Riley Hayes POV
Pain wakes her first.
It's the kind of pain that makes breathing hard. Every muscle in her body screams like something inside her is trying to tear free. Riley's eyes snap open but nothing makes sense. The ceiling above her is white. The walls are soft grey. A window shows trees and more trees beyond that.
This isn't her room.
She tries to move and regrets it immediately. Her shoulder explodes with fire. Her leg is wrapped tight in something thick that won't let her bend it. She looks down at her body and barely recognizes it. Bandages everywhere. Bruises covering her skin in shades of purple and black. A thin hospital gown that doesn't belong to her.
Where is she?
Riley's mind reaches for answers but finds nothing. She tries to remember how she got here. Nothing. She tries to remember her name. Nothing. She tries to remember anything at all and it's like touching empty air. There's no memory there. No yesterday. No last week. No anything.
Just now. Just this pain. Just this room she doesn't know.
Fear crawls up her throat.
She opens her mouth to scream or cry or call for help and realizes her throat is completely dry. The sound that comes out is barely a whisper. She tries again. Still nothing. Just a rasp like she hasn't used her voice in days.
Days. How long has she been here?
The door opens without warning and Riley's body goes stiff.
A man walks in like he owns the space. He's tall enough that he has to duck slightly through the doorway. Dark hair falls across his forehead. His shoulders are broad in a way that makes him look dangerous. But it's his eyes that makes Riley want to curl into herself. They're grey. Not like a normal person's grey. Like winter storms. Like something ancient and powerful and completely cold.
He watches her like she might explode.
"You're awake," he says. His voice is deep and quiet. He doesn't move any closer but he doesn't leave either. He just stands there in the doorway like he's trying to figure out what she'll do.
Riley can't find words. She can't find anything. Her mouth opens and closes uselessly.
The man steps inside and closes the door behind him. The sound of it shutting makes her heart jump. She's trapped. This room. This bed. This man with storm eyes who looks at her like she's dangerous.
"You've been asleep for three days," he says. He pulls a chair over and sits down like he's settling in for a long conversation. "You almost died. Twice. Once in the forest and once when the silver started poisoning your system."
Silver. The word brings a flash of something. Not quite a memory. More like an echo of fear. Silver means something bad. Silver means death. But Riley can't remember why.
"Where am I?" Her voice comes out broken and small.
"Safe," the man says simply. "You're in Blackthorn territory. In my pack house. I'm Garrett. Garrett Cole."
The name means nothing to her. But something about how he says it makes Riley think it should mean something. Something important. Something that matters in a way she doesn't understand yet.
"I don't remember," Riley whispers. She looks down at her bandaged hands. "I don't remember anything. Not you. Not where I came from. Not who I am. I don't even know my name."
Garrett's jaw tightens. He leans back in the chair like her words physically hurt him. For a long moment he just watches her. His grey eyes move across her face like he's reading something written there that she can't see.
"Your memory will come back," he says finally. "The healers said it's shock. Your body has been through trauma. Your mind is protecting you by forgetting."
"Will it come back?" Riley asks.
"Maybe."
Not a yes. Not a promise. Just maybe. And somehow that maybe is scarier than any no could be.
Garrett stands up and walks to the window. He looks out at the trees like they're more interesting than she is. But Riley can see how tight his shoulders are. How his hands clench into fists at his sides. This man is angry about something. Or scared. Or both.
"What happened to me?" Riley tries to sit up and immediately regrets it. Pain shoots through her shoulder and she gasps.
Garrett turns back immediately. He moves so fast she barely sees it. One second he's by the window. The next he's beside her bed, his hand hovering like he wants to help but doesn't know if he's allowed to.
"Don't move," he says. His voice is gentler now. Less cold. "You were shot. Multiple times. With silver bullets."
Shot. The word brings more echoes. More fear. More something she can't quite touch.
"Why would someone shoot me?" Riley asks.
Garrett doesn't answer right away. He just looks at her with those storm eyes and she can see him deciding what to tell her. She can see him weighing her safety against her right to know the truth.
"That's a good question," he finally says. "One I've been trying to answer for three days."
Riley's hands shake. "Was it an accident? Was I hunting and someone thought I was an animal?"
"No." Garrett sits back down. "This wasn't an accident. You were hunted. Deliberately. Someone wanted you dead and they were willing to use silver to make sure of it."
The room spins. Riley closes her eyes but that makes it worse. Without sight, all she has is the pain and the fear and the terrible emptiness where her memories should be.
Someone tried to kill her.
She doesn't know who. She doesn't know why. She doesn't know anything except that she's alive and bandaged and lying in a bed in a strange place with a dangerous man who won't tell her the whole truth.
"Why am I here?" Riley opens her eyes. "Why would you save me?"
Garrett's expression goes carefully blank. It's the look someone gets when they're about to lie. But he doesn't lie. His next words are honest and that's somehow worse.
"I found you in the forest on Blackthorn territory. Bleeding. Dying. I brought you here because leaving you to die wasn't an option."
"Why not? If I'm nobody to you, why would you risk anything for me?"
For the first time, Garrett looks away from her. He stands and walks back to the window. When he speaks, his voice is quieter than before.
"Because no one deserves to die alone in the dark."
Something about the way he says it makes Riley think he knows a lot about darkness. About loneliness. About survival. She wants to ask him more but her body is exhausted. The pain is pulling her back toward sleep.
"Get rest," Garrett says without turning around. "Your body needs to heal."
"Wait," Riley calls out. Her voice is still broken but more insistent now. "Please. Before you go. Tell me something. Tell me anything. Tell me my name."
Garrett turns to look at her one last time. His storm eyes are full of something Riley can't name. Sadness maybe. Or regret. Or something darker.
He walks toward the door.
Riley tries again. "Tell me who I am."
Garrett stops with his hand on the door frame. He doesn't turn around but his voice carries back to her clear and cold and final.
"You're Silvermoon Pack," he says quietly. "And I'm your enemy."
Then he's gone and Riley is alone with the pain and the darkness and the terrible understanding that she's been saved by the one thing she was taught to fear.