VANESSA
I woke to the steady beep of a heart monitor and the antiseptic smell of hospital. Pain throbbed dully behind my eyes as I tried to piece together what had happened.
The accident. The men chasing me. The car that hit me.
I attempted to sit up, but my body protested with sharp jabs of pain. Looking down, I saw bandages wrapped around my arms and an IV line snaking from my hand.
"She's awake," a voice said.
Three people rushed to my bedside—the man with familiar eyes from the car, a woman with silver-streaked auburn hair, and a younger man who'd called me...
"Vanessa," the older man said gently. "How are you feeling?"
That name again. Not Ruby. Vanessa.
"Who are you people?" My voice came out raspy and weak.
The woman's face crumpled. "She really doesn't remember us, Richard."
"I'm Richard West," the older man said carefully. "Alpha of the Moonstone Pack. This is my wife, Catherine, and our son, Leo." He hesitated. "And you are Vanessa West. Our daughter."
