Chapter 11

Aria

“I’ve been looking forward to someone like you for a long time, Aria.”

Those words kept me up that night, and for many of the nights that week. I knew that he was just being nice, saying things that any decent boss might say to their employees.

But at the same time, it felt… different. The way he had wrapped his arm around me, called me his girlfriend, came to my rescue at just the right time—yet again.

Still, I kept telling myself that he only did those things out of necessity. I would have drowned without him, and I couldn’t go back to work in sopping wet clothes, which was why he’d let me use his shower. As for Jackson, well… He might not have left me alone if he didn’t think that there was another man in the picture.

Necessity; that was all it was. Nothing more, nothing less.

That weekend, I was more than happy to spend time with Lucas. I was still walking my usual dogs three times a week, early in the morning before work, but to have two whole days with a dog—that was basically heaven for me.

Plus…

Darren was letting me stay in his apartment that weekend.

“Just so you’re close to the playroom,” he explained as I set my bag down by the door. He turned to me and checked his watch. “I’ve got to go. Remember not to take Lucas out in the city too much. He gets… aggressive.”

Mhm, sure he does, I thought, but didn’t voice that out loud.

Before I knew it, I was all alone in Darren’s lavish apartment with Lucas. We spent hours running around the playroom on the first day, rolling around on that highly realistic pine duff. Lucas didn’t seem too interested in the typical games that dogs liked, such as fetch, but he loved hide and seek.

And he was good at it.

Like… really good.

“Ready or not, here I come!” I called out once I was done counting. It took me nearly fifteen minutes to find the dog, who was crouched amongst some ferns and rocks that he blended in with exceedingly well. I spotted him, and he came leaping out of the ferns, yipping as if he were laughing.

Sometimes, it felt almost like playing with a little boy, not a dog.

Eventually, the cold in the playroom—so cold it was like being outside in late February—became too much for me, so I took Lucas back down to the apartment and made lunch. By that point, an idea had begun to take shape in my head, one that I couldn’t ignore.

Lucas was such a smart dog, after all.

After lunch, I ran out to the pet store and picked up one of those communication boards—you know, the ones where dogs can press buttons with special words—and brought it back to the apartment.

“Okay, buddy,” I said as I laid the mat out on the floor. I pressed one of the buttons, and a robotic little “Food!” played out loud. “All you have to do is press the buttons, and—”

Lucas yipped and shoved past me before I could finish, pressing the buttons with ease. “Walk! Outside! Play!”

I blinked in surprise. Had Darren already taught him how to use one of these…?

“Sorry, buddy, but we’re not supposed to go outside,” I said. “We can go back to the playroom after dinner, though.”

Lucas growled playfully. “Outside! Run! Please!”

I sighed, glancing at the clock as Lucas continued jabbing that button: “Outside! Outside! Outside!”

Darren had made it clear that he didn’t want me to take Lucas out if I could help it; it was pretty much the one instruction he gave me, and he seemed unwavering in that. But… the weather this weekend was beautiful, a comfortable temperature with the sky forecasted to be nice and sunny.

Surely one walk wouldn’t hurt. And I knew just the place to take Lucas where there wouldn’t be many other people.

…

“Stay near me, okay, bud?” I asked as I bent down to unhook Lucas’s leash. He had been pawing insistently at his collar, whining, ever since I had put it on.

Surprisingly, there wasn’t even a collar around Darren’s apartment. Lucas seemed perfectly trained to walk without a collar or a leash, and so Darren must have never bought one. But I didn’t know how well-trained Lucas would be with only me, so I had run out and bought a cheap one this morning, just to be safe.

“Sorry, Lucas,” I said, scratching his fluffy ears. “But it’s for your own safety.”

Lucas whined and gave me those big puppy-dog eyes in response.

The air was warm and invigorating as we began walking down the forested trail. I inhaled deeply, the scent of pine filling my nostrils. It felt good to get out of the city for a few hours—I had rented a car just to take us to the state park.

Of course, the story about the animal attack still lingered in my mind. But I was prepared, a can of bear spray securely in my pocket.

Besides, with a big dog like Lucas, I doubted it would be an issue. The only bears around here were black bears, and they were typically frightened of dogs.

Eventually, Lucas seemed to forget about his collar and bounded ahead to chase a butterfly. I smiled as I watched him; he looked so content. It wasn’t fair that Darren kept him locked up all day. That playroom was amazing and highly realistic, but it was still a playroom. Lucas needed real fresh air, real plants and earth and water.

I wondered if I should have a chat with Darren when he got back—tell him that he couldn’t coop such a big dog up like that.

But for now, I decided to keep it our little secret.

It’s not like Lucas is able to tell on me, I thought with a smirk.

While I was lost in thought, I accidentally let Lucas out of my sight. Shit. I heard rustling in the bushes and some yipping around the corner up ahead, so he couldn’t have been far.

“Lucas!” I called, jogging after him. “Here, boy!”

The rustling continued, but the yipping turned to… growling. Cursing out loud, I picked up my pace and called out to Lucas again. Maybe Darren wasn’t lying about Lucas’s aggression—maybe he had encountered a hiker up ahead and was scaring them.

“Lucas! Lucas, come—”

But it wasn’t a hiker.

I came to a screeching halt as I rounded the bend and came face to face with three large, growling wolves that were surrounding a whimpering Lucas.

My heart leapt into my throat, and I instinctively reached for my bear spray. The wolves looked emaciated, but they still outnumbered us—and they had Lucas surrounded.

“L-Lucas,” I called out tentatively, not wanting to startle the wolves and make things worse. “Here, boy…”

Lucas looked at me, ears laid flat against his head, and whined.

He was terrified.

Wolves… They shouldn’t have even been in these parts. Coyotes, perhaps, but not full-bred wolves. And they were… starving. Like they hadn’t eaten in months.

Which only meant one thing: we were their only shot at dinner.

Suddenly, one of the wolves—the biggest one, with jet black fur and yellow eyes—lunged for Lucas, jaws snapping.

“No!” I cried out, rushing forward. I pulled my bear spray out, but tripped over a tree root in the process and went careening onto my hands and knees. The can went rolling across the forest floor.

The wolves froze, staring down at the can. Time seemed to slow as those yellow eyes looked at the can, then at me, then at each other.

And… If I didn’t know better, I would have said that one of the wolves intentionally kicked the can into the brush.

But that was impossible, right?

The wolves lunged again; all three of them this time.

Only now, they were headed for me.

“N-No! Stop! Heeeelp!” I cried out; but of course, with the recent hiker attack, the park was far emptier than usual, and no one was around to hear me. Lucas howled and collided mid-air with one of the wolves just before it made contact with me, the two of them rolling across the forest floor in a flurry of fangs and fur.

The sound was horrifying—snapping jaws and ripping flesh. Tufts of fur went flying, blood sprayed. That collar I’d bought sailed through the air, ripped clean in half.

The other two wolves were circling closer to me now, snapping their teeth at my clothes. One of them made contact, and a long fang caught my sweater, ripping the fabric and grazing the skin beneath. I shrieked and scrambled away, gripping my bloody arm, just moments before the other wolf lunged for me.

Running was my only chance, but I couldn’t just leave. Lucas—I had to get Lucas and get out of here, too. But he was still rolling around with the third wolf, and he was… losing.

Blood. So much blood.

If I didn’t do something, then—

The wolf pinned Lucas to the forest floor, jaws snapping at his throat. Lucas howled, struggling against the wolf’s grip, but it was no use. He was going to die, he was going to—

Those mismatched eyes locked onto mine. So… So much like Darren’s, only… Pleading. Terrified. Desperate.

“Stop!”

The voice that came out of me didn’t feel like my own. It felt… deeper somehow. More authoritative.

Not… not entirely human.

But before I even began to process what had happened, the wolves were skittering off into the woods with their tails between their legs, their terrified yips and howls fading into the distance.

And a bloody Lucas lay limp on the forest floor.