Page 3 of Cursed Wolf

That was my one moment of bewilderment before I hit the gas and cranked the steering wheel, turning the car around to head back to the vet clinic.

My personal career situation was the furthest thing from my mind at that point. All that mattered was that I went through four years of vet school, plus had on-the-job experience. I had all the skills necessary to save this wolf’s life. And that was exactly what I intended to do.

Chapter 2

Emmaline

Ilowered my surgical mask and took my first deep breath in hours. The wolf’s injuries were not life-threatening, and he was going to make a full recovery.

“I can’t thank you two enough,” I said to Tori and Michelle, the two vet techs who’d been looking forward to an easy night shift until I’d rushed back to the clinic with an unconscious wolf in my trunk.

“No problem.” Tori stuck her hands in the pockets of her scrubs. “Definitely made for an interesting night.”

After getting over their initial shock, they’d helped me anesthetize the wolf, X-ray him from head to tail, and perform a full-body exam.

He did have minor head trauma, which likely came directly after the impact, but no major damage to his neck or spine. His rear leg where my bumper had struck him only sustained a hairline fracture. I could hardly believe the X-ray when I saw it and almost had Tori take another image. His bone density and muscle mass due to his size must have saved him. I had been expecting much worse.

The three of us looked at the wolf sleeping off the anesthesia in our largest dog crate which still barely contained him. He was breathing deeply now, his side rising and falling in a steady cadence.

“Should we call Fish and Wildlife?” Michelle fiddled nervously with her stethoscope. “Wolves don’t usually get this close to civilization, right?”

“I mean, it was still miles outside of town. I wouldn’t exactly call it close,” I said. “Wolf sightings aren’t all that unusual.”

“Do you think he could be somebody’s pet?” Tori wondered. “One of those wolfdog hybrids?”

All three of us trained our gazes on the sleeping animal again. No one needed to say that idea was pretty much impossible. Wolfdogs were usually smaller than pure wolves. This guy was around fifty percent bigger than an average wolf. I found it more likely for him to be a direwolf, an ancestor of modern wolves that were believed to be extinct.

“We got a blood sample, right?” At the techs’ nods, I said, “Let’s send it out for analysis. That’ll be able to tell us if he’s crossed with anything or maybe a subspecies we don’t usually see in this area.”

“Here’s a question.” Michelle turned to face us. “What do we tell the boss when he comes in?”

I held back my cringe. Dr. Stone, the head veterinarian, was the reason I had left work in tears and feeling like shit. He was the one who decided not to approve my residency application. According to him, the reason was because of budget restraints. However, I had been one of two vet interns. One of us got the residency, and it wasn’t me.

Dr. Stone gave me the whole spiel about how it was such a tough decision and it was nothing personal. Considering how I gave everything I had to this job and the other intern, Marcus, called out sick half the time, I found it pretty hard to believe it wasn’t personal.

Marcus’ family were local big wigs and I’d bet money they were connected to Dr. Stone in some way. Strings got pulled. Favors got called in. It was how people got ahead in life. The same would have been done for me if I had taken the path my parents set out for me.

But I chose my passion over prestige and an easy ladder to success. I’d have to fight for every position I wanted. I had to remember that.

“Tell Dr. Stone the truth,” I said. “I hit the wolf with my car and brought him in. Have him call me if he has an issue with it.”

I had a gut feeling that Dr. Stone wouldn’t approve any overtime pay for bringing the wolf in, and that was fine with me. As long as I had a chance to save the animal, I’d have worked for free.

Now that my wolf was in the clear, I could relax, go home, and get some much needed sleep. But I found myself reluctant to let him out of my sight. A part of me even entertained the idea of rolling out a sleeping bag and spending the night on the floor next to his cage. Sometimes we did that for patients that were unstable and had to be monitored 24/7.

“We got this, Dr. E.” Tori seemed to sense my hesitation to leave. “We’ll let you know if anything changes.”

My smile was weary as I gathered up my things. “Alright. I’ll stop by tomorrow night to see how he’s doing. You two have a good night.”

“We’ll see you, Doc.”

My drive home this time was blissfully uneventful. I showered quickly before falling into bed, sleep taking over faster than I expected. That night I dreamed of running through the woods under a full moon, sniffing out prey with a pack, and answering wolf calls with a singing howl.

I had the lunch shift the next day at my other job, Buck’s Peak Bar & Grill. Summer was approaching, and I knew we’d be packed with tourists and snowbirds coming up to spend the season in their mountain summer homes. The sad truth was that waitressing paid more than being a vet intern, especially during the busy season. So until I scored a full-time residency, I’d have to hold onto this job to keep the lights on.

Breezing into the break room, I mumbled a quick hello to my co-worker, Annika. She was my favorite person to work with, although I wouldn’t call us friends. Despite being night and day different, we got along and worked together efficiently.

“Hey,” she greeted, tying up her hair in the mirror. “So, is this it? You putting in your notice today?”

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