Chapter 1 Wolf Island
Chapter 1
“Wolf Island”
POV Emerald
I flutter my eyes open, unaware of how I got here. I’m lying in a hospital bed hooked up to a machine that has a weird tube going into my arm.
I know what it is, but I can’t name it.
I try to stand up, but my legs are stiff as a board, and the moment I take a step, I fall, flailing my arms in the air until I grab onto something soft, holding on for dear life and bringing it down with me.
I hit my head, landing hard on the floor, and stare up at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling.
What kind of hospital has glow-in-the-dark stars on…
“Jane! You’re awake, thank god. You’ve been in a coma for months. The whole town has bets on whether you would wake up or remain a sleeping beauty.”
“I don’t think my name is Jane.”
“Oh no, honey, we just call you Jane Doe. You had no identification on you. Let me help you up.”
She pulls the tube out of my arm and sticks a kid’s Band-Aid over it.
Then she lifts me up and carries me back to bed.
She turns to the old lady in the bed next to me.
“Sorry, Martha. We’ll have to get maintenance up here to fix the curtains.”
The old lady just nods.
I didn’t even realize the old lady was there.
The woman leaves and comes back with a form and pulls up a chair.
“Let’s start with your name, hun.”
“Jane, apparently.”
“That was the name the hospital gave you. We need your real name.”
“The name is on my ID on my wrist.” I hold it up and show her.
She sighs. “Doesn’t know.”
“Medical history?” she asks.
“Currently in the hospital.”
“You don’t know your medical history?” she asks, surprised.
“Lady, I don’t even know my name, and you think I’m going to know my medical history?”
“Okay, what do you know?” she asks.
I look at my hair.
“My hair is red.”
“And?”
“My toenails are pink.”
“That was Wendy. She likes to paint nails when she’s bored.”
“Anything else?” the woman asks.
“If you give me a mirror, I’ll tell you my eye color.”
“They’re green.”
“Cool, I’ve always wanted to have green eyes.”
“They are green.” The lady raises a brow.
“Okay.”
A freakishly tall, massive man with tattoos poking out of his shirt, large muscles, and pale blue eyes steps into the room.
“Doctor Kingsway, pleasure to see you. How are you this evening?” Mrs. Welsh grins from ear to ear.
“Fine, Miss Welsh. How is our patient?” Dr. Kingsway asks.
“She has amnesia.”
“Why don’t you give us a moment?”
“I’ll be right at my desk if you need anything. Anything night or day, just call me.”
She lights up and walks away.
The doctor sits on my bed. I can feel his massive weight shift the mattress.
“What can you tell me?” he asks.
“You smell musky and have lovely eyes.”
“Anything else?”
“Miss Welsh is human, and you are not.”
“What am I?”
“An alpha wolf, maybe a beta wolf.”
“And what are you?” he asks.
“I don’t know.”
“Your blood work says you’re not human or a wolf.”
“What does that make me?”
“An anomaly.”
“Something tells me there is more than just humans and wolves out there in the world,” I say.
“They found you in the forest with a skull fracture. You healed abnormally quickly. The original diagnosis was suicide, or maybe someone of your own kin tried to kill you and left you for dead.”
“That’s comforting.”
“Most are either born here, come to escape life, or are running from something.”
“Maybe I flew here?”
“There’s no airport,” he says.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Once again, there are only werewolves and humans. Unless you have proof of anything else, that is the reality.”
“My very existence and blood work prove otherwise.”
“Maybe you were an experiment gone wrong?” he says.
I want to argue. However, with him being my doctor, he could smother me in my sleep with a pillow or give me an overdose of medication and just claim it was inevitable after waking up from my coma.
“Alright, I’m human. My name is Jane. How do I get off this island?”
“You don’t. The island is owned by my pack. We decide who can come and go. Once you are here, you can’t leave. That is the reality. We’ve paid your medical bills. You need to get a job, and a percentage of your wages goes to my pack.”
“Just my wages?”
“Everyone’s wages. It pays for your protection.”
“Protection from what?” I ask.
“Rogues.”
“Okay.”
“You need to choose a name. Mrs. Welsh will offer you her room in the garage to stay in, and someone will offer you a job.”
“Anything else?” I ask.
“Your eyes are hazel. Stay out of trouble. Troublemakers disappear. Understood?” Dr. Kingsway says.
“Understood, Alpha.”
A few days later, I’m discharged.
I move into Mrs. Welsh’s garage, which includes a large fluffy white male cat she calls Coconut.
Somehow I know I hate cats with a passion. However, I feel alone here, and Coconut makes me feel less lonely.
We become friends, even though Coconut is still learning about personal boundaries.
I spend a few days getting comfortable in my new space.
I ride around on a bike that I found in my room and get to know the town.
The town feels oddly strange, like everyone is being forced to be here against their will and no one seems to notice.
They’re all in a strange and creepy happy bliss, and every time I bike by the woods, something with red eyes watches me.
One day I wave at it as a joke.
It waves back.
