He was already moving, standing up and pulling me with him, setting me gently on the bed before striding to the door.
“Dr. Hartley!” he yelled into the hallway. “I need Dr. Hartley in here right now!”
There was commotion outside. Footsteps. Voices. Then a woman in a white coat rushed into the room, her expression alert and professional.
“Alpha, what’s wrong? Is the Luna...” She stopped when she saw me sitting up, awake, and her eyes widened. “Oh! She’s awake! That’s wonderful!”
Alpha? Luna? What kind of hospital was this?
“She doesn’t remember me,” the man, Knox, said. His hands were fisted at his sides and his jaw was clenched so tight I could see the muscle ticking. “She doesn’t know who I am.”
Dr. Hartley’s expression shifted from surprised to concerned. She approached my bed with a calm demeanor, pulling a small flashlight from her pocket.
“Luna, I’m Dr. Hartley. I’ve been taking care of you. May I examine you?”
I nodded because I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t know if I could trust this woman. I didn’t know if I could trust anyone. But what choice did I have? I couldn’t even stand on my own. I was completely at the mercy of these strangers who kept calling me names I didn’t recognize.
She shined the light in my eyes, checked my pulse, asked me to follow her finger with my gaze.
“Can you tell me your name?” she asked.
I opened my mouth to answer and... nothing. Blank. I didn’t know my name.
“I don’t... I can’t...” I shook my head, frustrated and frightened. “I don’t remember.”
“Do you know where you are?”
“A hospital?”
“Do you know what year it is?”
I stared at her. I had no idea.
“Do you know him?” She gestured toward Knox, who was pacing near the window, running his hands through his wet hair repeatedly.
I looked at him. Really looked. And I felt a warmth in my chest that had nothing to do with the attraction I felt and everything to do with a connection I couldn’t name or place. But I couldn’t pull up any memories of his face or his voice or his touch, even though my soul seemed to recognize all three.
“No,” I admitted, and then I remembered. “There was a woman when I woke up. She was standing by my IV with a syringe. She wasn’t wearing a uniform.”
Both Knox and Dr. Hartley went still.
“What woman?” Knox demanded, his voice low and dangerous.
“I don’t know. Dark brown hair, ponytail. She looked panicked when she saw I was awake and she ran.”
Knox was already moving toward the door. “Lock down the hospital. No one leaves until we find her.”
“Knox,” Dr. Hartley called after him. He stopped, turning back. “I need to examine Luna first. And we need to do blood work. If there was a woman with a syringe near her IV...”
She didn’t finish the sentence. She didn’t need to.
My blood ran cold. Someone had been trying to hurt me. Someone had been standing right next to me with a syringe while I was unconscious and vulnerable and completely unaware. If I hadn’t woken up when I did...
Knox’s expression turned murderous. “You think someone was trying to hurt her.”
“I think we need to check her immediately.”
He stood there for a moment, clearly torn between hunting down the mysterious woman and staying with me. Finally, he pulled out his phone and barked orders into it, telling someone named Hunt to lock down the hospital and find a brunette woman who didn’t belong there.
