Two Star Healers And A Forgotten Fated Mate Chapter 07

Two Star Healers And A Forgotten Fated Mate Chapter 07

**POV:** Penelope

**One year later.**

I stepped off the plane, and my parents stood waiting at the arrivals gate with Beta Sam and a handful of pack warriors, waving a huge hand-painted banner.

[WELCOME HOME, PRINCESS PENELOPE!]

Sebastian leaned against my shoulder beside them, laughing so hard he could barely stand upright.

I feigned irritation, lifting a foot to nudge his calf.

“Watch yourself—my parents are standing right there. You swore you’d be on your best behavior today.”

“Anything you say, Princess.”

I rushed into my parents’ open arms the second I reached them, tears spilling down my cheeks instantly.

The three of us clung to each other, crying, and Sebastian brushed the wet streaks off my cheeks with his thumb.

I laced my fingers through his, voice wobbly.

“Mom, Dad—this is Sebastian, my boyfriend.”

My mom wiped her own tear-streaked cheeks, smiling wide. “We already know him. We hopped on a FaceTime call with Sebastian the night before.”

Sebastian wrapped an arm loose around my waist, grinning down at me. “Someone’s finally ready to make our relationship official to the whole pack.”

After we unpacked our luggage back at the Pack House, Sebastian and I headed straight to a furniture warehouse to pick out shop fixtures.

This was the top priority on our trip back to Norhaven.

Over the past year living in Asterbay Pack, I’d trained under Luna Leah, Sebastian’s mother, to master baking pastries.

I planned to open my own little bakery down by the Asterbay coast, but I’d been hunting for a solid stone countertop table for months with no luck.

Right before boarding the plane, I’d asked Sebastian if all this running around shopping was too much hassle for him.

He’d pressed a soft kiss to the back of my hand in reply. “It’s never a hassle. Wherever you go, I follow. Besides, I know how badly you’ve missed your family here.”

We shopped nonstop until late afternoon, and I glanced over to notice Sebastian’s face had gone pale.

Panic flared in my chest instantly. “Is your heart hurting? Why didn’t you say anything if you’re unwell?”

He waved my concern off, but I dragged him straight to Norhaven Pack Hospital anyway.

There was no avoiding it—we ran into Cameron the second we stepped through the main entrance doors.

“Penelope?”

I gave him a calm, easy smile, tugging Sebastian’s hand forward beside me.

“Dr. Olson, do you have a minute? Could you check my boyfriend over?”

The gentle smile that had lifted Cameron’s lips froze solid the second he laid eyes on Sebastian.

“I’ve got time.”

In all the years I’d known him, Cameron never lost his clinical composure at work—but his eyes were already glistening red before he even finished asking Sebastian about his symptoms.

Sebastian stayed lighthearted through the whole exam.

“Nothing serious, Doc. I had scar tissue repair surgery on my heart years back, Penelope’s just a worrywart.”

He tapped his phone screen with one hand, still twisting our linked fingers together with the other.

I glanced down at his screen to see a text he’d just sent me.

[Babe, dragging your old fated healer ex to patch me up? That’s such a wild move only you’d dare pull.]

I shot him a sharp look. “Quit messing around.”

I turned back to Cameron, softening my tone politely. “Please run a full checkup for him, just to be safe. Thank you, Dr. Olson.”

Cameron couldn’t stand the formal title I’d used, his voice cracking faintly. “Penelope, we don’t need to speak to each other like strangers.”

I shook my head gently. “It’s better this way for everyone.”

The exam wrapped up quickly, no new damage found on Sebastian’s old heart scar.

As we turned to leave, Cameron called my name, his voice edged with quiet desperation.

“Can we talk? Just the two of us, five minutes.”

I opened my mouth to refuse, but Sebastian let go of my hand and stepped back a few paces, flashing his sharp canine teeth in a warm grin.

He tapped the face of his wristwatch. “Five minutes only. I’ll wait out here.”

Cameron and I ended up back on that same empty stairwell landing where we’d fought over my feelings a year prior.

“When did you fly back?”

“This morning.”

“I traveled down to Asterbay Pack to find you after you left, but Alpha Evans and Luna Leah refused to tell me where you’d gone.”

“I asked them to keep my location hidden.”

“Are you planning to leave Norhaven again once your trip’s over?”

“Yeah. I’m settling down permanently in Asterbay from now on.”

Cameron’s Adam’s apple bobbed hard in his throat.

“You’ve changed so much, Penelope.”

A quiet laugh escaped me at his words. “Finally mature enough, like you always said I needed to be?”

His face drained of color. “That’s not what I meant at all.”

“I know I hurt you, everything that happened back then was my fault.”

I pushed myself to my feet, ready to walk away. “It’s all in the past now.”

“Honestly, I owe you a thank you. Everything I learned studying medicine under you saved Sebastian’s life once.”

Sebastian had been poisoned with wolfsbane a year ago, barely clinging to life.

The toxin left permanent scar tissue on his heart. We’d first crossed paths when he collapsed from a scar flare-up in Asterbay’s coastal market.

I’d administered emergency first aid to him until the pack healer arrived, and that’s how we’d fallen in love.

Cameron parted his lips, ready to argue or beg for another chance, but I cut him off before he could speak.

“This is the perfect chance to tie up every loose thread between us for good.”

I held his gaze steady, my voice clear and unwavering.

“Cameron, I, Penelope Hale, reject you as my fated mate.”

“From this moment forward, our bond is broken. We owe each other nothing anymore.”