While waiting for Kelsey, I accomplished everything on my list, plus I had also cooked her favorite dinner: chicken marsala. I had figured that I should keep moving and working on things to keep my mind busy for now, at least until I had time to be alone and process everything. Deep down, I wondered if this was me trying to stay in denial of what had happened.

I was just putting the final touches on my culinary masterpiece when I heard the front door open and close. Kelsey was home, her heels clicked down the hallway as she headed to the kitchen.

“Anna, OMG, that smells divine.” Kelsey came into the kitchen, striding along in her super high heels and cute little dress. Kelsey was blonde like me, but that’s where the similarities ended. Where I was tall, she was petite. She was a size 0 to my size 8. She was heart stoppingly gorgeous, always perfectly made up and dressed up; I was the girl in jeans and a messy ponytail.

Being around her always made me even more self-conscious about myself. I was usually uncomfortable with my height being 5’10,” but towering over her made it even worse. I was tall even in grade school – taller than all the boys, so they had taken to calling me a “gorilla” or “big bird,” and that’s how I have thought of myself ever since. A big, hulking gorilla.

I had confided that in Kelsey once after we had quite a few drinks, and she looked at me in surprise before looking me up and down. “I guess I have always wanted to be taller.” She paused and then looked again. “But I wouldn’t want everything to be proportionally bigger, you know, like, I would still want to have slim thighs and everything.” That had not make me feel better about myself.

I did yoga and ran daily, so I was fit and in shape, but I was more curvy than slender. On my good days, I tried to reassure myself by saying I was more Kate Upton than Kate Moss. When Kate Upton had first started out, everyone told her she was too fat to be in the business, but look at her now. On my bad days, I couldn’t even convince myself of that.

Kelsey smiled and happily got a couple of plates out of her cupboard. “Kitchen or dining room?”

“Actually, Kels, I can’t stay.”

Kelsey pouted her perfect lips. “Annnaaaaa, I need you to catch me up on everything since I’ve been gone.”

I rolled my eyes. “The puppies and I ate, went on walks, and slept. Consider yourself caught up.”

“Oh, fine. What I wanted to say was that I want to tell you all about my weekend. I have pics!” She excitedly slid into one of the counter stools and scrolled through her phone. “Gregor is just so amazing,” she gushed. “I can’t believe I just spent the weekend on his yacht.”

I was happy for Kelsey, but I really could not keep the fake smile plastered on my face for much longer; I was barely holding myself together. I needed to get out of here and be alone.

“Kels, I really gotta go,” I stated as I picked up my bag. “Enjoy the dinner, the puppies are sound asleep in their kennel.” She looked surprised for a second, then frowned.

She cocked her head at me and tapped her fingers on the counter, setting down her phone.

Her eyes narrowed. “C’mon Anna, I know you don’t have anywhere to be. It’s not like you have a social life outside of hanging around me and my friends.” She stood up and came towards me. “Why are you being so selfish right now when I told you I want to talk to you?” she asked callously.

And this was mean Kelsey. Mean Kelsey made appearances regularly when she didn’t get her way, but as her trusty sidekick, I was usually not on the receiving end of her bitchiness.

I felt a flash of irritation at her reaction to me wanting to leave. I’m being selfish? I was not in the mood for a confrontation tonight, and I could not handle talking about Evelyn right now. Kelsey’s strong points did not include being emotionally supportive. I didn’t know what else to do, so I just sighed and stepped around her. “Bye, Kels.”

“Fine, you can just forget about the party on Friday.” The intensity of her viciousness stopped me mid-stride. I looked back at her for a second to see pure rage on her face. She picked up the pan of chicken marsala, stepped over to the trash can and dumped it. She looked me in the eyes the entire time. Hurt bubbled up inside me, and a part of me felt betrayed. After all that happened earlier today, my only friend had turned against me.

I pushed away the feeling; this was just how she reacted when she felt she had been slighted. About a year ago, I canceled my plans with her to go out on a date with a guy I had a crush on. I was so excited, as I almost never date, usually because when I am standing next to Kelsey, I am completely invisible to men, but also because of the trust issues I had.

It was difficult for me to open up and trust this guy enough to say yes to a date. Kelsey was not at all impressed that I had forced myself to step out of my comfort zone and try to live life like a normal twenty-something-year-old woman.

Not only was Kelsey not happy for me, she was very vocal about me ‘abandoning’ her for some guy who didn’t even like me. She then made a point to sleep with the guy a few days later. I guess she proved her point that he didn’t really like me after all.

I was devastated at the time. I had reached out to someone and attempted to leave my safe bubble of isolation, and it had ended in disaster. But afterwards, I figured I should be grateful to Kelsey. I mean, she saved me from dating that guy and getting attached to him. If I had fallen for him and then had my heart broken, things could have been much more difficult for me.

I had not told Evelyn the whole story, but I did tell her I went on a date and would not be seeing the guy again. She looked sad but said, “It’s for the best. You really shouldn’t be going out and meeting strange men. What if you ran into another wolf?”

She was right, of course. I scolded myself for believing I could pretend to be a normal girl and resigned myself to being single for life.

I hunched my shoulders forward as I passed through Kelsey’s front door and quietly closed it behind me. I tried my best to clear my mind on the drive home, but I was a mess of emotions. I felt guilty about leaving Kelsey; she might react in a harsh manner, but deep down it was just because she was hurt. She had not had the greatest childhood either, but her defense mechanism was going on the offensive before anyone had the chance to hurt her.

Kelsey and I had become friends our freshman year in college. We had been randomly placed together as roommates and had bonded quickly even though our personalities were opposites. I was quiet, shy, and awkward. Kelsey was outgoing, fun, and outspoken. I liked to stay in and study, she liked to go out and party. I helped make her a little more responsible, and she helped make me a little more adventurous. We had struggled on occasion because we communicated differently and sometimes things didn’t quite translate. That was why I wasn’t too worried about tonight; we would work things out like we always did.

As it was not yet dark by the time I got home, I figured I would go for a run and blow off some steam so I would be calmer for tonight’s secret mission. I had thought about staying in Seaside, as it was a 45 min drive home and then another 45min back, but I realized that I probably needed dark clothes to sneak into the house unseen. The drive helped to keep me focused on something other than my volatile emotions that swirled just below the surface.

After my run, I showered and put my pale blond hair into a tight bun so none of the strands could escape. I headed to my closet to evaluate if any of the contents would be suitable for a nighttime reconnaissance mission. Black yoga pants were a yes; stretchy would help me move fast and comfortably.

I looked at the rest of my selection of black in disappointment. A black tank top would work, but it would leave too much of my pale skin exposed. A black dress was also a no, for obvious reasons. My only black blouse was a no. I did have a black hoodie, but it had bright graphics, and with my luck they would glow in the dark.

I pulled on the yoga pants and black tank and decided to stop at the store for a black hoodie and hat. A black ski mask would scream burglar, so if anyone did stop me, I would have absolutely no reasonable explanation. Maybe I could find a black ball cap? I pulled on some sneakers so I could use the “out late for a run on the beach” excuse if I were stopped.

After a successful stop at the store for my black clothing items, I slowly drove past Evelyn’s house to see if the coast was clear. Unfortunately, I saw the Peterson’s light still on; it looked like they were all in the living room with a direct line of sight to Evelyn’s house. I sighed; I would have to have to wait for them to go to bed first before I could do any late-night snooping.

I drove around the block slowly while I considered my options. In all honesty, my plan was highly dependent on me being able to shift into a wolf, quickly get the scents I needed, investigate what I could, then shift back and leave. Now that I was here for it, I was doubtful about my ability to carry out this plan.

Could I sneak into the house unseen? Yes. Could I change in to a wolf so I could investigate? Yes. Could I quickly get the scents and conduct a short investigation before changing back into a human and sneaking back out of the house unseen? Hmmm, probably not.

I liked to think that I had control over my wolf, and in a way I do. I don’t shift accidentally, but it is difficult for me to control my wolf once I let her out. Once I change into my wolf tonight, she is going to want to run free and get out all her pent-up energy before she does anything that human-me wants her to do.

And I was not sure I could convince her to change back into a human quickly. That is going to be a very difficult challenge. I was kind of banking on the extreme importance of the mission to hold her to task, but I wasn’t quite sure I could do it.

There was a state park not too far from where I was now. I had initially identified the park as a possible place to let my wolf out when I first moved here but had crossed it off the list when I realized how close the nearby campground was. I was worried about campers going on late night explorations and running into my wolf. I wasn’t worried about my wolf hurting anyone, but I did worry about being spotted and making it on the news.

The last thing I need is a bunch of humans spotting a “wolf” in Virginia and having that reach the ears of any of the wolf packs out there. I could not have any of them sniffing around here. Evelyn had told me that this area is generally one of the places considered to be safe for lone wolves. There aren’t any packs here; she had thought it was because of the strong military presence. Port Idris has one of the largest Navy bases in the country. The area also has a large Navy airfield, Army and Marine bases, plus it had the largest military hospital in the country.

I had taken advantage of the lack of wolves here and gone to college at the Northern Peninsula School of Pharmacy. I had been accepted into the pharmacy doctorate program after finishing all the requirements for a bachelor’s degree in three years of undergrad studies.

After graduation, I had accepted a job at the military hospital. I had thought that it would be doubly safe for me there. I would be safe from the pack wolves that avoided this area because of its no-man’s-land status, and I would be safe from any wandering wolves because they would want to stay away from anything too controlled by the government and the military.

I regretted not being able to join the military, but as a civilian pharmacist in a military hospital, I had the same daily pharmacist responsibilities as the military pharmacists but without the collaterals, politics, and deployments. Perhaps most importantly of all, I did not have to submit to any medical tests. I don’t know if any of those tests would reveal my genetic abnormalities, but I did not want to take the chance.

Evelyn had approved of my plan and followed me to the general area. She moved to the beach, saying that she always wanted to live near the ocean. I lived near school, and then near work after I graduated. I was close, but not so close that Evelyn was worried about wolves finding me if they found her.

I drove to the state park and headed through the entrance. It was off-season, so the gates were left open all day and night. There were no other cars in the parking lot, so it looked like I was going to be alone in the park tonight. I got out of the car and listened with every sense I had. It looked like there were no humans around. Just to be safe, I decided to head into the woods and change there. I could hide my clothes somewhere and come back for them later.

As I got further into the woods, my excitement started to rise. That was my wolf; I could feel her anticipation and impatience to run free through the woods. I was glad I decided to do this beforehand; there is no way she would have agreed to a quick back and forth switch tonight.

I found a good spot, hidden from view of any of the trails. The cool autumn breeze caressed my bare skin as I looked around for a good hiding spot for my shoes and clothes. I decided to reach up to a little nook between a couple of tree branches covered in their fall leaves. I wedged my things in there, making sure they wouldn’t fall and get trampled by random woodland creatures. I always keep a spare change of clothes in the car just in case, but I would rather not walk naked back to the car in case I did meet up with another human on the trail.

Clothes hidden, I was finally free to change. I let go of myself and surrendered to the change as my wolf burst forth. I shook out my pure white coat and stretched out my legs. There were acres of land here that were just waiting to be explored, so I shot off in a run.

I felt the wind rush past me as I bounded through the woods. Graceful and sure, my wolf practically flew over the terrain. The exhilaration of pure freedom took hold of me, and I forgot about everything but the pure joy of running. Miles passed, and I came to a river. I gently lapped at the water, eying my surroundings as I got my drink. During my run, I had not smelled evidence of anything larger than a raccoon, but my wolf was always alert for danger.

I hesitated, indecisive about what I wanted to do next. I could head back to see if the coast was clear for me to break into Evelyn’s house, but my wolf was in control and I could feel her desire to keep going and explore more of this new territory. Another hour or so wouldn’t hurt, I thought to myself. I had all night to do this, and I needed my wolf calm and focused anyway.

Decision made, I eyed the river ahead of me. I was eager to see what was on the other side. The river didn’t look deep, but the best option to cross was the path of rocks sticking partly out of the water. I could hop from rock to rock without ever touching the water.

I leapt onto the first rock and evaluated my chances of crossing the river successfully this way. The rest of the way seemed safe, so I bounced over to the next rock. I crossed the river this way, bouncing from rock to rock. A couple of the rocks were wobbly or slippery, and my paws got a little wet, but I was able to cross quickly.

The forest was denser on this side of the river, and the well-worn trails that led me through the park on the other side were absent here. There were fewer human scents on this side and more evidence of wildlife here. I caught onto the scent trail of a deer and followed it for a while out of curiosity. I eventually was bored with that and just played in the forest for a while.

 A few miles away from the river, my nose caught the scent of something new. I was curious, because it was not often that I found something that I had not smelled before.

Interest piqued, I followed the scent. It was definitely mammal, and probably large, judging by the size of the markings left. My wolf hesitated for a second. It seemed like something had marked their territory, and probably recently, judging by the strength of the scent.

My interest and curiosity in something new warred against my strong sense of self-preservation and the need to avoid danger. I had just decided to turn back out of caution when I heard the snap of a stick about forty feet to my left, behind some trees. I froze immediately and flicked my ears forward; straining to hear any other sounds that would give me a clue as to what was out there.

I could not tell what it was, or if there was anything over there at all. The breeze was heading the wrong way, it carried my scent over to where the mysterious sound had come from but did not bring me any clues as to what was over there. My only option in the face of possible danger was to run. I am a bright white wolf, and when under a full moon and a sky bright with stars, there is no chance of hiding for me, especially if there was something out there that had my scent.

I quickly turned away from where I heard the sound and ran full speed back in a roundabout way to the river in the hopes of throwing whatever it was off my trail. I thought I heard some rustling of leaves at first, but the rest of the way back to the river was quiet. No sounds, no scents. Could I have imagined it?

I slowed as I got back to the river and looked for my stone path that I had taken before. Just a little further down the bank, and I would be back on my way back to the car. As I got closer to the start of my rock path, there was movement ahead of me. I froze and looked closer, listening.

Suddenly, I saw the glint of eyes. To my horror, a very large wolf rose from the ground, where he had been crouched in hiding. This wolf was definitely male, and at least twice my size.

He watched me. I watched him. Neither of us moved. He must have followed my scent back this way in the hopes of cutting me off, assuming I was headed back the same way I came. If I were in my human form I would have panicked, but my wolf evaluated the situation clinically. Panicking would not increase my chances of surviving this.

I decided my best option was to jump into the cold river. I could ride the current down a bit and emerge on the other side. He could follow, but I figure my chances of getting away via water were better than here on the ground. I might get lucky and be facing off with a non-swimming wolf.

I crouched down, intending to gather momentum for a quick sprint and jump into the water when I heard rustling behind me. Backing up to the side and careful to keep the giant wolf in view, I quickly glanced over to evaluate a potential new threat.

My heart stopped and sunk down into my chest; there was another giant wolf creeping up from behind me. That’s why the first wolf was just patiently watching me; he was waiting for his friend to get into place behind me. The first wolf let out a loud howl, and I panicked; that was the sound of a wolf alerting his pack of prey. Desperation hit me, so I leapt up and sprinted for the water.

I heard panting behind me as I leapt into the water, careful to avoid hitting any rocks. I went into the freezing cold water with a splash and struggled to get my nose to the surface so I could get a breath. After struggling for what seemed like an eternity, I finally broke the surface of the water and looked around as I frantically panted for air.

The current was not that strong, and I wasn’t too far from where I had jumped. One of the wolves was pacing back and forth where I had jumped, and I felt a moment of triumph. It looked like I was right and the wolf did not want to jump in after me.

I was paddling to the other bank of the river when I caught sight of the first giant wolf. He had headed right for my rock path and was hopping from rock to rock to cross the river, just like I had my first time. His heavier weight made the crossing much more difficult for him, and the next wobbly rock he landed on careened off the pile it was precariously balanced on and slid into the river, taking the wolf with it. This destabilized the rock pile, and a couple larger rocks fell into his direction.

I was thankful for the distraction and climbed up the embankment to get out of the water. I did not even stop to shake my coat out as I ran back through the woods. I was heading directly to my car, planning to just leave my clothes behind when I realized that’s where my car keys were. I changed direction and headed for my hiding place.

I have never run so fast in my life. I ran as if those wolves were panting at my hindquarters. I did not hear or smell them behind me, but that did not make me feel any safer. I finally made it back to my clothes. I looked around and extended all of my senses; it seemed like I had a clear lead now, so I changed into my human form. I slipped my shoes on and gathered the rest of my clothes in a pile that I hugged close to my body. Then I ran naked through the woods.

I probably sacrificed some speed in my human form, but I didn’t want to leave my clothes behind with my human scent on them. I was hoping that my human scent would blend in with all the other human scents here on the trail and they wouldn’t be able to track me down. This was probably wishful thinking, but it got me back to my car.

I jumped in the car and backed up out of the space. I wanted to tear out of here like a bat out of hell but forced myself to stick to the speed limit. The last thing I wanted right now was to attract attention, considering that I was completely naked.

I stopped at the exit of the park and quickly slipped my shirt on. At least the people in passing cars wouldn’t be able to see that l was naked at a glance. I was dripping water and mud all over my car, but that was the least of my worries right now. I was much more concerned with any wolves that might be on my trail.

I pulled out carefully onto the roadway and merged into a line of other cars. Somehow, I had made it out of the forest unscathed. I don’t know if luck was on my side or if Evelyn was now an angel watching over me, but I should be dead right now. There is no way I should have been able to escape those much larger wolves.

I pulled into the parking lot of a Burger King and parked in a shadowed parking spot where no one would be able to see that I was using it to get dressed. I hunched down in the seat and kept watch for anyone who might be headed my way as I wiped off the mud I could and pulled on my clothes.

Once I was dressed, I banged my head against the steering wheel. How could I be so stupid?! In my arrogance, I just assumed I would recognize another wolf’s smell instinctively. I had just assumed it would smell like me. I banged my head again a few times. I have never actually smelled another wolf before! Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

I groaned to myself. What are the chances that Evelyn just happened to die a mysterious death and then I just happened to run into two wolves later that night? There was a very good chance those wolves were the murderers.

I have never felt so helpless. My great plan was to go and sniff out the perpetrators, but I had not thought about what I was going to do after I identified them. I’m sure that I now know who they are, but what am I going to do about it? I know I can’t win in a fight; one of those wolves could easily crush me, and it was likely that there was a whole pack of them. I couldn’t let the police in on my suspicions. What would I tell them?

I pondered what I should do next in an attempt to push away my helpless and depressing thoughts. I could go to Evelyn’s to carry out my original plan. But with those wolves so close and on the hunt, it would be dangerous to stay in the area for even a moment longer.

I kept thinking it through. If I didn’t go now, I could lose my chance to inspect the crime scene forever. I didn’t know when the crime scene was going to be cleaned up, and I couldn’t live the rest of my life knowing that I could have identified the killers but chose not to.

I groaned again. I already knew that going back to Evelyn’s house was the wrong decision as far as my safety was concerned. But I also knew that I already made the decision to disregard my safety and go back to Evelyn’s house to investigate.

I headed back in that direction to see if the coast was clear yet. The lights in every house on the street were off as I drove towards Evelyn’s house. The street was completely dark and quiet, so I decided to get this over with quickly.

I parked near the end of the street, where there was an empty lot and no streetlight to put me under a spotlight. I decided to go the sneaky way and creep along the back edge of the lots, where there is a border of trees until I could reach Evelyn’s back yard. I quickly sprinted from the shadows and up to her back door to try and get in unseen.

I still had a key, and I held my breath that the police didn’t change or add additional locks to the door to keep people like me out. There was a sign on the back door stating that this was a secured crime scene, but I ignored it. The lock clicked open, and I slowly twisted the door handle, not sure of what I am going to see when the door opened.

The back door opened into the kitchen, and I didn’t see anything unusual. Some of Evelyn’s stuff was out of place, but I was guessing that was from the police investigators who had been here earlier today.

I felt emotions rise in me when I caught sight of her cookie jar. She had a cute little cookie jar sitting on the kitchen counter that she had always kept stocked for me when I came over. She would always try to make me guess what it was that she had hidden in there. I felt the tears coming on, so I quickly pulled myself together, determined to stay on task.

Evelyn had always been careful not to leave anything with my name or information in her house, just in case. I’ve never been in Evelyn’s house while in wolf form before, but I wasn’t sure if other wolves would be able to recognize the wolf underneath my human scent that was all over the house from my many visits.

Just like I had never met another wolf to be able to recognize the scent, I have also never met another wolf in their human form to compare the two scents. I sighed; I was just now realizing all the hurdles I was going to face when I tried to track down the wolves who were responsible for this.

I finished creeping through the downstairs and still had not found anything unusual other than the signs of the police presence from earlier today. I slowly headed to the stairs. I knew I should hurry, but I just couldn’t make myself go up there.

I took a deep breath and slowly went up the first step. I needed to just pull off the Band-Aid and stop being so scared of what I was going to find up there.  Quickly and quietly, I ran up the stairs and stopped at the entrance to Evelyn’s room. I already knew that this is where the horrible events must have happened by process of elimination.

I hesitated at the top of the stairs; someone had closed her door. It was probably the police, acting out of respect for the dead. Another wave of emotion hit me as I realized that I had just admitted to myself that Evelyn was one of the dead. I pushed away those thoughts so I could focus on the task at hand.

I turned the handle to her bedroom door and let the door swing open slowly. I knew the scene was going to be bad, but I still wasn’t prepared for what I found. Blood stains were everywhere, the room was a mess. My eyes took in the scene, and vomit started to rise in the back of my throat. I barely made it down the hall in time to the toilet in the guest bathroom.

I started to clean up when I was sure I was done and looked in the mirror as I wiped my face. My green eyes looked hollow and red from grief. As I stared at myself in the mirror, I knew that I was just putting off the inevitable. I needed to go back in there and complete what I had come here to do.

I had already opened her door and looked in the bedroom so my human self was no longer needed. Slowly, I undressed and stood there naked, hesitating on what I needed to do. I silently pleaded with my wolf, Please just behave and do what we need to do.

I let go of my human self and felt the change come over me. It was almost a relief to be back in my wolf form.

My emotions are always different when I am in my wolf form. Some of my emotions are muted, and others are more vibrant. Changing into my wolf now numbed the grief, the helplessness, and the guilt. But I also felt the need for vengeance more strongly.

I trotted back into the bedroom and gently placed a paw on the carpet. The blood was no longer wet, so I was able to make my way over to the ruined bed. The scene didn’t affect my emotions as much now that I was in my wolf form, and I was able to look at the scene more clinically and critically.

I did what I came to do and smelled carefully around, trying to identify and catalogue all of the different scents. I could identify the scent of wolves, now that I knew how to recognize the scent. I could also pick up on the scents of humans that had been in here.

I couldn’t tell if all the human scents I was getting were from the police that were here earlier today or if there may have been wolves here in human form at some point. All I could do right now was catalogue the scents and save my detective work for later.

Done with my examination of the bedroom, I headed back downstairs to see if there was anything I may have missed while I was in human form. I could smell all the same scents with the addition of two more wolves. That makes a total of 4 wolves here that night, assuming none of the wolves were in human form. Why would 2 wolves stay downstairs during the carnage? As lookouts?

Done with my examination, I trotted back to the bathroom, quickly changed back into human, and got dressed. I was more than ready to get out of here. I ran down the stairs and to the back door.

I peered outside of the door to make sure it was safe for me to run for the wooded part of the back yard. It was, so I sprinted to the tree line and slowly crept back through the shadows to the empty lot. I made it to the back of the lot just in time for a car to pull up to Evelyn’s house.

I crouched down to watch. Two men got out of the car and looked around the neighborhood. It looked like they were also smelling the air. Could they be wolves? How are they using their wolf senses while in human form?

I couldn’t see them in detail, but they had the same idea about dressing in black that I had. They just looked like two large shadows crossing the front yard.

They strode confidently up to the front door, and one of the men crouched down with the second man keeping an eye on the street. Were they picking the lock and keeping watch?

My eyes narrowed. If these are two of the wolf murderers, why are they here? Did they forget something while they were on their murder spree? They must realize that the police would have taken anything of interest.

I stayed crouched down and watched the front door for signs of them coming back out. I didn’t see any movement in the house that would have given me a clue as to what they were doing in there. It was almost thirty minutes before they came back out and headed to their SUV. I was relieved to see that they were finally leaving, but one man hesitated before getting in the driver’s side door. He glanced back at my car parked in front of the empty lot.

My heart started to pound. My car had caught his interest, probably because it was weird to have a car parked here in front of an empty lot in the off season. During peak season, all the streets are packed with cars from the tourists, but in the fall and winter months it is just the residents that park here.

They both got back into the car, and I let out a deep breath, thinking that I was safe. Then their SUV started to back up towards my car instead of driving off down the road. I made sure that I was well hidden here in the woods as I watched their car stop right next to mine.

I started to count the seconds. This one moment felt like it was lasting an eternity. What are they doing? Finally, before I was about to explode from the tension, the car quickly drove away. I waited for another ten minutes before I decided to risk running over to my car.

I made it back to my car and started the drive home. Today had been insane. I should be exhausted, but I couldn’t shut my brain off. All the emotions and thoughts of the day were still churning around in my head, nothing making sense. When I finally got home and made it to my bed, I just lay there and stared at the ceiling.

A part of me didn’t want to go to sleep, because I knew when I woke up it was going to be my first day without Evelyn here on this Earth. The emptiness of the world hit me, and I realized that I now have no one. I felt selfish for thinking like that. I shouldn’t be thinking about how I was suffering. Evelyn was the one who was horribly murdered. Evelyn was the one who suffered.

Guilt hit me. Evelyn had asked me to do one thing: run. Instead of doing as she asked, I had put myself in more danger by exposing myself to multiple wolves in the woods through carelessness. I had also searched her house and left my wolf scent all over the house in addition to my human scent. If those men who broke into Evelyn’s house tonight were wolves, they definitely had my scent now. And they saw my car. If they were the criminal masterminds that I suspected them to be, it wouldn’t be difficult for them to track me down.

My heart pounded. What are the chances that they would put it all together? Were those men the wolves that had chased me from the forest? Or were they another two wolves that made up the four wolves in Evelyn’s house that night? If they were connected, what were the chances they could tie my wolf to an oddly parked car in the neighborhood?

It might seem like I was just being paranoid, but deep down I had the feeling that they knew who I was and were coming for me. Evelyn taught me to always trust my instincts, my gut.

It was only an hour before my alarm was about to go off, and there was no way I was going to be able to sleep now, so I just got up. I sat on my couch and just stared into space, unsure of what to do next.

I decided that leaving my house was probably my best option. If the mysterious burglars ran my plates, they already have my address. I packed up a bag, thinking that I should stay somewhere else tonight after work. I felt fairly confident that I would be safe at work, as I worked in a hospital on a military base with a ton of security.

According to Evelyn, wolves avoided any contact with the police or the government, and they definitely wouldn’t be able to join the military. That means I should be safe on a military base.

I got to work early and just sat in my car for a moment before I could talk myself into going in. People were going to notice something was wrong with me. I’m usually the annoyingly peppy and positive person at work, but right now I doubted I could even pretend to be my usual self.

Confiding in my co-workers was not an option. I was not comfortable talking to other people about my emotions; I preferred to keep everything to myself and only present my happy face to the world. I decided to just tell people that I was sick. I would try to do my work quietly and under the radar.

I walked in and got dressed in my scrubs like a zombie. Just walking to the pharmacists’ table resulted in several people asking if I was okay. I was trying to act like myself, but I am sure that the smile I pasted on my face did not look genuine, and I was missing my usual happy glow.

On a normal day, I would make sure to say good morning to everyone, making the rounds through the pharmacy. Today I just don’t have it in me, I am barely holding in my grief. If people start being too nice to me, it might all come spilling out.

I sat down at one of the pharmacists’ desks and organized all my references around me as my computer started up. I pulled up my pager list and Lexi comp before logging on to the hospital system to see what was in our work queue for today. I figured that work would be a good distraction right now.

I tried to stay focused on things like renal dosing and whether the patient’s antibiotic regimen was going to cover the offending bacteria that grew in their blood and wound cultures. I buried myself in my work and tried to completely ignore all the events in the past 24 hrs.

Somehow, I made it through the first 5 hours and 35 min without any incident. Once I announced I was sick, everyone decided to stay away in case I was contagious. I was given all the desk work so I wouldn’t risk bringing any of my contagions out to the patients. This worked well for me, as it meant I did not have to talk to anyone and could hide at my desk.

When it was finally my turn for lunch, I decided to go to the food court. It’s usually the most crowded place on base for lunch, but I found it comforting to be lost in a crowd. I claimed one of the two-person tables for myself and pulled out a protein bar.

I still had not been able to make myself eat since breakfast yesterday, but I knew that I needed to. Shifting burned a lot of energy in the form of calories. I needed to eat more than the typical human female, and I had shifted several times yesterday. Technically, I should be starving and packing in the calories. But right now, the thought of food just made me feel nauseous.

I took a sip of my water, sighed, and opened my protein bar. I was just about to take my first bite when a man slid into the chair opposite mine.

“Hi.” He smiled, and his blue eyes sparkled with humor when I just stared at him.

I looked around the food court; there were plenty of empty tables. I looked back at him. He was definitely speaking to me; there was no one else at my table.

“Hi?” I replied hesitantly, confused about what he is doing here right now.

“I thought this would be easier. In the reports, your co-workers said you are usually the friendliest person in the department.” He smiled again, he had a dazzling smile and I struggled to keep my wits about me.

“Oh, are you from security?” I asked, suddenly realizing how weird I must seem to him with all the blank staring I have been doing. It’s not unusual for security to be constantly checking up on people. Everyone here has a security clearance, and with all the security breaches in the news lately, they have been under pressure to crack down on people with high risk behaviors holding security clearance.

“Not exactly,” he replied.

“So, what reports are you reading?” I asked suspiciously. Please do not tell me I was part of some weird security drill where he was trying to see if I would give up “secured” info. I did not have the time or patience for this today. I also did not want to look unbalanced or temperamental in front of him, so I fought the urge to scowl at him until he went away.

Apparently, my attempt failed, because his grin faded a little. “OK, can we start over?”

“Um, sure?”

He stood up and walked a couple of steps away. I was surprised at how tall he was; he must have been around six and a half feet tall. He was also quite muscular, and I blushed a little as I admired the view of him walking away. He quickly came back and sat again. I was still just staring at him in disbelief, hoping he did not just catch me checking him out.

He flashed another grin at me, seemingly oblivious to my staring.  “Hi, I’m Cody. Can I have lunch with you?”

“Yes?” I felt incredibly awkward right now, but since I had already embarrassed myself by staring at him, I figured a couple more seconds of it wouldn’t hurt. He had light brown hair; it was little longer than allowed in the military, so he must be a civilian. He was dressed in civilian clothes and had a tattoo on his very well-muscled arm peeking out of the bottom of the sleeve of his black T-shirt.

“I’m Anna,” I added shyly.

He was quite good looking and had a great smile, which explained how easily he invited himself to my table. He was probably used to girls fighting over who would eat lunch with him. I didn’t receive male attention here. Ever.

I wear hospital scrubs a couple sizes too big so that the pants would be long enough to cover my ankles. There are only 6 unisex sizes to choose from, and ‘tall’ is not one of them.

If wearing baggy scrubs that didn’t fit correctly wasn’t bad enough, I also don’t wear makeup, and my hair is always pulled tightly into a bun at the nape of my neck. There are strict requirements for anyone who needs to go into the clean room to work on TPNs and IV medications, and they don’t mesh well with ‘looking pretty’.

It was also a requirement for me to wear a white coat over my scrubs anytime I left the pharmacy. The coat was also too big for me so that it could fit over the giant scrubs. I’m sure the outfit made me look even larger than I was.

In comparison to me, the food court was full of nurses and female corpsman in tight scrubs who looked like they were on the prowl for a date with their hair and makeup on point. It made no sense that this guy would walk past all of them to sit with me. He must have an ulterior motive.

I glanced at the empty table in front of him suspiciously. “Where’s your lunch?”

My suspicion didn’t seem to faze him at all, as he just chuckled. “I didn’t bring one today. I guess what I should have said was ‘Can I sit with you while you eat your lunch?’”

I just looked at him thoughtfully. He seemed nice enough. Yeah, this was a weird situation, but I was a weird girl.

I sighed and reached into my bag to pull out a second protein bar. I slid it slowly over the table to him, but his eyes stayed on me. His smile brightened by a couple watts, and he picked up the bar to tear open the wrapper. “Thanks!” he said enthusiastically, biting into the bar.

I mumbled something incoherent in reply and looked back down at my bar. He finished the bar in four bites and started to eye my water as he chewed. I reached back into my bag and sighed again as I passed him my afternoon water bottle. Yes, I also needed to drink a ton of water to go with all the food, and I liked to be prepared.

He gave me a smile and thanked me before opening up the water and taking a drink.

“So, what is it that you do here?” I asked, trying to keep a frown off my face.

“Oh, I’m just here for an appointment” he told me casually. I leaned back in my chair a little. If he had an appointment here at the hospital, he must be active duty, a dependent, or retired military. He was too old to be a child dependent, too young to be retired military, so that left spouse? I glanced down at his hands quickly, but I didn’t see a ring.

“Are you active duty?” I asked innocently.

He chuckled softly and slid a hand through his hair. “Nope, sorry to disappoint, but I can’t offer you Tricare or BAH.”

I laughed despite myself. A second later, the small smile that was starting immediately dropped off my face when reality hit. What was I doing here? I was sitting here flirting with a random stranger when I had all the other drama going on in my life? I needed to pull myself together and stay on task.

He seemed to sense my shift in mood as he put a more serious look on his face. “Looks like I owe you lunch one day. What are you doing tomorrow?”

And I was back to staring in disbelief. I didn’t know if it was the lack of sleep or the total lack of understanding of why this good looking guy I had never met before was asking me to eat lunch with him for a second day in a row. All I had done so far was stare at him and awkwardly mumble useless sentences. My brain was not functioning at all. I was going to blame this entire situation on lack of sleep.

“I’m working tomorrow. Here,” I stated hesitantly.

“So, you’re going to have lunch here?” he asked persistently.

“Yes, but I -”

“Excellent, I will see you tomorrow.” He stood up, gave me another grin and a wave and then sauntered off before I could gather my thought enough to be able to state my objections. I didn’t even get a chance to ask him why he would be reading reports on me if he was just here for an appointment. What reports?

I think that this had been the strangest interaction of my life. I didn’t expect to see him again, but I did think that he was either the loser of a bet or the recipient of a dare. I quickly dismissed all thoughts of the awkward encounter with Cody when I started thinking about my wolf problem again. All too soon, lunch was over and it was time to go back to work.