Chapter 1 - Veronica

"Here you go," Linnea says, coming back into the living room with a little jar in her hands. "Rosa made this for me after I hurt my back, and it's worked wonders. It should help the pain in your elbow."

I smile at her, accepting the jar of salve, setting it on the end table next to me. As always, Linnea is going above and beyond for the people in this town. I glance at the salve, trying not to wrinkle my nose. I have no idea what Rosa put in it, but I'll stick to Tylenol over rubbing some essential oil concoction on my elbow and hoping that's going to fix it.

My elbow twinges again, and I wince, rubbing at it. It's been bothering me ever since the incident a few months ago, and while the twinges in my arm are physical pain, they bring up my emotional trauma every time they flare.

I force myself to focus on Linnea and not on the mental images of being in that basement, crammed in with the others for weeks on end.

"Thank you," I say, patting the top of the jar affectionately, though I know I won't be using it. "That's very thoughtful."

"You know," Linnea says, tucking herself into the chair and crossing her legs. "If it works, and your elbow is feeling better, we would love your help at the kick-off festival. We need people to work the medical tent."

I smile at her but shake my head, lacing my fingers together and clearing my throat. Linnea truly has been too kind to me—her entire family has, in fact—which is part of what makes this so difficult to say. She—and everyone else—seems to be under the impression that once someone sets foot in Rosecreek, they would never want to leave.

That is not the case for me. I've never liked to stay in one place for too long, and I've already been here much longer than I wanted. Rosecreek itself is lovely, but I'm itching to get out of the area.

"I actually am feeling a lot better," I say, "and I'm so grateful that you've offered me a place to stay while I was recovering, but I think it's time for me to move on."

"Oh," Linnea says, jerking her head back a bit, her mouth falling open. "Oh," she repeats, "of course—sorry, I've just gotten so used to having you around."

"Yeah, I've enjoyed being here, but I'm feeling better and ready to get back to my life."

What I don't say is that it's not particularly pleasant for me to be here, specifically because I have to see Percy around town. In the grocery store, at town hall, down at the beach—I can't go for a walk without dreading seeing him on the sidewalk.

I think back to the night I decided to go for a jog on the path just outside of Rosecreek. Though the area has thick trees, there are also several hiking trails. Linnea said Aris's father personally installed many of the features along the paths, like the water fountains, grills, picnic tables, and signs.

On that path, I saw Percy again for the first time in years. I was walking, having run four miles already, and realizing I was very, very lost. Every time I thought I was getting nearer to the town; I'd realize I was just wandering further into the trees. The hiking paths started to get less and less robust, even being overgrown in certain areas.

At first, when I saw him, I screamed, sure I was going to be that first girl in a horror movie, killed to introduce the murderer. Then, he'd stepped into the moonlight, and I'd realized it was Percy.

Of course, I was still pissed at him for ghosting me, but I knew him. I knew that he wouldn't hurt me.

I thought he wouldn't hurt me.

Since Aris's team found us in the cabin and helped us out, I've been assured by everyone involved that it wasn't actually Percy—it was some sort of poison he'd ingested. Some sort of chemical warfare that made him prone to hallucinations.

It was strange to me when the police weren't involved. Instead, Aris offered every human a cash settlement for the time lost and the emotional damage. Linnea provided shelter to every woman who was stuck in that basement. Everyone got free medical treatment and counseling.

A few of us took the shelter offer and stayed in the underground compound. One by one, they left, returning to their lives, and I'm the only one left in the shelter, trying to muster up the courage to get back to my life.

Yesterday, I finally signed a contract for a hospital in California. I'll leave tomorrow and start my assignment in a week. I want to get as far as possible from Rosecreek, get back to my career and life.

"Well, I am so happy for you," Linnea says, picking at a loose thread on the armchair she's sitting in. "Again, I want to apologize on Percy's behalf for what happened. If you knew him before the serum, you'd know he's nothing like that."

Once again, I roll my lips into my mouth, wondering if I should just come out and tell them that I did know Percy before the serum. I haven't spoken to him since the night he took me, but it's clear that he hasn't told anyone else about the fact that we dated. Maybe he doesn't even remember me.

At first, I thought this serum that made him sick would be an explanation for why he ghosted me all those years ago—but the timeline doesn't add up. He just left without any warning, blocking my number and disappearing into thin air.

The worst part was that Percy was the only man who had ever made me feel like settling down might be an option for me. After losing him, I realized there would never be a man who was worth staying with in one place.

"I'm sure that's true," I say, finally, trying to settle on something that's not a lie, but also not the truth.

"Have you had any problems with the stalker?" Linnea asks, her eyes assessing me, like she might be able to tell if I've had a run-in with the guy just by looking at me. "I know you'd mentioned that as a reason to stay in the shelter. I don't want you to feel like you have to leave if you're not ready, and I also want you to know that we can provide you with extra support. Aris can—"

"I haven't seen him," I say, taking a deep breath and focusing over Linnea's shoulder. "I think that the time…well, the incident, I think it may have derailed him. He wasn't expecting me to go off the map for more than a month, so maybe he just lost track of me. Or maybe he lost interest."

Linnea looks at me with a special kind of empathy, and I know what she's thinking—that's not very likely. Stalkers don't just lose interest . They're like that for a reason. It's obsessive, like a compulsion they can't overcome.

I'd know. I've been dealing with a stalker since living in my hometown. He followed me everywhere—city to city, town to town when I became a traveling nurse. When I'd go to the police, tell them that this guy was showing up everywhere I'd been, they would just shrug at me, say he wasn't breaking any laws.

"But anyway," I say, taking another breath and meeting Linnea's eyes. "I wanted to thank you for everything and say a proper good-bye. My flight leaves tomorrow, and my contract begins shortly after that. So this is probably the last time we'll have the chance to chat."

I think of how Linnea helped me ensure my nursing contract was still up to date. Aris sent a letter to the hospital where I was supposed to be nursing, explaining that there were extenuating circumstances that explained my absence. Apparently, as the mayor of this town, he has a lot of pull, because they wrote me a shining letter of recommendation, detailing what a good employee I had been for them.

"Well," I say, suddenly feeling soft about the whole thing. "Maybe we could exchange numbers? Keep in touch?"

"I would love that," Linnea says, stooping down and grabbing her phone from the end table. She's pulling it up, opening it to grab my number, when there's a strange thump on the front porch.

My heart jumps into my throat, and I feel like I can't breathe. It shouldn't be like this—I've been doing counseling for months, working through everything, but unexpected noises still make me instantly anxious.

" Percy ," Linnea says, her eyes widening as she looks to the front door. When she takes a step toward it, I reach out and grab her hand, trying to keep her from leaving.

"Linnea," I whisper, "that could be anyone. Maybe you should call Aris—"

"You can stay here," Linnea whispers back, her voice urgent. "It's Percy, and he's hurt."

I stare after her as she goes, wondering how she could possibly know that. As soon as she leaves the room, my heart rate rockets up again, and my feet are moving before I know what's happening.

As complicated as my feelings are toward Percy, I still hate the idea of him being hurt. I walk through the Cadell's hallway, rubbing my hand against my chest. When I get to the foyer, I see the front door hanging wide open, Linnea crouching down, saying something quickly into her phone.

"— shifted —"

She stops when a floorboard creaks under my foot, looking up at me, her eyes going wide.

"Veronica—" she says, but I don't hear another word of what she says, because I'm too busy trying to rationalize what I'm looking at.

There is a huge wolf on the porch. It's on its side, its breaths coming hard and fast, clearly labored from the massive gaping wound on its stomach. My eyes jump from detail to detail, moving so fast I feel like I'm getting sick.

There is a wolf on the porch . And Linnea is crouching over it, acting like she will give it medical care. Why would it come to the porch? And why would Linnea put herself in danger like that? I'm no zoologist, but I've never heard of a wolf being this big before.

"Linnea," I whisper, fear shaking my voice. "Get away from that thing. We should call—what? The police? Animal control?"

"It's okay," Linnea says, though she sounds close to tears. "It's all going to be okay—I just—"

Then something happens that I can't explain. That I don't understand.

The wolf turns into a man. Bones popping, skin shifting, fur receding. It happens slowly, but all at once. I blink, trying to reconcile what I've just seen with the reality I know exists.

Facts dictate that a wolf can't turn into a human. Facts dictate that what I just witnessed is physically impossible.

A car pulls into the driveway, and I hear Linnea shouting something, but I can't make it out. It sounds like she's miles away from me, even though I can see her kneeling right here, next to me.

Next to Percy.

I feel a foreign, indescribable pull low in my belly when I recognize him. Almost as though I should be the one on my knees, my hand on his back, yelling for help and telling Aris, who's running up the porch steps, to call for a nurse.

I'm a nurse, I register, blinking at all of them. It feels like my ears are full of cotton.

I see Aris's lips moving, his eyes looking at me with concern, then the wooden slats of the porch moving closer to me, and I feel Aris's arms catch me just before everything goes black.