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Chapter 1 Lost

Heat surrounds her in a hard, unyielding embrace. She's cocooned in it, this strange, foreign warmth.

She slowly opens her eyes then blinks rapidly. The inky darkness gives no clue to her surroundings. But like a light suddenly switching on, she remembers everything all at once…

He'd left her. Here in the forest. Dumped her like garbage he couldn't wait to dispose of.

And like a clueless cub who finds herself suddenly motherless, she'd followed him blindly. As if she ever had a distant hope of finding him…

He's long gone, no doubt relieved to be rid of the 'clumsy human'. She fervently wishes right then that the dark night would swallow her whole, swallow her shame and her loss. All she has is this comforting heat to cling to.

And she suddenly doesn't want to let it go.

Grasping at the warmth, she pulls it closer... but then she gasps sharply when her fingers clasp smooth, bare skin.

The heat is someone. Well, she surmises, it wouldn't be a blanket in the middle of the deep, damp forest…

"Shhh, it's ok…" An unfamiliar voice coos softly to her.

She knows it's not ok. But this strange voice could lull her to believe otherwise.

It's a quiet hum in the stark silence of the wooded trees, a single, deep bass note plucked on a guitar string that leaves you wanting to hear more. She breathes out a sigh, tenseness draining from her as her limbs involuntarily relax against the hard frame of the voice's owner.

Bella struggles to see this stranger but her eyes cannot penetrate the dense cloak of blackness the forest wears as intensely as the dark sorrow in her heart.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Better to ask practical questions rather than examine the vortex of numbness threatening.

"You're several miles away from Forks in the Quileute forest." The mysterious stranger answers.

She doesn't really care where she is. She is more curious about the stranger. His skin is a furnace, a pleasant balm from the damp forest floor where they both lie.

"W…why are you holding me?"

"I'm not. You're holding me. I didn't want to disturb you. You seemed… comfortable."

She's almost certain that there's an undercurrent of amusement in his calm tone. Pursing her lips, she hates the thought that even someone she doesn't know can laugh at her. Probably like what he's doing now. Laughing at his stupid human toy…

"Why is your skin so warm?" Like a fire she can touch...

"Not really what you're accustomed to, is it?"

Bella stiffens, something in his tone making her uneasy. How would he know what she's accustomed to? It's as if he's aware of her predicament. She shakes her head minutely, dismissing the thought.

There's no possible way this strange man could know that her otherworldly boyfriend had dumped her, abandoning her in the woods and that in her futile -and extremely foolish- bid to follow him, she winds up getting lost in said woods…

This would happen to no one else but her.

"You still haven't told me who you are."

"I'm Sam." He says quietly.

Suddenly she's fully aware that she's gripping very firm muscular arms, well from what she can feel of them in the darkness, and her leg is hooked over what feels like his hip.

She's practically straddling a man she doesn't know, deep in the forest, miles from civilization…

Within a second of registering this, she frantically scrambles to disengage her body from his-Oh my God is he naked?-almost tripping on her own feet to stand. Large, hot hands help her, gently righting her from what would have been a nasty tumble.

"Take it easy…" He says.

That voice again. It has an uncanny effect on her. The deep treble tone makes her want to curl up and just listen to him. It's the one benign note in the discordant disharmony of her thoughts.

"I-I need to get home…"

"I will take you home, Bella. You need a shower..."

"Excuse me?" The flush suffuses her face with swift burning and she's grateful for the night covering her mortification. Though she's not sure why she should be mortified because of this bossy stranger.

"It'll do you good to wash away the…smell of the cold…"

"Um, temperatures don't smell. And how do you know my name?"

He mutters low, too low for her to clearly decipher what he's saying. All she can make out is something about "…kill….goddamned speech…" Speech?

She's beginning to wonder if she's stranded out here with a mad man. Yet…he does not frighten her. She actually feels more terrified of the fact that she's not as terrified as she should be. Numbness would do that to you.

"There's a man hunt and district-wide search going on for you, Bella." He says more loudly now. "You father's worried sick…"

"Oh my God, Charlie…" Pressing her fist to her mouth, the first real tinge of anxiety shudders through her.

"I'm going to carry you now. In my arms…so we can get out of here."

"What? No! I'll walk…"

"I don't think you understand the position you're putting me in here. At your pace, we won't reach Forks until sunlight comes up…If I hold you, it'll be much quicker…"

"Are you naked?" She squeaks out her query, wincing at the uncharacteristically high tone of her voice. That's very unlike her. She doesn't like that…

A deep chuckle echoes above her. No matter how much she tries to, she cannot make out one single distinct feature about...Sam.

The midnight forest disguises him well, igniting her curiosity even more. She feels glad he's unable to see her as well. No one can possibly see through this darkness, well not human anyway. She imagines she must look a mess after having trudged through miles of shrubbery.

His silence inexplicably makes her nervous.

"I-I asked because I felt…y-your skin…" She bites her tongue before she can trip over it even more. The funny thing is, mere moments ago she had been way too comfortable lying close to him.

"Lucky for you…or maybe unlucky, I'm not fully naked…" He doesn't really laugh aloud but she can practically hear his silent amusement.

"I'd go with lucky!" She snaps, true annoyance slicing through the ever encroaching numbness.

"I need to get you back to Forks…"

She doesn't hear the shuffle of his feet but she unerringly knows he's moving towards her. Backing up a step, she could feel that unusual heat of his bare skin close again…

"I'll walk on my own…"

She takes another two steps back when a sudden rush of nauseating dizziness engulfs her, tilting her in a rapid sway to the ground.

"Bella!"

The last thing she hears is her name on a stranger's lips -Sam- before her own mind shuts down, mimicking the surrounding blackness of the forest.

A.N.: Well I really don't need to start a new story now...but I want to. This one is totally uinexpected, inspired by a series of visual prompts from some cool chicas over at Tricky Raven. I intend to finish ALL my stories...however updates will be a bit sporadic