NOTE: PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER

This chapter is unedited so please excuse the grammatical errors.

Dedicated to Sienarocks2222  for being one of the first people on wattpad who told me they liked my writing. It meant the world to me!

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Suzzanah's POV

I was a feeler

I admit, the term itself was very vague, arousing multiple interpretations, some of which could be very ghastly and inappropriate, but I liked the vast range of understandings the term could have.

And for better or worse, I was a feeler in all respects, except the perverted ones.

And why was that important?

Because only if one understood what it meant to be a feeler could one truly understand how it is I functioned.

And what did being a feeler mean for me?

For starters, it meant that if I disliked how a cloth felt against my skin, I would not be very happy buying it.

That's why shopping for clothes often made me gloomy.

Because everything that felt good was too expensive and being a person of very limited economical means, I invariably had to settle for things I seldom liked.

When I was a baby I used to give my sister a hard time when it came to clothing. She would put them on me, I would take them off. Then she would pick up my discarded clothes and chase me all over the place trying to get me to wear them while I insisted on frolicking around in my favorite yellow bunny printed underwear doing baby booty shakes and rug rolls.

BLUSH

Over the years my urges to prance around au naturel did mellow, thank the heavens, and I settled for being content with cheap but soft materials.

So one can understand how uncomfortable I felt when I woke up wrapped in some rough stiff cloth which felt akin to sandpaper against my skin.

I wriggled around trying to get out of the scratchy material but it was over me, under me and all around me, impossible to get out of by wiggling alone. Not to mention that movement came to me with some degree of difficulty and a discomfort closely resembling pain.

Annoyed, I pried my tired eyes open but immediately regretted it when bright light pierced them like javelins digging into the ground making my eyes sting.

Why was it that a sleeping or unconscious person was always forced to wake up to the brightest of lights as if the Gods themselves were paying them a visit?

I groaned and clamped my eyes shut again, but much to my horror, even the inside of my eyelids looked bright now!

I tried to block out the blinding whiteness by burying my face in the pillow under my head only to shoot away from it as the powerful smell of spirit, antiseptic and detergent assaulted my nostrils and choked my lungs.

I coughed and scrunched up my face for a bit before my I let my facial muscles lax in shock as my situation dawned on me in the form of a question.

Where was I???

Over the years I had had the experience of waking up in many different rooms- some of which I chose, some of which I didn't; some which I liked, some, I didn't; some which smelt good, others, not so much. This particular one obviously fell in all of the latter categories. And it bothered me, very much.

By now my eyes were wide open, as my pupils battled the forces of the dazzling light while attempting to soak in my surroundings.

I was currently in a small room with cream colored walls, one tiny glass window and just enough space to fit a bed and a body, mine to be precise.

Everything in this room seemed two sizes too small for me, including the bed, as I could feel my ankles dangling outside of the bed in the air. One would think that was uncomfortable but honestly that was the only part of my body which felt free as the rest was being tightly compressed by sheets which were obviously meant for a midget, a dead one.

I lifted my heavy arms and tried to shove the rough sheets off of me but the minute I bent my legs a piercing pain shot through my right lower limb making me wince and fall back onto the hard bed.

Still wondering what the heck just happened I slightly moved my right ankle and hissed when sharp pain radiated from my ankle all the way to my knee.

I lifted myself up on my elbows and looked around the room again as realization settled into me.

I was at the hospital. That much was obvious, especially now that I looked at my exposed ankle which was tightly bandaged. But why...

Like a flash flood, all the memories came rushing back to me. My venturing into the woods, my epic fall from the tree, all the running, screaming, crying and...the brown eyed wolf!

When my mental flashback ended and my brain registered my current situation there was still a gaping void in the sequence of events as to how I got to the hospital seeing as I now clearly remembered having shamelessly passed out somewhere in the middle of the woods.

Did I sleep walk?

My sister had once told me that I talked in my sleep but did I walk too? Surely my injury wouldn't have allowed it. And even if it did, how did I find my way to a hospital I didn't even know existed up till a few minutes ago? Following that thought I face palmed and shook my head.

I can't believe you're actually contemplating this option Suzzanah. One would think you had injured your head and not your leg.

But then, since I obviously didn't sleep walk here, that mean...

The wolf-No!

The minute the thought of the wolf having brought me here came to mind I pushed it away. Yes, it was a surprisingly kind creature that tended to my wound in its own animal-like ways and its eyes held a strange intelligence that seemed a little too human for comfort but surely it would not have carried me all the way to the hospital where I'm assuming most people would have freaked out like I had and either run away from it or after it, with weapons.

Suddenly I was very worried about that wolf.

Relax you fool, I told myself. What weapons would a hospital be in possession of? I doubt a wolf that size would be afraid of scalpels and injections.

Tranquilizers maybe?

My troubling thoughts were interrupted when the small door to the room suddenly opened and a tiny balding man in a lab coat carrying a grey file scurried in.

Is he a doctor?

I looked intently at him as he walked up to me and gave me a curt nod before looking at the multiple monitors in the room and scribbling something into his grey file.

He was in fact the doctor who had tended to my wounds. He asked me questions about how I was feeling and whether I was in any pain and after hearing my answers he just nodded before muttering to himself and again writing something into his file.

He then proceeded to remove the uncomfortable blankets to have a look at my injured leg and that's when I realized that I wasn't wearing my work clothes anymore.

An alarmed squeal escaped my lips and the doctor looked up with wide eyes as if he had just seen a UFO land in his backyard.

I shook my head hurriedly coupling it with nervous laughter, at which the doctor just narrowed his eyes and got back to work removing my bandages while I fretted over who in this blasted building had seen me in my inners or maybe less!

Maybe it was the painkillers but I couldn't feel my undergarments which worried me to no end. I discreetly tried to gaze into the loose hospital gown to hopefully annul my suspicion but much to my horror, my undergarments had either turned invisible, or were in fact, missing from the surface of my body.

I suddenly felt discomfort. Extreme discomfort.

Where the heck are my clothes? And who took them off??

I nervously glanced around the room, but much to my dismay, my clothes were nowhere to be seen. My eyes immediately zeroed in on the little man working busily in changing my bandages.

For his sake I hoped he had not been the one who had changed me, or so help me God, I would hit him so hard on his shiny bald head that he would reduce to half his already Lilliputian size!

Unaware of the death glares I was sending his way, the small doctor removed my bandages and examined my injury. His little fingers brushed against my skin and I immediately flinched.

Not in pain, oh no, and not in disgust either. That would have been far more tolerable. But this was by far one of the most unbearable feelings I had experienced. Such was the power of tickles!

And I had always been extremely sensitive to touch, of any and every kind, which added to my being a feeler in the literal sense, and also made my plight worse.

As the doctor continued to inspect was wound, I tried hard not to worm wiggle on the small hard bed. But when his hand grazed my wound I jumped some five inches into the air, and this time it was due to the pain.

He mumbled something which I supposed was his apology and turned my right leg a little more to the side before continuing his examination.

I looked also, and saw a long red inflamed gash travelling down the back of my calf and stopping a few inches above my ankle. I cringed at the sight of my injury, but I couldn't help but compare it to how gruesome it had looked when I was lying on the forest ground.

Even the pain was now only a dull ache and not the piercing, stabbing, dying kind it had felt like before. It was probably because of the painkillers they had given me. But then again, the pain had started to numb right after that brown eyed wolf had licked it clean.

A smile graced my face at the memory of that dear animal. Underneath all that powerful muscle and strength, it had been a really gentle creature. Had it really been a wild animal? A wolf? Or had it just been a dog, on steroids?

I snorted and shook my head, earning yet another saucer-like stare from the doctor. Regardless of what it had been, it did try to help me, and I appreciated it, very very much. Now when I looked at the wound, I had to admit, it looked better, much better than before.

Then again, how long ago was before?

I looked around the room for a clock but there was none. So I asked the doctor how long I had been unconscious to which he replied that he couldn't be sure, but I had been at the hospital for about five hours now.

He said that a couple of guys had brought me to the hospital, after finding me bleeding and unconscious in the middle of the forest and as grateful as I was to them, I couldn't help but wonder what they had been doing in the forest themselves. Surely no one else would have been as stupid as I for was venturing into the forest like I was taking a walk in my backyard. Or was it just a matter of how well one knew the place? I didn't know.

I shouldn't have heeded Mr. Penson's advice about taking the shortcut. He obviously had more faith in my self-navigation skills than they deserved.

Oh God! Did he even know I was in the hospital? Did anyone at work know?

I was about to ask the doctor when he spoke first instead, "You sprained your right ankle and your wound will probably take a week or more to heal. I suggest you get lots of bed rest and keep your walking to a minimum. I've prescribed pain killers and antibiotics for you. Your colleague has probably bought them. So you are free to leave whenever you want"

With that, having finished bandaging my leg again, he turned and strode out of the door before I even had a chance to ask him who this colleague was. But I didn't have to wait long to find out.

"Ms. WINTERS!"

An unmistakable nasal voice drifted into the tiny spaces in the room bringing a smile to my face.

"Mr. Talon", I said smiling warmly, or so I hoped, at him.

Huffing and puffing, Mr. Talon rushed into the room carrying a small plastic cover which most likely contained the medicines the doctor had spoken of.

"How are you feeling?" he asked worriedly and I smiled hearteningly at him.

"I feel much better", I told him honestly and he released a breath.

"Thank goodness you're up Suzzanah. I was so worried about you! Half of my hair is already gone from this morning's fiasco and I was about ready to pull out the rest too. Must you insist on giving me such near death experiences and all in one day?"

"I doubt you'll die of balding Mr. Talon", I joked and earned a glare from him which soon turned into a smile and a defeated sigh.

He then looked at me carefully and gasped dramatically when he saw my bandaged calf. I shook my head reassuringly and said, "I'm fine"

Mr. Talon assessed me for a little bit longer before sighing and said, "I nearly had a heart attack when I got a call from one of our pac- I mean staff members telling me they had found you hurt and unconscious in the middle of the woods"

My eyes widened in surprise, "He was a staff member?"

Mr. Talon nodded, "He was passing by with a friend and found you passed out in the middle of nowhere!"

I didn't have the time to be embarrassed as I asked him, "And what was this guy doing strolling with his friend in the middle of nowhere?"

Mr. Talon narrowed his eyes at me, "I think the more appropriate question is what you were doing there?"

This time I did blush.

Mr. Talon seated himself beside me on the small bed, "Tell me everything"

I sighed and started telling him everything that had happened and how I had gotten lost in the woods. For some reason he seemed very shocked and disturbed when I told him that Mr. Penson had suggested I take the route through the woods, but he said nothing.

But he openly and theatrically scolded me for climbing the tree. And he gasped dramatically when I told him about my epic fall before shooting off of the bed and examining my wound as though he had X-ray vision that could see through the bandages.

But when it came to the part about being cornered by the wolf, my rant came to an abrupt stop and my eyes widened in alarm.

Should I tell him?

Should I tell him about the wolf? Would he believe me? Or would he think that the loss of blood was taking a toll on me?

Then again, knowing Mr. Talon, I think he would believe anything I said, no matter how much drama it contained. After all, I had already brought tons of it with me in the one day that I had been here.

But what then? If he did believe me, what would he do? Would he tell someone? And what if he did and they went after the wolf? What if they killed it??!

NO!

I couldn't tell him or anyone about the wolf. I couldn't risk it. Besides, it didn't feel right to tell.

So I settled for the next best thing and told him I passed out from pain and exhaustion of my acrobatic endeavors to which again he sighed deeply and removed his glasses, wiping them wordlessly before putting them on again.

He looked tired and I felt extremely guilty for putting him through so much tension today.

"I'm sorry for worrying you. And thank you so much for coming Mr. Talon. I really appreciate it"

"Don't apologize child", Mr. Talon replied looking toward the window, his voice suddenly sounded much older, "Just please take better care of yourself"

He whispered the last part but I heard him and my heart welled with gratitude yet again.

I was about to thank him again but he seemed to notice this and he quickly added, "Because if you take care of yourself then over half my problems will be solved automatically", with a mock glare.

I stared at him blankly before a smile made its way to my face and then turned into a grin, "Okay" I said cheerfully, and Mr. Talon just shook his head again before getting up to go ask someone to bring me a wheelchair. My protests about the matter fell on deaf ears as he marched out of the room like a man on a mission.

Soon after, a nurse arrived with my clothing and I found out that she had been the one who had changed me to check if I had wounds elsewhere on my body. It still deeply disturbed me but it was still better knowing that it was done by a woman who had probably seen plenty of naked bodies in her practice and would neither remember nor care about what mine looked like.

At first she insisted on helping me get dressed but when I paled so much that I started blending into the bright lights in the room, she very understandingly stepped out to give me privacy.

I hungrily snatched up my undergarments and put them on feeling the discomfort finally ease a little. Wiggling into my shirt was easy enough but the skirt was what posed the problem.

Curse pencil skirts!

With great difficulty and a lot of hissing and groaning in pain, I managed to wear it and zip it up. That's when I noticed that the pin I had put on it when I climbed the tree was still there.

Unthinkingly I tugged at it but it was stuck. Annoyed I pulled hard and to my pure and untainted horror, the skirt tore revealing my lacy underwear.

An alarmed shriek escaped my lips as I tried to pull the torn ends closer together but it only cause the skirt to tear more all the way to bottom fully revealing my thighs, and I suddenly felt very faint.

A knock sounded on the door and consciousness coupled with alarm shot back into me as Mr. Talon's voice sounded through the door telling me that the guy with the wheelchair was here.

But if I sit, it'll only pry the torn ends further apart!

There was no way I was going in that wheelchair. I immediately took the green hospital gown and held it in front of my exposed legs.

I limped to the door, ignoring the stinging feeling in my leg. It's amazing how one can selectively numb certain areas of their body when a more pressing matter is at hand, for instance when one's dignity and honor depends on it!

I opened the door to Mr. Talon only to see his face go from blank to berserk.

"Don't walk around! Sit down right now" he demanded pointing to the wheelchair making me grip the hospital gown tighter in front of me.

"N-No I think I'll just walk", I stammered hurriedly before slipping around him, disregarding the fact that I was barefoot and walking to who knows where.

The boy with the wheelchair protested and said I should sit down but I was not about to listen to anybody and I just walked faster away from them both clutching the hospital gown in front of me like my life depended on it.

Why oh why did it have to tear in such a disgraceful place! To anyone who saw me would I would surely appear to need to use the bathroom really, really, really badly!

I felt myself flush for the umpteenth time that day and marched on with more fervor than ever.

An appalled screech escaped Mr. Talon's lips when my brisk walking started turning into a slow jog as I grit my teeth at the pain and continued onward.

I could hear a few other hospital staff members calling after me and I suddenly felt like a psychiatric patient attempting to escape an asylum.

I nearly cried tears of joy when I saw the way out of the hospital where Mr. Talon had said a black car was waiting to pick us up. I picked up the pace and I could hear Mr. Talon's panicked cries after me. Surely he was wondering why I had suddenly gone insane.

On hindsight I could have probably just told him, but knowing the theatrics he would stage, everyone would find out about it. Either way, it was too late to think about that now.

Through the glass I could see that dusk had fallen and a red orange glow had lit up the sky. I limped towards the door and almost did a titanic pose when the fresh air outside of the hospital hit my flushed body. Keyword: Almost.

After having protected my dignity from the eyes of all the hospital staff members, I was not about to expose my inners to some poor unsuspecting fellow just strolling past the medical facility.

Almost immediately I spotted a black Honda car parked by the side of the hospital and I quickened my steps towards it.

Just a few more steps, I told myself, once I'm in the car I'll tell Mr. Talon.

Hopefully he would have a jacket or somethin-

JACKET!

A horrified gasp escaped my lips when it hit me that I had misplaced my shoes, purse and the CEO's Jacket somewhere in the woods!

I was so shocked that I didn't notice the step in front of me and when I did, it was too late because I had tripped and was already hurtling towards the ground for the third time that day. I had no time to steady myself or brace for impact so I just let myself fall to the hard rough earth.

I fell onto a strong chiseled surface, and immediately the earthy scent of rain and wet soil surrounded me, cocooning me in its warmth and comfort. A soft sigh escaped my lips as I rested my cheek against the smooth velvety surface of the earth, which rested all around me. It felt heavenly and I felt like I could happily fall asleep without a care as long as this warmth continued to engulf me.

Somewhere in the distance I heard a shrill nasal cry and all too swiftly my common sense returned to me followed by realization and a tidal wave of mind-numbing tingles.

I was in someone's arms!

My head shot up towards the face of the person who owned the strong sturdy chest that broke my fall and when my eyes collided with familiar chocolaty brown orbs, for the hundredth time that day I wanted to sink into the ground under my feet.

The CEO's handsome face gazed down at mine, his hair was windswept, his lips slightly parted and his eyes were wide, a strange emotion swirling within the warm brown depths.

Familiar warm brown depths

Immediately the large dark majestic animal that I had encountered in the woods flashed before my eyes. Its eyes had been the same brown pools of chocolaty warmth as those of the beautiful man's in whose arms I was currently sheltered.

My fingers swept across the soft velvety material of his dress shirt, and I could feel the rippled muscles underneath it tighten. Velvety soft fur and a sturdy muscular body that rested of four strong paws came to my mind.

I felt the CEO's arms tighten around my waist, the palm of his right hand slid further down my body to rest above the curve of my hip. My body suddenly felt like it was on fire as the CEO's eyes darkened to the color of a dark night sky, bearing an intensity so great that it made me feel lightheaded and made my knees want to go weak.

As if obliging his command, my knees bent causing him to pull me closer to himself in order to steady me. The rich silky material of his dress pants brushed against the bare skin of my thighs and within a blink of an eye, the tingles, the fire and the lightheadedness disappeared into thin air.

MY SKIRT!

I had by now realized that I was no longer in possession of that darned hospital gown. My eyes were currently the size of cricket balls as I desperately clung to the CEO's shirt while trying to find my center of gravity or balance or whatever that tiny point in a person's body was that kept them upright.

Was there even such a thing?

The CEO had still not spoken a word but I could feel his long fingers caressing the side of my hip which was as distracting as it was disturbing. And not to mention, ticklish!

What is this man doing?!

Still fumbling around with that blasted center of gravity concept and trying not to dance in the CEO's arms from the tsunami of tickles his shameless hands were causing, I turned my head to glance behind me and found half a dozen hospital staff members, along with Mr. Talon, all standing with their heads bowed in respect.

So they hadn't seen anything yet? That meant my dignity was still intact!

At this rate, not for long.

My head shot back up to look at the CEO to find a dazed expression painted over his face. He looked...lost.

Is he alright?

"S-sir", I whispered but his eyes continued to trace the outlines of my face.

"Sir", I said a bit louder this time but apart from a slight crinkling of his eyebrows, there was no change in his demeanor.

I poked his muscular chest with my fingertips but still there was no reaction from him.

Is there such a thing as instant paralysis? Had I damaged a nerve of his by falling on him? Did any of these idiotic theories make even the remotest of sense?

His eyes continued to trail my facial features in a dreamy manner but suddenly they came to a stop...on my lips!

Gaaaaaahhhh

"S-s-sir!" I could hear the panic in my voice but apparently my boss couldn't. Behind me, I wondered if those hospital staffs had left or were still busily watching the ground with eyes as interested as the CEO's seemed in my lips.

It was only when his head started tilting down towards mine that I completely lost it and jumped with my good foot on his expensive looking shoe.

He stopped mid-bend and his dazed features started rearranging themselves, slowly but surely, till they held the same horror that I'm sure mine held at that moment.

Immediately his arms around my waist loosened and he nearly pushed me away from him, but when I gasped in pain at having lost the support his body had been providing, instantly his arms encircled my frame again.

His features creased in alarmed concern as he examined my pained face. I didn't have time to feel surprised at his considerate nature for the second time that day, as his eyes slowly started trailing down my frame to exactly where I feared.

My legs! Aiyaaaaahhh!

Suddenly experiencing the most extreme form of panic, I yanked at his shirt bringing his chest flush against mine. Another wave of tingles and tickles exploded all over my body and I wondered how I hadn't turned into Michael Jackson yet.

The CEO's eyes widened and his eyebrows furrowed in alarm. I could clearly read his face right now.

The heck are you doing woman?!

If only he knew. No wait, no! He mustn't know. Not now, not EVER!

He tried to put some distance between us but I didn't allow it tugging at his shirt with one hand while trying to pull the ends of my torn skirt together with the other. At this rate, my skirt wouldn't be the only cloth I'd tear today.

But in the frenzied attempt of my hand to protect my dignity 'down there', it accidentally brushed against his!

GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

At the rate that his face contorted in shock, I guessed he was probably also a feeler.

I didn't even have time to cringe in pain when within a split second he had put much over a foot of distance between us as he held me at arm's length.

"Get away from me woman!" he yelled and I heard a cacophony or terrified gasps fill the air, including my own.

"What the HELL do you think you're do-", his bellowing came to an abrupt halt and a deafening silence filled the evening air.

And I stared in utter horror and shock as his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as his gaze fixed on to the gaping lack of covering on my lower half.

And at that minute, I wished from the bottom of my heart that that large kind brown eyed wolf had actually eaten me whole.

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A/N

WAHAHAHAHAAHA!

Hello my most beloved readers!

To start off, thank you so so so so so SO MUCH! Over a 1K reads?! I'm literally flying out of my window in ecstasy! I can't tell you how much it means to me. Thank you so much for the tremendous support.

How did you like this chapter? LOL

To those of you who didn't understand the events that transpired in the end, Suzzanah's hand brushed against Zuerien's pride and joy *blush*

Please do comment and let me know what you think.

And please do vote if you liked it. It would make me very happy.

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Until next time,

All my love

Angel