I see a flash of gold in my mind's eyes.
I've seen these eyes before...
My brow furrows, and then my mouth falls open. My eyes widen when it suddenly hits me where I've seen these eyes before.
The memory crashes over me vividly. I remember this same flash of gold shining down at me after a tall, dark form yanked me into an alleyway. Then I remember waking up in my bed, disoriented and not remembering how I got there. I'd convinced myself it was a dream.
I stare up into those same eyes now. That veryrealpair of eyes.
Holy shit. I'm not crazy.
It wasn't a dream. I feel my knees give out on me, but I don't fall to the ground. A pair of strong arms catch me as those golden eyes loom ever closer to me.
It's him.
That's the last thought I have before everything goes black.
Fifteen
Elena
I wake up slowly,my head heavy. I feel like I do when I have a medicine hangover—like when I take a Benadryl or something.
I blink my eyes open. As they adjust, panic flares in my chest, and I bolt upright.
I don't recognize my surroundings at all.
I'm not at home in my bed. Instead, I'm staring at an opulent tray ceiling. My eyes look down over the walls that are painted black. There are various Victorian paintings on the walls, and they're all in luxurious-looking gold-gilded frames.
The sudden movement to sit up has my head spinning, and I raise my hand up to my head.
The covers slide off me, and I feel a modicum of relief shoot through me when I look down and see that I'm still wearing my work clothes.
I sense movement in the corner of the room. My eyes snap to the corner where I see two golden orbs glowing back at me like the eyes of a cat.
A form materializes as a man stands to his full height. Something about the graceful unfurling of his body calls to mind a dark angel spreading its wings.
The man is taller even than Dorian. His hair is dark. It's so dark that it almost glints blue in the dim lighting of the room.
He has a strong jawline, and he's impeccably dressed in an expensive-looking suit. Everything about him radiates power and danger—just like Dorian.
I scoot further back against the headboard as if putting any kind of distance between us will help my situation.
Those eyes...
Recognition floods through me once again. I see them flashing before me in an alleyway, then again back in the elevator. I remember the dark blur that flung the burglars from my old apartment and that just flung Dorian away from me before I woke up and found myself here.
All these images flash before my eyes like clips from a movie on rewind.
The man walks over to me now, those golden eyes glowing down at me intensely, captivating me in their stare. I'm just as powerless to look away from them now as I was that night so many months ago in that alleyway.
I'm frozen. All I can do is sit and stare silently at this stranger who's so familiar to me.
"Careful there," he finally speaks, and it's a good thing I'm already sitting down in the bed or my legs would have completely given out on me.
"Stephan?" I ask incredulously.
I would know that voice anywhere. It's the voice I've heard in my ear every day since I started working at Argyle Industries.