CIAN
I woke to the sharp sting of a palm cracking against my cheek.
"Alpha. Alpha Cian, can you hear me?"
Garett's voice reached me through the fog, distant at first, like it had to fight its way in, then clearer the second time his hand struck my face, harder now, enough to snap something in my head back into place. My eyes dragged open.
His face came into focus above me, close enough that I could see the tension pulling at his mouth, the tight line of his jaw. Concern didn't sit on him easily, but it was there now, plain and unhidden.
"There you are," he said, a breath slipping out of him like he had been holding it. "You had us worried for a second."
I tried to sit up and immediately regretted it. My body felt wrong, heavy and slow, like I had been out for far longer than I remembered. Every muscle resisted, stiff to the point of pain. Garett's hand came to my shoulder, steadying me as I forced myself upright, even as the world tilted slightly under me.
