by Mia Rose
At least he had a viable excuse for why he needed to see Noelle; hopefully, Aria would not ask to follow along. He needed to figure out his plan and fast. Declan had this nagging feeling that he was quickly running out of time.
Noelle returned home from the hospital with her father and she immediately went to her room to go to sleep. She woke up later in the evening and she could hear voices coming from the outside. Her family was here.
She walked out of her room on her new crutches and was greeted with a loud, “Surprise!”
Noelle looked around at the smiling faces of her aunts, uncles and cousins. She was laughing, but she had no idea what they were surprising her with.
“What is this for?” She laughed. They all suddenly looked worried and looked at Garrett and Abigail for guidance.
“Sweetie,” her mom said, “it’s August the twenty-first.”
“Oh my God!” Noelle started laughing hysterically. “Oh my God, it’s my birthday!” Her family looked suddenly relieved and they all started walking toward her offering her big hugs.
“You made it another year,” her cousin Megan teased.
“Barely!” Noelle laughed. The family gathered into a line and they walked around the table getting their choice of pizza, garlic bread and salad.
“Sorry I didn’t make a dinner this year, Noelle,” her mom said, “it’s just been a hectic time.”
“The pizza is great, Mom, thank you.” She planted a kiss on her mother’s cheek.
She sat on the couch as she waited for the rest of the family to join her. Her mother handed Noelle her plate and they began eating as the rest of the family gathered into their seats.
“So, who’s going to go to the hospital next year?” Garrett asked.
“What do you mean?” Abigail asked, looking around the room at the bewildered faces.
“Well, it seems to me that if we ever want the family to get together, someone has to wind up in the hospital.” He laughed and the rest of the family joined in.
“Let’s hope we can do this again next year and have better luck,” Marjorie chimed in. “We are going to be off the day after next, but we will be back again soon, I hope.”
Garrett nodded and said, “I vote we go on one final hunt before you all leave!”
“Oh, Garrett. How can you even suggest that? Noelle can’t even make it out with us, obviously.”
“No, it’s okay,” Noelle said, “that’s a good idea. One, final, family outing. I’ll stay here and wait for you guys to come back; you can fill me in on the details of what I missed. I’m sure Megan would love that.” Noelle smiled at her cousin and Megan beamed back at her.
“So, who’s in?” Garrett asked, his eyes lit up.
“I guess we’re all in,” Marjorie said, “although I pray we don’t actually run into anything given that our best two hunters are down for the count.”
“Hey!” Megan pouted.
“I’m just saying,” Marjorie continued, “Garrett your arm is still slung up and Noelle won’t even be there. We’ll be easy pickings, I’m sure!”
The family continued chatting back and forth about possible strategies that they would employ should they run into any werewolves, but Noelle felt like it wouldn’t be a problem. As a matter of fact, she would make certain that it wasn’t an issue at all. She felt differently to Declan, who thought the opposite. She felt she had time on her side; he felt like he had no time at all.
“I feel like I’m running out of time.”
Chapter 19
The Strategy
“Without that security, anything could happen.”
Aria fell asleep in Declan’s bed that night, but he could not seem to sleep at all. He felt guilty for lying to her, but even more than that, he felt guilty for sleeping with her when he only wanted to be with Noelle. He and Noelle hadn’t ever talked about their relationship, and quite frankly, he didn’t think they were in a place to declare monogamy. But at the same time, he didn’t want to be with anyone but her.
He went out into the living room and pulled out his laptop. He opened his web browser and typed in the name of the school, Boulder College. He read through a few articles detailing their financial situation and it seemed to be a widely upsetting decision that the school chose to shut down the medical program.
Declan thought back on the story that the woman from the school had shared with him. He thought it was odd that the school would give him so much funding and not check in every now and again. He tried to look into the case further, but came up with nothing.
How likely is it that a college would nearly go bankrupt to sponsor a project that they knew nothing about? Declan wondered to himself.
He decided that there was something else at play here that people did not want discovered. So much so, that they went to great lengths to destroy any evidence of the project at all. Declan was surprised he had found the article about the cure in the first place.
He decided to try a different route and search for the name that the lady gave him: Edmund Stone. He typed it in and pressed Enter. The first few results brought up information on some semi-famous guy in the mid-east who claimed to have been abducted by aliens. He wrote some books about his experiences. Out of curiosity, Declan clicked on the title of one: The Mysteries from Beyond the Stars. Just reading the description made him laugh.
“What are you doing?” Aria asked, now standing in the doorway. Declan nearly jumped from the sofa, sending the laptop flying off his lap.
“Jesus, Aria. Could you say something next time? You scared the shit out of me.”
“Sorry,” she said, sitting down next to him, “you’re supposed to have extra-keen hearing.”
“I do,” he scoffed, “I was just really into what I was reading.”
“What is it?” she asked, turning the computer toward her. “Aliens? Are you serious? You believe in that?”
“You never know!” Declan laughed. “Did you believe in werewolves before you turned?” Aria smiled at him and shrugged her shoulders. “Anyways, that’s not what I was looking at. I got sidetracked.”
“So, what is it?” she pressed.
“I’m trying to look into that lead I told you about earlier. The one for finding a cure for silver.”
“The lead you got from Noelle,” Aria mumbled.
Declan ignored her comment and continued, “So, anyways, like I told you, I went down to that school today to find out about the graduate student who got kicked out of the program. The lady there didn’t give me much information, but she did give me a name. Edmund Stone.” He clicked the back button in his browser and scrolled through more results.
“What’s that?” Aria asked, pointing at a story toward the bottom. Declan clicked open the link and read: Resident Saves the Life of Woman and Dog in Car Accident.
Declan read out loud, “Fifth year resident at St. Joseph’s Hospital; Edmund Stone was driving into work on Friday morning when he saw a woman run directly into a tree. He pulled over to the side of the road and immediately began putting his training into action.”
Declan stopped reading.
Aria asked, “What? What is it?”
“St. Joseph’s Hospital is twenty minutes from here,” he said quietly. Declan didn’t mention that this was the hospital that Noelle had been staying at after her own car accident. “When was this article written?”
“Looks like it was three years ago,” Aria said.
“Damn it!”
“What?”
“Nothing, it’s just —well, if he was kicked out of medical school, how in the hell did he become a doctor?”
“Maybe he transferred schools?” Aria suggested.
Declan wasn’t just bothered by this detail; what caused him even more distress was the fact that he knew this man could not be the right age. For whatever reason, he didn’t want to fill Aria in on this bit of information, so he just nodded.
“Yeah, good point,” he said, “I think I’ll try to find out some more about
our doctor tomorrow.”
“I would like to help you,” Aria said softly, placing her hand on Declan’s arm. She batted her eyelashes playfully and he couldn’t help but smile at her.
“I think that’s actually not a bad idea at all,” he said. The two of them walked back into the bedroom, closing the door behind them.
Noelle couldn’t sleep that night despite the fact that she was exhausted.
Damn, how stressed does a person have to be to forget about their own birthday? she wondered to herself.
She read through a few more letters from Noelise, but nothing stuck out to her. Noelle thought back on her day and remembered her encounter with the doctor which brought back the color to her cheeks. But then she thought about her surprise dinner and she knew that she would have to get in contact with Declan. She needed to do it soon to let him know what was going on. After the family had decided to go on their final hunt, they started coming up with a plan. To everyone’s surprise, Megan had stepped up and took charge.
“Okay,” Megan said, “so, the last time we messed up because we let them get to close to us and we were all in one group. I’m suggesting we break up into teams of two and come up from all sides. Abigail and Garrett, you guys come in from the north. Mom and Dad, you guys cover the south. Auntie Sofie and Craig, you guys will come from the east.”
“And what about the west? If I’m not mistaken, that’s where they came from last time,” Marjorie said plainly.
“You’re right.” Megan smiled. “And that’s me. I’ll be covering that end.”
“By yourself?” Marjorie huffed. “I don’t think so young lady, you are not…”
“Mom, please stop. I am not a young lady anymore. I am a hunter and I am just as good, if not better than Noelle. Just wait and see.” Majorie had begun to protest again, but Megan continued over her, “So, we will wait for them and then we will circle around them and catch them by surprise. Does everyone have their silver bullets?” The group nodded. “Okay, then. This is our plan. Any objections?”
Megan had looked around the room and enjoyed the faces which were clearly impressed by her take-charge attitude. Everyone began shuffling around the room to get their things ready for tomorrow and before Noelle knew it, they were saying their goodbyes to head back to the hotel to get a good night’s rest. Noelle had been watching her nana throughout the entire interaction and she was dying to know what she thought about the whole thing.
Noelle had walked over to her and took her nana’s hand in her own, but before she could even ask the question her nana already replied, “I don’t have a good feeling about this. I don’t have a good feeling about this at all.” Noelle nodded in agreement, but at this point, she could only do one thing.
Soon, Noelle reached out for her phone and dialed the number that belonged to Declan. It rang once and then went straight to voicemail.
She tried again and it went straight to voicemail, so she left a message, “Hey, it’s me. Please call me when you get this. It’s urgent.” She hung up the phone and covered her face with her pillow.
Thoughts of Declan with other women started playing in her mind and she needed it to stop. She had no idea what she wanted out of their —was it a relationship? Or whatever it was called. She went hot and cold every time she thought about him. She had believed that things between them could never work out; that they would never be able to surmount their personal differences. The letter from Noelise had started to play with Noelle’s mind.
What if Noelise had decided to stay with the werewolf? What might have happened then?
Noelle closed her eyes and the thoughts about Noelise stabbing her lover in the back quickly turned into Noelle stabbing Declan. Before she knew it, she was drifting off into a land of sleep where horrific dreams waited for her around every unbelievable corner.
Declan woke up the next day to a wonderful smell from the kitchen. He noticed that Aria was not in the bed, so he walked out of the room to see where the smell was coming from.
“Hey,” she said, standing in the kitchen wearing his t-shirt, “it looks like the guys had a pretty successful night hunting last night.”
Declan looked at the table and saw a huge slab of raw meat waiting for him. The alpha in him wanted to refuse, partly because he hadn’t made the kill, and partly because there were still other hungry families out there. But his animal took over and he tore through the meat in minutes, the blood dripping down his face.
Aria came over and wiped the blood from his chin and then she placed her finger in her mouth and sucked.
“Tasty!” she said as she grinned.
Declan leaned back in his chair and Aria straddled him, wrapping her hands around the back of his neck. “Good morning to you, too.” He laughed.
“So, what’s the plan for today?” she asked eagerly. “Are we going to go find that doctor?”
“Yes,” Declan said, “but I need you to be stealthy, okay? No one can suspect anything, least of all him. The last thing we need to do is scare him away. So that means no threats, do you understand?”
“I’m not a savage, Declan,” Aria complained.
“Yeah, well, you have your moments. Anyways, here’s the plan. We are going to go to the hospital and you’re going to find his office. Try to see if he has any degrees hanging on his wall so we can see where he went to school. If we can nail that down, I can find out if he transferred from Boulder College —and if so, we have the right guy.”
“Sounds good to me!” Aria said. “Do you want to take a shower with me before we get ready?”
“Not now, Aria.” Declan kissed her reassuringly. “I need to make sure we stay focused on the goal at hand.” Aria nodded and hopped off him and headed into the bathroom.
Declan went into the bedroom and powered on his phone. He had turned it off during the night because he saw Noelle calling. The last thing he needed was to set Aria off again. The phone loaded and then notified him that he had a voicemail waiting.
He pressed play and heard Noelle’s voice through the speaker, “Hey, it’s me. Please call me when you get this. It’s urgent.”
Aria stepped out of the bathroom, naked and said, “Who is that?”
Declan looked up and quickly pressed delete. “Just Gabriel,” he lied, “he said he needs to talk to me later.”
“Ah,” Aria sighed, “are you sure you don’t want to join me?”
Declan smiled and shrugged. “I guess I could get cleaned up, too.”
“Mhm, but first let’s make you a little dirty.” Aria laughed as she stepped aside making room for Declan.
Noelle woke up to a sweet smell coming from the kitchen. She lifted herself from her bed and used her nightstand to get up all the way. She reached out for her crutches and hobbled her way through the house to find her mother in the kitchen cooking up stacks of pancakes and bacon; she was cutting fruit for a fruit salad.
“Umm, who is all of this for? Are we sponsoring a small army I don’t know about?”
“Noelle, do you just wake up with an extra dose of sarcasm because you’ve gone eight hours of sleep without doling it out to someone?”
“Don’t be silly, Mom.” Noelle laughed. “People in my dreams aren’t safe, either.”
Her mother laughed and shook her head. “Anyway, the family is over. They all wanted to go over the plan again before tonight and do some practice. I thought a nice, big breakfast might give us the energy we need.”
“Mom,” Noelle said, suddenly serious, “you don’t think you’ll actually see any werewolves tonight, right?”
“Honestly, Sweetie, I have no idea.” Her mom looked up at Noelle. “But between you and I, I really hope we don’t. I need to catch a break here between almost losing your father and then you. I didn’t like the idea of the hunt to begin with, but you know your father.”
“Ah!” her father called out as he walked into the kitchen, “there are my two favorite women!”
Her mother looked over at Noelle and gave her a kno
wing smile. Noelle hobbled out to the living room to greet the rest of the family before excusing herself to take a shower. She walked into her bedroom to retrieve her phone first and dialed Declan’s number again.
This time it rang —once, twice, three times, four —then voicemail. “You’ve reached Declan, you know what to do.”
“Hey, Declan it’s Noelle. I’m not sure where you are but I really need to talk to you. Please call me as soon as you can.” Noelle ended the phone call and sat down on the edge of the bed.
Getting hold of him was the only way she could prevent any severe damage from happening to her family. Without that security, anything could happen; Noelle knew she could not live with herself if something happened to any of them.
She got up from her bed and headed to the bathroom. She turned on the water and relished the hot water soaking into her sore muscles. She was still weak, but she knew that she was getting stronger with every day. She wished with all her might that she was able to go with the family on their final hunt. She knew if she couldn’t get a hold of Declan, that’s exactly what she would end up doing.
“Without that security, anything could happen.”
Chapter 20
The Discovery
“Hey, I got the job done, didn’t I? One step closer now.”
Declan pulled up to the hospital with Aria in the passenger seat beside him. He could feel his phone vibrating in his pocket and he knew that it must be Noelle calling him again. He was starting to get worried because she was not the type of woman to call him unless she really needed something. But Declan knew that if Aria saw who was calling him, it would just bring up a whole world of bad.
