Chapter 42

Aria

I sucked in a sharp breath as I wrapped the bandage tightly around my calf, trying not to focus on the angry red puncture wounds beneath the gauze. The bite from yesterday still throbbed, sending sharp jolts of pain down my leg every time I moved.

“You can take today off,” Darren’s text had read this morning. “Just focus on getting better.”

I almost considered taking him up on his offer. Almost.

But if it was true that the dogs had gone berserk like that due to some kind of poor planning on my part, then I wanted to be there today to make up for it.

Lily was already waiting by my desk by the time I arrived at work that morning, two steaming cups of coffee in hand. Her eyes widened when she saw me. I was a little late after mistakenly trying to walk and take the subway instead of spending money on a cab, but I figured no one would fault me for that.

“How’s the battle wound?” she asked, shoving one of the cups into my hands.

I took the cup gratefully and offered her a smile. “I’m fine,” I lied as I took a little too long to ease into my chair for her not to notice. No doubt everyone at the office was watching me like a hawk, judging me in their own way for not having whatever superior healing they all had. “Have you heard anything about the treats yet?”

Lily opened her mouth to respond, but before she could get a word out, the redheaded receptionist, Susan, stuck her head around the corner. “Emergency conference meeting, everyone.”

Lily raised her eyebrows, glancing at me. “That can’t be good.”

I nodded, a sinking feeling settling in my stomach as we made our way to the conference room. I tried to walk as normally as possible, but I couldn’t entirely hide the limp.

“Hey.” Melissa suddenly appeared at my side, which was a rare occurrence. “How are you? I heard about what you did for Lucas yesterday…” Her eyes flicked to my leg. “That was really brave of you.”

I felt my cheeks heat a little at her rare praise. “I’m just glad he’s okay.”

We had all barely settled into our seats when Darren strode into the room, his expression as dark as a storm gathering on the horizon. I wasn’t a part of his pack and even I was afraid of that look. I could only imagine how the others felt.

All except for Sarah, of course, who was nonchalantly checking her nails at the other end of the table.

Without saying a word, Darren threw a familiar bag of dog treats onto the conference table.

“Who tampered with the treats?” Darren’s voice was low and controlled, which made him even more ominous. “The test results revealed that there was a stimulant in all of the treats. One that wasn’t a part of our original formula.”

Silence fell over the room. I watched as my coworkers exchanged confused glances, some of them shrinking back in their seats. Sarah slowly lowered her hands onto her lap, sitting upright.

“I believe that someone in this room deliberately altered these treats,” Darren continued, his hands pressed flat against the table as he leaned forward. “Aria got hurt. Other people could have been injured. My son could have been injured. If this was an accident—if someone just made a grave mistake—now is the time to speak up.”

The silence deepened. If it was anyone in this room who did it, then no one was fessing up.

“Fine.” Darren’s jaw tightened as he straightened. He waved Liam over, who plugged in his laptop by the front. “I suppose we’ll just have to watch the security footage together, won’t we?”

A cold knot twisted in my stomach as the CCTV footage flickered to life on the screen. But it wasn’t just any footage; it appeared to be coming from a hidden camera on a shelf in the lab, partially obscured by a glass jar in the corner.

“You see,” Darren hissed, folding his arms, “whoever did this shut off the camera outside the lab—thinking we wouldn’t notice.” There was a tense pause before he continued, “But after the printer fire, unbeknownst to all of you, I had extra cameras installed. Liam, play the footage.”

With that, Liam hit ‘play’ and the footage began to roll.

For the longest time, the lab was empty. Everything was as it should be.

But then…

One night, two figures walked into the lab—a man and a woman in ski masks and dark clothing. They weren’t alone. A scraggly stray dog followed them, led by a leash in the man’s hand.

The room collectively held its breath, then, as the cameras followed them through the lab. The man wrestled the dog into the glass sanitization chamber, then tossed a treat in after it.

A few moments later…

Well, it wasn’t pretty.

The dog went absolutely berserk, just as the dogs at the playground had. It slammed its body against the glass as the two figures just watched. Just seeing it made me shudder, Lily practically trembling beside me.

Before the dog finished raging, the female figure turned with an apparent huff and said something. She shook her head and raised her hands, adjusting her ski mask. We all watched in tense silence as she carefully lifted the mask, exposing her face for a split second.

Liam hit pause at just the right moment, and there she was.

Sarah.

Darren whipped his head toward her, his eyes narrowing.

Her face went pale. “T-That wasn’t me!” she exclaimed, looking around wildly. “I would never—”

“There’s no need to deny it, Sarah. We have you on camera. Who were you with?”

Sarah looked like she might be sick. “I-I wasn’t—”

Suddenly, Darren leaned forward, his rage palpable as he slammed his hands against the top of the table. “Enough!” he ground out. “Who. Were. You. With?”

There was a long, tense silence as Sarah and Darren stared at one another. Everyone else remained as still as statues, our eyes wide. I couldn’t imagine why Sarah would do something like this; it seemed low, even for her.

Finally, with a shaky finger, she pointed at Arthur.

Arthur shot to his feet, his chin wobbling as he tried to defend himself. But Darren wasn’t hearing any of it.

“Both of you,” Darren growled, snapping his fingers at Sarah and Arthur. “My office. Now.”

The air felt like it had been sucked out of the room as we all watched Sarah and Arthur slowly rise from their seats and follow Darren out of the conference room, up the stairs to the loft, and into his office.

Once they were out of view, we all crowded around the furthest cubicle, craning our necks to get a look.

Through Darren’s office window, I could see him gesturing angrily in his office, his face twisted with rage. I had never seen him like this before—this intense, this terrifying.

My hand drifted toward my calf, where the wound throbbed beneath my skirt. I couldn’t stop thinking about the way Darren had carried me to the medical tent yesterday, the fierce protectiveness in his eyes, the way he refused to let me brush it off.

And now… now this. The rage on my behalf, the fury that he didn’t seem keen on controlling anymore.

It made something stir inside of me, although I wasn’t entirely sure what it was or why.

Suddenly, the office door burst open, and Sarah came running out, mascara streaking down her face in dark lines. As she passed by the group, she shouldered me hard in passing, nearly sending me sprawling into Lily.

“Whoa!” Lily’s arm shot out and caught me just before I could fall. “Are you okay?”

“Shit,” Brandon huffed, running a hand through his hair. “Crazy bitch…”

Before I could respond, Arthur emerged from Darren’s office next. His face was ashen. He didn’t say a word as he slowly walked to his desk, head hanging, and began quietly gathering his things into a cardboard box.

“Holy shit,” Melissa breathed beside me, her eyes wide. “Alpha Darren really… fired Arthur?” She didn’t even try to hide the use of the word ‘Alpha’, but I pretended not to notice.

My eyes drifted upward, toward Darren’s office. Through the window, I could see him standing there, his shoulders tense and his eyes hard as he stared out over the office floor.