Chapter 289

Caitlin's POV

Pain was the first thing I felt when consciousness started returning. Sharp, throbbing pain all over my body, my arms, my torso, my legs.

Everything hurts.

I tried to move and immediately regretted it as fresh pain shot through me.

"She's waking up," a voice said from somewhere nearby.

I forced my eyes open slowly with bright lights. White ceiling the smell of antiseptic at a hospital. I was in a hospital but how did I get here?

The last thing I remembered was

The memories came flooding back all at once I had been driving back from my archaeological dig site in the mountains. Three weeks of research, three weeks of cataloging ancient Native American artifacts in caves that most people did not even know existed.

I was exhausted and ready to get home but then my car broke down on some remote forest road. No cell service, no passing cars. Nothing but trees for miles.

I had started walking, hoping to find help or at least a place with phone reception. That was when I heard them growling and snarling getting closer. I had run crashed through the underbrush in blind panic.

But they were faster so much faster the wolves had surrounded me with huge wolves. Bigger than any wolves should be.

And then one had attacked.

I remembered claws tearing through my clothes through my skin. I remembered screaming, I remembered falling and then my breath caught.

The wolves had changed. I had seen it with my own eyes. One moment they were wolves the next moment they were naked people standing where the wolves had been.

It was scientifically impossible but I had seen it.

"Miss, can you hear me?" the voice asked again.

I turned my head toward the sound of a middle-aged man in a white coat standing beside the bed.

A doctor.

"Where am I?" I managed to ask if my throat was dry and scratchy.

"You're in a private medical facility," the doctor replied. "You were badly injured. We've been treating you."

"How long?" I asked.

"About eight hours," the doctor said. "You've been unconscious since we brought you in."

Eight hours.

I tried to sit up but the doctor gently pushed me back down.

"Don't try to move yet," he said. "Your injuries were severe. You need to rest."

"I need to leave," I said. "I need to get to a real hospital. I need-"

"This is a real hospital," the doctor interrupted. "I assure you, you've received excellent care."

But something felt wrong. This did not look like any hospital I had ever been in. Too small, too quiet, too private.

"Where exactly am I?" I demanded.

The doctor hesitated and told me everything I needed to know. I was not in a regular hospital, I was somewhere else.

Somewhere these people, these wolf people had taken me, fear spiked through me.

"I want to leave," I said firmly. "Right now."

"That's not possible yet," the doctor said.

"Why not?" I challenged myself.

Before the doctor could answer, the door opened. A woman and a man entered both were probably in their forties. Both had an air of authority that made me immediately wary.

"Hello, Caitlin," the woman said gently. "My name is Luna. This is my mate, Landon. We're-"

"How do you know my name?" I interrupted.

"We found your identification in your car," Luna replied.

"Dr. Caitlin Morrison. Age twenty-three. Archaeologist working for the National Heritage Foundation."

The fact that they had gone through my things made my fear spike higher.

"You had no right to go through my belongings," I said.

"We needed to know who you were," Landon said. His voice was calm but firm. "You were unconscious and badly injured on our land."

"Your land?" I repeated.

"Yes," Landon confirmed. "You crossed onto private property. That's where the rogues-" he paused. "That's where the wolves attacked you."

Rogues that was an odd word choice like there was a difference between regular wolves and these rogues.

"I need to leave," I said again.

"I need to contact my supervisor. They are expecting me to check in. If I don't, they'll send people looking for me."

"We understand," Luna said. "And we'll help you do that but first, we need to talk."

"About what?" I asked, though I thought I knew.

"About what you saw," Landon said directly.

There it was the real reason I was here not for medical treatment for containment. Because I had seen something I should not have seen.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I lied.

"Yes you do," Luna said gently.

"You saw the wolves shift into human form. You saw something that most humans never see. Something that we've kept secret for centuries.

My heart was pounding now ßo it was real the wolves turning into people. It had actually happened. It was not a hallucination from blood loss or head trauma.

"What are you?" I whispered.

"Werewolves," Landon said simply. "We are werewolves and we need to discuss what happens now."

I wanted to laugh at the werewolves they were claiming to be werewolves. But I had seen it with my own eyes and watched wolves become people.

It was real.

"If I tell anyone," I said slowly, "you will kill me. That's what this is about, isn't it?"

"No," Luna said quickly.

"We are not going to kill you, we don't kill innocent people."

"But you can't let me leave either," I guessed. "Because I know your secret."

Neither of them answered, which was answer enough.

"I have a GPS tracker," I said, forcing confidence into my voice.

"Standard issue for field researchers working in remote areas the military division of the Heritage Foundation monitors it. If I don't check in within the next-"

I glanced at the clock on the wall, "Four hours, they will come looking for me and they will find me. They'll find this place. And they'll find all of you."