FIFTY-ONE

Something tickled my nose and my eyes opened slowly as if in a trance. It took me a good ten minutes to figure out where I was. I was in bed in the basement of the pack house where I once stayed but I had no recollection of how I got here.

I cast my mind back to try to remember if I came here to get anything but the only thing I could remember was the text I received from Celeste. I groaned at the pain that exploded in my mind when I tried to force myself to remember. There was a mental barrier that no matter how much I pushed, I could not get through.

'Artemis?' I called my wolf but she still seemed to be asleep.

I was tired and groggy when I came out of the pack house basement. A man greeted me as I passed but my head felt as if someone was banging drums inside. My feet were shaky and my vision blurry but I managed to get into the elevator and move to the penthouse.

My legs carried me to the bathroom because for some reason, my skin crawled. I felt dirty as if I fell into a gutter.