Beep. Beep.
The sound dragged me out of darkness like hands pulling me up from deep water. My eyelids fluttered, heavy as stone, and the world swam in and out of focus. At first all I saw was white. White ceiling, white walls, white light that burned faintly against my eyes.
I blinked again. Slowly, painfully, everything sharpened.
I was lying in a bed. A white bed. In a room that looked too clean, too bright, too still. There were wires attached to my arms, long thin tubes connected to bags of clear liquid hanging beside me. A monitor on my left flashed green lines and numbers I didn't understand.
My whole body hurt. My throat felt like it had been sanded down. My lips were dry. Even breathing felt strange, like my chest had forgotten how to move.
The door clicked.
A woman in white stepped into the room. She froze the instant she saw my eyes open, her hand flying to her mouth like I'd done something impossible.
I tried to speak, but only a rasp came out.
"Water…" I croaked, barely audible.
"Oh! Yes, yes. Just a moment." She hurried to a corner, grabbed a glass, and rushed it back to me.
The first swallow felt like heaven. Cold. Clean. Real.
I drank like I hadn't tasted water in years. Maybe I hadn't.
The room settled again. My heartbeat slowed.
Before I could ask where I was, another woman entered, an omega, I could smell it instantly and behind her was a third, carrying a tray. Food. Warm, steaming food.
My stomach growled so loudly one of them flinched.
They handed it to me, saying something questions, warnings, I wasn't listening. My hands were already reaching for the bowl. I shoveled food into my mouth so fast my jaw trembled. I didn't even care what it was. I just wanted it. Needed it.
Then something lodged in my throat.
I choked.
Panic shot through me as I hit my chest, gasping, eyes watering
"Easy."
A deep voice vibrated through the air, steady, controlled.
A hand appeared beside me holding a glass of water. Large hands. Warm skin. A presence that made the room shift.
I grabbed the cup, gulped down the water, coughing until the food dislodged. My breathing returned in sharp, shaking pulls.
I placed the empty glass back into the hand and whispered, "Thank you."
Then I finally looked up at him.
Red eyes.
Red like embers buried under ash. Red like the ones staring at me through the car window at the gates before I passed out.
Recognition hit me like a punch.
The spoon slipped from my fingers and clattered onto the floor.
Fuck.
Fuck.
FUCK.
It wasn't a dream. I had seen him. He had seen me. And now I was here… wherever "here" was. Why was I eating? Why was I lying in a bed when I should be running? Running until my feet bled. Running until I disappeared.
I jerked away from him, breathing hard. My gaze darted around the room again, tubes, monitors, white lights. A hospital. It had to be. I'd seen something like this on TV once, back when Andrew forgot to hide the remote.
Andrew.
His name was a blade slicing through my mind.
Andrew's blood.
Andrew's body.
Andrew's men calling out.
"No," I whispered, panic rising like bile.
I reached for the wires stuck into my skin and yanked one out.
The women gasped.
"No, don't!"
I tore out the second. Blood trickled. I didn't care. I needed to get out. I needed to run. I needed to disappear before Andrew's men walked in.
"Stop! You'll hurt yourself!" someone cried.
"Let me go!" I yelled, launching myself off the bed.
My legs buckled the instant they touched the floor. They had no strength. I was weak, trembling, useless. I crashed to my knees, the impact ripping a scream from my throat. Pain exploded up my legs but I dragged myself forward anyway, palms scraping against the cold floor.
I needed the door.
I needed freedom.
I needed—
Large arms closed around me from behind.
"LET ME GO!" I screamed, thrashing, nails clawing at the arms holding me. Tears poured down my face. Terror ignited every nerve in my body.
"Let me go! Please!"
I fought harder but the grip didn't loosen. It only held me tighter, steady, secure.
I twisted around and looked up.
Red eyes.
The man. The one from the car. The one whose scent rolled off him in waves rich forest, clean air, dominance.
Real, powerful, dangerous.
My voice broke.
"Please… I didn't do it," I sobbed, shaking uncontrollably. "Don't send me there. Please, I didn't do it. I swear I didn't…"
"It's okay," he murmured, voice low, almost soothing.
"No!" I cried louder. "They won't believe me. They won't! they'll kill me. please, please don't send me back!"
My fist grabbed his shirt desperately, clinging to him like he was the last thing keeping me alive.
"No one is sending you back," he said, firmly this time. A promise made of iron.
"Please," I whispered again, barely breathing, crying so hard I couldn't see.
"I promise. You're not going back."
Then his scent hit me fully. Calming, grounding, a gentle forest wind after a storm. It wrapped around me like safety, like truth. It made my muscles slacken even as fear clung to my bones.
"Do you promise?" I whispered, terrified to believe him.
He stared straight into my eyes, unblinking.
"I promise, as Alpha of the Novaterra Pack."
Alpha.
His voice echoed in my skull and a memory slammed into me so hard I gasped.
"Never trust those bastard alphas," someone had said.
"All those bastards do is lie and lie…"
Pain speared through my head, sharp and blinding.
"Aaah!"
I clutched my skull, screaming as the memory tore through me like claws. The room spun, the lights flickered, the scent of forest faded
And then everything went black.