Once again

4. Who are you?

Blake's POV

After entering the ward, I was shocked and almost knocked down to my knees by the overwhelming moment. I had never, ever dreamed of finding my mate this way. But it was real. She was lying on the hospital bed with tubes attached to her neck, all a variety of wires on her chest and hands with the intravenous drip, while the machines beside her told me she was still alive and breathing.

"MATE." I claimed again, while some male doctor took his hand from her face and placed it in his coat pocket. I hadn’t noticed him at first or smell his scent. It angered my wolf and me to see someone else touching our mate.

"Leave!" I roared.

It was an Alpha's instinct in me to show my domineering aura but also the mate bond speaking through my actions to claim my girl. And I wasn't going to apologize for my possessiveness. She is my girl, my mate, my queen and we were adamant to show it to anyone trying to take her away from us.

"Sorry Alpha, I just checked her temperature." The doctor said while lifting his hands high and showing his neck in submission, stepping away from her bed.

Escorting him out with my death glare, I watched as he closed the door behind him before I looked back at my mate. She was gorgeous.

Although she was lying motionless in bed covered with bruises, small cuts and bandages, she was drop dead gorgeous. Small, vulnerable and all f*****g mine. I took slow steps, just watching her breathing. Her chest was rising and falling in a steady rhythm and I was curious how she ended up there.

‘She's OK.’ my wolf said in relief, but I wasn't convinced, I needed to touch her.

Once I stood beside her bed, I slowly placed my hand in hers and slightly squeezed it. She was half cold but the sparks that appeared convinced me that she was real. Her delicate skin felt like silk in my hand, and so fragile. Sitting on the chair beside the bed, I tightened my hold around her small hand and brought it to my lips to kiss it.

The moment I did it, Brody opened the door and looked at me puzzled. I glanced at him briefly without a word. He probably had some information about mom. But as concerned as I was, I couldn't care less at that moment. I had found my mate and that was more important to me.

"Mom's OK, just human stuff at her age that made her puke. Some menopause s**t. So we'll be out tomorrow morning." He said relieved, but I didn't look at him.

"OK, thanks. But I'm not going home." I told him, still looking at the beauty in front of me. There was no way in f*****g hell I'd abandon her.

"Is she...?" Brody trailed off, not finishing his question.

"She is."

"s**t, congrats and good luck, I'll send dad." He said before closing the door.

All this time, I continued to watch my mate, mesmerized, lost in her beauty. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever laid my eyes on. Even the small wounds that covered her arms didn’t make her less enticing. I had been waiting for her for four years and here she was sent by the Moon Goddess, recovering in a damn hospital bed. I was so lost in the magnificent feeling of the sparks that I didn't notice a person watching us.

"Treasure that, son. Don't make my mistakes, and give her the love she deserves from the beginning. Don't be a d**k like I was." My father's voice appeared in the room and I looked at the door. His enormous body filled the entire door frame and I smiled at him.

"Thanks Dad, but I think I need Mom for this." I answered, focusing back on my mysterious mate.

I heard him sigh in agreement before he left. It was good to see him calm and composed after the disaster in the waiting room. I spent an hour by her side just looking at her while rubbing her small hand. I thought about my eagerness to find her and the wedding I had almost ruined, just to find her the next day fighting for her life. Was it a joke? Was it a punishment for yesterday? Was it some kind of test for me? Was I supposed to find her just to lose her? I shook my head to stop the negative thoughts that crossed my mind.

"You'll be fine Sweetheart, you'll get out of this. I still need to see your beautiful eyes." I whispered, kissing her knuckles.

I didn't even know her name. Who was she and what happened to her? All I knew was that she was small, slim, had thick long auburn hair that framed her face, and she emitted the most alluring scent of freesias that made me feel so addicted I could sniff it all day long.

I was so lost in my own happy bubble that I almost forgot where we were. Commotion outside the door picked up my interest and I reluctantly looked at the door. When they opened, Bella's head popped in with Greg and my father trailing behind them. Hadn’t she already left for her honeymoon?

"Hi Blake, Uncle Ethan told me what happened. Is she really your mate?" She asked out of breath, stepping closer to the bed. She probably rushed here after arranging everything for my mother.

"Yes, she is."

Bella and Greg exchanged concerned looks, and I knew they had some information about her.

"What is it?" I asked her, standing up and coming closer to the bed in case I had to shield my mate. They all saw it and stepped back. Only then did I feel my wolf baring his teeth in warning.

"It's nothing Blake, it's just..." Bella hurriedly started explaining, "It's just we don't know who she is. She was driving through the town a week ago and was in a car accident that led her here." She gave me the small update and I relaxed, knowing she was not in danger.

"Maybe we can go somewhere else to talk about this?" Greg offered, taking Bella by her hand.

"I'm not leaving her side, so we'll talk here." I almost growled, not willing to leave her alone. My father sat in the empty chair in the corner of the room and Greg had no other choice but to arrange more seats for him and Bella. When we all sat down, I gave him a nod to start talking.

"A week ago, she entered the town at night to fill up her gas tank and eat. She went to Annie's diner and ordered food. According to Annie, she was sad and crying, probably on the run, but she didn't say anything." He paused to take a breath and continued; "My Beta, David, and his friends entered the diner and he tried flirting..." he paused again and watched my reaction. I was angry and my wolf was ready to go after his Beta for trying to hit on our mate. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm us down. I nodded at him after urging him to go on.

"Well she didn't fall for that, and put him in his place, which he didn't like." He chuckled. She was feisty. I liked that. I kissed her hand again.

"He got mad and was ready to attack but luckily I had just entered and seeing his fuming face, I told her to go. She left immediately, leaving a huge cloud of dust behind her. I dealt with David and told him to go back home while I sat down with Annie and we chatted."

"And? What's next? I know you're not done yet, Greg." I was on the edge at that moment. I needed to know more.

"One of my warriors linked me about forty minutes later about a car crash. She saw a wolf and lost control of the car, then hit a log on the side of the road. She flew out the front window and hit the tree, breaking her spine." He almost whispered the last words and my heartbeat increased. She was paralyzed. And probably would never wake up. That made my heart break. It was really the end of my ‘happily ever after’. I would never see her eyes, never talk to her. My wolf howled in pain at our tragedy.

"But, that's not all." Those words made me look at him preparing for the worst. My eyes were already filled with tears.

"According to the doctors, the moment she lost control of the car, she was shifting for the first time."

That information shocked me and my father stood up from his chair and approached the bed. I was speechless, looking at him and Greg, not knowing what to do with this information. I didn't sense her wolf, she smelled like a human stuffed with drugs.

My father touched her cheek and closed his eyes. Still in a daze, I watched him. He turned his head to the left and a grimace twisted his face in concentration. Seconds later, he opened his eyes but they were black. It was his wolf. He looked at me and smiled.

"She has a wolf, but it's not fully developed." His deep baritone confirmed Greg's words.

"Doctors say she is focusing all her strength to heal her human form, so she can survive, but they don't know the consequences of that action. We don't know if she will be able to shift once she's awake. All we know right now is that she is eighteen, probably running in an unidentified car we can't even trace. She's a total mystery to us." Bella spoke in a soft voice, smiling at me sadly.

Their words gave me hope. She would be alright; I didn't care if she was wolf-less. It only mattered that she survived. I would accept her without any conditions.

Bella and Greg left after an hour to catch their flight to finally start their honeymoon. They promised to call for updates and to inform the doctor of my stay with her. My father left sometime before them to give all the information to my mother and Brody. I thanked them all and continued to watch over my mate.

The doctor came in minutes after Bella and Greg left to check her vitals. He told me everything he knew, but it wasn't more than I already knew. He left after reassuring me it'd be fine and to pray to the Goddess and not lose hope.

It was already evening when I realized I hadn't left her bed for a few hours when Brody came back with a bag of delicious smelling grilled steak, coffee and bottles of water. My stomach grumbled and I licked my lips at the thought of food. I hadn't eaten since morning, and the bag was calling for me.

"Mom sent it, and also sent her congratulations on finding your mate." He said, placing the food on the small table. I thanked him and we sat in silence watching her, while I devoured the food within a minute.

He told me that mom was trying to escape the ward to come here but Dad forbade her from leaving bed until morning, as the doctor instructed. Which ended up in an argument and banning him from touching her for a whole week when they returned.

We laughed at that, knowing she'd lose this battle in two days. They couldn't stay away from each other for more than 24 hours. And from first hand, I knew how intense their makeup would be. Gross. No one should ever see their parents having s*x. And I was unlucky enough to catch them more than once.

When Brody left after arranging a bag of necessities for me, I was left alone with my mate. My phone was vibrating in my jeans every few minutes. Checking all the commotion, I saw messages from mom, asking how she looked or sending her love and support. Bella assured me that they were all on board to help to find my mate's background. And finally, tons of questions from Cam. And as stupid as he was, the questions made me smile and growl at the same time.

"Congrats bro, is she hot?”

"Has Sleeping Beauty rejected your kiss?”

"Damn, this is huge. Are her boobs big?”

"Have you checked what's beneath the covers?”

With every new message, I considered ripping his head off. But I knew he was trying to bring a little bit of humor into this shitty situation. So I didn't answer him, but instead I clicked the call button and put the phone to my ear.

"s**t Blake, how are you holding up?" After three rings he answered and without a greeting, he went straight to the point. That was Cam. Never beat around the bush. Always straight to the point.

"I'm happy about finding her, but the lack of information bugs me. Can we use our contacts to try to find anything?" I asked while caressing my mate's cheek. Her skin was soft and delicate.

"I need some basic information to put into the system, but yeah. Anything that can help I'll do." Cam assured me he was all in and I gave him all the information I got from Greg and Bella. After a few more minutes of updating each other about the situation, we hung up.

I was grateful that everyone who was dear to me was supportive and ready to help. Before night fell, the same doctor, who I now knew was named Felix Logan and was happily mated, came to check on her for the last time before ending his shift. There were no changes in her progress, but he said it was a good thing, at least she was not getting any worse.

When the exhaustion of the eventful day finally took a toll on my body, I kissed her hand, then her forehead before I laid my head on the bed, closing my eyes. Trying to find the most comfortable position in my chair, I let myself fall asleep, with the only question running through my mind.

"Who are you, Sweetheart?"