Aida POV

Argent is literally dragging me out past the back exit of Beta Stone Lodge and into the small wilderness beyond its borders.

I've dreamed of this day for as long as I've been here, being out amongst the wildlife I have envied and painstakingly observed on an expert stalker level through the windows back inside the facility.

I've waited for this day so impatiently. Waited to be granted even a little bit of freedom.

But not like this. Not being pulled along like a small, unwilling child. I'm scared. I'm petrified, actually. But I'm also excited. It's a huge thing for me, being free of the walls that have held my entire existence for eleven whole months.

The anxiety is brewing beneath the surface of my skin, but I can keep it still for now. There's too much going on to let it take over just yet.

Bright lights blind me, and I squint as soon as we're out from under the shade.

I forgot how bright actual sunlight is compared to the unkind fluorescents I've baked under all this time. I want to take it all in. I want to stop and literally smell the flowers! I want to feel the grass under my bare feet and experience a little of my joyous but most likely short-lived freedom before I'm inevitably forced back into solitary for escaping.

Against my will, I might add. Well, almost. If one is to be kidnapped, it should be like this, by a beautiful boy with very questionable sanity and the hottest body I've ever seen. Even through this shirt I can see he's built. I wonder what it's like underneath ...

Back to nature, Aida. Focus. You're being kidnapped, remember?

I continue to be pulled along like a ragdoll, and we pass into the clearing just next to the old ruins of the former institution. There was a fire a few years back, and the remnants are still here in the form of a scattered skeleton of a building.

Dr. Jasper mentioned it once in a session, something about a few patients being trapped and perishing.

Terrible.

Argent hasn't said a word all this time. He's just dragged me after him like a parent on a mission pulling a toddler behind him. And I haven't resisted, either. Argent wears a stone-like resolve in this moment, and he looks a lot like the giant scary man that is his father, so much so that I don't even try to fight him.

What's going through his mind? He seems to be struggling with this decision to make a break for it as much as I am. He seems concerned. Anxious. I know that feeling.

At last, Argent slows his pace and starts to walk slower, still holding my hand. Finally, he stops and lets go.

Thank goodness. I'm small, but I have zero fitness skill. That was the most exercise I've ever done.

My hand feels cold now that he isn't holding it, and I realise the sparks had been firing this entire journey. My hand feels numb from the after affects. I instinctively put my hand to my chest, cradling it with my other one.

Argent stops and turns to face me, placing one of his hands on each of my shoulders as he stares deep into my eyes.

Grey. He has light grey eyes, save for the small blue specks in the centre of his left eye. Weird. Just one eye. Wow. I mean, just wow. He's the most handsome person I've ever seen.

We stand like this, merely staring at each other, for what feels like hours. But in reality, it's probably only been ten minutes. I would happily stay like this all day.

Finally, he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

"Aida," he begins, opening his eyes and matching our gazes once more. "This is going to be something you'll never forget. You will be fearful, and you will want to scream and run, but please know that it is only me. You and me. No matter what happens, please, try not to move. And don't scream too much."

He smiles at me softly, almost in a placating way. It's unnerving yet completely alluring. Argent then moves closer to me, so close I can smell his sweet breath. His lips are almost close enough to graze mine.

I catch my breath as a reflex.

"Trust me," he whispers, and I immediately know shit is about to get real. No one says that and does something simple.

He takes a few steps backwards. That intoxicating smell of cinnamon buns and coffee is back. I would trust anyone who smells like that with my life.

Good thing for him, then, by the sounds of it.

Whatever he's about to do, I can see he's worried. His resolve is beginning to weaken. His face is giving him away ever so slightly.

I really hope he isn't crazy. I feel like this could still be him on the edge of a full-scale breakdown.

It could go either way at this point, but regardless of what happens, this is the most interesting day I've experienced in a long time. Actually, scratch that. This is the most exciting day I've ever had.

So, even if he loses his ridiculously hot mind in a minute, I've had fun. I'll hold on to that thought when I'm being punished later.

I stay glued to my position in the knee-high grass. I have no shoes on, and it feels slightly damp beneath my feet.

Great.

Seconds pass and we stay like this. Me staring at him, him staring at me, not one of us moving a muscle.

I'm about to say something before I see his expression change.

What is that? Fear? No, it's pain mixed with something else. Exhilaration. Anticipation. Before I get a chance to decipher his facial expressions, I notice his body is starting to shake.

It starts in his fingers as a slight tremor and then begins building. It moves further up his arms and into his torso. It shakes his upper body so violently it rocks him backwards on his legs.

The tremor starts to grow, and I take a few steps back , staring wide-eyed.

Argent's body is in complete motion. He looks as though he might be thrown in any direction at any given moment with the force his body is creating.

Suddenly, I see him change position. He's thrown violently on to all fours. A deafening sound comes from his bones as they all seem to crack and break and change shape before my eyes. The sight almost makes me sick. Almost.

He then lets out a low moan, almost a growl.

The writhing continues, and the snapping and scratching sound echoes around the field as the person that once was Argent is now forming a different shape and seems to be growing in size. He's beginning to be covered in some sort of ... fur.

I want to turn away. I want to run. I try to scream, but my open mouth makes no sound. . I can't tear my eyes away.

It's horrific, but it's also thrilling. It's as terrifying as it is irresistible to turn away from.

I also feel like I might be physically sick at some point in the next few minutes.

But more importantly, I feel like I may be dead before that can even happen because the creature is now beginning to get to its feet and stand in front of me in the place where Argent once stood. What was once Argent is now a massive dark brown wolf. The colour of chocolate—no, more like coffee.

It's the size of a lion and yet a wolf.

There's no mistaking this. I have just witnessed something of nightmares. More specifically, my nightmares.

This is what I've seen night after night in my own mind. What I've felt in my dreams as my own body had torn apart at the seams and morphed into my own wolf.

I want to cry out both in fear and anger. Also, at myself. I feel like my mind has just shattered into a million broken pieces.

Neither of us make any movement or sound. We stay like this, staring at each other, the tiny girl and the giant wolf.

My heart is beating so fast that I can't regulate my breath anymore. It's beautiful and terrifying all at the same time. I feel so lost but so at peace. Everything has changed.

The wolf steps a slow, giant paw pad towards me, and I feel myself try to move backwards in retreat, except I can't move. I'm frozen in fear or exhilaration or something else I cannot for the life of me explain. The wolf moves closer still, and I start thinking about things that maybe I should have done before this very possible end of my life.

Maybe I'm actually dreaming or having a delusion about all this right now, or maybe I'm about to actually be eaten by a wolf.

Who would mourn me? No one. Maybe Nurse Esme? Would they talk about me in the nurse's station next week like they did about Jess? How they found parts of my body all over the field? I wish someone could slap me right now. I don't know what reality is and what is delusion anymore.

The final step forward brings the enormous animal right into my face. Interrupting my internal dialogue. It tips its huge head down towards me, and I feel the warm breath on my face.

It seems soft, gentle. The coffee smell overwhelms my senses.

This is surreal.

And it's the strangest thing because I don't feel scared at all. I feel calm.

I muster up all my courage and raise my head slowly. I look into the creature's eyes, and my breath hitches in my chest again. They're a familiar shade of grey. Light grey. Except for the left one which has tiny specks of blue in the centre.

Just like Argent.

He ... it ... is Argent. That really just happened. He was telling the truth.

So where does that leave me?

The wolf, Argent, stays as still as a statue. He lets me touch his face carefully and slowly. I move my hand over his muzzle, and he stands there, looking at me with Argent's eyes. I feel warm tears starting to stream down my face.

The wolf runs off towards the ruined building and behind one of the taller walls.

I can't breathe anymore. I can't hold back the release that is coming.

All these years, all this time, the things in my mind that were breaking me and that everyone said weren't real; these things that they punished me for, shocked me to forget, and locked me up as a result of were all real.

I was never unwell until they told me I was.

Holy shit.

I'm losing control. I'm shaking and crying. I'm a blubbering mess.

Deep down, I knew it. I think I always knew it.

Argent comes out from behind the wall, barely covered, and I don't even have time to stare at his almost naked body before he covers me in an all-consuming embrace.

"Are you okay?" he asks, pain in his voice obvious as he looks down at me, not letting go.

I shake my head.

"You were very brave," he adds. "Most people would have run." He smiles at me, and I see those very same kind eyes looking into mine, searching for a response.

"I'm not most people," I reply. And then, softer, I ask what I've wanted to ask my whole life. "Who and what am I?"

Pulling away from me, he smiles softly and tucks a stray hair behind my ear. "We're going to find out," Argent murmurs confidently.

Best fucking day ever.