Why should I listen to him, though? What harm is there in sitting up? I ignore him, shoving the blankets aside, but he grabs my wrist and pulls me back to sitting.
“I said stay, Aileen.”
So I’m Aileen. My name’s Aileen. His scent washes over me, raw and masculine and virile. He’s an attractive man, whoever he is.
“My name’s Aileen,” I say, shaking my head. “How come I couldn’t remember that?”
“Aileen, my name’s Sebastian. I’m the clan doctor, and I’ve come to help you,” says the man beside Cormac.
I don’t reply at first. The pretty, older woman with the graying red hair comes to my side, too, and tentatively reaches for my hand, then pulls away. “We’re here to help you, love,” she says in a clear, compassionate voice.
She’s here to help me. If Cormac and this woman are on my side, it’s going to be okay. “My name’s Maeve.”
Maeve. It rings another vague bell, but too soon the clanging of the memory fades.
She opens her mouth to speak, but Sebastian shakes his head and holds up a palm to her. “Not too much Maeve. It’ll overwhelm her.”
“I want my sister,” I whisper. Do I have a mother? I don’t remember. I do know that I had a sister, and she was kind to me. I know that much. My sister is the one who helps me. Who listens. She’ll help me understand.
“Which one, sweet girl?” Maeve asks, stroking her thumb along the top of my hand.
Oh God. I have more than one?
I blink, and a tear rolls down my cheek. I don’t know. I can’t remember her name.
“We could ask her family for help,” Maeve says to Cormac.
He glares at her. “Are you out of your mind? For all we know, her family’s responsible for—” He pauses, and looks at me. “No. I don’t trust them. No fucking way.”
He’s fierce, this man. Fierce and protective. Am I supposed to like him?
“Who are you?” I ask. He looks to Sebastian before he answers me.
Sebastian nods. “It helps if we spoon-feed information, specifically things that might trigger a memory recall.”
Cormac looks to me and swallows before answering. His eyes are a beautiful green, vivid and intelligent. “I’m your husband, Aileen.”
Cold realization leaks through my limbs. I must look stricken, for the doctor mutters, “Spoon feed, not drown her.”
I blink, trying to understand.
I’m married to a stranger.
“No,” I whisper. “I have no husband. I can’t. You’re not my husband.” My voice raises to a shriek, as a full panic attack consumes me. “No! You people aren’t my family. I don’t know you. Bring me home!”
Even as I say it, I know I don’t want to go home. I don’t like home. It’s nicer here. But I’m scared, and I want to be back in a place that’s familiar.
Cormac looks saddened, and his face drops, but he’s determined.
“You aren’t going to let me go home, are you?” I whisper.
“No, lass.”
The door opens and we all look to see another man enter the room. He looks from me to Cormac, then back again. He resembles Cormac, but he’s a little thinner, and a little older, I think. His brother, maybe?
“She’s awake, then. Thank Christ,” he says. But the somber response to his statement makes him pause mid-step. “What is it?”
“Amnesia.” Sebastian says.
Amnesia.
I don’t know who I am. I don’t know where I am. I’m married to a stranger. You don’t know how terrifying the lack of memory is until it happens. No context for what they say, or who they are. No recollection of what my place is in this world. How do I even function if I don’t know who I am?
“Family meeting,” the man says. “Assemble the men. We have to talk about what happened, and how we help Aileen. Mam, you stay here.”
Keenan looks to me, and his stern eyes soften with kindness. “Aileen, do you know me?”
I shake my head in silence.
His eyes soften. “My name is Keenan. I’m your brother-in-law, Cormac’s older brother and Clan Chief.”
I nod.
“Before you had a head injury, you met my wife, Caitlin. Would you like to see her now?”
I shake my head. “No. No, thank you. I’m tired. I don’t want to see anyone.”
“Understood,” Keenan says. He gestures for the men to join him, but Cormac shakes his head.
“I’m not leaving her side, brother.”
“We need you, Cormac.”
Cormac shakes his head with vehemence. “No. Fucking phone me in if you have to. I’m staying with her. Anything you tell the Clan you can relay to me. I’ll do my duty, but my first duty is to Aileen. As her husband.”
I don’t know the man, but I like that he’s loyal to me, that he prioritizes staying by my side. Is being protective in his nature, or does he feel responsible for what happened to me? So many questions.