Page 39

Amelia

I held the wolf’s dark and soulful eyes. His proud ears relaxed as I smiled at him, and he was now watching me with the same curiosity that filled me. I had the uncanny sense that he understood me completely.

The aggression he showed when I moved earlier had completely vanished, and sympathy filled me. He was probably as scared as I was in this cell.

Wanting to soothe him, I decided to name my new furry friend. “How do you like the name Julius?” I asked him.

He cocked his magnificent head, and I smiled again. “Julius it is then. I’m glad you’re here.”

The name came to me from the history books my dad loved to read.

His bedside table at the hospital had been littered with them; library chic, I called it.

He’d been a real history buff. And one of his favorite topics was Julius Caesar.

Rome’s Colosseum had been on our travel itinerary.

I thought of all the books he’d collected over the years, now filling the bookcase in my apartment.

Coldness stole through me, and a lump rose in my throat.

Would I ever see them again? The news reports about the missing women flooded my mind, and a sinking feeling settled in the pit of my stomach.

Was I now another victim for whatever deranged psycho who had been capturing all those women?

My gaze whipped around the blank gray walls.

My measly apartment was feeling pretty fantastic right now.

I swore I’d never be ungrateful for the little space that was mine again.

Nervousness churned through me as I swung my feet slowly off the bed, settling them on the concrete floor.

My gaze crept over the wolf. So far, so good. He hadn’t made a move.

“I suppose they just needed a sitter, eh, Julius?” I slowly stood up.

The wolf’s fur bristled, and my skin prickled with apprehension as Julius’s growl morphed into great booming barks.

I thought of the dogs belonging to my neighbors in my apartment complex. Occasionally, I’d gone to feed Mrs. Neberman’s pug, and there was a nice labrador that lived on the ground floor, but none of those interactions had prepared me for an animal like Julius.

Yet, I remained standing, holding the wolf’s dark eyes until my gaze slipped to the huge, chunky metal collar around his neck.

It wasn’t attached to a chain or anything, which I thought peculiar if it was intended to restrain him.

I frowned, my gaze moving to the glass observation-like screen.

My skin crawled at the idea of someone watching me from behind there.

What was the collar for, if not to restrain Julius?

I couldn’t understand how I’d ended up trapped with a wild animal as my only companion.

Why on earth would they lock me up with a wolf?

One thing was for sure, I was a hell of a lot more scared of whoever had put me in this room than of the wolf. In fact, it was taking all my focus to not freak out as the horror of my present situation threatened to sink in.

Instead, I looked at Julius, taking it as a good sign that he’d fallen silent.

I looked around the clinical room, my gaze trailing to the door by the glass wall in the corner.

Very slowly, I walked toward it.

The wolf growled, his sharp teeth glinting in the dim light, but even as he bared his fangs, I didn’t really feel afraid of him.

Curiously, I felt secure turning my back to him.

I reached the door, wrapping my hand around the handle.

I pressed down… and pulled. My heart sank as the door didn’t budge.

I looked at the wolf again, and said downheartedly, “Worth a try, right?”

He remained where he’d been before, except he began to growl and snarl, but didn’t show any sign of coming closer.

Once again, I took that as a good omen that he wasn’t about to attack. With a leap of faith, I let out a yell. “Hey! Help! Help!” I banged my palms on the door, trying to make as much noise as possible.

When Julius’s angry barks added to my noise, I turned around to check that he wasn’t becoming too agitated.

I smiled at him, and he stopped barking instantly. That weird sense that he didn’t want to hurt me, despite his seeming aggression, washed over me.

“Well done, Julius. Keep it up,” I told him. “We need to try and get out of here, okay?”

As he cocked his head to the side, studying me inquisitively, I took up my yelling again. With another deep breath in my lungs, I gave it all I had. “Help! Help!” Julius’s ferocious barks mixed with my shouts.

I didn’t know how long I called for, but when I finally stopped, I was hoarse and exhausted. My breath came in tired puffs, and my hands were sore and bruised from pointlessly pummeling the metal. I collapsed, settling my weight against the door, and sat on the cold floor.

The wolf’s barks still rang out, but it remained deathly quiet outside the door, with no sign of anyone being about to help me.

Soon, Julius’s angry barks fell away, too.

The silence was almost worse, grating against my skin as I feared both being left here and what would happen when whoever had kidnapped me came back.

The only comfort within the space was the gentle panting of the wolf, who had laid down on the far side of the sparse cell.

There was something about his posture that whispered defeat.

“Sorry, buddy,” I murmured. “It looks like we’re stuck here for the moment.” I wasn’t sure if I was trying to settle him, myself, or both of us with my pointless chatter.

I studied the rich shades of brown in the wolf’s coat. “What’s your hair care regimen?” I asked him. “Because your coat sure is glossy.”

The wolf let out a low grumble in his throat, and I chuckled. A wave of comfort flowed through me.

“Fine,” I continued, rambling. “But you can’t blame a girl for trying when this is what I’m working with.” I fiddled with my disheveled hair, running my fingers through it to tidy it. My fingers raked through the tangles and knots, helping me with the apprehension threatening to spill over.

But when I’d untangled my locks, my hands shook, and helplessness lapped at me. Tears stung my eyes.

Julius’s head lifted, his dark stare fixed on me.

I dashed the back of my hand against my eyes.

“I’m just tired,” I said, my voice shaking.

I stood up and slowly walked toward the bed.

My watery eyes went to the wolf, waiting for him to bark at me again, but he didn’t move.

Instead, he settled his head back on the floor.

Once I got to the cot, I sank into the mattress, silent sobs racking my body until exhausted sleep fell.

The clang of metal woke me. Adrenaline spiked through me. My mind churned with panic as I remembered where I was: in a cell. I scrambled back into the corner of the cot as a man in a white lab coat entered the room. He carried two plates.

I blinked in these details, shock ringing through me as he deposited one plate in front of the wolf, then placed the other one on the end of my bed.

I shot to my feet. “Hey, wait—”

But the man was already exiting the room. I dashed toward him, but he’d already pulled the door shut as I reached it.

“Hey! You can’t do this! Hey! Let me go!” I screamed. Once again, I pounded the door until I’d bruised my hands. Angry tears streamed down my face again as I ended up on the floor in the same position as I had last night.

I examined the plate the man had left on the bed. Some sort of bread and ham. Suspicion pierced me. What if they’d put something in my food? I suppose it didn't really matter as I felt too sick to eat.

I glanced over at Julius, his plate long licked clean. The food didn’t seem to have had any effect on him.

“I’m not hungry. You want it, Julius?” I took his licking his chops as a yes and set it down on the floor. The wolf seemed appreciative, polishing it off in seconds.

Soon, silence rang out, but the dread in my stomach only climbed.

I racked my brain, wondering whether the man who’d just entered was really a scientist or if he was just dressed like one.

The cell did have that glass observation wall.

A shiver ran down my spine as I wondered whether there were a bunch of scientists studying me right now and what their purpose could be.

I was about to stand up and confront the glass screen when the door opened a second time. I sprang up from the bed, crouching in a defensive stance should the scientist try to grab me. But a different man in a lab coat entered. In a moment, he’d taken hold of the wolf’s collar.

“Hey,” I objected. “What are you doing? Where am I?”

But my words fell on deaf ears, and the scientist led Julius out the door.

I let out a frustrated scream, picking up the plate in the middle of the floor and hurling it against the glass wall. The crockery shattered, but the glass was unscathed.

“You getting a kick out of this?” I shouted, hurling the other plate. I hoped to fracture the glass, but the wall remained intact.

I paced the cell, feeling even more restless without my furry friend. Why had they taken him? What was this place?

I didn’t know how long I paced, but it felt as if I must have worn a groove in the floor. Finally, the door opened again, but just long enough for someone to shove the wolf through the crack and jerk it shut.

The wolf collapsed on the floor after just a few steps.

I started toward him, but he growled at me from where he lay. I kept my distance, but even in the dim light I could see blood pooling beneath him on the floor.

“He needs medicine,” I yelled out. My gaze shot to the glass observation wall. “Help him, please!” My heart pounded as cruel silence filled the cell.

Quickly, I wrenched the scratchy blanket from the cot, rushing over to the wolf. I dropped to my hands and knees. He growled as I tried to bring the material close, and I halted.

“Please,” I said, “Let me help you.” He snarled again as I tried to bring the blanket to his wound. “Please, Julius,” I whispered. I was silent for a moment, then tremulously said, “Please don’t leave me here.”

He was quiet this time as I pressed the blanket to his shoulder. I tried to keep pressure on it.

My heart climbed into my throat as I felt the steady flow of warm blood spilling out into the material.

I thought about how this wolf really was my only friend.

Not just in here. After all, who would miss me out there?

I realized with a pang that it would either be Becky, my landlady, or my boss at Convenience Cove, who reported me missing.

I’d been so caught up in trying to get my dad through his illness and working the jobs to pay for his medical treatment that I’d lost touch with all my school friends.

With a pang of regret, I realized that once my dad had gone, I’d retreated from everyone.

I sat beside Julius, holding the blanket on his wound and applying pressure on it, but hollowness ate at me as I took in the speed at which he was losing blood.

The blanket was becoming saturated. He needed stitches.

Tears rolled down my face. Whoever had taken me.

, whoever had locked me up, was a monster.

Who would do this to an innocent animal?

But then, I realized that the material wasn’t getting any wetter. I lifted the blanket away and touched Julius’s shoulder. A low growl vibrated through the wolf, but he didn’t move.

I shook my head, not understanding how his wound had closed. With the amount of blood that he’d been losing, I thought…

Once again, as Julius’s gaze brushed me, I felt as if his intelligence was more than that of an animal’s, and a prickling sense of uncertainty wound through me. He seemed to be taking in my reaction.

I stood up on shaky legs. “Looks like you’re gonna be okay, Julius.” I shook my head, realizing that I must have been mistaken about how serious the wound was.

“It was just a scratch,” I murmured. I nodded my head, making my way unsteadily to the bed, forced to curl up for warmth because the blanket was saturated… from just a scratch.

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