"Who is here for Inara?" Doctor Isaac calls out.

"I am," Zade volunteers as he couldn't find Abir or Ivory around. They were adamant about calling Isaac to see Inara in this hospital. At first, they wanted to take her to that Life Care hospital where her brother was admitted but upon Zade's insistence, they just stuck with them calling Isaac to this hospital. And he was happy to oblige. Something about her past records and that she has allowed only this doctor to operate on her.

Isaac looks around to find Abir or Ivory. He can't tell a total stranger about Inara's problems.

"She just fainted. Probably dehydrated." Isaac rules out.

"But she was panting hard, like gasping for breath. And she said she was in pain." Zade clearly remembers.

"Maybe it is those medicines," Abir says from behind.

"What medicines?" Zade asks suspiciously.

"Some vitamins that Isaac prescribed her." Abir looks in a certain manner at Isaac, asking him to play along.

"Uh...yeah. Some vitamins. She must have been taking them a lot or not at all." Isaac nods.

"Is she okay now? Can we meet her?" Abir asks, changing the subject.

"Yes, sure. She isn't awake yet though." Isaac allows.

"Why don't you meet her, Zade? I have something to talk to the doctor here." He points at Isaac.

Zade walks towards Inara's room hesitantly. Something was wrong and he could feel it from inside.

"You cannot give her those medicines anymore."' Isaac says angrily to Abir after Zade left them alone.

"But you said we can. You warned us about the hormonal imbalance but you said the side effects are negligible." Abir counters.

"Well, guess what? Now they aren't!" Isaac sits down with a groan, "Do you know how hard it is to get that medicine? Not to say, but illegal too?" he whispers. "If anyone at the hospital finds that out, I can lose my medical license!"

"But then Inara will start getting her heat!" Abir yells in frustration. Thankfully, no one was around to hear that, "We are surrounded by wolves and the minute they smell it on her, they will lose their mind! You know she isn't a normal omega!"

"But..." Ivory had been listening to all of this for a while now, "She stopped taking it six months ago."

Both Isaac and Abir's eyes stay wide at that.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Isaac says. Come to think of it, Ivory didn't ask him to supply it for the past few months. "I mean I was suspicious at first but I thought that she started taking limited doses."

"Why didn't you tell us?" this time it was Abir.

"Because I didn't know about it till last month." She sits down, thinking about something, "The year she left the hospital, she had regular doses. But since she joined the company, she stopped taking them altogether. I realized it when I had to fill her bottle, seeing that it wasn't empty. She said that she didn't experience headaches or stomach pains anymore, so she just stopped."

"You mean to say she didn't take those medicines for the last six months and still didn't get her heat?" Isaac confirms.

"Yes! I was there with her the whole time and I don't think that she ever got her heat. I was thankful that she stopped taking them if there weren't any." Ivory says.

"But then this?" Abir looks at Isaac.

"Has she been taking something else? Because her hormones seem to be a little crazy. That's why I thought they were the medicine's side effects." Isaac points out.

"I don't think so." Ivory answers.

"Okay, I'll look more into it." Isaac says before leaving, "Keep her under observation for a few days. I'll come back whenever possible." Abir and Ivory nod at him.

Abir gets a strange sensation. A strange scent. It was like it was drawing him towards it and he has a hard time controlling his fangs inside. It was an omega scent to be exact.

"What's that smell?" Abir scrunches his nose as his voice cracks.

"What smell?" Ivory sniffs around, confused.

"It is...." Abir looks at Inara's room's door and gulps.

"What is the date today?" Ivory asks, dreading the answer.

"21st..." his voice cracks a little. He has a hard time controlling himself.

"It's the heat!" she looks back at Abir with wide eyes, "Inara is on her heat!"

Both Abir and Ivory barge into her room only to find Zade sitting there. He was gently caressing her head even though she was sweating and writhing in pain. But as long as she had Zade's touch on her, she was calm.

"She is a wolf, isn't she?" Zade asks them.

───── ❝ A few minutes earlier ❞ ─────

Zade walks towards Inara's room hesitantly. Something was wrong and he could feel it from inside. He gets in to see her sweating a lot. He sits beside her and talks to her softly,

"Inara?" he places his hand on her forehead. It was burning hot. "Are you in pain?" he asks worriedly.

"My...stomach...hurts...." She can barely talk. Zade could sense Inara's scent was stronger but his body was used to it now.

"Here?" he places his hand on her stomach subconsciously and it seems she was feeling better. Her stomach was heated up too.

At that point, he realized something.

He gets up to call the doctor but Inara holds his hands.

"Don't go!" she pleads and writhes more in pain, "Still...in...pain.... warm...hand...." Zade gulps and sits beside her again, caressing her forehead.

That's when Abir and Ivory burst in with shocked expressions.

"She is a wolf, isn't she?" Zade asks them.

"I...I don't know what you are talking about?" Ivory lies.

"Then why does Abir look like he has a hard time controlling himself?" he questions her even though his eyes are still on Inara.

Ivory looks at Abir struggling to keep his fangs in.

"Abir!" she shouts at him.

"I...I am sorry..." was all that Abir could say. "It's too strong...I....I need to get out of here!" he dashes out of the room, closing the door with a bang.

"You didn't answer my question," Zade asks in a threatening voice to Ivory.

"Why aren't you affected by her?" Ivory senses something fishy. Since Abir wasn't mated yet, he would be drawn to any other omega on her heat. And Zade wasn't mated too.

So how can he stay so calm?

"You don't get to ask questions!" Zade gets up and speaks in his Alpha voice. Ivory shivers, knowing that he was releasing his Alpha pheromones on her.

"Yes.." Ivory whimpers an answer.

At that moment, Zade knew why Inara was trouble.

The second he touched her stomach; Hunter finally spoke for the first time in a long time. And Zade dreaded to hear those words.

"MATE."

Abir gets out of the room, breathing heavily. As he walks forward, away from Inara's scent, another powerful scent overpowers it, indicating their approach.

The Black Alders were here.