Feral Obsession

Chapter Nine

Ruby sat staring at her computer screen for far too long. A frown marred her face as she read the headline: Rabid Wolves Take Over The City. Her eyes scanned the first paragraph, her eyes getting stuck on the number listed there. Five separate occurrences over the span of a month. Five. Her mouth felt dry as she clicked open a new tab.

Ruby typed into the search engine, rabid wolves. She waited patiently for it to load, then clicked on the first Wikipedia link. There wasn't much there, except the glaring fact that rabid wolves were rare occurrences in North America.

She sat back in her chair. Rare, but we've had five? In a city? She couldn't wrap her head around it. She clicked on a few other links, but nothing gave up the sort of information she was seeking. She demanded more answers, starting with where these wolves had come from in the first place.

And another thing: how was Atlas and Brody involved? It was twice now that Atlas had saved her during an attack. And she had the sinking feeling he had been at all five instances. She went back to the web browser and searched local animal control. She clicked on the link bringing her to the local animal control office in her county. She wrote down the address on a notepad and slipped it into her bag.

She checked her watch. She only had a few more hours of work, and this was highly unlike her, but the animal control office closed at the same time as her own business. And Ruby felt the sudden and inexplicable urge to go check them out.

She pulled her bag over her shoulder and stepped out of her cubicle and headed to her boss's office. This is unlike you, she reminded herself, but it was no use.

Ruby knocked on the office door and stuck her head in. Her boss smiled up at her, typing away at her own computer. "Ruby! How can I help?"

"I'm meeting a client to go over their business meeting I've been organizing. We've finally booked the venue, thank goodness. I just wanted to check in to let you know."

Her boss waved her hand in a dismissive motion. "Have fun! That's what event planning is all about, right? I'm glad you're settling in well here."

Ruby didn't stick around long to chat, worried her own guilt over the lie would catch up to her. She was half worried she'd admit to lying if her boss kept smiling at her. A wide, trusting smile. Ruby closed her eyes to quell the guilt, and then she left the office.

The animal control office was a little out of the way, and not a quick walk. Ruby spent the entirety of the thirty minutes thinking about how strange it was that these wolves had suddenly appeared in her city. And rabid. How were they coming down with rabies?

And, the question Ruby had been ignoring the most was, how did that wolf get into the rink? And what happened to that man in the bathroom?

It had her mind spinning. That wolf had no business being inside that rink. It made absolutely no sense, and yet...

Ruby shook her head. She would have to do more research later. Perhaps a back door to the rink had been propped open. Perhaps the wolf had wandered in through an open door, ignored by employees enough that it had reached the crowd of people.

Ruby rubbed the back of her neck, feeling only a little relieved when she saw the front door for the animal control office. It was a lone building, standing a little back from the main street. When she opened the front door, a bell chimed above her head.

Someone was at the front desk. They looked up at her in surprise, a question clear in their expression. "Hello there. How can I help you?"

Ruby took in the sight of the office. It was small in the front room, and Ruby assumed that the doors behind the front desk led to where the real operation took place when the workers caught wild animals. She felt suddenly nervous as she approached the woman.