Three

"Take her to my chambers. If she wakes up, call me immediately. I need to know what she saw."

"Yes, sir."

"And do I need to remind you that she is in our care now? No one goes in or out without authorization. Whoever she is, she got too far." 

Playing dead has never been my forte, but here I am again, pretending that the blow to my head is the cause of my sudden loss of conscience. Being blond has its perks, and mistaking me for harmless is one of them. My small size or physical appearance says nothing of who I am. A well-trained field investigator. That loose board had given me away to the hounds, and that heightened hearing had made me use my last resource. Play dead. Now I lay on the bed of my pack's leader's rival.

This was indeed a dangerous mistake.

Not knowing if the room is monitored, I don’t move from the position they put me in. Through my eyelids, I scan the room as much as I can; nothing gives away the presence of cameras, but with technology these days, I can’t be entirely sure. My only option is to come up with a story for when I’m questioned once Aysel returns.

My name is Lyanna Black. I got lost in the woods; I’m an orphan, and I have been on my own for a while. I have no boyfriend. I’m not a shifter or have any special abilities.

As simple as possible; overcomplicating the story would have cost me my life. This man is not known for his forgiveness or patience. But he does have style; his room says so. This place exudes money, the old one. No wonder he’s powerful and able to blend himself with the warm-blooded. He has the means to make himself invisible to them to protect his pack. This is why I was curious enough to venture here.

The funny thing was that this was just a small stop on my way home. The task had been done; I had found out where they had sent me, but intel about the whereabouts of his place had somehow engraved itself in my brain. I didn’t expect him to be at home. If you can call a fortress home,

The vampires had retreated themselves further north, the children were gone, and I wasn’t authorized to keep following. I blended well too, but differently. I got away with a lot of stuff thanks to it; hiding was my specialty, and that one thing was what kept me alive that one time. It had been a while since I spoke to anyone. Seclusion was part of my role in the group. The field investigation role meant a lot of things. The projects kept me away for weeks or months at a time, but I did my part to prepare my group whenever it was necessary. The rest was left to anyone brave enough to try and save the puppies.

But vampire sightings had become less and less frequent over the years as their focus shifted towards the warm-blooded. That was the main reason that brought me here, and now I had to find a way to escape this place.

It's difficult to pretend to sleep for hours at a time when you're writing an entire script. or just before your bladder starts to overflow. I stretched slowly under the heavy cover and pretended to have just stood up before I sat up and looked around. Since the sun was setting, there wasn't much to see with the curtains drawn. The bed barely occupied any space in the room, which was large. On the opposite side of his bedroom, this man had a large control room. The entire wall was covered by the big screen.

An office. 

It seemed like Master Aysel worked around the clock. The rumors were accurate; he was a workaholic and a control-seeking bastard. From the tone of his voice, I could tell it was all true—the respect he commanded, even from his enemies. The woman who had seen him exclaimed that no other man looked like him, and from the looks of things, I’d soon find out the truth.

The adjacent bathroom was small for a man as big as him. The rumors told said he was 6’6’’, massive but not strange in our world. He seems to favor dark wood and earth tones. Natural and naked spaces. Minimal. Manly. There were many words with which I could describe his belongings.

Naturally, I appeared confused and hurt; the fall had hurt, and I'd wager that even someone without hot blood in them would have been knocked down. My recovery was just as quick as that of my friends, which again worked in my favor but was also quick enough to keep the agony under control. Despite the bruises, I was still able to move with agility.

"Good, you’re awake."

I gasped. Loud. Retreating, stumbling, and then falling on me from behind. All this for my spectator, an old, not very friendly-looking man, though his smile didn’t seem to reach his eyes.

"Who are you?" Adding a bit of pitch and vibrato to change my tone and set my intention Of course, anyone would be scared to wake up in a strange bed without any recollection of what they were doing there. Not remembering how they got there—amnesia would be too.

"No, my lady. Who are you?"

Using my hands, I crawl myself out of my stumble and struggle to get back on my two wobbly legs. The effort makes me take deep breaths, and he looked like he might be believing me or that he too was a good liar; there was no way to tell, so continuing was best.

"Lyanna," I said after swallowing. I tried to steady my voice and hoped he wouldn't ask any more questions. He seemed to be sizing me up.

"Lyanna?" 

I nodded slowly. Little tendrils of my hair have escaped my low ponytail, and whips of hair surround my face.

"Do you happen to have the last name Lyanna?"

"Black," I answer quickly, pulling down my shirt and finding out it's damp. It must have been from when I lay on the wet grass. "Lyanna Black."

"An unusual last name; how did you get here, Lyanna Black?"

"I don’t know." His cheek twitches—that’s a giveaway. He has no patience for this or for me. He is a bad actor. Most likely, his role is to follow, not to lead. Master Aysel has left the wrong man in charge of me.

"You don’t know or you don’t remember."

"Both."

This is going to be fun. This situation will probably have some interesting and unexpected results, in my opinion. I'm hoping I can handle whatever is thrown at me.