Chapter 35

Aria

Monday morning, the vast majority of the office—me, Darren and Liam, Lily, Melissa and Brandon, and even Lucas—went to the park to oversee the Puppy Playground setup.

Sarah was there too, of course, because she had to get involved in everything. But I just kept pretending that she wasn’t there, otherwise her presence might actually start to get under my skin.

To my surprise and delight, the setup seemed to be well underway by the time we arrived. The head of the event staff gave us a tour of the grounds, showing us the vendor booth layout, the signage around the park, and the playground itself.

“Wow,” Liam said as we made our way into the playground. “This looks really good.”

I couldn’t help but beam in response to that. Staff moved around with various brightly-colored poles and tents, and in one corner, a set of doggy jumps was already put together. I could already picture all of the dogs running around and having a fun time with all of the equipment.

Even Darren seemed pleasantly surprised by the whole thing. “Nice job, Aria. Your idea is really coming to life.”

My grin widened.

Behind Darren, I could see Sarah’s eyes narrowing as if his praise was a personal insult against her, but I pretended I couldn’t see her and instead focused on the day’s work. I wasn’t about to let my rotten sister get in the way of my project.

After the tour, the team split up and got to work on various tasks. Brandon and Melissa moved to the vendor area to oversee the setup there, while Lily worked on the signage. Darren gestured for me to come to him, and I tried not to show just how chagrined I was to see that Sarah was standing beside him as well.

Lucas took my hand as I walked up to Darren. “What do you need me to do?” I asked, figuring I’d be on babysitting duty today. Not that I minded, although I really wanted to get my hands dirty with the event setup.

But to my surprise, Darren handed me a clipboard. “I’m putting you in charge of overseeing the playground setup. Can you keep Lucas with you, too?”

“Of course,” I said, flashing Lucas a grin. “Lucas, you get to be my assistant today!”

Lucas’s eyes lit up with glee, as if I’d just told him that we were getting ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Darren and Sarah moved away, Sarah taking notes pertaining to something that Darren was saying—with a grimace on her pretty face, of course.

I took Lucas’s hand and started heading toward the playground, but we didn’t make it far before he stopped in his tracks.

He said nothing, just cocked his head and froze—rather like a hound catching a scent.

It was then, as I followed his gaze, that I realized what he was looking at: a woman walking her dog nearby. Rather, he was looking more so at the dog than the woman.

And the dog was looking at him, too. Rather curiously, might I add.

“Lucas, we should go,” I said cautiously, but it was too late. Lucas pulled away and walked over to the lady, reaching out to touch the dog. The lady smiled, no doubt thinking that he just wanted a quick pet.

But then the dog snapped.

“Lucas!”

I was at Lucas’s side in an instant, pulling him out of the way just before the dog’s jaws closed around his arm. Lucas was stunned, although I could see his little fangs flashing, the furry tips of his ears peeking out from under his hat. I quickly shielded him, partially to protect him from the infuriated dog and also to keep his appearance hidden.

“I’m so sorry!” I said. “He shouldn’t have—”

“No, no, it’s alright—Brutus!” the woman exclaimed, yanking the little dog back. “I’m so sorry, he’s not normally—”

Before the lady could finish, Lucas growled from between my legs.

Growled.

Her eyes widened, and she pulled her dog away, muttering something about ‘city weirdos’.

Once they were gone, I turned to Lucas and checked him over. He was unhurt, and his ears were covered by his hat, although I could see a little tuft of fur poking out from amongst his strands of chestnut hair. He continued to growl until the lady was out of sight.

“What happened?” Darren skidded to a halt beside us.

I shook my head and lowered my voice. “He tried to pet a dog and it freaked out.”

Darren’s eyes widened as he saw Lucas’s current state. He reached for him, his brow furrowed, but Lucas darted out of the way and hid behind my legs.

“I didn’t mean to!” Lucas exclaimed tearfully.

Darren sighed and dropped to a crouch, holding his arms out to Lucas. “It’s okay, buddy, so long as she didn’t see your ears.”

Lucas just sucked his thumb and clutched my legs even harder. Darren shot me a pleading look, and I dropped down, wrapping my arms around Lucas.

“Hey, Lucas,” I said gently, moving a strand of his hair to peek at his fluffy ear, “you know, not everyone can know that you’re a werewolf. In fact, some people—and dogs—might even get scared of you.”

Lucas’s saucer eyes widened. “But I didn’t mean to—I’m the one who got scared!” he pleaded, his ears and fangs poking out a little more now as he seemed to grow more exasperated.

“I know you did. Hey, look at me.” I gently turned his face toward mine. I then made a show of breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth. “Just breathe, buddy. Just like that. It’ll be okay.”

Lucas looked at me for a moment before following suit. He breathed in deeply and exhaled, and sure enough, his wolf ears slipped away, replaced by fleshy little boy ears. Darren’s shoulders seemed to slump with relief, although his eyes shone with surprise.

“See?” I said, standing and hiking Lucas up onto my hip. “All better now.”

Darren, for his part, looked grateful. I offered him a small smile and promised not to let that happen again before heading back to the playground, where I set Lucas up in the corner with a game of cornhole.

I told him that it was absolutely imperative that he, as my assistant for the day, toss the little filled bags into the hole as many times as he could. That task seemed to occupy him, and I was able to get to work without any other problems.

Soon enough, the incident with the dog was pretty much forgotten. I helped set up various pieces of playground equipment, delegating wherever possible. One of the staff seemed to be struggling to set up a tent near the fenceline, so I jogged over to her.

“Need a hand?” I asked.

The girl who was setting up, a petite teenager in a yellow ‘Volunteer’ sweatshirt, nodded gratefully and stepped aside so I could help. I moved over to the center of the tent and began winding up the pole, watching with satisfaction as the canvas stretched out above my head.

Until suddenly, a string snapped somewhere and the tent came hurtling back toward me from all four corners.

Yelping, I raised my arms to defend myself and scrunched my eyes shut. Shouting ensued, volunteers yelling and running my way. But rather than getting walloped upside the head with canvas and steel rods like I expected, I found myself enveloped by a warm arm.

A sensation that I was beginning to recognize all too well.

I cracked my eyes open to see Darren standing over me, holding the tent up just enough to keep it from snapping in on us. The sun shined through the canvas, illuminating the small space where we stood.

“Darren…”

Whatever I had been about to say, it suddenly seemed lost to me. Here, in the close space beneath the canvas with our bodies pressed up against one another, his eyes seemed to…

Glow.

Just like my dreams.

Suddenly, his mouth was moving against mine, his free hand coming up to rake through my hair and tug me closer. I stumbled into his sturdy frame and cupped the back of his neck between my cold fingers. Every muscle seemed to move on instinct, like each ridge on my tongue had been made solely to taste—

But then the tent was lifted off of us, and it was over in a flash. He pulled away before anyone could see us—before I even really had the chance to figure out if I’d been imagining that or not.

“Oh, good! You’re okay!” the petite girl exclaimed, relieved. “It’s a good thing he came, because you were almost turned into a burrito in here!”

I pressed my chilled fingers to my lips, too stunned to answer her.

Darren was already walking away with rigid shoulders and not so much as a glance back at me with those glowing eyes.