Chapter 1

The flatline tone of the medical scanner pierced Allegra's skull like a hot needle.

She snapped her eyes open.

Blinding, sterile white light assaulted her retinas. She gasped, a sharp, ragged intake of air that burned her dry throat. Her chest heaved. The sudden movement sent a violent wave of nausea crashing through her stomach.

Her gasp triggered the life-support monitor beside her bed. The machine shrieked. Red warning lights strobed across the pristine walls of Trauma Center Room 402, shattering the dead silence.

The automatic doors slid open with a pneumatic hiss.

A nurse rushed into the room. Allegra's breath caught in her throat. The woman was wearing standard medical scrubs, but protruding from the top of her head were two long, white rabbit ears. They twitched frantically, swiveling toward the sound of the alarm.

Allegra's brain short-circuited. She scrambled backward, her hands gripping the sterile sheets. Her weak limbs gave out instantly. She collapsed back against the pillows, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," the nurse said.

Her words were soft, spoken in a language that her brain somehow flawlessly translated as if it were her native tongue, but those ears were still moving. Paige Foster-her name tag read-pressed a firm, warm hand against Allegra's trembling shoulder.

"Try to breathe. You're safe," Paige coaxed, her rabbit ears flattening slightly in a universal sign of appeasement.

Allegra stared at the ears. She couldn't look away. Her mind spun, desperately searching for a logical, Earth-bound explanation. A cosplay convention? A hallucination from the crash? The lack of oxygen made the edges of her vision go dark.

Heavy footsteps echoed from the corridor.

Dr. Owen Reynolds strode into the room. Allegra's survival instincts screamed. His eyes were a piercing, unnatural gold. The pupils were vertical slits that caught the harsh overhead light. A wolf. The man had the eyes of a predator.

Owen didn't offer a comforting smile. He pulled a handheld metallic scanner from his coat pocket and leaned over her.

"Hold still," he murmured, his voice a low, gravelly rumble.

He moved the scanner toward the side of her neck, searching for a data port. Allegra panicked. She thought it was a weapon. She jerked her head away so violently her neck popped. The scanner's red laser beam missed her skin and painted a bright line across the white bedsheets.

Owen stopped. His golden eyes narrowed.

"Why isn't your Bio-ID chip emitting a signal?" he asked. The coldness in his tone made the blood freeze in Allegra's veins.

A chip. They were looking for a microchip. She didn't have one. She had no identity, no record, no legal existence in whatever nightmare world she had woken up in.

Allegra forced herself to take a shallow breath. The metallic tang of fear coated her tongue.

"I... I don't remember," she lied, her voice shaking perfectly. "My head hurts. The crash... everything is blurry."

Paige's rabbit ears drooped in sympathy. She looked at the doctor.

"The impact from the military hovercar was severe, Dr. Reynolds," Paige said softly. "She likely has a severe concussion. Retrograde amnesia isn't uncommon."

Owen stared at Allegra for a long, agonizing second. Then, he accepted the lie. He lowered the scanner and tapped a few commands into a holographic clipboard that materialized in the air.

"Noted. Unreadable ID due to trauma," he muttered.

Allegra let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Beneath the heavy blanket, her palms were slick with cold sweat. She dug her fingernails into her own thighs to keep from shaking.

Owen swiped the hologram away and looked down at her.

"You were struck by a military-grade hovercar," Owen stated, his tone entirely clinical. "The vehicle belongs to General Benedict Blackwell."

The word military felt like a physical blow to Allegra's stomach.

"The General has already covered all your medical expenses in full," Paige added, offering a reassuring smile. "He is waiting right outside to check on you."

Allegra's pulse skyrocketed again. "No. Please. I need to rest. I don't want to see anyone."

"Military protocol dictates the responsible party must visually confirm the victim's status for the settlement," Owen said. It wasn't a request.

He pressed a button on the bed rail. The mattress whirred and mechanically forced Allegra into a sitting position. Her escape route of pretending to sleep was instantly cut off.

Paige uncapped a vial of pale blue liquid and pressed it into Allegra's trembling hand.

"Drink this. It's a nutrient serum. It will help with the dizziness," Paige instructed.

Allegra stared at the glowing blue liquid. It looked like antifreeze. But she knew she couldn't act too suspicious. She closed her eyes, tipped her head back, and swallowed it in one gulp.

Instantly, a rush of warm, electric energy flooded her veins. The numbness in her limbs vanished. Her eyes snapped open in shock.

Owen nodded in satisfaction. He reached for his communicator and pressed a glowing green button.

"Send him in," Owen ordered.

The heavy, rhythmic thud of military boots echoed from the hallway. Each step vibrated through the floorboards, traveling straight up Allegra's spine.

She instinctively pulled the blanket up to her chin, trying to shrink into the shadows of the hospital bed.

Paige stepped back into the corner of the room. The nurse lowered her head, her rabbit ears pressing flat against her skull in a display of absolute submission.

Even Owen straightened his posture, tugging at the collar of his white coat. The shift in the room's atmosphere was suffocating.

The heavy metal doors groaned and slid apart.

A blast of freezing air swept into the warm room. It smelled of ozone, crushed pine, and raw power. Allegra shivered uncontrollably.

A massive figure filled the doorway. He was dressed in a pitch-black military uniform, the chest adorned with cold, gleaming medals. The sheer size of him sucked the oxygen from the room.

He stepped inside, ducking his head slightly to clear the doorframe.

Behind him, a thick, muscular tail covered in white fur and black rosettes lashed the air with agitated force. A snow leopard.

Allegra's breath hitched.

Benedict Blackwell stopped at the foot of her bed. He lifted his head. His eyes were the color of glacial ice, piercing and utterly ruthless.

His gaze locked onto hers, and the air in the room turned to solid glass.