I’m getting ready to release True Love!! In just two weeks from today you’ll be able to read about Shelby and Jared’s story, so it’s time to give you a little teaser of my next novella.

Prologue

Jared slowly forced himself out of the horrific haze surrounding him. There were muddled noises everywhere. Hollow and distant and not clear at all. Like diving into the water and popping back up, his ears clogged with fluid. Only this time the body of water was located in a black cave, not a glimmer of light to be seen.

He tried to shake his head, thinking that would help, but it didn’t. Instead he focused on his surroundings some more and realized there was a faint ringing in his right ear, but nothing more than a cloudy murky feeling in the left. Hollow even.

Then he noticed his body hurt. Hurt in a way he couldn’t remember ever feeling pain before. Like a burning dull knife trying to cut a tomato without turning it to mush. A pain that let him know it was there, but something was trying to block him from feeling. Only there wasn’t enough of whatever it was in his body to block it all out.

He tried to open his eyes and realized one was blurry, the other blackness. Pitch dark.

Panic was setting in and when that happened he wanted to fight. Fight his way through it. Fight his way out.

“Hang on there, soldier,” he heard.

A woman’s voice. Soft and gentle. A caress of sorts.

“What?” he asked, but knew the word was barely a whisper.

“You’re in the hospital and on a high level of morphine. You’re probably feeling pretty fuzzy right now. Nod your head if you understand.” He did. It was slight, but he felt it. “Good. That’s good.”

“How?”

“Don’t talk right now.”

Her voice was so soft, almost distant, and he wondered why she was whispering. He’d prefer she’d shout over the ringing he couldn’t seem to shake off.

He tried to sit up. To move. To do something. But it felt as if he was glued to the bed for some reason. Was he really that weak? What the hell was going on?

Thoughts were swimming through the fog in his brain as he tried to focus his right eye some more. Tried to see what the hell was happening to him.

There was a woman walking around the bed checking something on a computer. A nurse, maybe? He turned his head to follow her and saw other people in beds next to him.

“Hospital?”

“Yes. You’re in a hospital.” She put her hand on his arm, soothing him for the moment and calming his heart rate. “You’re going to be just fine. You were one of the lucky ones, though I’m not sure you feel that way right now. Just get some sleep.”

He watched as she brought a needle close to him, but didn’t remember anything else other than complete blackness.