to talk to her later about making certain she still treated our Alpha King with respect. I wouldn’t have her get herself into trouble on my account.

Inside the main office, I led Lucian to my private one. Once he entered, I closed the door behind him, then gestured for him to sit down at one of the chairs in front of my desk.

He chose to remain standing. “This won’t take long.”

As he was standing, it felt wrong to sit, so I remained standing too, nearer the door.

I couldn’t imagine what personal matter he wanted to talk about. Perhaps he would defend Sheila once again. Though they had taken opposing sides in the matter of this controversy with Caleb, he still must have had affection for her. To my knowledge, she was still living with him, after all.

He probably wanted to tell me something like, Sheila means well, or She’s simply misguided right now. Maybe he was worried I would stop treating her.

Didn’t he understand that I took a code of ethics? Despite my personal issues with a patient, I would continue to treat them to the best of my ability. In healing, my personal feelings didn’t matter.

I braced myself, expecting the worst.

“Dr. A,” Lucian said, starting strong, but then he sighed. “I need to apologize to you.”

I blinked, startled. Of all the things he might have said, I hadn’t expected that.

“You have been severely mistreated during this entire controversy, and as pack Alpha, the Alpha King, I wish to formally extend an apology to you on behalf of the entire pack.”

“You don’t have to do this…” I said.

“I do.” Lifting his briefcase onto my desk, he clicked it open. From inside, he produced a thick white envelope. Turning, he held the envelope out for me.

“I don’t need this,” I said. “I’m the one who stirred trouble around here.”

“You have simply done your job, and you’ve been exceptional at it.” Lucian stepped closer to me. “Please, accept this, as well as my verbal apology.”

All I did was commit myself to my medical decisions. That was the bare minimum of what I could do; it hardly seemed worthy of praise.

Still, Lucian was persistent. Holding out that envelope like a statue, he probably would have stood just like that forever until I accepted.

“Public opinion doesn’t affect me,” I said. “Professionally, I will always do what I feel is right.”

“Your strength is to be commended,” he said, with some awe in his eyes.

Regret struck through me. If only he could have looked at me like that when I was just Aria.

“Very well,” I said and accepted the envelope. “If you insist.”

“Good. Thank you,” Lucian said as a hint of relief flashed over his face. “You are incredibly valued in the pack, and I please to have you stay with us as long as possible.”

I turned the envelope over in my hands. It was positively stuffed with whatever was inside of it. Looking at it, I was avoiding the things he was saying to me. I didn’t want to have to deal with them now.

“You know, I must admit to you,” Lucian said, clearing his voice lightly. “At first, I had thought you might have been my wife, Aria.”

My heart leaping to my throat, I looked up in shock.

He laughed at himself. “I can admit now that I was completely wrong.”

I force the shock out of my face and push forward a sense of calm. Meanwhile, inside, I’m all twisted up and panicking.

“I hope you can forgive me for any awkwardness this misunderstanding might have caused,” he said.

“It’s fine,” I said, barely managing to say the words.

“Well…” Looking away from me, he closed his briefcase. Then, grabbing it by the handle he started walking toward the door – the door I was in the way of. “If you will excuse me, Dr. A. I will leave you to your work.”

Heart hammering in my chest, I nodded and stood to the side, giving him just enough room to exit.

Once he was gone, I walked to my desk chair and plopped myself down. With a revelation like that, I didn’t know how to feel.

I supposed I should have felt relief, and in some way I did. But I also felt disappointment. Did he truly think so highly of Dr. A and so lowly of Aria to no longer believe we could be the same person?

To distract myself, I opened the envelope he had given me and poured out the contents on the desk.

A large sum of cash flopped down onto my desk. Yet, there was also something else. Two cards, the size of index cards, were included as well. Lifting them, as soon as I realized what they were, my stomach dropped.

These were two identity verification proofs. One for me as Dr. A, and the other… for my unborn child. They established us both as members of the Nightfall pack.

But for these to exist…

For Lucian to give these to me…

Lucian knew I was pregnant?!