sincerity as I can despite the dread filling me.
My eyes lock onto the spot where we would stand together to pledge our lives to one another, and bile rises in my throat as my sister’s image appears there instead.
Not again.
I freeze at the sight of a second apparition today.
She’s wearing a wedding gown and veil… and holding a beating heart in her hand. Blood runs down her arms and her mouth is open in a wide scream, but no sound emerges.
I close my eyes, shaking my head, but when I open them she’s still there. I wrap my arms around my chest and try not to cry out. I can’t make a scene. Corbin wouldn’t understand.
“Celeste?” Corbin asks, putting a hand on my lower back, and I inadvertently flinch away from his touch.
“What’s going on?” he asks, clearly losing patience with me.
But I can’t speak. I can only watch as my sister brings the beating heart to her mouth and takes a bite out of it.
There’s a scream, and I think it’s coming from me, but then I realize my jaw is still clenched shut, and Estelle is still silent.
I turn and see Dr. Schmidt has screamed as two larger than normal brown wolves stalk towards her, their teeth bared in a growl.
Corbin’s eyes widen when he realizes what’s happening. “Why are these beasts out?” he shouts at the doctor, who looks much less capable of handling this than I would assume given her work here.
Instead of offering an answer, or a solution, she merely shrinks away from the enormous beasts. But the wolves aren’t looking at her.
The wolves lock their gazes on me, and when I look into their deep green eyes, I feel like I’m falling into an abyss from which there will be no return.
They both leap forward, running past the doctor and head straight toward me. But rather than feel afraid, I want to cry from relief, though I can’t possibly defend this emotion.
I bend down, feeling as if I’ve lost my mind as I open my arms to the wolves, welcoming them as I would a long-lost friend.
Before the wolves reach me, Corbin sticks his hand into his coat pocket and pulls out a gun.
A gun I didn’t know he even had, let alone carried around with him.
“What the hell?”
“Don’t shoot them!” I scream, dropping to my knees and draping an arm around each of them. Their fur is thick and soft, and I realize in that moment I would do anything to save them. Even put myself between them and the man I’m supposed to love.
“Celeste, move,” Corbin snaps angrily. “Now,” he adds when I don’t comply.
But I remain huddled close to the wolves. They press in close to me too, their rough tongues licking my hands and arms as if they’re just as overcome with this reunion. I look into their eyes and am struck by the awareness in them. As if they know exactly what’s happening. And exactly what could happen if Corbin fires that gun.
Not far away, Dr. Schmidt is on her phone, and a moment later two big men show up with giant nets and stun guns.
“Don’t hurt them,” the doctor shouts. “We need them.”
I keep my body positioned to protect the wolves. “Don’t do this. They aren’t dangerous,” I say, my body rigid with tension.
Corbin looks furious, but he hesitates, his finger hovering over the trigger.
“These men are only going to take them back to their cages,” Corbin says.
Anger flashes in his eyes and I know he’s furious at my display, but I don’t care. All that matters is the wolves’ safety.
Behind Corbin, the two men with nets approach cautiously, and I look down at the wolves. “Go with them,” I say. “You’ll be safe.”
I have no idea if that’s true, but I desperately want it to be. When the wolves don’t move from my side, I nudge them. “Go, before they hurt you. Please.” My voice cracks with emotion, and one of them whines and pushes his wet nose against my hand. “It’s going to be okay,” I whisper.
Reluctantly, the wolves walk over to the men and return to their sanctuary without incident. The doctor’s jaw drops in astonishment. The two men look just as stunned.
Corbin looks ready to kill. I’ve never seen such a murderous glint in his eyes and it’s terrifying. But at least the wolves are safe.
When the wolves are out sight, I release my breath, but a moment later, their howls fill the night