CHAPTER SIX.

(Gabriel's POV )


After returning to my ward and reclining on the hospital bed for the brief check-up I came for, I felt that intoxicating female's scent again. It was the same alluring aroma that had drawn me to her earlier.

This time, the sweet fragrance pulled me even stronger, beckoning me to follow. She seemed to be departing abruptly.

Mere minutes after I had first encountered her wandering the halls, sobbing uncontrollably, she was now gone. This couldn't be good for an admitted patient to be fleeing the hospital so distraught. Something was off.

"Patrick, Daniel - remain here. I'll return shortly," I instructed my guards waiting outside my room.

But when I stepped out into the corridor, the lovely stranger was already ducking into a taxi outside the main entrance. Without a second thought, I rushed to my car and followed the cab from a safe distance, keeping her vehicle in my sights.


I don't know what compelled me so intensely, but this woman had completely ensnared me to the point I couldn't ignore her distress, propriety be damned. I'd apologize for my stalking later. Right now, I need to ensure her safety.

When we got to the thick city traffic, she abruptly leapt from the cab and continued on foot down a deserted industrial side street.

I parked and trailed her from afar, perplexed why a clearly upset woman would venture into such an area alone. She spun around surveying the dilapidated buildings, seemingly searching for something or someone.

I was about to approach and inquire what she sought in this rundown neighborhood when an ear splitting explosion rocked the ground!

I ducked down on instinct, shielding my head as debris rained down. Through the smoke and swirling dust, I caught sight of the woman crumpled on the pavement.

"No!" I cried out, my heart in my throat before a shadowy figure emerged briefly beside her before leaving her unmoving form and fleeing the scene entirely. Without hesitation, I sprinted to her side.

Blood seeped from a gash on the back of her head where she must have struck it after the blast's concussive force knocked her down.

"Oh dear, please be alive," I whispered urgently, carefully gathering her limp body into my arms.

Cradling her against my chest, I raced back to my car and gently laid her across the rear seat.

"We must save her - she's ours," my wolf Draco howled urgently from the back of my mind.

"Ours? You mean our destined mate I've waited lifetimes for?" I asked him incredulously as I peeled out, racing through traffic with the Emergency flashers on.

"There's no way the fates would entwine us only on the verge of her death," he snarled, enraged by the notion. "There's no way destiny doesn't play its role." He replied.


"Then who are these evil souls trying to murder my mate, and why?" I growled, swerving around other cars with singular focus.

I can't take her back to that hospital - whoever is after her will return to finish her off, I realized with dismay.

I couldn't go to just any hospital either, I needed a private high-end medical center away from prying eyes where we could protect her anonymity. .

Slamming on the brakes, I abruptly shifted directions towards the premium clinic located just outside my pack's territory boundaries.

As soon as I arrived, I swept her into my arms and burst through the entrance "This woman needs emergency care - she's been struck from an explosion!"

Thankfully, the staff didn't hesitate and immediately rushed her back on a gurney as I recounted what little I witnessed of the incident. An attending physician began asking me relationship details which I stumbled over reluctantly.

Just then, my phone went off - it was Donald, the head of my guard detachment. "Your Highness, where did you disappear to? The hospital staff needs to complete your examination."

"Never mind that now. I've taken a patient to St. Erdrich's Specialty Hospital," I replied tersely. "You and the others can rendezvous there. I'll be awaiting updates on her condition."

I paced the waiting room in agitated strides, gnawing my thumbnail anxiously until finally, after what felt like an eternity, the trauma surgeon emerged looking haggard but relieved.

"Your Grace?" he asked hesitantly, unsure how to address me.

I strode up to him impatiently. "Well? Is she...will she survive?"

"Yes, thanks entirely to your swift actions in getting her here so rapidly. We were able to neutralize and extract the poison before it could cause any permanent organ or brain damage." He explained.

"The laceration on her skull is also dressed and should heal nicely, providing she avoids any strenuous activity for a few weeks."

I collapsed onto a chair, tension draining out of me in one relieved exhale. "Thank the moon...can I see her?"

The doctor nodded. "Briefly. She needs her rest to recover her strength. But I'll allow a short visit."

He led me to her private room where the unconscious beauty laid amid a tangle of tubes and monitoring leads.

Even pale and unresponsive, she was the most exquisite female I'd ever beheld. Dropping into the chair beside her bed, I gently clasped her small hand in both of mine.

"You came far too close to leaving this world before I could find you, my angel," I murmured hoarsely, tenderly brushing a stray lock of chestnut hair off her cheek.

"She's perfect, my king - absolutely radiant," Draco rumbled adoringly. "Our mate walks among the living by the barest mercies of the fates."

I knew I should return to my comrades awaiting me and explanations I couldn't give. But separating from her side felt wrong, a bone-deep instinctive denial I couldn't override.

Instead, I searched her clothes and surrounding area for any personal effects like a phone I could use to identify her, hopefully gleaning clues about who was targeting her and why.

Frustratingly, the search proved fruitless - no purse, no ID, nothing. Perhaps her belongings were lost or taken in the blast zone where she had been attacked.

As evening fell, the nursing staff began their rotations to check her vitals. One politely cleared her throat, lingering hesitantly beside me until I turned her way.

"Your Grace...standard protocols require us to restrict visiting hours during the overnight periods to ensure our patients' ability to rest," she explained delicately.

Sighing unhappily, I stood and leaned over to tenderly kiss my unconscious mate's forehead. "I'll return tomorrow, my love. Heal swiftly," I whispered.

Exiting the room proved one of the hardest things I'd ever done. Every fiber of my being screamed to stay by her side, protect her from those who sought to harm her lovely soul.

Regretfully, I settled for ordering a contingent of my imperial guards to covertly stand sentry throughout the night across from her room concealed among the janitorial staff.

If any ill-intentioned souls dared try to finish this sordid business, they would answer to Draco's wrath as well as my own.

The next morning, I returned bright and early with a modest bouquet of wildflowers plucked fresh from the rolling fields surrounding my ancestral lands, and a bushel of her favorite fruits which I hadn't yet learned but hoped would provide her a pleasant surprise whenever she awoke.

With a heavy heart I left the hospital. I hope she comes to find me when she's properly healed. I know the nurses will tell her about me when she asks, afterall, everyone knows Alpha Gabriel the 'LYCAN KING'.