"I'm her mother, and I don't approve."

Henri looked upon the face of his mate's biological mother and felt an anger that he hadn't felt even when he was crushing the wind pipes of his challenger Mathieu under his paws.

His blood boiled, and his cat scrapped and moved under his skin.

Feeling the anger bubbling out of him, Luc put a calming hand on his shoulder reminding him of where he was.

It helped...but not much.

How dare she?

Not after all she's done.

He understood she was a mere teenager when she got pregnant, and although he was angry that he'd given her up but he also could comprehend how scary the thought of having a child this young could be. Especially since your family was ready to disown you if you choose to keep the child.

He got that.

He was also grateful that she didn't just throw her away somewhere, that even if she didn't go through the process of giving her up for adoption, she still used the safe haven law, which is when a parent decides to give up an unarmed infant in a police station, fire station, church etc...

But what he couldn't forgive her for, was the fact that she found her. She wasn't looking for her child, but she stumbled onto her and even now that she was no longer under the thumbs of her parents, that even now that she was rich on her right, she still chose to keep Natalia in the dark for years. And now she had the gall to come here and pull the "mother" card to keep his mate away from him???

How the hell did she even know Natalia was in the hospital!?

Then he remembered he'd asked Max to let her co-workers know about what happened, so she probably got the news from them.

It's been 24hrs since the surgery ended. They had a couple of closed calls. She's even flatline once he was told, and that titbit of info has made his cat even more edgy now.

He almost lost his mate, under his watch. That's something he would have never been able to live with.

His blood has proven to work, albeit slower than he'd wished.

His doctor back home had let them know of what might happen after she's had gotten his blood.

He wanted to take her home on his island as soon as the surgery was done. But the doc vehemently told him no.

She was not to be moved for the next 12 hours. The surgery was a success, but she was still very much at risk and was to be closely monitored.

His blood was helping her heal faster than the normal human, but he needed the process to speed up.

The truth was, the full moon was tomorrow night. Although, as felines they didn't usually depend on the power of the moon as much as the wolves. All born feline shifters needed was to be of age and he or she would change. But given that, his mate was being changed from human to shifter, and she was well passed the age, the pull of the moon will be irresistible to her cat and she will going to go through her first change whether she was awake or not, and if she is not fully healed by then or very close to being healed, her body might not be able to take the added stress.

There's no way in hell he could let that happen here, in this human hospital.

But as he was in the middle of signing the proper paperwork to take her out of the hospital and airlift her home, under the gaze of a not so happy doctor still against him taking her, in waltzed Arielle demanding...stuff.

The fuck?

Much to the doctor's pleasure. He is lucky he saved her life or he'd get punch in the face.

He wasn't family.

He was not married to his kitten.

They were more than happy to deal with him when they thought she didn't have a next of kin but now...

Forget the fact that he was the one who hadn't moved from here since he's brought her in. For fuck sakes, he was still wearing the same bloody soaked clothes. It kept him alert and awake. He didn't want to miss a thing about what was going on.

Forget the fact that, he has paid the bills. They had no problems with that. But as soon as Arielle strolled in here, they pushed him aside as if he was no longer of any concerns to them. Especially since they've found a sympathetic ear from Arielle about the whole moving her ordeal.

Fucking human rules.

So here she was standing in front of him, speaking loud enough for everyone to hear about how in no circumstances will she agree to let him take his mate out of here.

"So now you want to act like a mother huh?" He said his voice low and dangerous. She was smart enough, to look flustered and take a few steps back putting a wider distance between them.

She sifted from one foot to the next, nervous and uncomfortable under his intense unwavering gaze.

" Luc.."

"Yea bro, what do you need?"

"Make the call."

"You got it."

His gaze still hadn't left her. Her eyes widened, no doubt wondering whom he were calling.

Luc stepped away from the trio to make the call, and after just a few minutes the doctor's personal cell rang out of his white coat pocket.

He retrieved it, seemingly to quiet down the ring tone, but looked visibly shocked once he saw the name that popped on the screen.

He swiped the green button and verbalized a shaken hello, then cleared his throat to continue with a more sturdy tone.

"But sir....

Her mother sir.....

Sigh... I understand.

Yes sir."

Then he hang up.

Henri was still looking at Arielle without missing a beat, but now his intense gaze on her was accompanied with a mischievous smile knowing what was coming.

The doc cleared his throat again standing behind him with the paperwork he had taken away from Henri before he could finish signing everything.

"Um... I'm sorry sir... Here are the papers please sign them and we'll have her ready for transport."

"WHAT!" Screamed Arielle.

Without another word he spun around and headed towards Natalia's room.

It hurts to see all those tubes going in and out of her. He sat on the chair next to her and held her hand in his, brushing his thumb over it.

The tingles that shot up his arms and straight to his heart everytime he touched her, the ones he finally understood were caused by the mate bond, calmed him and his cat down.

He inhaled and exhaled.

Even unconscious she still had a huge effect on him, and the prospect of her scolding him was the only thing that kept him from getting up off this seat, go back in the hallway and shut that woman up. Because she was still screeching at the doctor and threatened to sue everyone and everything if her daughter leaves this hospital without her consent.

He knows the doctor was placed in a horrible spot, but he couldn't bring himself to care. The only thing that he cared about was seeing her Hazel eyes again.

"We will he home soon kitten, and I'll take good care of you I promise."

"Home? She is not going anywhere with you!" screeched Arielle as she comes and stand next to him.

"Try and stop me and you will regret it for the rest of your life. You may think you know who I am but you don't, but I don't care who you are. I will thoroughly destroy anyone who thinks they can come between us."

He looks over at her for the first time since she walked into the room. He stands up, towering over her. Still holding on to Natalia's hand. He needed her to keep him grounded, something for his cat to pay attention to because the last thing he needed right now was to change and tear this woman apart.

She was in danger and didn't even know it.

Until she was fully healed and safe in his arms, Adil has been on full alert, and if he truly senses that someone wanted to take his mate away from him, then it would be impossible to control the beast within.

His skin was hot and he could feel his canines elongating. He closed his eyes for a few seconds then heard the door bruskly opened with Tony ready to kill someone.

"We good boss? I sensed..."

"It's OK Tony, take Natalia's mother out of here and get the helicopter ready so we can take her to the plane."

"Yes sir."

"I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE!"

"Arielle..." he said with warning growl in his throat "Today is not the day for you to suddenly decides to act like a mother. Whatever is about to happen, you can not stop it, so better you just leave."

"But..."

"DON'T MAKE ME DO SOMETHING I'M NOT GOING TO REGRET!"

She winced and retreated to the corner of the room and crossed her arms across her chess.

"I told her everything you know."

"Only because I found out and told you to."

"I care about her."

"Sure."

"I... I know I messed up..."

"Understatement."

Daggers flew out of her eyes. If looked could kill...

Well she'd die first because his wasn't that friendly neither.

"I know for a fact you two recently started seeing each other, how can I possibly trust you to bring her to whatever godforsaken place you are planning on bringing her... Mmm?"

Her finger twitched in his hand and his heart jumped in his chest.

" Did you know that her old foster dad did this to her?"

Arielle gasped with a hand on her mouth.

She didn't know.

It was a shitty move. He wasn't going to tell her the history between John and his mate, that's not his story to tell, but he was going to make sure she understood she was not completely blameless in this.

Whether or not he actually believes this was besides the point, the woman was stubborn and he needed to get her something to think about and leave them alone.

Her hands were shaking and her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

Then he drove the knife in deeper.

"If you didn't give her up, she'd never be in this position right now."

The tears had left her eyes by now, streaming down her cheeks.

Tony got a message.

"Sir, the helicopter is on the helipad on the roof."

"Let the doctor know so they can come get her ready."

"Yes boss... Ma'am, come with me please."

"C-can I come with?"

He almost fell bad for her...Almost.

"No.

She will contact you when she is ready."

She huffed a response and stomped out the room silently making the clickety clack sound of her heels echoe all through the hallway.

He exhaled when he watched the slew of people coming in the room getting her ready to travel as securely as possible.

He already had a medical team ready on the plane for her just in case.

He couldn't wait to have her back in arms, on his lap and punish her for worrying him so much, but not before he has thoroughly inspected every inch of her body...

With his tongue and make sure she was ok, that was the only he could truly appease his animal side.

That is of course if she will let him after she's learned about everything. Because no matter how much it would kill him to stay away from her...and it would probably really kill him...he'd respect her decision.

Would probably turn into a creepy stalker and bite the heads off of any men that gets close to her though. That can still be considered as acceptance right?

He will have to put this worry aside for now. There is much more pressing matter.

He could already sense the changes in her.

He could smell her cat.

They were running out of times.