A Vet for the Alpha

Chapter 16: Sweet Nightmares Are (Made Of This)

Alec

Pausing mid-hum while sanitizing the exam room, I stop to listen. The clinic closed a little over half an hour ago but it sounds like someone is here. "Hello?" I call out. "Did you need something?"

Leaving behind the cleaning supplies I step out into the empty lobby. No car is in the parking lot and the bell above the door is still. I swear someone called for me just now.

I glance past the reception desk and the hallway. The door in the back is large enough to accommodate farmstock animals, leading directly to the surgery unit. I haven't had to use it, I've headed out to the farmers that call and work on site instead.

Better be sure. I make my way down the hall and step out to the backside of the clinic. A short, flat grassy area with twin dirt paths leading back around to the parking lot. The sun is practically behind the trees, the grassy field shadowed and waving in the breeze.

Since moving here, I've enjoyed this view a lot. I thought it would creep me out, being here at first. Just the field and trees, one lone road to the highway. Instead, it is sort of peaceful. Especially when watching that night with Christopher, the tall grass waving in the starlight.

The differences to my familiar scene were obvious. The birds, usually active and darting this time of day, were silent and missing. The chirping of bugs was muted. The sway of the grass was bent and stilled at one point in the field.

Shit, an animal? I took one step before common sense broke through. This is a rural area, it's possible that there is a hunter nearby. But what would they be hunting? It's too early in the year.

Foxes? Wolves? I know that farmers are more likely to kill a wild predator that comes near its farm and pay the fine, cheaper than losing livestock. Looking around, there is no one as far as I can see. Surely, a farmer wouldn't follow something out this far?

"Hello!" I yell out, moving closer to the edge of the grass, looking this way and that. "I'm the vet here, I'm going out into the field." I almost feel like an idiot but don't want to get shot accidentally. The tingling of unease and worry won't let up and keeps the embarrassment at bay.

With mindful steps, I head into the taller, more congested grass of the field. The thin stalks bend gently under my feet, leaving behind a staggered path of tracks.

As I see the large swell of dark fur ahead I think I may have made a mistake. Just seeing the size and fur of the animal a few more feet ahead and I know. Maybe the eeriness isn't because of a hunter out there? Maybe I just came across the 'hunter'?

My limbs stop and refuse to move. The thick beat of my heart pounds through my constricted chest. First, let's move back.

Slowly, I manage to slide one foot back. Then the other. Then I hear the harsh, shuddering sound of the wolf's breathing. Jagged and wheezing, the intake of air is slow and painful. Loud in the overly quiet air.

Stopping again, I wait. It takes too long, the weaker, panting exhale. Sharpening my gaze on the visible fur, I watch as the wolf's body barely stirs with the sharp and ragged breathing. Not feeling as confident the first time, I do begin to move again towards the wolf. Staying in the tall grass as if it offers any kind of protection, I circle around as I close in. Its back was to me before, but as I near the edge of the bent and mangled grass surrounding the wolf's front I can see now the sharp, wet tinge of blood surrounding the animal.

That's a lot of blood.

One large step brings me up close to the large body of a wolf. It outweighs me with long limbs and paws as large as my outstretched hand. It lays sprawled on the darkly wetted ground. Thick, fresh blood is brimming out his chest. It slides through the already wet, matted fur to pool in the already muddied ground beneath the wolf. The prominent shaft of an arrow buried deep within the wound.