"Knock, Knock!"

Gabriel knocked on the conference room's door at the Royal Hospital. He more or less had suspected he would be called. In the attack some hours ago, a girl he had written down in the documents as being 3rd rank, managed to withstand the effects of two spells, annihilate an entire group of armed to the teeth hunters and survive multiple wolfsbane bullets. Even if she was struggling to stay alive at the moment, it was a feat surpassing her rank by many folds.

If he would be in the exact same situation, he doubted he would have remained alive. A wolf's power relied more on pack fights, some did the diversion, some did the attacking and others coordinated and directed the flow of the battle. As part of the team of investigators and as a teacher, he had already interrogated the students that were at the scene.

He was informed just how fast and strong she was. Even after taking 7 bullets, which made the hunters believe she had died, she regained her consciousness and attacked more fiercely than before and stronger too. In a matter of minutes she had manage to dismember and kill most of the hunters at the location, only missing two who had lost consciousness and one that had ran away seeing the others slaughtered.

What it meant was that she did a pack's strategy all by herself. The diversion, the attacking and coordination that would be shared in an attack was done by a sole werewolf. Her fierceness felt like a déjà vu, like he already saw such strong ruthless attacks before.

"Come in!" A strong and authoritative voice commanded. The person who made him have such a déjà vu feeling called him inside.

That's right... he thought. The familiar savage attacks were none other than his highness's specialty. He almost forgot, as it had already been several decades ago the last time he saw him in battle.

He sighed and opened the door. Now he had to figure out how he should tell his highness what he knew of Celia, preferably without being killed. The command of Celia to hide her rank was still in effect, he could not say it straight to Salas what her rank was. Salas must ask him the right question and he also had to use his alpha voice. Otherwise he would have to lie and it would only lead him to more troubles.

"Gabriel, what is Miss Blair's real rank and why have you hidden it in the documents? Speak truthfully or be prepared for an adequate punishment."

Of course he would not have a chance for some greetings, just bring him directly to the root of the problems, thought Gabriel.

"What do you mean your Highness? What is the problem with her ranking?" He could not say it directly, but the only obvious solution at the moment was to use his friend's short temper. If he played dumb and redirect the questions back to him, then perhaps Salas would use his alpha voice.

He would have to play a little more at being dumb, ask him some more until Salas would question him directly. He was his friend after all, he had never used his alpha voice on him, but in the end he would.

" Shouted Salas using the voice Gabriel hoped he would use, just not that fast.

Gabriel looked aggrieved for half a second. Really now friends for decades, never used his alpha voice on him, he would probably use it after some more questions? What a joke. He pondered.

For Celia he used his alpha voice only after the first two questions, which were said one after another, so more like one question?

He would have to reevaluate his friendship. He suspected that Salas's mate was most likely Celia. Afterwards he thought that perhaps she might not be, but just felt attracted to her, because for the last couple of months they had not interacted in the slightest.

But his temper just now confirmed it. Still he felt wronged. If Salas was acting this way now without getting the girl, how would he be after getting her? Would he forsake their friendship altogether? His soul cried, but his mouth moved to speak.

"She has a 4th rank wolf, but ..." he said then looked at Salas and continued.

"... she also has a first ranked one."

Salas continued asking with his alpha voice, after a few seconds of confusion. He was surprised by the finding, but first he had to know why his loyal friend lied.

"The curse I am under which restricts me from revealing information aside. A lower ranked werewolf cannot disobey a higher ranked one. All werewolves, beside the rogues, follow this norm. In essence, she used her alpha voice on me. I did not have a choice but to conceal it and even lie." Gabriel replied willingly.

And so Salas realized that the only thing that made Gabriel talk was the fact that he had used his alpha voice. And with him being a first ranked werewolf the same as her, granted Gabriel the permission to talk about it. If others would have asked him, he would not have been able to respond truthfully.

Gabriel finally sighed relieved.

"At least now I can get it off my chest. I have not liked it that I hid it from you. Okay tell me what you want to know. This time I will tell you truthfully."

"How come she is 4th rank and 1st rank at the same time? A wolf's power does not fluctuate, it will only go a little bit higher with a lot of training, but it will not go up and down." He asked without his alpha voice this time. It was no longer any need for it.

"Yes indeed it does not fluctuate. That would be the case if she had just one wolf." Gabriel replied honestly.

"There cannot be more than one wolf in one body. There is always only one!" Salas stated, getting even more confused.

"That is exactly how it normally is. I also did not believe her. So I made her bring out each wolf for the test. The orb first showed me a 4th rank wolf, and the second time around a first rank one. And let me tell you, the first rank wolf is quite a fierce one. When I tried to call you and inform you about it, she used her voice on me and stopped me in a heartbeat.

I could not disobey in the slightest. She even called me pup. At my age to be called a pup, how do I look like a...." Gabriel started explaining, getting slightly off track at the remembrance of the encounter. He wouldn't admit it in front of anyone, but he even had nightmares about it.

"Gabriel do not deviate from the main idea, I do not have much time!"

"The main idea is that I do not know exactly how it is possible to have two wolves, but she indeed does. And the first ranked one, for some reason, keeps herself hidden deep within Celia's mind. That is why her aura does not make everyone around her submit themselves. She also knows more than Celia about why there are two wolves, but for the moment she has not shared it with even Celia herself."

"But if it's true that she is a first rank wolf why did she struggle with the hunters and not eliminate them faster? For a first rank wolf a couple dozen of hunters should be a piece of cake." Salas inquired again curious about this fact.

"Salas, from what I understood from the other students she was hit by a bullet before she managed to react for one reason, so she was at a disadvantage from the start.

And for the second reason, you have to understand that the first rank wolf has been suppressed most of the time. She has never been used fully, so my best guess is that it has taken its toll on her. If she was properly trained and if her first rank wolf was used more, I think most likely she would stand a chance of even fighting on par with you."

"Alright I understand now. I have to go. We will talk more later." Salas said finally, cutting the conversation short. In the first place he only needed to know her rank. Knowing now that she was a first ranked werewolf was enough. He could give her blood himself to help her regenerate. He couldn't be more pleased with this fact.

"Okay. Ohhh but tell me how is she? The students said she was shot multiple times. Her pack members have also been gathered with the other students and are asking about her. I told them that I will inform them about her state. If not they will likely barge in and find out themselves." Gabriel asked following Salas with his gaze, as the latter was already at the door.

"Just inform them she will be alright. I will make sure of it." Salas replied and briskly exited.

Ten minutes later, his beta Micah, had assembled the group of doctors again.

Using his alpha voice, made the doctors do nothing but to agree to his words. So even though they were confused of how he could share his blood with her, when he was the first rank werewolf and could possibly kill her in the process, they could only assemble the tools themselves, without the assistance of nurses, and begin working. His command implied no one else was to know, so they could not use them.

Walking in the intensive care unit Celia was in, and seeing her pale face, her haggard breathing and her frowning face scrunched in pain... the whole image was difficult for him. But because he knew she would be alright, his heart was slightly alleviated. Not waiting longer, he stepped towards her bed and slowly approached her forehead, placing a gentle feather like kiss.

It was wrong for him to do so, he knew this. But he wanted to do something to assure her that someone was by her side. Maybe she felt him, because although she was unconscious, her face relaxed a little and the frown between her brows disappeared.

The serene beautiful face, although very much battered, still made his heart speed up.

'You're highness, we are ready.' The young doctor informed him, as the rest had already prepared everything needed for the process.

At the doctor's words he only nodded his head. And after glancing one more time to the frail woman, he headed towards the other bed. He took off his coat, and his shirt also for the doctors to have better access to his veins, before lowering himself on the nearby bed.

The doctors waited no longer and started to connect his blood vessels to an intravenous drip and then connect it again to Celia's blood vessels. After all these years, his highness had never needed their assistance and they barely ever saw him, but today it was the second time already to be in his presence and both times under submission of his alpha voice. That was frightening enough, now to take care of someone clearly special to him, it only put more pressure on them.

The blood steadily flowed from his veins, before transferring to the intravenous drip, and again went into her veins. On the other hand, he had another intravenous drip that connected her blood to his own veins. As her veins constantly dripped blood flooding his own, his face paled.

It was a constant heart wretched paralyzing ache. He did not gasp or cry out, even though the pain was indeed unbearable, as his heart hurt even more. For such a petite person as her to be under such immense pain, double the amount of pain in fact, as he now only shared half of it... he truly did not know how she could endure it.

He had been hit by wolfsbane before. In the frenzy of the last war decades ago, stray arrows managed to hit him. But they were nowhere near as powerful as these bullets.

Somebody had done intensive research on them it seemed, clearly it was not just a group of hunters involved, but many more were behind the recent events.

He would have a lot of tracking and killing to do it seemed. The hunted would become thehunters.