6

Elaine

My head felt like it was going to explode.

It felt like someone was hammering it with force and painful violence, so I groaned in pain. I opened my eyes carefully and was completely blinded by a white light. My lips were dry, and I was so thirsty that I would have drunk toilet water if I could.

I swallowed as best I could and gasped at the uncomfortable sensation in my throat.

I focused my eyes and saw white walls and white lights and smelled the characteristic hospital disinfectant. I felt nauseous when that smell filled my nostrils. It was like a reflex, and when I tried to bring my hands to my mouth to cover it, I realized that I had an IV in my right arm, while an unusual weight held my left hand down.

That made me frown, and I raised my head quickly, which made me groan in pain.

Someone squeezed my left hand, and when I opened my eyes again, a handsome man looked at me with complete concern.

I tried to search my memory for who he was, but I couldn't remember anything at all.

He froze, and we looked at each other for a few seconds that seemed like hours.

His dark hair looked tousled, as if he had been fighting with a brush; his face looked tired, and his green eyes, like freshly mined emeralds, looked at me with too much concern.

I was about to ask him who he was when, as if my body reacted to something, I started coughing violently, and he quickly let go of my hand to offer me water. I took the glass he gave me and drank as quickly as I could, but swallowing was painful, and I groaned in discomfort.

He pressed a button next to the door.

Then he took the glass of water away from me when I coughed again because I was choking.

“Take a deep breath,” said this man in a hoarse voice that sent shivers down my spine. “Try it.”

I nodded, but the movement caused a sharp pain in the back of my neck. I groaned again from the discomfort, and he helped me lie back down on the hospital bed.

Someone opened the door, and a beautiful, petite, middle-aged woman entered first. Behind her came a handsome, middle-aged blond man, and behind him came a young man in a doctor's coat along with a woman who appeared to be a nurse.

I swallowed hard again under their intense stares and breathed calmly.

“It's good to see you awake,” said the beautiful woman. “Can you talk?”

Her question was easy, but it took me a long time to answer because my throat hurt so much.

“I think... I can,” I said in a very hoarse voice.

“It's a pleasure,” said the doctor. “I’m Adrien, the doctor in charge of your case, and right now, Carlis and I need to examine you.”

I looked at the handsome man who had taken my hand.

I didn't know why, but I trusted him. I looked at him carefully, and he nodded, so I relaxed. The doctor and nurse examined me. They took my temperature and pulse and checked the machines I was connected to, which I hadn't noticed. Then they checked my eyes and mouth. Finally, the doctor touched my head, and I groaned in pain.

“Give her another light dose of painkiller,” the doctor instructed the nurse and looked at me. “Can you tell us your name?”

The question made me open my eyes, and then I frowned in dismay.

I tried to remember something, tried to say something, but it was impossible.

An unfamiliar anxiety crept into my chest, and I began to breathe heavily; then the man holding my hand took it and looked at me firmly.

“Breathe, beautiful, breathe,” he said gently, and I did.

I felt strange; I felt confused, but most of all, I felt orphaned.

I didn't remember anything; I didn't understand anything.

“Do you know what happened to you?” asked the doctor, and I shook my head. “Do you know what date it is?”

I shook my head again.

“I think we should leave her here for Adrien and Carlis to check her out, son,” said the beautiful woman, and the green-eyed man holding my hand nodded firmly.

“I'm not going to leave her alone,” he said with conviction, and I squeezed his hand. “I can't leave her alone.”

“We know, son,” said the blond man, and I was surprised because they didn't look alike at all. “But she needs to be thoroughly examined, so we have to give her some privacy.”

I immediately understood the implications of what he was saying and closed my eyes tightly.

“Go,” said the doctor.

The man holding my hand kissed it sweetly before leaving with his parents.

I couldn't help crying, not understanding anything.

The nurse, Carlis, smiled at me very kindly.

“We're here to help you,” she said. “We have to examine you because you were in a traffic accident that left you badly injured. We need to check all your injuries, as well as your head, because you had a very severe traumatic brain injury that required us to induce a coma so that the swelling in your brain could go down.”

Hearing that was a shock.

I froze immediately.

I understood everything she said, and that's exactly what surprised me, but at the same time, it scared me a lot. I didn't remember anything; I didn't understand what was going on or what had happened.

Even so, I let the doctor and nurse examine me.

They undressed me and checked every part of my body, which embarrassed me. Then a middle-aged woman came in. She had very short hair, cut close to her head, and a kind expression on her face. She was wearing a doctor's coat and greeted the doctor with a nod.

“I'm Dr. Natalie,” she said. “Dr. Adrien is handling your injuries, and I'm checking your vaginal injuries.”

That made me frown.

“She doesn't remember anything yet, doctor,” Nurse Carlis told her. "We need to explain what's going on and why you need to examine her. I'll call the mother of... I'll go get Selene."

I looked at the doctor in confusion, and she looked at me very carefully, as if she were afraid to say something harsh.

“What's wrong with me?” I asked, my heart racing.

The doctor said nothing; she just looked toward the door, and the beautiful woman who had left first came in. She looked at the doctor, then calmly approached me.

“I don't think I introduced myself,” she said very kindly. “My name is Selene, and I’m here to help you understand something that’s difficult for you, as well as to take care of you and be a guide for you.”

At that moment, in the back of my mind, I remembered what a social worker was.

“Like a social worker?” I asked fearfully, my voice breaking.

She smiled and nodded gently before taking the hand her son had let go of.

“Yes,” she said carefully. “I am your caregiver at this time when you don't remember some things.”

“I... I don't know what to say,” I muttered in confusion. “I guess I should say thank you.”

“No need; women help each other,” she said with strong conviction.

Her words shook me to my core.

Dr. Natalie looked at me seriously.

“You were in a car accident. They brought you to the hospital after you were found unconscious, and we checked every part of your body for trauma,” said the doctor, and I nodded.

“The nurse was explaining it to me,” I said in a low voice.

“Good,” said the doctor before looking at me carefully. “Dr. Adrien discovered the head trauma, but he also discovered that before the blows you suffered in the car accident, you had previous blows and traumas that are not very common.”

I frowned.

“Uncommon trauma?” I asked, confused.

“Yes,” said the doctor, and Selene squeezed my hand. “Trauma consistent with beatings.”

I opened my eyes in complete shock.

“I don't remember,” I said incredulously.

“We know, but that's exactly why we have to tell you everything,” said the doctor. "Dr. Adrien notified me of what he found, and due to medical protocol, we had to examine your reproductive organs. We found tears, lacerations, and injuries in your vagina and anus. All of these injuries are consistent with sexual assault. Before you ended up in our territory, someone may have raped you, or you may have had extremely rough consensual sex."

I couldn't help but cry.

Tears streamed from my eyes, and out of nowhere, I started to hyperventilate. Dr. Natalie helped me, and Selene pressed a button.

The doctor and nurse rushed in; I helped the doctor, and I closed my eyes in confusion.

I couldn't breathe; I was suffocating, and I felt like the world was swallowing me up. Then I felt strong arms wrap around me and looked up at the green-eyed man holding me tenderly. I cried hard, as if a dam had burst.

“We need to calm her down and then take her for imaging,” whispered Dr. Adrien, and I closed my eyes in pain. “We need to check her brain right now.”

“We have to wait a moment,” said the man who was holding me carefully. “She's in shock; she needs a moment to breathe.”

I didn't need that.

The reality was that I felt like I was falling into an abyss so infinite that I couldn't land.

“Alpha—”

“Wait!” the man ordered.

The blond man came in and took everyone out, and then I cried harder, in a way so broken that I didn't know I could. I didn't recognize myself, I didn't remember who I was, I didn't know anything, and it was killing me.

I couldn't remember if I had been raped or if I had actually agreed to have violent sex.

The urge to vomit shook me violently, and I pushed the man aside to vomit quickly on the other side of the bed. I emptied my stomach to the point of vomiting bile.

At that moment, the doctors and nurses entered.

We need to examine her quickly, Alpha. We can't wait any longer," said the doctor.

Then something inside me resonated strongly.

The word Alpha felt different, foreign, and then I remembered what I was.

A human.

I looked at them in horror.

I was inside a pack; I was inside supernatural lands.

I screamed so loudly with fear that I didn't realize the exact moment they sedated me.

I fell unconscious so quickly that I couldn't process anything.