Page 4 of Lost Fate

It smells nice here.

That’s the first thing I think as I struggle to wake. There’s kind of a pleasant scent, almost like a campfire but a little sweeter, that’s floating around me.

I’m warm. There’s a hella comfy bed under me. Why am I trying to wake up again? Maybe I shouldn’t.

Actually, have I ever been this comfortable? No. No, I don’t think I have…

There’s a crashing noise.

“Fuck,” a sonorous voice resonates through my ears.

I blink my eyes open. There’s a beautiful woman staring at me.

Not just beautiful. She’s… incredible.

A wild cascade of rich curly hair falls over her shoulders, twisting around in knots and spirals that beg me to touch them. Amber eyes that shine like gold. Perfect pink lips that look like… Well… like I want to kiss them.

Holy shit. Maybe I’m dead.

Her lips curl at the corners. “Oh, good. You’re awake.”

Fuck me. Her voice is the kind that people who do audio porn dream of.

“Um,” I manage to grunt.

Cool. Good one, Leander.

“A tree fell on you,” she says in a matter-of-fact tone. “Do you remember being stuck underneath it?”

I shake my head. “No.”

“That’s pretty normal. Several thousand pounds of tree falling on you will likely result in some trauma to your brain. You’re a shifter, so I’m ruling out permanent brain damage, because you still have your brain.”

She’s dead serious.

“Oh,” I say. My throat is so dry.

The woman turns. “Here.” She hands me a cup of water. “Drink slowly. Your throat might have suffered some damage as well, depending on where the tree landed. Again, though, since your windpipe wasn’t crushed long enough to starve your organs of oxygen and kill you, I’m ruling out permanent damage.”

I sip the water slowly. The woman in front of me is so beautiful that it’s hard to reconcile the very graphic words coming out of her mouth. “You know a lot about permanent damage. And ways to die.”

She shrugs. “I’m a nurse, and… I’m a nurse,” she finishes.

I’m so curious what she was going to add to that.

“I know a lot about the ways that people, specifically shifters, can die. And honestly, as long as all your shit works, and your brains aren’t lying on that rock in the woods, I think you’re probably good.”

I nod. “Oh. Okay.”

The woman leans back and studies me. Her amber eyes give me chills, and I can’t help but stare back at her. It’s kind of painful to see how gorgeous she is. I could honestly stare at her all day. But I think that would be weird. Right?

“So, what were you doing in the woods? You’re not from Oakwood,” she says flatly.

I open my mouth. I close it. I have no idea. And it feels… wrong that I have no idea.

“I don’t know,” I say slowly.

The woman nods. “Yeah. Short term memory loss. You must have been really whacked in the head.”

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