CHAPTER 001

CHAPTER 001

She knew her baby would soon arrive—all was strange with this situation—she'd been taken to the hospital after falling, with doctors and nurses surrounding her while in excruciating pain, leaving only this thought floating through her mind: It would arrive. The baby would come. It had always been that way in her mind!

Could you please clarify why an additional three weeks is necessary? Unfortunately, Jared came along and wrecked everything again, just like always.

Mr. and Mrs. Fuller must have come rushing over when they heard of her condition; between being medicated for painkillers and their concern, she heard their distant voices asking after the baby rather than herself. They seemed more focused on getting more information for them rather than on helping their wife through this crisis.

Lori had no recollection of what transpired; everything had been lost to memory. Perhaps fate had decided it best that the event happened so she wouldn't recall anything at all from that period in her life.

She was unable to endure it.

When she awakened the next morning, the lights in her hospital room were too bright to bear and almost blindingly bright; after some adjustment period to adjust to this level of lightness, she realized there wasn't anyone present—no one at all!

Mrs. Fuller would surely be overjoyed at their new addition—her excitement would no doubt fill their hands, and their hands would soon become full of other duties. Mr. and Mrs. Fuller would no doubt become completely preoccupied with caring for their new daughter or son!

She tried moving her arm but felt an incredible amount of discomfort throughout her body. Sorry. I'm so incredibly sore.

As she closed her eyes to soothe herself from pain, she thought to herself incredulously, This must hurt so badly! For how long had she closed them if only to rid herself of this agony! Trying desperately to fall back asleep would solve everything immediately!

Moments later, an unshaven nurse entered. Thank goodness she quickly came to assist.

"That is great; that shows your level of awareness."

Lori tried speaking but found herself struggling for words as her throat became parched and scratchy. Reaching towards Lori's nightstand for a water bottle caused excruciating pain as Lori attempted to reach out for it—even just reaching caused excruciating discomfort!

"Don't worry. I will get it for you."

As she took hold of the bottle of water, the nurse stated her intent.

She filled a small plastic cup near Lori's nightstand with water, adjusted Lori's bed so she could sit properly to drink, and prepared Lori for drinking.

Lori took two sips before stopping.

"What happened?" She inquired as she looked around.

"Immediately after your cesarean section, you started losing consciousness, which shocked everyone involved and alarmed the doctor, who feared you might not survive." He thought you may even die."

As she placed the cup back onto my nightstand, the nurse examined my vitals while making notes in my notepad.

"Do you remember what happened?"

Lori answered no when asked by the nurse.

"I can't recall much, other than coming here...and feeling pain..."

She spoke out, and the nurse nodded in agreement.

"Yes, you were experiencing severe suffering.

Lori felt slightly familiar as soon as the doctor walked in; tall, balding, and wearing glasses, Lori must have seen him when arriving at the hospital.

"Good morning, Ms. Wyatt. How are you?"

Lori gave him a dismissive reply.

"I don't know how I should feel. Everything hurts. My joints ache."

She spoke, and both the nurse and doctor exchanged glances that seemed familiar yet unknown to her.

"Ms. Wyatt was in extremely critical condition when she arrived for treatment last night, requiring immediate and urgent medical intervention.

Lori nodded; obviously, she had gone into early labor.

"We prepared you for an emergency cesarean section, and the surgery went as scheduled; unfortunately, however, the baby was reported distressed and with breathing anomalies upon birth and did not survive the process of birthing.".

Lori was mortified. This baby didn't make it?! "What?" It whispered her thoughts quietly while the doctor reached his conclusion and left without commenting further on what had transpired.

"We did all we could, but unfortunately, he never stood a chance from the outset; when you entered premature labor, we knew this to be the case.

Lori began whimpering. However, what came out of her mouth wasn't human in origin—in fact, it didn't even sound like anything coming from within her. The doctor took note of this, and Lori whimpered again, but this time, the sound seemed alien and didn't come from within her.

"Where is my son now?" "Where is my son now?" asked the mother, to which the doctor responded with a shrug.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fuller came forward with documents showing you had forfeited your rights as his mother," according to Fuller's widower, Elanor Fuller, to claim her son.

They could hardly wait?!

Or let her see him? It's "No! No! They didn't let me meet him!!"

As she sobbed, both doctor and nurse exchanged silent glances between themselves.

"Ms. Wyatt had been out for an extended period, and legally, they had every right to claim his remains.

Lori began shifting in her bed despite experiencing immense discomfort.

"Where is my son now?! I want to see my child!"

She cried out as she placed one leg firmly onto the cold marble floor; just moving her foot was enough to cause severe agony, yet she managed it nonetheless.

The nurse quickly responded, her strong arms quickly subduing and trying to bring back to bed the patient who had fallen from it.

"No,, Ms. Wyatt! Don't move yet—your strength has not built up enough yet!"

Lori came rushing toward her and quickly struck out at her with all her strength, knocking away any attempts by the approaching youngster to touch Lori's skin with his other hand and give her one final glance.

"Sedate her. She needs rest."

He spoke out as he exited the room.

Lori continued crying and screaming as her nurse attempted to comfort her; then, another nurse came quickly in and restrained Lori before everything became dim and white noise. Soon after, she experienced a sudden onset of tiredness and lost all her thoughts.

Gabriel Caine nervously strolled the corridors of a hospital ward. Suzie had gone completely bonkers. She hadn't told him she was about to give birth despite knowing the timetable—it hadn't occurred to him that Suzie might go into labor soon, as her due date hadn't yet arrived. Gabriel wasn't prepared. He thought Suzie might still make another announcement or two and that everything would go according to plan. But no—labor had started already, and Gabriel didn't think Suzie would come through on time despite everything—it had surprised him greatly, despite him thinking it wouldn't happen again soon enough for him—not even them both—to prepare, thus making them nervous before entering the hospital ward one more than usual before finally going in there to meet Suzie after all these weeks without warnings regarding labor contractions! Gabriel Caine ran amuck throughout hospital ward 1 (Gabrielle was), hoping against hope in case Suzie wasn't due another few days away and thinking she wasn't due on schedule, so she thought all was good until something came about and then suddenly happened out of nowhere and then didn't happen before it was due. But nope, Gabriel didn't tell him she wasn't due until that day, or so long. Until then, it all became real; Gabriel soon regretted what would likely come!

He was in New York when Grace called.

He had made haste back from New York so that when his baby came due, the delivery could go smoothly and on schedule. She wasn't home yet, though...

His pack was also clearly distressed.

Though they were mere acquaintances, he showed Suzie love in his unique manner.

Gabriel had first met Suzie during Canada's annual Alpha convention. Although part of a different pack, Suzie kept making eyes at him throughout the dinner party night, not knowing much more than that she was indeed part of one, though lower ranking than himself. Gabriel did not have many details to go off on.

He was determined to behave well at the party, so he declined her advances. Still, later, at an after-party bar where they met again, they both got drunk together before finally ending up together in a hotel room.

He awoke the following day regretful of his actions and left before she arrived back to find some money on the nightstand for her so she could return home on her own.

He left no phone number for her to call him back.

Three months later, Gabriel returned from running when his beta gave him his phone, informing him there was an urgent call from Suzie, who had called. Gabriel had long since forgotten all about Suzie but agreed to accept the call out of politeness.

At first, he had been outraged that Suzie claimed she was pregnant, but then he settled down, paying for her flight to Denver and ordering that she take a DNA test to ascertain this information.

Suzie objected to Gabriel's confirmation as the father, but Gabriel accepted responsibility because he had no hidden agendas with this child.

No doubt he felt somewhat dismayed; after all, it wasn't often that an alpha of one of the world's premier packs fathered an unplanned pregnancy with another woman—even his family had been taken aback at what had transpired.

Suzie moved in quickly; he did not mind as long as she understood her place—yes, she would always remain his child's mother; however, those roles would remain vacant until someone more suitable came along to claim them.

Suzie often disregarded this rule and tried to dominate their betas, yet he tolerated her excesses because she was the mother of his child.

He had left briefly for a business trip only to receive an unnerving call that she was in labor.

The doctor left the theater, hurrying along quickly while disengaging from his bloody gloves.

His face had turned grim; his heartbeat was racing rapidly.

Gabriel braced himself, bracing for what Gabriel believed could be devastating news: the news about Mr. Caine. As Gabriel opened up his mouth, he knew this news would break and prepared himself mentally to face what lay in store for him. "Mr. Caine... I apologize." (Gabriel was at pains to avoid saying these words outright.)

"Despite your loss, we celebrate your beautiful baby girl.

Though guilty, his tension eased when hearing the final portion of the narrative.

"Ms. Garcia went into cardiac arrest shortly after giving birth, and we did not have access to her medical history; had we done so, perhaps we could have prevented it and possibly saved her.

Gabriel struggled to find the right words.

"Can I please refer to my daughter right now?"

He inquired, and the doctor agreed.

Soon thereafter, Gabriel noticed a nurse wheeling out a baby from the theater, so he approached to take a peek.

Gabriel was overcome by emotion as Gabriel heard the sound and heard her shrill voice screaming out the truth of Gabriel's horror at what Gabriel witnessed. Gabriel broke down crying into a heap with each outburst from Gabriel's daughter, crying and screaming bloody murder at Gabriel, making his heart break despite all efforts of comforting his daughter through Gabriel and Gabriel himself calming his nerves before the scene unfolded before their very eyes.

His daughter would now grow up without ever knowing her.

Suzie had left, and she would grow up without her.

Gabriel felt as if he had already failed her in some way.