by Alexis Davie
Emma pretended not to hear her, waving and putting the Kia Rio in gear. She didn’t want to admit that she also had an odd, unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach.
* * *
“I fold,” Max grumbled, tossing his hand onto the table and scowling at the other players. “You guys cheat.”
The group snorted in unison, Val whipping a Cheeto at his head.
“You just suck,” his best friend replied, laughing. “You can’t blame us for your inadequacies.”
Max grinned wickedly, his dark eyes gleaming. “Your mom finds me highly adequate,” he quipped, and his words were met with groans.
“Seriously?” Val moaned, shaking his head. “You’re going with ‘yo mama’ insults?” Max laughed and rose, stretching.
“It’s the best I got right now,” he said, suppressing a yawn.
“Are you leaving?” Nate asked.
“I’m on early shift starting tomorrow,” Max answered with a nod of his head. “And there are two newbies starting.”
The men made a commiserating noise.
“Sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you,” Nate said. “Hopefully you’ll have better luck with them than you do in poker.”
His friends laughed, and Max scowled at them. He was the worst player at their weekly game, but it didn’t stop him from joining the others every Friday night when he wasn’t on shift.
I may as well just empty out my wallet when I walk in and watch the football game while they play, Max thought wryly. I suck at cards.
But it was about the comradery they shared, not the winnings.
Max was the head nurse at Scarlet Oak General, a highly stressful job that did not allow him a lot of time to unwind. He was regarded as a rigid boss, and no one really knew about his humorous side, except for his close friends—something he prided himself on. There was no reason for his subordinates to know he was not the no-nonsense man he portrayed himself to be at work.
If you allow strangers to get too close, they have the upper hand, he often thought. You’ve already made that mistake. You’re not going to let it happen again.
“Are you going or are you going to stare lovingly at me all night?” Val asked, eyeing him.
Max blinked, not realizing he had lapsed into a daze. “I’m sorry. You’re just so beautiful.”
The guys groaned again, and a parade of chips flew at him from all directions as he howled and grabbed his jacket.
“Good luck tomorrow!” Nate yelled as he turned to leave. “Hope the newbies are hot!”
“Not likely,” Max sighed. “When was the last time we got a hottie at General?”
An uncomfortable silence followed his question, and Max wished he could take the words back. They were all thinking about Charlotte, but of course no one dared to bring up her name. The subject was still off-limits.
“Night!” Max called with false cheerfulness, scurrying from Nate’s basement into the crisp October air.
The smell of ozone filled his nostrils, and as he started down Charleston Avenue toward Broadway on foot, the familiar sense of melancholy filled him. It wasn’t anything specific. It simply felt like autumn always brought a barrage of emotions along with it.
Has Charlotte been gone for a year now? he thought, his brow knitting. It seems like much less time than that.
Turning onto Broadway, Max made his way through the nearly deserted streets of Scarlet Oak, his eyes training upward to glance at the sky. It was only a quarter moon, but Max felt a familiar pulling in his gut. He needed to hunt.
As he neared his apartment building, he saw an unfamiliar car parked in the common driveway. The trunk was opened but no one was in sight. There were several boxes and garbage bags piled in the vehicle, and Max realized that someone was moving in.
He glanced at his watch and frowned as he neared the building. It was almost midnight.
Dammit. And only 2B is vacant, directly above my head, he thought with annoyance. If they’re going to be thumping around all night when I have an early day…
He sat on the front steps, waiting for the car’s owner to return.
“Oh!” someone gasped from behind him. “You startled me!”
Max turned to glance at the woman he had apparently startled, and for a moment, he was taken aback by her loveliness. She was tall and blonde, with vivid blue eyes. Dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and a tank top, she seemed to be roasting with heat, despite the chill in the air.
Max recovered his composure immediately, his brow furrowing.
“Are you moving in?” he demanded, gesturing at the Kia with his head.
The woman smiled briefly, flashing a set of shiny, even teeth as she nodded. Max could not help but eye her mouth with interest.
“Yes, into 2B! I’m Emma Cassidy,” she said, extending her hand. “I just moved here from Atlanta.”
It took Max a great deal of resolve not to accept her outstretched palm as he rose, folding his arms across his muscular chest.
“Well, I’m in 1B, and I would appreciate it if you could move at a decent hour. Some of us have to work in the morning.” Max watched as the woman’s smile faded.
“Yes,” she agreed shortly. “Some people like me. I can’t drive to work with my car full of stuff.”
He shrugged. “Not my problem. You should have come earlier.”
The woman’s eyebrows slightly rose. “I won’t be much longer,” she told him tightly, moving toward her vehicle. “And I’m not making noise.”
“Easy for you to say,” Max retorted. “You don’t have to listen to you over your head.”
She spun and glared at him. “Is everyone in this town as pleasant as you?” she barked.
“I guess that depends on whether you keep them awake at night,” he snapped back, climbing the rest of the steps and heading toward his apartment. “Don’t make me complain to the landlord.”
He did not wait for her to respond, unlocking his apartment and letting himself inside. A smidgen of guilt coursed through him as he entered the kitchen, flipping on the track lighting and pulling open the fridge. He grabbed a beer and listened, but he heard nothing above his head, despite honing his ears.
Whatever. She should have known better than to move at this hour. It was just rude. She could easily drop something and wake up the rest of the neighbors.
Popping open a beer, Max took a swig and slowly shook his head. When had he become such a miserable bastard? Had Charlotte really done that much of a number on him?
He shoved the thought of his ex from his mind, gritting his teeth as he remembered the last time he had seen her, as he remembered how horrified and disgusted with him she had been.
No, he told himself firmly. I wasn’t too hard on that girl. She should learn right off the bat that we won’t stand for inconsiderate neighbors around here.
Max made his way into his bedroom, pulling off his jacket. He did not admit to himself that he had been unreasonably hard on Emma Cassidy because she bore such an uncanny resemblance to Charlotte.
* * *
Emma tossed and turned in the sleeping bag on the hard floor, trying to get comfortable, but she could not get her mind to stop whirling.
What a jerk that guy was! she thought angrily, thrusting her legs outward before reconsidering and curling herself back into a ball. I didn’t give him any cause to talk to me like that.
Her furniture would not be arriving until the weekend, and until then, she was stuck sleeping on the hardwood floor of her bedroom.
Emma had known loneliness in her life, but suddenly, the loneliness she had grown used to was a thousand times worse than anything she had encountered before. She missed Kylie and Atlanta. She longed for familiarity and for men who weren’t asses for no good reason. She shook her head and told herself to forget about him. She simply had to avoid him and make sure she was quiet so he would have no other stupid reasons to snap at her.
Long ago, Emma had learned not to make waves. It was a survival technique
she had developed in foster care. No one wanted to take on the girl with an attitude. No one wanted older children, as it was. Older children with attitude problems were cast aside faster than inbred barn cats. She was used to it. This was nothing new to her.
Still, when her alarm went off at five a.m., Emma had not slept, and her anger toward her downstairs neighbor had not dissipated.
I hope everyone in Scarlet Oak isn’t as big an ass as he is, Emma thought as she dug her coffee maker out of a box and scrounged about for filters. It didn’t matter that she found him kind of handsome. At first glance, she had even thought that he might be her type, but he had no manners whatsoever. So much for small-town hospitality.
Exhausted, she stumbled from the kitchen to splash cold water on her face and brush her teeth in the bathroom, studying her reflection in the mirror. Her blue eyes seemed to mimic the way she felt on the inside, appearing slightly daunted as she stared back at her reflection.
Last night, as she neared Scarlet Oak, she had been possessed by an indefinable feeling gnawing at her gut—like she was craving something, but she didn’t know what it could possibly be.
You’re just tired and mildly frazzled, she told herself, dismissing the girl in the glass. It’s nothing coffee won’t cure.
She was looking forward to her first day: a new town, a new job, and a new beginning! In her heart, Emma was hoping to find herself in Scarlet Oak, although she didn’t know specifically what that entailed.
She glanced at her cell phone for the time and gulped, stepping up the pace. Dressing in a pair of burgundy scrubs and pulling her hair into a high blonde ponytail, she grabbed a sweater and her purse, hurrying from the second-floor apartment.
As she closed the door, locking it, the apartment below hers opened, and Emma cringed, knowing it would be the grumpy man from last night. He barely glanced at her as he also turned to lock his door, but Emma was sure he had seen her there, especially as she slowly descended the stairs. She didn’t want there to be any friction between them, especially if they were going to be neighbors.
Swallowing her pride, she plastered a smile on her face.
“Good morning,” she offered tentatively. “Sorry that we got off to a rocky start yesterday.”
To her surprise, the man didn’t respond, instead turning to leave without acknowledging her.
Emma stared after him, her jaw dropping slightly.
“What an asshole!” she muttered as he disappeared down the street. “Screw him!” The door to 1A opened, and a voice made Emma jump.
“Did you say something, hon?”
A middle-aged woman poked her head into the foyer. Emma turned, embarrassed, and shook her head.
“Ah, no,” she said quickly. “I—I was just trying to talk to the neighbor in 1B, but I don’t think he likes me very much.”
The older woman grinned. “Oh, don’t take it personally, honey. Max isn’t the friendliest guy in town.”
“I’ve noticed,” Emma replied dryly. “What’s his problem?”
The woman shrugged slightly. “You’ll find that some people in Scarlet Oak aren’t always what they seem. But I guess we all have skeletons in our closet.”
Emma glanced inquisitively at the woman. “That sounds… sinister,” she joked. “Anything I should worry about?”
Her neighbor stared at Emma for a long moment, as if studying her closely.
“I really can’t say,” she answered, “but I suppose that will be up to you. If you go seeking trouble, you’re bound to find it anywhere.”
Emma nodded in agreement, but her mood had lightened considerably, despite the somewhat cryptic conversation they were having. The lady extended her hand in greeting.
“I’m Camille Ludlow. You’re the new tenant in 2B?”
Emma nodded and accepted her hand gratefully. It was nice to know that not everyone in town was like her grumpy neighbor.
“Emma Cassidy.”
Camille gestured at Emma’s scrubs. “You work at the hospital, Emma?” she asked, and Emma nodded in response. Camille’s grin widened. “Please tell me that you’re a doctor and not a nurse,” she said.
Emma felt a bit of resentment. “There’s nothing wrong with being a nurse,” she said defensively, and her neighbor chuckled, dismissively waving her hand.
“Of course not, hon. It’s just that…”
Emma stared at her balefully. “What?” she demanded.
Camille sighed and shook her head. “You don’t know? Max Pierson is going to be your supervisor.”
* * *
Max gritted his teeth, steeling his temper.
“Did you even go to nursing school?” he spat. “You gave the patient a glass of water when he’s scheduled for an ultrasound at noon?”
Emma looked at him, her blue eyes clouded with annoyance.
“It reads that the ultrasound is scheduled for midnight, not noon,” she protested, and he scoffed.
“Do you think we schedule ultrasounds for midnight?” he retorted. “How about you use some common sense?” Emma took a deep breath, and Max could read the defiance in her expression.
“How about you call out the person who wrote in the wrong time instead of yelling at me in front of the patients and staff?” she barked back.
They stood in the hallway in a busy section of the hospital, nurses and doctors casting them curious stares as their voices rose. Max was too caught up in his anger to pay them much attention, and he had a feeling it was the same with Emma.
“How about you take some responsibility for your actions instead of blaming other people?” Max responded. “I know you have no experience—I mean, obviously, or you wouldn’t have been so careless—but this is a hospital! We run on order, not guesswork. In the future, if you don’t know, you ask!”
He spun to leave her staring after him and stormed off to reschedule the ultrasound appointment. It seemed like the new nurse had spent the entire day making mistakes. Inexperience was no excuse; at least, not any longer. She had been here for almost three weeks. She should know better by now.
Max idly wondered if he was being too hard on her because she reminded him so much of Charlotte, but he immediately dismissed the thought. She would never learn if he didn’t point out her flaws.
He did not admit to himself that he was growing increasingly attracted to the young nurse, and he often found himself trying to steal a glimpse of her throughout the workday.
Then he would shake his head and remind himself that he was being ridiculous. Emma Cassidy had no place in his life. What had happened between him and Charlotte had left him too badly scarred to even think about pursuing another woman, especially one who was not like him.
Charlotte’s voice still echoed in his head sometimes.
“You’re a freak!” she had screamed, tears of terror streaking her fair face. “Get away from me! I never want to see you again!”
The mere thought of it caused Max’s gums to throb and his premolars to protrude. Thankfully, his pager beeped, and Max found himself consumed with patient and staff care for the rest of the morning. At one o’clock, he went into the supply closet on the third floor, just like he did every day.
As he entered, his back tensed. Slowly looking around the room, he saw no one, but he could sense someone there, his nose beginning to sniff at the air.
A small sound drew him toward the back of the closet, where he saw someone crumbled in the corner, breathing shakily.
“What are you doing?” he demanded, his heart beginning to race as he realized who the figure was: Emma Cassidy. “Cassidy!” She did not turn.
“Go away,” she whispered, but Max drew closer, his dark eyes narrowing the more he approached her.
“This isn’t break time,” he growled. “Get up!”
Emma still refused to turn.
Max was as close to her as he could without invading her personal space, and it was then that he realized she was curled into herself, as if she literally wanted to hide herself from
the world. She was breathing heavily, and for a few seconds, Max wondered if she was hyperventilating or having some sort of panic attack.
Perhaps he had been too hard on her. He had made her mistakes into bigger messes than they actually were, and he hadn’t recognized whenever she had done something right, as he ought to have done. While this job wasn’t for the light-hearted, he had done nothing but make it worse for her. The least he owed her was an apology.
“Emma?” Max softly called her. “Are… are you okay?”
Emma kept her back to him, and he reached down to touch her shoulder. To his shock, she growled at him, leaping to her feet, and his heart stopped when he saw her face for the first time. For a moment, their gazes locked on each other’s. A deep silence ensued, with only the sound of Emma’s labored breaths filling the space between them.
“What—?” Max started to say. Before he could finish his sentence, Emma lashed out at him with a large, black paw, knocking him to the ground. Then she fled the room.
Dazed, Max lumbered to his feet, turning toward the open door of the supply closet, his pulse racing wildly.
Oh, my God, he thought. She’s a lycanthrope, too.
* * *
Emma ran, bumbling and tripping over her own feet, but she did not stop. She ran out of the hospital and through the parking lot, her body fighting an ethereal transition from human to beast. She didn’t know what was happening—she didn’t understand any of it. Somehow, though, it felt like something that had been long due, even if she couldn’t tell why.
Over the past three weeks, something had come unleashed inside her. Every day, it seemed that she discovered things about her body that hadn’t been there before; changes she could not begin to comprehend.
At first, they had been minor: her eyesight seemed sharper, and her teeth were constantly aching. But then it had become a bigger problem: the longing that had always been in her core had become almost tangible, as if what she needed was ready to spring from her gut, out of her throat.
