Chapter 1: Rowan
The metallic smell of blood assaulted my nose, jarring me from the depths of a sleep so deep I might as well have been dead. I groaned, twisting my torso and stretching my limbs to rouse myself, but as soon as I moved, a pain unlike anything I had ever felt tore through my muscles. I whimpered, feeling as if someone had disassembled my body and reassembled it incorrectly.
"Sleeping Beauty’s awake!" a voice nearby said.
I cracked my eyes open, but the moment I did and the world came into view, everything spun. A wave of nausea consumed me, threatening to bring up my last meal.
Ryker’s face appeared upside down. Why was he upside down?
I tried to lift my head to see him better, but it was too heavy for my neck. We were both moving. Though my legs weren’t carrying me; they were numb. Someone was holding me. Killian, judging by the familiar oakmoss scent, but not in the tender way he usually did. This was rough. I’d been slung over his shoulder like a rag doll, my limp body jolting with every hurried, heavy footstep he took.
"Wakey wakey, Kitten. You’re in big trouble," Ryker said, flashing a grin that was too tight, the humor not quite reaching his eyes.
I tried to speak, but my words came out as a garbled mess. My tongue felt heavy, uncooperative, and refused to shape proper syllables. Nausea and dizziness churned in my gut, forcing me to shut my eyes as my stomach threatened to revolt. I focused all my energy on not throwing up. Around me, voices sounded muffled and warped, like they were deep underwater, distorted by the haze clouding my mind.
"She shouldn't be awake yet! Those sedatives put me out for hours," Talon said, worried.
"She’s been on suppressants for years. Dr. Michaels said that her body metabolizes medication fast. When the medical team induced her coma, she needed nearly double the standard sedative dose. Now that she's shifted, she may need more. You can hit her with another round when you get upstairs," Cade said.
"Okay. Where are you going?"
"I need to talk to my father and get ahead of this. I texted him, telling him it was an emergency. He agreed to meet me at his office."
"What are you going to tell him? How are we spinning this?"
"Talon, you killed Jayden and Finn. Not Rowan. No one can know she shifted. I'll figure out the rest on the way there. Get her cleaned up, then call Michaels to come see her. Tell him the alphas attacked her, nothing else. Have him bring a nurse to do an examination and make sure they didn't…" Cade's voice trailed off mid sentence, and Killian growled, tightening his grip on me.
Who were they talking about? Someone attacked me?
I tried to retrace my steps, searching through my memories. My head pounded as I focused hard. The last thing I remembered was Killian. He was kissing me softly, and I was lying in his arms.
His keycard!I took his keycard. I tried to escape.
But how did I get here?
I looked down as Killian carried me, my cheek pressed against his shoulder, watching the floor pass beneath us. The tiles slid by in a muted blur, one after another, too fast to focus on.
Too familiar.
My breath caught.
I had watched tiles like that before. Stared at them while my feet barely kept up, while Jayden’s grip locked around my arm and dragged me forward. I had kept my eyes down then too, counting patterns, anything to avoid looking at where he was taking me.
The basement hall.
Dread curled tight in my chest.
And then the memory surged.
Hands on me that did not belong there. Fingers digging in as I twisted and begged, my voice pleading with men who did not care. The sensation crashed over me all at once, vivid and immediate, yanking me backward through time until I was there again instead of in the present.
“Please don’t touch me,” I begged, the words ripping out of me as the memory swallowed me whole. Two men loomed over me while I curled small and shaking on a filthy mattress. Their eyes were cold, callous, and cruel.
Then blood.
So much blood.
It splattered across my face, hot and shocking, turning the world a pulsing shade of red. A wolf stood over me, massive and terrifying, dripping in gore. Its breath steamed, teeth bared, a monster set loose.
