by Mia Rose
“Are you ready?” Declan asked Aria.
“You have to ask?” Aria smiled and then pushed open the door to the passenger seat. The two of them walked into the hospital. Declan followed behind her, but not too closely.
Aria leaned over to the man at the front desk and said, “Hi, I was wondering if you could help me find someone?”
The man stuttered as he took her in and Aria smiled at him, making him even more flummoxed.
“I’m looking for Dr. Edmund Stone.”
“Umm, yeah, Stone, he’s, umm, let me see here.” The man typed erratically on his keyboard, pressing the backspace key more than once. “Here we go, his office is on the fourth floor.”
“Thank you,” Aria said, grabbing the room number the man had scribbled on a piece of paper. She let her hand linger on his for a moment before walking away toward the elevators.
Declan got into the elevator behind him and as soon as the doors closed, he said, “You couldn’t cut that guy a break? He could barely speak.”
“I’m just being me.” Aria laughed. “It’s not my fault men can’t handle it.” She winked at Declan just as the doors opened.
They arrived on the fourth floor and they followed the numbers which led the way to Stone’s office.
Aria knocked softly to see if anyone was in there, but there was no response. They looked down the hallway to see if anyone was coming and then she tried the door handle, but it was locked.
“Now what, Mr. Holmes?” she said.
Declan hadn’t considered the possibility of the door being locked and he wasn’t sure what to do. Half of him wanted to try to break into the door, but that would definitely call too much attention to them. Just as he thought it, a man started walking down the hallway toward them.
He slowed down when he saw Aria standing beside the door. Declan had ducked behind a wall a little further down, still able to keep an eye on them.
“Can I help you?” the man said.
“I’m just waiting for Dr. Stone,” Aria said.
“I am Dr. Stone.”
Aria glanced over at Declan and the doctor started to turn to see what she was looking at.
Before he turned all the way around, she said, “Perfect! Just the man I need to see.”
“Is there something I can help you with?”
“Yes!” Aria smiled, but this man was not falling for her charm easily. “Is there a place we can speak —privately?”
The doctor hesitated a moment before pulling out his keys. He put the key and turned it unlocking his office door for them.
“After you,” he said to Aria.
She walked inside and the doctor glanced over to where Declan was standing, but he shrank back against the wall. He did it barely fast enough to avoid being seen. The doctor walked inside the room and closed the door after them.
Declan waited outside the room for a few minutes before his heart started racing. He wondered what could be taking Aria so long in there with the doctor. He started imagining her giving the doctor more than just flirty glances and he could feel his pulse quicken.
Am I seriously feeling jealous? he asked himself incredulously.
He shook the thought from his mind, reminding himself that he was just using Aria to help him get necessary information. If this was the right guy, he would have to face him at some point soon. He figured being an unfamiliar face might give him the upper hand.
Fifteen minutes passed and the door was finally pulled open. Aria stepped outside followed by the doctor. Declan studied them carefully, but he couldn’t tell much by their faces. He watched as the doctor locked the door and then led Aria down the hallway. Declan emerged from his hiding place and followed behind them. Aria caught sight of him as she hopped into the elevator next to the doctor and she gave Declan a small wink.
“What the hell does that mean?” Declan mumbled to himself.
He walked up to the elevator and pressed the button. Waiting for the familiar ding to announce the arrival of the elevator, he pulled out his cell and realized the battery had died.
“Shit,” he said, realizing that he had yet to call Noelle back.
The elevator doors slid open and he climbed aboard, pressing the 1 to indicate his desired location. He traveled slowly and started thinking about all of the possibilities that might have happened in the office.
What if she was unsuccessful? What if she hasn’t found out any information at all?
He would soon find out if that was indeed the case. Declan walked out of the elevator with his eyes glued to his dead cell phone screen, willing it to power on. He ran right into someone standing just outside the doors.
“Hey, man, sorry about that,” Declan said, looking up from his phone. He had run right into Dr. Edmund Stone.
“Not a problem.” Dr. Stone smiled. “It happens.” Declan watched as the doctor climbed into the elevators and the doors shut behind him.
Aria was nowhere to be found in the lobby, so he figured she must have gone back to the car already. Declan found his car waiting for him in the parking lot and he noticed her figure leaning up against the door.
“So?” Declan asked without missing a beat, “what did you discover?”
“Well, our little doctor friend graduated from Springs University,” Aria said slowly, “but that’s not the only interesting thing I saw.”
“What else did you find out?”
“Looks like this is the guy who treated your little girlfriend, Noelle,” Aria said while studying her nails.
She looked up at Declan and her eyes locked with his. He had no idea that this doctor had been the one taking care of Noelle, but the connection couldn’t be a coincidence.
“I had no idea about that,” Declan said, “it can’t be a coincidence, can it?”
“I guess there’s only one way to find out,” Aria said, opening the car door and sliding into the passenger seat.
She slammed the door behind her and Declan couldn’t tell if it was out of anger or if it was just because she was a naturally strong person. Either way, he didn’t quite like the way that Aria said those last words.
He climbed into the driver’s seat and shut the door. He put the key into the ignition and ignited the engine. Declan looked over at Aria who was staring out of her window with a rather despondent expression.
“Hey, Aria!” Declan said, as he reached over for her hand and squeezed it tightly. Aria looked at him with a look of vague annoyance. “You did a great job, thank you.”
Declan leaned over and kissed her. He could feel her body relax a little bit and he drove the rest of the way back to the apartments, afraid to let go of her hand.
Noelle could feel a headache on the cusp of tearing through her brain. Her eyes were watering whenever she opened her eyes for too long. She forced herself to look at her cell phone screen again —still no word from Declan.
She couldn’t understand it at all. One minute he was there shaking hands with her father and being “Mr. Nice Guy,” and the next minute he was avoiding her calls.
“Seriously, of all the days to not answer me. Today is not the freaking day!” Noelle groaned throwing her phone to the foot of the bed. There was a knock at the door and Noelle mumbled into her pillow, “Who is it?”
To her surprise, Megan walked in the room. “Hey, Noelle. You okay?” she asked, noticing Noelle’s eyes squeezed shut.
“Yeah, just a headache. What’s up, Meggy?”
“I, uh —well, I just wanted to ask your advice on something really quick,” Megan said quietly.
Noelle opened her eyes and looked at her cousin. Although she had watched this girl grow up over the years, Noelle had never seen her be anything but confident —and a bit annoying. But in this moment, Noelle saw that this girl was anything but confident.
“What’s going on?”
“I just wanted your opinion on our strategy for tonight. Do you think it will work out? I know that we’re missing you and Uncle Garrett (kind of), but I still f
eel pretty good about it. What do you think?”
“If you feel pretty good about it, then why are you asking me for my opinion?”
Megan looked unsure before she answered and said, “Just wanted to hear if you had any suggestions, I guess.”
“I do have one,” Noelle said, struggling to sit up in bed, “don’t go.”
“Are you serious, right now?” Megan asked, clearly offended. “Are you just saying this because you think I can’t handle the group?”
“No, Megan. I’m saying this because you have no idea what could be waiting for you out there. They know about us now and they know that we have weapons that can harm them fatally. Do you honestly believe that if you do see werewolves that they are just going to roll over and play dead?”
“Wow, Noelle,” Megan scoffed, “I always knew that you liked to be the center of attention, but you know how to take it to the next level don’t you? Is that why you crashed your car? Because your daddy had too much attention from getting attacked by that werewolf.”
“You little…”
“Don’t!” Megan cut her off and let out a short laugh. “I don’t even know why I came in here. I don’t need your approval. I guess you’ll just find out the truth tonight —I am the better hunter. I always have been and I always will be. Maybe, I wasn’t named after Noelise, but I think I am the only one carrying on her mission.” Megan walked out of the room and slammed the door behind her. Noelle cringed at the loud bang.
You don’t even know anything about Noelise, she thought to herself.
Noelle covered her face with her pillow and willed herself to calm down because the anxiety was only making her headache worse. Before she knew it, she had actually fallen asleep; she didn’t even notice the sound of the front door closing after they left, for their final hunt.
Declan and Aria arrived back to the apartments and they walked up the stairs into his room. Declan immediately plugged in his phone to charge. He pulled out his number to locate the number for Springs University.
“Do you have your phone, Aria? Mine is dead.” She nodded and took out her cell phone.
Declan punched in the numbers and pressed the call button. The phone began ringing and he handed it back to Aria.
He could hear a woman pick up on the other end.
“Put it on speaker,” he whispered.
Aria put the call on speaker and responded, “I need to speak with someone in the registrar’s office.”
The woman patched the call through and the phone rang three times before a man answered, “Springs University. This is the Registrar’s office. My name is Mr. Brown. Can I help you?”
“Hi, yeah,” Aria said, sounding amazingly sweet, “I am wondering if you can help me find out some information on an Edmund Stone. He was a student who attended this university and he graduated from the medical program.”
“Do you have the student ID?”
“No, I’m afraid I don’t know…”
“Do you have the social security number?”
“No, I don’t have that.”
“What is your relationship to this student?”
Aria froze for a moment looking at Declan. A few seconds passed before she let out a nervous laugh. “Well, I, umm, it’s a funny story really. I had a crush on this student and I think he actually transferred to Springs University and I am just trying to, you know, track him down so that I can, I guess, contact him.”
The man on the other end did not respond.
“Hello?” Aria asked, pulling the phone from her ear to see if the call had been disconnected.
“I’m sorry, Miss. We cannot share information regarding other students. It is confidential information.”
“I see,” Aria said, looking at Declan for assistance. Declan looked at her, unsure of what to say or do at this point.
Declan sighed.
“Well,” Aria said, her voice completely changed. All signs of sweetness had been completely washed away and replaced with a harsh tone, “I really need to know if this is the guy, so let’s make a deal, Mr. Brown. That is your name, isn’t it? You tell me if this guy transferred from Boulder University and I promise that I won’t track you down and snap your legs in half. How does that sound?”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, I think you heard me. You just need to decide whether you’re willing to risk your mobility on this simple yes or no question. I promise you that I am not someone you want to mess with.” Aria laughed. “So, what is it, Mr. Brown?”
She could hear that the man’s breathing had picked up rapidly and she smiled knowing that she had gotten under his skin —exactly where she wanted to be.
“Yes,” he said quietly.
“Yes, what, Mr. Brown?”
“Yes, it looks.” He coughed covering up the crack in his voice. “It looks like we did have an Edmund Stone who transferred from Boulder University.”
“Ah, now that wasn’t so hard now, was it? Thank you so much for your cooperation today! You have a wonderful week.” Aria ended the call and slid the phone back into her pocket. She looked up at Declan who was staring at her.
“What?” she asked.
“Can you do anything without threatening people?” he asked, half smiling at her.
Aria laughed. Declan couldn’t quite believe she was real, sometimes.
“Hey, I got the job done, didn’t I? One step closer now.”
Chapter 21
The Revelation
“He needed to find Noelle. And now.”
Aria stepped into the bathroom and Declan took the chance to run over to his phone. He powered it on and saw that he had five new voicemails from Noelle. Now he knew for certain that something was seriously wrong. He knew he wouldn’t be able to call her with Aria in the apartment, at least not without causing a massive fight. He didn’t have the energy to try to deal with that, right now.
There was a knock at his door and it made him jump and drop his phone. He looked down and saw that his screen was shattered. He tried to navigate through his calls, but it was pointless. The phone was broken. Declan growled beneath his breath as he walked over to the door yanking it from its place. Gabriel stood there before him.
“Hey, man,” Gabriel said, “you okay?”
“I’ve been better,” Declan mumbled, moving aside for Gabriel to come inside.
“Is she here?” Gabriel asked looking around the apartment. Declan was still so focused on the unheard voicemails that he hadn’t even registered Gabriel’s question.
“Is who here?” Aria asked, standing in the doorway of the bedroom.
“That answers my question,” Gabriel mumbled to himself.
Declan looked between the two of them and remembered their little plan of a forced vacation. “So, I see that the hunt went well last night, huh?”
“Yeah.” Gabriel smiled. “We didn’t have any trouble at all. I guess since we’ve stopped hunting for a bit, the wildlife has flocked to that area. It was like Thanksgiving in the middle of summer.”
“Isn’t it technically the beginning of fall?” Aria asked.
“Who the hell cares?” Gabe laughed. Aria shrugged her shoulders and took a seat on the couch.
Declan looked between the two of them and couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit nervous. Nothing good ever happened when the two of them were in the same room together.
“Are you guys planning on going again tonight?” Declan asked.
“That’s actually why I’m here, Dec,” Gabriel said, “I was thinking, I’m going to take the whole pack there tonight —well anyone who wants to come. We’ve been hiding in these apartments for so long and there’s so much food out there. I think it’s time everyone got to stretch out a bit.”
“No,” Declan said, “absolutely not. Are you insane? What if you run into the hunters? I’m so close to finding a cure, but I need more…”
“You’re what?” Gabriel choked on his words.
“I found a lead, some guy who said he found
a cure for silver. I think I’m getting pretty close. I just need some more time. At least wait until I find out if this thing is going to lead somewhere.”
“You think you found a cure and you didn’t think to include me on this?”
“Don’t worry, Gabriel.” Aria smiled. “I’ve been helping him.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, right?” Gabriel scoffed.
“Relax, Gabe. You told me to take a break from being Alpha, right? So, I did something with my time.”
“I’m your beta, Declan, you should have told me something about this.”
“Okay, well now you know. So, you’ll wait then?” Declan asked.
Gabriel looked between Aria and Declan and a few seconds passed before he said, “No. The pack and I are going out to hunt tonight. I’d invite you but it seems to me like you might have better things to do.” Gabriel stood up from his chair and walked out of the door, slamming it shut behind him.
“Someone needs to get laid,” Aria mumbled. Declan looked at her and he was about to say something, but decided against it.
“You should go with them, Aria,” he said, instead.
“What?”
“You should go with them,” he said again, “I need someone there that I can trust. I need someone to make sure that they all stay safe.”
Aria looked at Declan and hesitated for a moment, but finally she nodded her head in agreement. She stood up from her place on the couch and walked toward him.
“Wish me luck,” she said.
“You don’t need it,” Declan said smiling at her. He planted a small kiss on her lips and watched her as she walked out of the apartment.
He waited there for five minutes, not moving, before he sprinted out of his apartment to his car. He needed to find Noelle. And now.
Declan climbed into his car and peeled out of the parking lot. His heartbeat was racing and he kept trying to talk himself down. He almost forgot to turn on his lights as he drove down the dark roads.
I’m sure it’s nothing bad, he said to himself, she just wanted to see me or something.
But even before his thought was finished he knew it was not true and it made him feel sick to his stomach. He arrived at her house and pulled his car against the curb across the street. The driveway was filled with cars and he took that as a good sign.
