Page 4 of For All My Effort

And his scent. Pumpkin. Not like the dessert, like autumn. He reminded me of fall nights and candle lights. Cozy to the core.

Opposite him was an alpha with a completely different vibe. This male wore a sweater, the V of his collar just barely ripped and proving he wasn’t wearing a shirt underneath. His sleeves were scrunched upwards, bunched at his elbows and showing off ink tattooed into his brown arms. He had his hair shaved close to the scalp with some sort of design on the sides.

His scent was like berries. A whole mix of them together that I’d like to grab a handful of and eat. It made my mouth water and my stomach rumble.

Then there was the final male. He was everything that society thought alphas should be. Large and strong. Built in a way that would have other alphas admiring him. Despite his intense stare, he seemed laid back. No, maybe that was the wrong way to describe him. He was the kind of male that didn’t give someone the time of day if he didn’t care for them. And those he considered his? He’d do anything.

He smelled like crisp apples. Delicious and juicy. Healthy yet even better when dipped in chocolate. His dark skin was an almost shocking contrast to my paleness.

I wanted something to jog a memory. Something that I could tell these men to make them feel better. But I didn’t know them. Not their names, or what they did for a living. I didn’t even remember seeing them before, because I knew that I wouldn’t have forgotten these males if I’d passed them on the streets or spotted them through a window.

“I’m sorry.” I looked between all three. “I don’t know…”

A knock on the door couldn’t break the awkward tension in the room as a doctor came in, followed by the fourth male in this group. “All right, all right. It looks like you’re finally awake. How are you feeling, Hannah?”

“Why is my head shaved?” Not quite what I’d meant to ask, but same gist.

The beta doctor smiled like I’d made a joke. “You took quite a hit to the head. We had to clear the area in order to properly put you back together.”

I huffed, looking away from the doctor’s kind gaze. My own immediately caught on the large male’s next to me. He was still watching me, a sort of intense look on his face like he thought I might disappear if he so much as blinked.

I blamed my instincts for reaching out and squeezing his forearm. Then my arousal for mumbling, “shit, you’re hard.”

Someone laughed which had me yanking my head away from the male.

The doctor cleared his throat, pulling my attention back to him as he asked, “How’s your head? Can you tell me what you last remember?”

My lips parted, ready to say something, except no words came out. What did I last remember? Maybe trying to fall asleep in my nest? I couldn’t tell if that was last night or just a memory of a bad night from a few weeks ago.

“I’m not sure.” I hated how confused I felt. And I especially hated the pain that seemed to form between my eyes as I tried to remember anything. “These guys said I was attacked? I don’t remember that at all?”

Something I said seemed to truly get the doctor’s attention. He’d been content to stand near the foot of my bed, asking his questions. After my answer, he moved two of the alphas away, a brave move for a beta.

“Can you tell me your name?” he asked.

“Hannah Zeal.”

“And what about over there on your left side. What’s his name?”

“If I had to guess—”

“No, don’t guess.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, then I don’t know.”

“What about any of the alphas in here?”

“Without guessing?”

“Yes.”

“No.” I bit my bottom lip, feeling the tension rise in the space. Something behind me started beeping, which made me jump, attempting to turn around and see what it was.

“Just your heart monitor. Maybe we should finish this assessment alone.”

Then the beeping started to go crazy. I was shaking my head, the idea of the men leaving sounded like a terrible idea. They were protecting me. They cared about me. Not knowing their names didn’t mean they should abandon me like everyone else had—

Warm fingers wrapped around the back of my neck. Distantly, I heard the doctor tell the alpha to be careful, but I was fully focused on the dark brown eyes in front of me. “Calm down, rebel. We aren’t going anywhere.”