Pack or Prey (Wolfblooded book 1)

Chapter 17

July 14th 2011 7:35 a.m.

The first sound that found me, after the wolf's howl, was a strange mechanical beep. It was slow and drawn out. A rhythm that promised nothing and kept me waiting even still. Slowly, my body came back to me. Or maybe I came back to my body. I am not quite sure which.

My eyes fluttered open to an attack of bright fluorescent light and slammed shut again. Don't make me look at that bright light again. I want to go back to the woods, to the wolf and the scent of fresh rain. I thought, maybe, if I just could keep my eyes closed then I could find my way back, but a shuffle of feet drew me back to that damnable light.

"She's waking up," a soft voice rasped, and I heard more shuffling on the other side of me.

"Harley?" a deeper voice said, and I could cry at the hopelessness in it.

"Harley, wake up babe. That's right just wake up. We're here. We're waiting for you," the softer voice said again. A woman. Something about that voice made me want to jump for joy, but I still couldn't control my body.

My eyes fluttered open, fighting against the harsh white light. I moved my head to the side of me from where the woman's voice was coming. She was a blur of yellow and pink. I tried to ask her something, but the words garbled together in my throat and refused to come out.

"Shit, she really is waking up." The deeper voice sounded panicked, and then I heard a louder, "Nurse! Come on, angel. You can do it."

Something shifted at the other side of me and another light shone suddenly into my eyes. No, I want to see Liz! Get that fucking thing away from me!

"Ms. Rayne are you there? Ms. Rayne, you're at St. Theresa's. You're in the hospital, honey. Can you open your eyes all the way for me?" She sounded different than the first voice. Louder, like she was shouting at me.

"Fff... li..." I tried to will my lips to move. "If..... ligh..." The lights, I screamed in my head. Turn the damn lights off and I will!

"Is she going to be ok?" Liz asked.

"She should be, now. We didn't get the labs back before she was taken into surgery, so we didn't know about the Rohypnol before we put her under. It could have been a very bad complication, but it looks like she is trying to come out of it. This is a good sign. Ms. Rayne can you squeeze my hand?"

What I wanted to do was flip her off, but I couldn't lift my hand. I did, however, try and squeeze her hand when she slipped her fingers into my palm. I didn't do much, but whatever I managed to do brought an outburst of relief from one of the people around me.

I opened my eyes a bit more, trying to make out the yellow and pink blur to my right. The other woman told the man in the room some things I didn't quite hear. I was too busy trying to focus on the woman now holding my hand.

My vision sharpened, and after a few moments I could make out Liz. Oh, she looked like hell, but there she was.

"Liz," I finally managed, and the single word made Liz fall over me. Ouch.

"Harley, oh Jesus! I've been here all night. We weren't sure if you were going to wake up at all the way they made it sound..."

I was slowly coming back to full consciousness and could see the back of a very large, bald man at the foot of my bed speaking with a woman in a white coat. Jackson, too? I watched him over Liz's shoulder as he turned around and moved towards us, his hands not going to me but to Liz. He pulled her off me and chuckled a bit, though it seemed empty. Nervous.