•Dahlia•
It was like a truck ran over me and repeatedly reversed to flatten me on a road made of sharp stones and pointy needles.
All my limbs screamed in pain as I tried to sit up on the bed that I found myself in. I was alone inside an unfamiliar empty room. There was a glass of water on top of the bed stand.
As I reached for the water, the door to the room opened. A middle-aged man in glasses and a plaid shirt stepped into the room.
"You're awake?" he said in concern, marching towards me. Then he grabbed the glass of water and handed it to me.
"Thank you." A hoarse voice came out of my mouth. I was startled by the sound.
I cleared my throat and greedily gulped down the glass of water. The man watched me do so patiently.
Everything started coming back to me as water touched my tongue. My divorce, the accident, those creatures, and my… mate.
Fuck. I met my mate, then I passed out. The man had been so beautiful that I was overwhelmed by his mere existence and passed out.
So now, where was I? What was going on?
When I finally finished the water, the man in a plaid shirt went for the empty glass and placed it back on the stand. Then he dragged a stool close and sat by the bed with a serious look setting on his features.
Why did I get the feeling he was a doctor?
"Mrs Everett, I am Doctor David Peterson, the royal family's private physician." The man introduced himself to me as though he knew me well.
My lips parted. The royal family's what?? Miley's image instantly formed in my head. Could she have invited a doctor over to check me? If yes, then fucking why?
"Oh, hello." I forged a polite smile on my lips and my spine straightened elegantly.
Dr David smiled, then said, "You were quite lucky the king and his party were out for night hunting at the time. If they hadn't been around, those rogues would have torn you apart."
Dr David reached for my hand and I zoned out. "Thankfully, they came before anything serious happened to you. The scratches and wounds you got from the accident and running through the forest aren't severe."
Most of his words flew over my head with only one thing sticking to my brain.
"T-the k-king?" I stuttered awkwardly as he took my pulse.
He nodded with his focus set elsewhere. I could suddenly hear the pounding of my heart in my head. A tsunami of contradictory thoughts hit my brain.
"I was told you were personally rescued by him and fainted in his arms. What luck you have…" Dr David looked at me and smiled.
No way. Absolutely no freaking way. If what this man was telling me was true, it meant that my mate was the- fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
It couldn't be. I thought my mate would be some rando from a distant pack. How on earth did my mate turn out to be the alpha king of all people in the continent?
A man who was rumored to despise women was now fated to me???
"Doctor, are you certain it was…. That it was the king who saved me?" I asked tentatively.
Dr David didn't respond immediately. He looked like he was wondering why I was asking such a question. Then after a moment passed, he pinched the bridge of his nose and huffed, as though he just remembered something important.
"Mrs Everett, congratulations," he said.
I made a puzzled face.
"Yes, it was the king himself who saved you. And while I had been examining your body after you were brought to the castle, I discovered that you are about four weeks pregnant."
How could I describe what I was feeling right now? How could I put it into coherent words?
It was like someone with extremely long nails was clawing at my chest and another person was next to them, hammering the chest aggressively. Then my head, was it spinning or pounding?
Was this a migraine or a severe headache? I felt dizzy. I felt like throwing up. I also felt like running for the nearest cliff and throwing myself off it.
"Pregnant…" I repeated the word bitterly and distastefully.
If I was pregnant, then it meant that my father succeeded. And that the single night River had made me see hell was the day the child in my womb was created.
"Yes, a miraculous affair." Dr David looked like he was genuinely happy for me.
Oh, goddess. He had no idea that this pregnancy was an utter disaster wrapped in a blessing.
"Y-yes, of course." I stuttered, finding it incredibly difficult to even pretend that I was overjoyed by the information.
Dr David said a few words after that, giving me advice on how to take care of my wounds and the baby in my stomach. Then he left the room so I could rest.
In his absence, I could finally think properly. Not really, but at least the solitude gave me more space to go over the things in my head.
I was pregnant with River's kid and my mate was the alpha king.
There wasn't a more complicated and dangerous situation than this one. I obviously couldn't stay here in this castle as that man's mate. And I couldn't return to River. He would kill me.
I could only move forward on my own. I could still continue on my path to the human continent, maybe when I was settled I would think of what to do next.
All I knew now was that I needed to leave this place this second.
I suddenly felt suffocated, like the walls were closing in on me. I forced myself up to my feet. I staggered a bit but steadied after taking a few controlled breaths.
Then I raced for the door, logical reasoning evading me. I had only placed my hand on the doorknob when the door opened and I was forced to stumble back.
An imposing figure stepped into the room, vacuuming all the air his way. It was him—Hayden Moonstone, the sovereign ruler over all the packs in the Werewolf Continent.
My hands trembled uncontrollably. This man was my mate. The feeling was more distinct now that I wasn't in the middle of the forest surrounded by bloodthirsty creatures.
It was like there was a magnet between us that attracted me to him. And though I wanted to move, to run far away from him, I couldn't get my feet to work in my favor.
"Where were you going?" he inquired slowly, his enchanting gray eyes narrowed at me.
I swallowed air, the ability to speak seemed lost on me. I could only stare at him, wondering how such a person's destiny could be entwined with mine.
My lack of an answer got him impatient as he closed the distance between us, and his dominant agarwood smell pervaded my nostrils without permission, making my knees go weak.
"You were running away." Hayden stated without question.
I tried to deny it, shaking my head negatively but I hadn't even completed the first cycle when his gloved hand covered my throat and he pinned me against the nearest wall.
"Huh!" I gasped for air, the familiar feeling of being choked overwhelmed me.
Hayden's figure completely shadowed me until all I could see was his beautiful symmetrical face that carried a deadly expression.
"Am I so frightening?"