#1 The Rise of the Crescent Moon

Josephine

I woke up on the floor of my living room. I looked up at the couch, dazed as to how I got here. Grumbling, I wrestled with the blanket and stood up, assuming I must have rolled off the sofa at some point in the middle of the night.

I was up half the night, waiting for August to call me. It was after midnight when he finally did, apologizing profusely for taking so long. He said it seemed like a large pack of rogues had infiltrated their borders, they tracked their scent for miles, coming up empty.

I looked at my phone and noticed that it was 7:00am and I had an email from Dr. Grace. She was confirming our meeting for this morning at 9:00. I typed up a quick response and drug myself across the living room. I was still living out of my suitcase. I couldn’t bring myself to sleep in any of the beds and my bedroom was still stocked with the clothes of a 14 year old. I figured Jared could bring some of my stuff once he visited and I could go shopping in the meantime.

I tugged on a pair of navy blue leggings and a long, mustard yellow sweater that reached my butt. I yanked my thick socks up over my pant leg and stepped into my brown boots. I flicked on the light to the downstairs bathroom.

I stared at myself in the mirror for a minute before I started putting myself together. My red hair was a fuzzy disaster. The hard water from the well at the cabin was not treating me well and neither was sleeping on the sofa. I attempted to control it with a comb and defrizzing spray with no avail. I caved and plugged in my straightener.

After an hour my hair was tamed and my teeth brushed, and I was walking out of the cabin with a coffee in one hand and my car keys in the other. I saw a pair of yellow eyes staring at me from the forest edge and I waved. Dru’s wolf, Ace, stepped forward and nodded his head at me; Shaw flanked him.

“There’s breakfast inside, the door’s unlocked.” I called out. Shaw huffed and I knew he was predicting August’s disapproval,

“Don’t worry about your Alpha, he’s my puppy.” I grinned and I could see the laughter in their eyes. I skipped down the steps and into my car. I pulled out of the driveway just as my phone began to ring. I laughed at the name on my screen.

“Hello, Alpha.” I sang.

“Did you just call me a puppy to my patrol?” August tried to sound serious, but I could tell he wasn’t really mad.

“Tattle tales.” I grumbled.

“You shouldn’t leave your door unlocked, Jo.” He sighed.

“Either your patrol is so good that I can leave my door unlocked when they’re around or they’re so bad that I’m better off without them.” I challenged him. He took a minute to respond,

“Fine. But, there shouldn’t be any other wolves in my unmarked mate’s house.” He growled.

“Relax, August. I’m leaving, I’m not even going to be there. They need to eat. Don’t think I don’t notice how long their shift lasts. You either let me feed them or you cut their patrol short.” More silence.

“You are impossible.” I could almost see the smirk on his face.

“You picked me.” I shrugged as I drove towards town.

“Thank the Goddess for that.” August’s voice got low and husky.

“And where is my beautiful mate heading off to this morning?” He asked.

“The hospital to meet with Dr. Grace.”

“Drive safe my love. Can I call you later?” He was so sweet to ask.

“Of course.” I responded.

“Talk to you later then.”

“Talk to you later.” I ended the call and dropped my phone in my bag. It wasn’t a bad drive into town. The hospital was on the edge of Little Compton and the cabin was on the edge of Black Hallows. A good 20 minutes later and I was pulling into the hospital parking lot.

“Good morning, Dr. Taylor!” A lady I remembered to be Maxine greeted me in the lobby.

“Good morning and, please, call me Josie.” I smiled.

“Alright then, Josie, I’m going to take you to Dr. Grace’s office.” I nodded and followed Maxine to the emergency department. The ED was bustling with activity this morning,

“Busy day.” I commented. Maxine nodded,

“Unusually busy, I would say.” I noticed lots of people with torn clothing and bloody extremities and wondering if there was a mass trauma. I didn’t give it another thought as Maxine knocked on Dr. Grace’s door.

“Dr. Taylor! It’s so good to see you again.” Dr. Grace grinned, shaking my hand. I sat at the chair across the desk from Dr. Grace,

“Please, Dr. Grace, call me Josie.” I wasn’t one for formalities.

“Then you must call me Sheila.” I nodded eagerly as Sheila dove into the details of my job offer. I was more than appreciative of the salary offer and research grant. Sheila also promised me my own office and schedule flexibility. She slid over a contract and asked if I wanted time to review it.

“I’m completely sold, Dr….Sheila. I don’t need any more time.” She grinned widely, handing me a pen. As I signed on the dotted line, I confessed to Sheila:

“I should tell you that I grew up here.” I looked up from the paper. Sheila looked surprise,

“I had no idea.”

“I left when I was 14 after my parents died. I lived in Black Hallows,” I paused to see if she would react. Some of the families who’ve been here for generations knew, or at least knew of the legend, of the werewolves of Black Hallows. Sheila didn’t even blink.

“So, it’s not a hard choice to move here. I already have a house.” I shrugged casually.

“I’m so sorry to hear about your parents, Josie, but I’m thrilled that you are already comfortable in our little town.” She replied. I pushed the contract back to her and clicked the pen shut.

“If you aren’t busy, we can get you to HR now and settle all the paperwork and get your ID badge. When would you be ready to start?” I thought about all the adjustments I had to make over the last two days and all the adjustments that were yet to come. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to just jump in but I also knew that working helped me stay focused while distracting me from my problems.

“How about later next week?” I said suddenly.

“Wednesday?” Sheila asked. I nodded, that gave me a week to settle in.

“Perfect!” I agreed and headed up to HR. It took about an hour to get all my paperwork finished and my ID photo taken. They were able to give me my badge and a couple sets of scrubs before I prepared to leave for the day. I only knew one way out of this maze of a hospital and that was through the ER. I nearly got ran over by an ambulance crew transporting a mutilated body through the ER.

“Nurse Kennedy! What’s going on?” I waved down the administrative nurse I met before my interview. Her eyes were frazzled and her scrubs were already a mess even though it was still early in the morning.

“We’ve been getting victims of animal attacks all morning.” Nurse Kennedy said.

“Animal attacks?” I asked, observing the patients scattered around the ER.

“It’s very unusual. Most appear to be from wolves.” Nurse Kennedy sighed, seeming overwhelmed.

“Do you need some help?” I said suddenly, already shrugging out of my coat. Nurse Kennedy’s eyes went wide,

“Are you sure?”

“I’m not supposed to start until next week but I have my badge and some scrubs if you’re willing to give me privileges for the day.” I shrugged.

“Absolutely, yes!” She waved down one of the nurses,

“Ryan, show Dr. Taylor to the doctor’s lounge.” The male nurse nodded and let me down a series of hallways.

“Can you wait a minute while I change? I’m not sure I can find my way back.” I laughed from inside the door to the doctor’s lounge.

“Sure thing.” Nurse Ryan said. I quickly changed into scrubs in the bathroom, throwing my hair up into a high ponytail, before securing my bag in one of the lockers.

“Ready to go.” I told Ryan, already making my way down the hallway. Ryan led us back to the ER in a hurry, eager to get back to work. Nurse Kennedy handed me a tablet and gave me a quick demo on how to use it to access patient information. I borrowed a stethoscope from the hospital supply closet and got to work.

“Hello, I’m Dr. Taylor. Can you tell me what happened?” I asked for the fifteenth time, studying the patient’s obvious leg wound.

“The dog just came out of nowhere and attacked me. Grabbed right onto my leg and wouldn’t let go!” The man was clearly in shock.

“I can see that sir, you’re definitely going to need some stitches. Let’s get him some morphine.” I instructed the nurse while grabbing a suture kit from the medical supply cart nearby. I cleaned the wound and dried it with gauze pads.

“Were you in the woods when this happened?” I asked him as I entered more information into his chart.

“No, I was in my backyard, my freaking yard, a mile or so away from the park.” I looked up at the man in surprise,

“Really?” The man nodded enthusiastically. After a few moments I was able to stitch up his leg and set him up with a prescription for painkillers.

“Help! Help!” A woman screamed, running into the emergency room with a child in her arms. I was the first one to get to her,

“Let’s get him to a bed.” I said urgently, helping the woman to the nearest trauma bed.

“What happened?” I asked her, rolling the boy over to examine him. He had open wounds on his leg and arm along with a pretty gnarly looking head laceration. I yanked my stethoscope from around my neck and listened to the boy’s heart.

“We were playing in the park and this giant dog came out of the trees and attacked my son. He’s only ten!” The woman was yelling at me, clearly terrified.

“Does he have any medical conditions we should know about?” I asked, trying to stay calm.

“No…no.” She stammered. I waved a nurse over to stand with the mother and keep her out of my way.

“Let’s get him set up with some morphine and oxygen. Page neuro to take a look at this head wound.” I told Nurse Ryan who came over to assist.

“Yes, Doctor.” Nurse Ryan said quickly, hooking up the boy’s IV and paging a neurologist to examine his head wound.

“What’s your son’s name?” I asked while covering his wounds with gauze to stop the bleeding.

“Micheal.” She sobbed, gripping his hand for dear life.

“Get me a portal X-ray.” I ordered, hearing decreased breath sounds in his lungs.

“What do we have?” The man who I assumed was the neurologist came over just as the X-rays were up.

“Micheal, age ten, has a head wound and some symptoms consistent with a head injury. I’m also seeing fluid in the left lung.” The neurologist paused, looking at me curiously,

“I’m Dr. Taylor, I’m a new doctor in the emergency department.” I explained.

“I see. Dr. Walter, happy first day.” Dr. Walter smirked.

“Technically my first day is next week.” I shrugged. Dr. Walter laughed before conducting a neuro exam on Micheal.

“Let’s get him a CT to be safe, but I think it’s just a mild concussion. Stitch up his wounds and let me know when the CT results are back.” Dr. Walter said before leaving to deal with another patient.

“Dr. Taylor, this is Dr. Rosco from cardio here about the lung.” Nurse Ryan said as I debreeded the leg wound.

“Yeah, he’s going to need a chest tube.” The cardiologist, Dr. Rosco, observed after looking over the X-ray.

“Up his morphine drip and I’ll send a surgical intern over to place the tube.” Dr. Rosco instructed before hurrying away.

“An intern for a chest tube?” I asked, concerned.

“This is a teaching hospital, we let the interns and residents handle a lot.” Nurse Ryan said as he increased Micheal’s morphine.

“Perfect.” I grumbled, not exactly thrilled with the idea of medical babies inserting a chest tube for a ten year old.

“Let’s get Micheal admitted and set up in a room, he’s going to need time to heal.” I told Nurse Ryan after all of Micheal’s wounds were addressed, adding everything into his chart.

“Yes, Doctor.” I sighed a few hours later, rubbing the back of my neck from where I was leaning up against the nurse’s station.

“Long first day, Dr. Taylor.” Nurse Kennedy approached me.

“Yes, ma’am.” I attempted a half-assed smirk.

“I can’t tell you how much we appreciated your help today,” She gave me a pat on the back,

“Now go home.” I nodded at her and sulked off to the Doctor’s lounge, barely finding my way there. I slowly changed back into my own clothes and tossed the scrubs into the laundry bin. I left my new scrubs in the locker, claiming it as mine, before exiting the emergency department.

I walked out of the lobby and was surprised to see that it was raining, and hard. I glared at the sky and cursed myself for not checking the weather before I left. The chauffeur guy looked over at my from his podium and hustled over with an umbrella,

“Allow me to get your car, Luna.” My head snapped in his direction,

“Excuse me?” I said a bit harsher than I meant to.

“My...my apologies, the Alpha said….” he stammered. I held up my hand,

“It would be lovely if you could get my car, thank you.” I sighed, handing him my keys. The scrawny wolf scurried off into the parking garage.

I grumbled at August, cursing him for telling everyone and their damn uncle about me. I wasn’t ready for random people on the street to be calling me Luna. He returned with my car and held the umbrella over my head to keep me dry.

“Thank you.” I said again as he shut the door and drove back to the cabin.