Sterile white walls loomed around me. My limbs felt sluggish and heavy.
I blinked, lifting a hand to shield my eyes from the harsh stab of the fluorescent lights. But my efforts were thwarted by the resistance of bound wrists tethered to the hospital bed.
The distant sensation of panic surged forward as I struggled to make sense of my surroundings.
A nurse hovered by my bedside, her movements drawing my attention as she drew nearer.
"The Luna is awake," She called to someone over her shoulder. Her words a cryptic puzzle that my disoriented mind couldn't comprehend. "Call the Alpha Supreme and get Dr. Erikson."
"No!" A new wave of fear flooded my body. The heart monitor at my side beeped angrily in response.
She placed a reassuring hand on my arm. "It's okay, Luna. There's no need to worry. The Alpha Supreme will be here soon," she said calmly. Her words barely registered as I strained against my restraints with mounting desperation.
A Lycan doctor in a crisp white coat entered the room accompanied by two beta nurses who quickly got to work buzzing around the room.
"BPM is 150. BP is 160/90 and rising," the nurse at my side reported crisply.
"Push 2 milligrams of Ativan," the doctor calmly ordered.
"Wh-what are you doing? What's going on!?" My voice teetered on the edge of hysteria. I pulled desperately on the restraints, my muscles still sluggish and weak despite my anxiety.
"It's alright, Luna. You should be feeling better shortly," the doctor said.
The third nurse swept across the room, a syringe in her hand.
"No! Don't!" I pleaded desperately as the needle drew closer.
My protests were ignored. I watched in horror as the liquid was entered into my IV port. It only took a minute for the drug to work its way through my bloodstream before my already weak limbs once again grew heavy and limp, and drowsiness overcame my agitation. The fear was still there, but it was quieted to a muted hum as the fight drained from me.
"There we go," the doctor hummed. "Doing much better, aren't we?"
Now that the anxiety was no longer consuming me, I could take a better look around at the clinical environment. "Where am I?" The words felt dry in my cottony mouth. An unreadable look passed between the nurses.
"You're safe, Luna," the doctor answered vaguely.
"Don't call me that," I groaned weakly.
There was a shift in the air as a growl shook the room.
The Alpha's sudden presence commanded as he filled the doorway. The doctor and nurses snapped to attention, their fear palpable as they greeted him with submissive bows of the head. I had never seen Lycan look so meek. Despite my subdued senses, I shivered.
"Alpha Supreme." The doctor kept his posture hunched and his eyes downcast as he addressed the Alpha.
The Alpha stepped further into the room with a few powerful strides. The aura of power overwhelmed the space as the imposing creature drew closer before stopping at the center of the room. Dread rolled through my stomach. In that moment, a small part of me was grateful for the numbing effects of the sedative. I wasn't sure if I could bear the weight of his presence with the full weight of my fear.
To my relief, the Alpha didn't even cast a glance in my direction before turning to the doctor.
"How is she?" He asked. His voice was deep and smooth, like black honey.
The doctor fidgeted. "She's doing well. She awoke just a few moments ago. We sent for you immediately, of course." He hesitated. "As you can see we did have to give her a sedative. She was a bit...disoriented."
The Alpha's steely eyes flickered to me, raking over my form. "So I take it that's why she's restrained?"
The doctor cleared his throat nervously. "That was done as a precautionary measure to ensure her protection."
"Her...protection," the Alpha repeated dubiously.
The doctor paled. "Y-yes, you see we wanted to ensure she wasn't a danger to the safety of herself or others."
The Alpha's dark eyes narrowed, the only indication of displeasement on his iron mask devoid of emotion. "She's a malnourished human hopped up on morphine and Ativan with functional use of only one hand."
The doctor stumbled back a step under the Alpha's scrutiny, his face turned ashen. "I-I'm–I th-thought–"
The Alpha raised a hand, cutting him off and plunging the room into tense silence. Beside me, the nurses held their breath.
"Leave us," the Alpha ordered.
The moment the command left his lips, the doctor and nurses scurried toward the exit, the gentle thud of the door signaling the finish of their hasty retreat.
I was alone. Alone with the Alpha.
A quick moment passes before the Alpha stepped forward. Reflexively, my fingers curled into a weak fist.
The small action stopped him in his tracks. His eyes flickering to my hand before returning to my face. He took another step further, but slower this time, as if approaching a petrified animal.
"Don't be afraid, little one. I mean you no harm." His was still low and rough, but lacked the bite it had moments.
I held my breath as he closed the distance between us, his large frame crouching down to meet my eye level. His intense gaze lingered on me,
"You're so beautiful," the Alpha murmured. His fingers lifted to touch my face. I recoiled, then waited for the pain of punishment but when none came I lifted my gaze to find that the Lycan didn't seem offended or even vaguely concerned by my disrespect.
"Are you in pain?" He shocked me by asking.
I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly dry. Nerves quickened in my throat but the terror of angering the Alpha outweighed my fear of speaking.
"No, Alpha," I croaked, voice barely above a whisper.
"Emric," he corrected sharply. A dark shadow flitted across his features, the mask of pacificity briefly slipping before returning to stoicism. He paused before restating, "You call me Emric."
My stomach turned as I nodded helplessly. Maybe if I was compliant, I'd be safe.
He studied my face for a long moment before he said, "You know I'm an Alpha, then. What else?"
I swallowed thickly. His overwhelming proximity and the drugs I'd been given clouded my thoughts so that I was unable to reply
I could feel the weight of his eyes probing me as he waited for a response that never came as the words lodged themselves in my throat. He stood, looking down at me, with an unreadable expression.
"Do you know who I am to you?" He asked. His voice was unusually gentle. Caring, almost.
What a sick joke it had to be. The monster pretending to care about me. After all he had done. To me. To the human race. To Boston...
A sob strangled in my throat. Unable to swallow it down, it rose to the surface. A pathetic whimper escaped and tears filled my eyes but the ache in my chest made it impossible for me to care.
As the first tear dripped from my eye down my cheek, the Alpha straightened to his full height. Another whimper escaped as I pressed further into the bed as he did, but the Alpha didn't even spare me a second glance as he turned and proweled out of the room.
If I thought for a second that his departure was an act of kindness to allow me to grieve my world crumbling, I was quickly corrected when his presence was replaced by two of the nurses from earlier.
I watched through vision blurry with tears as they scurried to opposite sides of my bed. One injected another syringe of clear liquid into my IV port while the other pinned down my already restrained arms. I didn't fight them this time. Instead, I welcomed the dark embrace of unconsciousness as it engulfed me once again.
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A/N: I hope you all enjoy! Just as an FYI I did some light edits of chapters 1-7 (and will continue to make edits as I go). These edits were relatively minor (ie: spelling, grammar, some inconsistencies, etc.) so you don't necessarily need to go back to read the previous chapters. As I continue to sporadically edit, I'll let you guys know if there are any major changes to the story but I'm trying to minimize those!