2. Neo

TWO

NEO

I had no idea who the woman hovering above me was, but her bright green eyes drew me in. A droplet of her blood fell onto my shirt. It smelled sweet—she smelled sweet, like lavender and honey.

Who was she? Where had she come from? And why was my panther so focused on the fact that she'd bled for me?

My head spun with disorientation. I was utterly confused about the situation. Yet, all I could do was stare at her.

"I did bleed for you," she said, her gaze never wavering from mine. Not even an ounce of fear was present in her tone or her eyes.

Sexy .

The word filled my head as I continued to stare at her, my panther pacing inside me. I shoved him to the side and released my grip on her wrist. The sparks that flicked across my skin where we'd touched eased and the room tilted.

Wait, where was I?

I jolted upright, scanning my surroundings. Something was off—none of this seemed familiar.

Where. The. Hell. Was. I?

My panther raged inside me, realizing the same thing I did—we weren't where we should be. However, before either of us could make a move, a cold presence entered the small space. The woman with the beautiful green eyes that had held me spellbound stepped to the side, her gaze fixed on the guy in the doorway of the room. I recognized him as the bartender from Last Drop.

What was he doing here? And why was he looking at me like that?

"Neo," Joe greeted me with a slight nod of his head.

Before I could get to my feet, he was in front of me, looming inches from my face. His gaze seared into mine with a fierce intensity that seemed to penetrate my soul. Half a heartbeat later, I fell into a dark abyss of velvety nothingness and the world around me faded away.

All I could hear was his voice.

"You will forget anything and everything you know about Naomi Hart," he ordered, his voice echoing through my skull. "You will dissolve any vengeance against the Shaw Clan and any ill will you have toward them. You will forget about ever having crossed their path. You don't know them. You don't know Naomi. You harbor no distrust or ill will against any of them. You feel neutral toward Naomi and those in the Shaw Clan. Can you repeat that last sentence back to me?" he demanded.

"I feel neutral toward Naomi and those in the Shaw Clan." Unintentionally, the words escaped before I was aware I was speaking, and I felt a sense of red-hot rage lift from me and my panther.

"Good," he said. "Now wake."

I blinked and found myself in the tiny room alone.

Had Joe been here at all? Had the woman with the green eyes? Was it all a dream?

My gaze drifted as I tried to make sense of anything. Glancing down at my shirt, I spotted a few drops of blood. It couldn't have been a dream, then. The blood meant that the woman was real, if nothing else.

My panther released a low rumble that vibrated through me as he prowled back and forth. I shook my head and shoved him away again. I couldn't deal with his temperamental ass right now.

Something was wrong.

My head felt strange, like there was something I should remember but couldn't. It hovered beyond my grasp—a vacant space within my mind. A dull ache throbbed in my head as questions swarmed me like angry bees. Rising to my feet, I couldn't ignore the stiffness in my legs.

How long had I been lying here?

I fumbled from the small room, feeling a tad claustrophobic as I entered the main space of the camper. This place was microscopic. The floor beneath me felt unsteady as a disorienting sensation rippled through me while I made my way to the door.

Two unsettling realizations surfaced as I reached it.

First, my panther was going to shred me from the inside if I didn't release him. He roared and thrashed inside me, demanding to be released as though it had been weeks since he'd last been free. And second, an inexplicable shift had occurred within me. Something was different. Something had changed. A hollowness echoed through me—a void of purpose or duty. Fear pumped through me.

Were we still the alpha of the Ashen Tribe?