Chapter 1

Beep. Beep. Beep.

    I wince in pain. It feels like my entire body’s on fire and the world is crushing me beneath its dirt. The side I’m leaning on is sore. How long have I been lying in one position without moving? I try opening my eyes to get a better view of what’s going on. After a few seconds of desperately trying, I can finally take in the room I’m in. The walls are painted a clean shade of white. Large machines hoard in the corner to my left, beeping every so often. So that’s what that sound is. There’s a thin tube connecting from one of the stands to… I crane my neck to follow the tube and see that it’s literally stuck in my arm. My eyes widen in alarm. But no matter how hard I try, my body remains motionless, and the tube remains in my arm. Giving up, mumbling noises to my right steal my attention from the invasive device.

“Where did…”

“No…awake yet…”

“Seriously…”

    It’s one voice over and over again. The voice is deep and masculine and very frustrated. I turn my head towards the noise. A man with dark hair, chiseled facial features, and a defined body that was peeking out dangerously from under his shirt, spoke into a rectangular device.

    “So you’re saying you just magically found her in the middle of the forest, at the bottom of a cliff? What if she’s a spy that managed to-” He pauses for a bit. Who is he talking to? There’s nobody else in the room besides me as far as I can tell.

    “No, mother. I’m not overthinking,” the man spat out bitterly. He rolls his eyes in annoyance, looking around the room. Our eyes meet, and I blush, feeling like I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar. A few seconds pass by as we stare at each other, neither of us daring to lose the staring contest as the air between us electrifies.

    He snaps his head back to the device he was talking to. “I’ll call you back later. She’s awake.” He waits a few seconds. “Yeah, okay. We’ll see.” Tucking it away into the pockets of his pants, he slowly makes his way over to my paralyzed body.

    “Who are you?” He narrows his eyes at me as he reaches the foot of my bed.

    Who am I? I’m…wait a second. Who. Am. I. My mind rakes over the thoughts running around in my head, but not a single one tells me about myself. Most of the thoughts were, if spoken out loud, wildly inappropriate and intruding. And most of them have something to do with the stranger in front of me.

    “I don’t know,” I manage to croak out, my brows furrowed in confusion. I cock my head at the man. “Do I know you?”

    “You have got to be kidding.” He runs one hand through his locks, the other in his pockets. He pulls the device back out and starts tapping on it. What on Earth is that thing anyway. This guy seems to have an addiction, if anything, to the blocky object. Sighing, he looks at me.

    “All right, you’re coming home with me. You can give your gratitude to my mother when she returns.” Without another word, he turns on his heels and storms out of the room. What a guy.

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