Chapter 20

Lori blinked, her surroundings were different. She wasn't in her own room, but rather someone else's.She rubbed her eyes as she looked around, taking in the entire room and her eyes widened as she realized she was in Gabriel's room.

She sat up, startled, she looked next to her and found out that the space next to her was empty and quite cold, Gabriel must have left for work early. She looked around and her eyes landed on the bedside drawer where the time on the digital alarm read 9:45 am. Her eyes widened.

How was it that she had slept for so long, so comfortably without even waking up?!

She jumped out of the bed, rushing out of the room and back to her bedroom.

She met the door of her bedroom completely gone and stared at her open room in bewilderment. It looked like someone had ripped it off it’s hinges.

Crazy! She thought as she shook her head.

She didn't have time for that though. She thought as she waved her curiosity away and changed into shorts and a large black T-shirt.

She walked into the adjoining bathroom in her bedroom and brushed her teeth. She wondered why Gabriel didn't wake her up.

God she had been such a nuisance last night, with everything that had happened and with the nightmare she had. She didn't mean to be such a burden to him but apparently it was much harder to avoid her past than she thought.

The nursery was empty. Which meant the baby was probably downstairs. She sighed, Jenny or Grace must have been busy taking care of her while she was sleeping.

Downstairs, Lori found Emilia in the living room, inside the bassinet where she was awake and stretching, contentedly staring at the ceiling.

She sighed as she went towards the bassinet and carried the baby out of it and into her arms.

"Awwn. Did you miss me?!"

She asked as she smothered her with kisses.

"I missed you too."

Lori cooed as Emilia wiggled her feet.

"Oh! You're awake!"

Grace said from behind as she walked towards her with a bottle with milk in her hand and a burp napkin on the other.

"Yes. Good morning Grace."

"Why didn't anyone wake me?"

She asked and Grace shrugged.

"Well, we were instructed not to. Besides, you had a long night, it wasn't such a bad idea to let you sleep in."

Lori still felt pretty bad. It was her job to be a nanny, she was being paid to be a nanny, what sense did it make if she couldn't even do her job right.

"Who watched over the baby?"

She asked and Grace shrugged, a small smile on her face.

"Jenny handled it quite well. And Mr Gabriel was with her this morning."

Lori sighed.

"I feel bad... I'm so sorry. I'll apologize to Jenny."

Grace chuckled.

"Apologize for what?"

"You had a nightmare sweetheart. Speaking from experience I know how terrifying those can be."

"Besides, Mr Gabriel was very worried about you. That was why he didn't mind you sleeping in.."

Grace walked up to her and examined her face, the old woman's deep brown eyes burrowing into Lori's hazel ones. She pressed a hand on Lori’s temple.

"Are you fine now? Do you feel better?"

She asked and Lori nodded, stretching her hands to receive the baby’s bottle from Grace.

Grace handed it to her and Lori sat down on the nearest couch and plopped the bottle into the baby's mouth.

Grace sat next to her, her hands folded in the pleats of her grey skirt. She always dressed in the mosh formal way, such long skirts and starchy shirts.

"Mr Gabriel told me what happened..."

"He did?"

Lori asked and Grace nodded.

"I feel like I have done a great disservice by not asking you about the circumstances of your son's birth. I didn't want to pry..."


She shifted uncomfortably, Grace on the other hand remains calm while watching her intently.

"It's okay Grace. I wouldn't have felt comfortable talking about it with you to be honest."

She sighed.

"I should be the one apologizing. I withheld the information from you."

Grace shook her head strongly.

"No! No! You did no such thing..."

"But I did!"

She interrupted her.

"If I told you I gave my son up for adoption, you wouldn't have considered me for the job..."

Grace hesitated.

"Well.. maybe. You may be right. But I want you to know I don't judge you for it. And if I had known way earlier I still wouldn't have judged you for it."

"Well. Thank you. That's nice to know."

Lori said and Grace smiled.

She stood up from the couch, ready to leave.

"I hope in the future you can trust me enough to confide with me Lori."

She had never had anyone to confide in, not even friends, she wished she had some, but the years of her life had been spent in abusive and uncomfortable situations. She didn't find any friends worth confiding in.

Still, she nodded.

"I will." 





Gabriel had slept very little, he was more focused on Lori, all night, he had been focused on her breathing, watching for the slightest hitch of breath or the slightest distress, just to make sure she was fine and she wasn't having another nightmare. Luckily, she slept through the night, a great relief.

Unfortunately he woke up early the next morning with a bad headache. He left his room quietly, eager not to wake her up and he had instructed everyone in the house not to wake her up either.

He saw Emilia after that, she was very fussy, Jenny mentioned something about her probably missing Lori. He held her, changed her diaper, gave her a bottle and changed her clothes.

By the time he was done he was late for work. He showered in another room and quietly picked up his clothes from his room before going downstairs for breakfast.

He met Grace, who had just arrived for the day and he gave her a brief download of everything that was happening.

Grace was of course very shocked.

"Did he look dangerous? The man?!"

She asked and Gabriel nodded.

"He looked dangerous. But I don't think he has any real influence. He was probably some gang member."

Grace groaned.

"Ugh! How did she get mixed up in such a crowd!”

Gabriel shrugged.

"I don't know. But I don't think she willingly got mixed up in all that, either way, whatever he did to her, she is still very traumatized.”

"I'm very worried."

Grace sighed.

"What should we do? What if the nightmares come back?"

She asked, concern lacing her voice. He had not thought of that possibility, but it could possibly be that she would have such nightmares occasionally, either way, he looked forward to preventing them.

Gabriel looked around, checking to see if they were alone with no one listening in on them.

"Before she screamed, I could feel a pull, a distress signal, like she was calling out to me. My father told me such connections exists between mates. It was scary and interesting to feel..."


"The mating bond must be growing stronger. Every day that you spend together makes it stronger. That connection you speak of doesn't happen easily."

Grace's voice had a warning to it, a somber tone.

"If you plan on rejecting her, I suggest you do it quickly enough, before it leaves you both irreversibly heartbroken."

Gabriel sighed.

"See, that's the problem. I'm not so sure that I want to reject her."

Her eyes widened at his words, out of surprise and a little bit of excitement.

"So, you will tell her?"

Gabriel shook his head, he picked his jacket that he had slung over the sofa and shrugged it on.

"Not yet. If her nightmares are a regular occurrence we might have to seek professional help, get to the root of it all."

"In the meantime, take good care of her Grace. Make sure she doesn't think too much, keep her occupied."

He said as he waved her goodbye and left.



“Sir, Draco is here to see you.”

His secretary April said as Gabriel ended the call with some board of directors he was talking to.

Much of his day had been spent in a meeting or the other. He forgot just how much work he had left in the office waiting for him. He wondered why Draco had come, he had sent Draco to do some digging on Suzie’s family just yesterday, he wondered if he had come up with answers so quickly.

“Let him in.”

He said in a clipped tone as he went back to his work.

Shortly after she left, Draco walked in, he was wearing the same outfit from the day before.

Gabriel looked up and acknowledge his beta with a nod.

“Alpha.”

Draco grunted before settling down.

“Any news.”

“What kind of news?”

“Suzie. Her pack.”

Draco sighed.

“I found her pack. Or rather what’s left of it. They’ve been in conflict for years now, the pack is split into like three fractions.”

“What makes is worse is that they won’t talk. If they know something about Suzie, they’re not saying a word.”

Gabriel sighed. Of course, he didn’t expect it to be that easy.

He reclined in his chair and sighed.

“I was really hoping Sabine won’t be our next alternative but turns out she might be.”

Draco nodded in agreement.

“I’m sure she would be more than willing to work with us. For the right price.”

That bit was true. For the right price, but knowing Sabine, she wouldn’t ask for money, it would be much more worse.

“Anything else to report.”

Draco was silent for a few seconds.

“Actually, there is something I want to ask you.”

“What is that?”

“You didn’t tell me about Lori.”

Gabriel paused. Then he slowly looked up. Of course, Draco would figure it out, he wasn’t dumb. Besides, he was his beta. He would have picked up the signals. Gabriel would have mentioned it to him, but he was too busy being worried about Emilia. His mind was way too occupied during those moments.

“And the fact that she’s the baby’s new nanny, and the fact that she’s your mate and the fact that she’s human!”

“Oh. I was going to tell you.”

Draco raised his eyebrow and Gabriel shrugged.

“Eventually.”

Draco scoffed.

“Well, when I saw her in the hospital, I managed to get a good sniff of her.”

Draco was a bloodhound. A special rare ability a handful of wolves had. It made him valuable as his beta.

“And?”

He asked as he leaned on his table, eager to hear what Draco had to say.”

Draco sighed.

“I don’t think she’s human.”

Gabriel was slightly taken aback.

“What?”

Draco nodded slowly.

“Are you sure?”

“I am. I never miss.”

“What do you think she is?”

Draco shrugged.

“If I have come across her kind before, it would have been much easier in identifying what she is, but I have not, so therefore I cannot state what I think she is.”

“But whatever she is, she is not fully human.”

“Or perhaps someone or something in her bloodline is not human. Either way, the scent hangs strongly on her.”

Well, this was a new development.

“You have met a lot of supernaturals Draco, are you sure you cannot categorically state what she is or what she might be?”

He pressed.

Draco sighed.

“At first sniff, I thought witch. But then the more I could smell the more complicated the smell became.”

“Whatever she is, do you think she’s dangerous? Or will become harmful to the baby?”

Draco shook his head.

“I cannot say for sure. But I don’t think so. But she has lived a normal average human life this long thendd zee whatever she is, whatever is in her blood, it must be dormant.”