Page 14

Chapter 14

Emmy

I t's been a couple days since starting the new job.

It was getting late as I typed up the patient notes for today. I kept glancing at my phone expecting for Eoghan to call, but thus far he hadn't. It'd been about two and half hours since his game ended.

There was a part of me that loved that he hadn't been tempted to pick up the poison fruit tonight; but I loved our nightly chats. Every night, I learned more and more about him.

Knowing that so many people could fall off the wagon easily, especially in the first few days of sobriety, I decided to check in on him. So I texted him saying.

Just checking on you.

I waited for him to respond.

After an hour of staring at my phone, I needed to do something healthier. I couldn't fixate on a man, no matter how gorgeous he was. He would respond when he was ready.

So I went out for a run. Running around the neighborhood was my go-to solution for my bad days.

I didn't always like running after dark since I was always afraid that I would get hit by a car or run into a wild animal. The last fear was stupid but fears weren't always logical. Animals didn't just attack people who went out for a run.

At least the loop around my house was a well-lit track. It was just about a mile to go around it, and I liked to go around four times on a run to thoroughly clear my head and really get that endorphin hit.

The full moon looked beautiful and seemed so damn bright, which eased my trepidation about running at night. But because it was relatively light out, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched.

I pushed myself to keep up the speedy pace during the last mile.

My legs were heavy by the time I made it back to my place. It took all my willpower to keep myself upright. I panted heavily, just wanting to get my breath back.

That's when I noticed two glowing eyes in the background. I squinted to get a better look at everything and realized it was a wolf. But with his body position, I couldn't exactly see how big the wolf was.

I hadn't seen a wolf since I left Minneapolis, and now there was one outside my door, just like before.

Just seeing the wolf made me want to get into my house as soon as possible. I fumbled with the code and slammed the door shut. Once inside, I slid to the floor and panted. I took a peek around my shoulder and looked out the glass that lined my door to see that the wolf hadn't moved from the edge of the woods.

"Breath. Just breathe."

I didn't know why I let wolves freak me out so much. It was probably just one of those normal size wolves and not one of those massive mutants that I would see back in Minneapolis.

My thoughts raced again. I tried to convince myself that the wolves didn't follow me from Minneapolis and they weren't out to get me. It was just my overactive imagination.

Just hard to disprove the idea when the wolf stared into my house.