Chapter Three

"You're sure you're feeling up to this?" Zane's brow furrowed with concern as the nurses finished the discharge paperwork. "There's no need to rush, we can take things slowly if you want."

I shook my head before tucking a strand of hair behind my head.

I needed to see this "pack" they kept referring to with my own eyes.

"No, let's just get this over with," I said, unable to hide the trepidation in my voice. "Maybe being around...your people will start jogging these supposed memories of mine."

Caleb looped an arm around my shoulders, the casual contact sparking a shiver of awareness down my spine despite my attempts at indifference.

Damn these insanely attractive men and their dizzying effect on my hormones.

"Don't worry, love," he purred in that honeyed drawl that should be illegal. "We've got a place all set up just for you. Make yourself at home while your memories sort themselves out."

The thought of being isolated with the three of them, no matter how gorgeous, set my nerves jangling.

 I was in way over my head, completely out of my depth with their insane werewolf delusions. Or were they delusions?

Ever since Ryder's forced awakening of my "true" identity, my mind had been a jumbled mess of conflicting memories and beliefs, my former reality colliding with this bizarre new world I'd been thrust into.

Had I really been Luna Blackwood in another life?

 An alpha female werewolf with not one, not two, but three mates?

It was ludicrous, preposterous...and yet, the more I struggled against the riptide of supernatural "truths," the deeper I was pulled under their inescapable undertow.

Flashes of razor-sharp fangs and glowing amber eyes would invade my thoughts at random, fragmentary scenes of violence and inhuman ferocity flickering through my psyche like demented clips from a horror movie.

And binding those terrifying visions together were Zane, Caleb, and Ryder's ruggedly handsome features, imprinted on my subconscious with the permanence of granite.

 No matter how much my rational mind rebelled, something carnal and instinctive was awakening within me - a primitive side that seemed to recognize these three as the cornerstones of my very existence.

But I refused to surrender to insanity that easily.

I was Dr. Keira Evans, accomplished academic and respected high school educator.

 Not some mythological shapeshifter from a romance paperback.

There had to be a rational explanation for whatever delusionalBreak they'd suffered that explained their fixation on this "Luna" identity.

Maybe if I played along for now, I could find a way to escape their cultish clutches and get back to my normal life.

"Sounds great," I lied through my teeth as the nurses handed me a set of fresh clothes. "I can't wait to get settled."

Ryder grinned, all male self-assurance and coiled power. "Welcome home, Luna."

The drive from the Manhattan medical center should have taken under an hour, but we'd been on the road for nearly two, steadily leaving the city lights behind us as Zane guided his ostentatious Range Rover up winding wooded backroads.

The farther we ventured into the rugged, isolated wilderness, the more my nerves jangled in renewed trepidation.

Finally, we crested a hill and an imposing modern compound exploded into view - all towering steel and tinted glass surrounded by a formidable perimeter fence tangled with wicked coils of razor wire.

 The message was clear: trespassers weren't welcome in this neck of the woods.

Watchful figures in dark fatigues patrolled the entrance gate with unsettling intensity, their body language and scrutinizing gazes radiating unmistakable menace. Some sort of militant "pack" indeed.

"Home, sweet home," Caleb quipped wryly from the front seat, somehow sensing my disquietude.

"Don't let the muscle put you off, little luna," Ryder rumbled, his golden gaze glowing with a predatory edge in the rearview mirror. "We take security very seriously around here, especially when it comes to keeping you safe."

I swallowed hard against the lump of trepidation forming in my throat as the heavily armed sentries waved us through the security checkpoint.

Whatever deranged reality these three alphas subscribed to, I was swiftly realizing it involved much more than playing make-believe in the woods.

These people - if they could even be called that - were organized, militant, with resources that appeared to be both plentiful and highly illegal.

 And I was trapped in their crosshairs, thrust into their unsettling world with no allies and no escape.

For the first time since this nightmare began, a frisson of very real fear skated down my spine.

Whatever or whoever I was to these people, I wasn't just the cherished mate of some delusional wannabe-wolves.

I was a prisoner.

The compound's outer wall faded into the distance behind us as Zane maneuvered deeper into the heavily fortified complex.

Sleek modern buildings and manicured green-spaces blurred past the tinted windows, interspersed with training yards where feral-looking people engaged in violent drills and sparring matches.

 Everywhere I looked, brutal strength and aggression permeated the air with electric menace.

These weren't playacting children embracing fantasies of being werewolves.

They were highly organized, disciplined...and thoroughly unhinged from reality.

"This way," Zane murmured, guiding the oversized SUV towards a secluded residential enclave tucked against the far tree line.

We rolled to a stop before a towering villa of steel and smoky glass that looked like it belonged in the pages of Architectural Digest, not on the grounds of a militarized cult compound.

So much for playing things down and laying low while I sought an exit strategy.

"Your new home," Caleb said with a wolfish grin, looping an arm around my waist and pulling me flush against the solid wall of his chest. "Don't worry, once we've reawakened those decadent memories, you'll feel right at home surrounded by luxury."

His talented mouth brushed against the sensitized skin of my nape, igniting long-dormant flames low in my belly despite my rising panic.

Zane and Ryder watched the intimate exchange with dark, hooded eyes, their intensive stares raising even more disturbing heat along my flushed skin.

I squirmed from Caleb's embrace with a muttered curse, hating the dizzying effect they had on me.

This was no delusional game - these three radiated authentic alpha dominance down to their very DNA. Primitive...feral...undeniably captivating.

Which only amplified the gnawing sense of danger building inside me. Because if they weren't batshit crazy...what the hell were they?

"I know I'm supposed to feel all warm and fuzzy while surrounded my luxury digs," I challenged, squaring my shoulders in a semblance of bravado. "But maybe we could start with an explanation of what the actual hell is going on?"

Zane stepped closer, all coiled power and earthy masculinity as he trapped my gaze with agelessness burning in his emerald stare.

"You're home, little luna. Here, with your mates, you're finally where you belong."

The dark promise in his tone caressed me with an unsettling mix of devotion and command, raising every instinct into prickling awareness.

I was a stranger in an even more strange land, thrust into the heart of their anomalous world against my will.

But as my three self-professed alphas crowded me with their combined virile presence, I realized with dawning trepidation that some obscure, primal part of me wasn't afraid at all.

It was undeniably...enthralled.