At that moment, Darrel Dalton, the doctor, entered the room with pursed lips. He clearly felt sorry for me.

"Gamma Derrina, your surgery is scheduled in three hours. Dr. Moss, the top doctor in our hospital, will lead the surgery.

"Don't worry too much. Dr. Moss will ensure that you have a successful recovery."

Eric clutched my hand tightly.

"Darling, don't be scared. I'll wait for you outside the operating theater."

I slowly removed my hand from Eric's grasp. Then, I stared into his eyes.

"Will you still marry me if I can never walk again?"

Eric bent over and kissed me on the forehead. He solemnly promised, "I will. You are the only woman who will become the wife of the Gray Wolf Pack Alpha."

I forced a faint smile. "Alright. I believe in you."

I gently caressed his handsome but fatigued face. "Darling, you look tired. My surgery is not in a few hours. Why don't you have some rest?"

Letting out a long sigh, Eric seemed exhausted but relieved. "You're right. I haven't slept well because I'm worried about you. Now that you're safe, I think I need some rest.

"Dear Derrina, may I sleep beside you to offer you protection?"

I nodded at him and gave him a soft smile.

Then, I watched him slowly lay down beside me. He drifted to sleep in no time, his breathing even and steady.

I took his phone from the bedside table and easily unlocked it with the passcode.

His phone wallpaper was the photo he took with me when we watched the sunset at the peak of Mount Arietta. In the photo, he kissed the top of my head without warning.

I tapped into his WhatsApp and saw that he had pinned two chats—one was with me and the other with Phyllis.

I couldn't believe a busy Alpha like him would save an Omega's contact—let alone pin her chat!

This was a special treatment that he had not even accorded his most trusted Beta. How ironic!

I tapped into Phyllis' chat and immediately saw multiple GIFs of cute wolf cubs and adorable voice messages from a cub.

Every voice message came with a few photos or videos.

"Daddy, Mommy made me cute and tasty bunny-shaped cookies today.

"Daddy, the birthday cake you bought for me was so tasty. I wished you were here with me, too."

There was a photo of a cub with flour all over his face and Phyllis after that voice message.

"Daddy, a bad wolf bullied me. He said that I did not have a father. I told him that my daddy was a powerful hero, but he didn't believe me.

"Daddy, you're awesome! That bully from yesterday apologized to me today. You taught him a lesson, didn't you?

"Daddy, Mommy and I miss you so much. When can we live together?"

Eric had never replied to any of the voice messages or videos. However, one could easily tell from the cub's voice messages that Eric had been quietly looking after the mother and child.

I tapped into the photo gallery that was filled with videos and photos of Phyllis and her cub. Some photos were clearly his own, not just downloads from messaging apps.

I also saw the notification of the photo gallery. Eric had enjoyed the photos and videos for 219010 minutes.

Eric had once said he wasn't fond of cubs. It dawned on me that his words were a lie. He loved cubs, just not ones that were also mine.

I flashed a self-deprecating smile. Filled with bitterness, I stopped myself from going through the rest of the photo gallery.