Chapter 12

Aria

“Stay with me, Lucas… Stay with me…”

I didn’t know how I did it, but somehow I managed to carry the enormous dog back to the rental car. I sped down the winding roads, repeatedly glancing in the rearview mirror and hoping, beyond all hope, that he would make it.

Eventually, the Google Maps address that a very upset Darren had given me took me to a nearby animal hospital. I came to a screeching halt in the parking lot, not even bothering to park properly before I was flinging the car doors open and carrying the pup inside.

“Help!” I cried out as I stumbled into the waiting room, tears streaming down my face. “My dog was attacked by wolves!”

The receptionist, a middle-aged woman wearing pink scrubs covered in an animal paw pattern, leapt to her feet and shouted something over her shoulder. I hardly made out what she said over the sound of blood rushing through my ears, but before I knew it, vet techs were spilling out of the back room and taking Lucas from me.

“I’m sending you an address for a nearby facility owned by Lunar Labs,” Darren had said when I had called him, frantic and hysterical. “Whatever you do, Aria, do not take him anywhere else. Do you understand?”

I’d been in such a state when I had called Darren that I had only managed to blubber incoherently into the phone. Lucas had been barely breathing, his chest rising and falling less and less as more blood pooled around him.

This was my fault… All my fault… Darren had told me not to take Lucas out. It was the one thing he had requested, and yet, even knowing that animal attacks had been on the rise…

I had done it anyway.

God, this was all my fault.

“Aria.”

“Y-Yes,” I had finally managed, shaking my head to snap myself out of it. “I’ll take him.”

Now, as I stood in the lobby and watched Lucas being taken away on an animal gurney, I was suddenly snapped out of my reverie by a doctor in a white lab coat.

“Aria, is it?” he asked, placing a warm hand on my shoulder. He had kind eyes and hazelnut hair that was neatly swept back. “I’m Doctor Edward. Al—I mean, Mr. Avarise called and said you would be coming. Can you tell me what happened?”

“I… I…” I didn’t even have time to wonder why the doctor almost called Darren ‘Alpha’. I didn’t even care; all I cared about was that poor dog.

Lucas… He had saved me. I could still see that wolf lunging for me, fangs bared, jaws hinging open. I could still hear the impact of Lucas’s body against the wolf’s, the sound of feral snarls as they rolled across the forest floor.

I swore I could still smell that metallic tang of blood, mixed with dank musk and matted fur.

“Breathe, Aria.” The doctor gave me a small smile and squeezed my shoulder. “Lucas will be alright. Just tell me what happened.”

Nodding, I took a deep breath to steady myself. Finally, I managed to tell the doctor everything. To my surprise, he didn’t seem all that shocked to hear that there were three wolves in the park, so close to the city.

But before I could dwell on it, he was gone.

“When the green light comes on,” the receptionist said gently as she pressed a steaming cup of tea into my hands, pointing at a nearby light display—which was currently red— “you’ll know that your little boy came out of surgery. Don’t worry; Doctor Edward is the best of the best.”

I swallowed hard, nodded, and took a sip of the tea. It was so hot it burned my tongue, but the sensation took my mind off of the horror of it all, if only for a moment.

For what felt like hours, I paced in that waiting room. The receptionist kept plying me with tea and telling me to sit down and relax, but I couldn’t. If I sat still for too long, then I would just see that wolf’s fangs in my head again, see the blood pooling around poor, sweet Lucas.

These things happened, I knew. Animals, they… died. Sometimes in the most horrible and tragic ways.

But even though I had only met Darren and Lucas a week ago, it felt as if my own son was on that surgery table.

And it was entirely my fault.

Eventually, however, the light turned green. I almost collapsed with relief.

A nurse in purple scrubs poked his head out of the door. “You can come back with me, Aria,” he said with a reassuring smile.

My legs trembled as I followed him down the sterile hallways, the scent of antiseptic stinging my nostrils. As we passed by various rooms, I noticed something curious: some of the beds had people in them.

“You treat humans here?” I found myself asking.

The nurse shot me a look, hesitating, before he said simply, “We treat those in their human forms, yes.”

I opened my mouth to ask what the hell he meant by that, but then shut it again. This place was owned by Lunar Labs, after all; perhaps they had the same weird vocabulary here as the headquarters.

Finally, we walked into a spacious room where Lucas was being held. I felt immense relief when I saw him lying on top of an animal bed, covered in a warm blanket. There was an IV sticking out of his leg, where some of the fur had been shaved away, and he was sleeping, but…

He was alive.

Doctor Edward was listening to the dog’s heartbeat as I entered and straightened, looping his stethoscope around his neck with a smile.

“He’s going to be just fine,” Edward said gently. “He had some internal bleeding, but we managed to heal the damaged veins and sew him up good as new.”

I let out a heavy sigh of relief. “His vaccinations?” I asked. The doctor cocked his head curiously, and I clarified, “He was bitten by wild wolves. Don’t you think…”

Edward’s eyes widened. “Oh! Yes, there’s no need to worry about that. He’s taken care of.” With one last look at Lucas’s chart, the doctor made his way over to the door. “You’re welcome to stay, Aria. The couch has a pull-out bed if you need. Do try to rest.”

Once Edward was gone, I rushed to the dog’s side and began stroking fervently at the long hairs around his face. Without thinking, I leaned down and nuzzled my face into his fur, unable to hold my tears back any longer.

“I’m so sorry, buddy… I’m so sorry, this is all my fault…”

The dog, of course, did not respond.

But even in his sleep, the tip of his tongue lashed out and licked at my palm. As if, somewhere deep down, he was responding to me.

…

The room was dark when I suddenly jerked awake. I rubbed my eyes, smacking my dry lips as I looked around dazedly.

It took a moment for me to recall where I was—in a hospital and not my own home. I must have fallen asleep at some point, sitting upright in the plastic chair by the hospital bed.

“Lucas…” I blinked groggily and looked over to where the dog was still resting.

But there was no dog.

There was only a little boy.

A little boy with chestnut hair, freckles across his little button nose, and soft lips that were parted slightly in sleep.

Stunned, I sat upright and rubbed my eyes again—it couldn’t be. No. I nearly laughed out loud at my dreamlike state when the little boy looked like a fluffy brown husky again.

I really must have been in quite a state to be imagining such things.