Chapter seven

I soon fell into the routine. Feeding in the mornings, cleaning up pens that needed an extra hand, and tour duty. I put my ten cents in anywhere they needed me. Each day was a bit different, I would feed different animals or clean different pens, or get different questions during tours. But the one thing that never changed, was Alastor. According to the manager, I was on Alpha duty. I was the one to feed him every meal. It was kinda an inside joke around here. I was the Alpha's little pet.

"Hey Dan," Kari came around the corner while I was fixing up Alastor's lunch. "Good to see he hasn't ripped you apart yet." She patted my back. Some other staff members that were working on the females' lunches decided to eavesdrop.

"More like got her pregnant. You see the way he looks at her? Plus, he won't even consider touching any of our females anymore." Brett commented while laughing with the other coworkers. Stupid Brett. I mumbled under my breath and decided to ignore them. I was actually growing fond of the huge beast. I was curious about him. Why he is acting the way he does with me. Just like every other meal, Alastor was laying in front of the feeding pen door. I pulled out my notebook. I started jotting down things I found interesting. I watched as one of the female wolves trotted up to him. According to some other people, this she-wolf, in particular, used to be his favorite. All the pups were hers. But he growled at her, making her scamper off. I made sure to write that down. I dumped the meat on the plate and opened the hatch. He walked in quickly and I closed it behind him.

"Hey Alastor, how are we?" I asked, his blue eyes stared back at me.

"I can't imagine how boring it is for you. Staying in the same enclosure." As if to back up my statement, I swore his eyes rolled. I jotted that down in my book while sliding down the wall to my butt. He silently began to eat. I started doing some work while he ate. Looking over old records and some more detailed instructions about Alastor. In the old schedules, it only took him two minutes to finish his meal. Nowadays it takes him ten. I wonder why that is. I looked up at him as if he could answer my question. And in a way he did. He was eating extremely slow. Pausing to stare at me in between each bite. I wrote that down as well. Our relationship from Monday to Friday was so much different. Monday I was terrified of him, today I only wanted to learn more. I opened his record and cringed. The first photo I saw was of him being tied down with chains. He was squished down by the metal into the bed of a truck. He had a huge muzzle on and his mouth seemed to be covered in blood. I flipped to the next photo and cringed even more. There was a photo of some guy's arm, ripped open from top to bottom. The man's tattoos were ruined, that was for sure. I began to read the report.

"Some poachers shot him and thought he was dead. They went to collect him but he was surprisingly still alive and attacked one of them. The other poachers shot him six more times and he passed out. They had to call the ambulance for their friend. Animal control, police, and the ambulance were at the scene. They took Alastor and were planning on putting him out of his misery but he had already recovered by the time they reached the facility. They ran some tests on him and his results were like no other. The bullet shells were still embedded in his chest and shoulder but the entryways had healed and scared over in mere minutes. He ran at a temperature that should have labeled him dead. His blood test showed different genes than normal wolves. They titled him one of a kind and demanded he be held in captivity for his safety. All the poachers were placed in jail, the attacked one died from loss of blood."

I ran my fingers over the bold text. I re-read it over and over again, trying to find some sense in the words. He had been shot a total of seven times and he was fine? Another photo showed his bullet wounds. Four in the chest and three in the shoulder. How had he not died? These scars looked years old. How had he healed in a matter of minutes? I wrote some notes in my book. I hadn't realized how long I was sitting there. Alastor barked at me softly, causing me to look up. He was finished eating, the occasional scraps of food here and there were all that was left.

"Oh sorry," I stood up quickly. "You've been through some shit," I said in disbelief. I looked at the chunks of meat left and looked back at him. He was looking away from me.

"Alastor?" I drew out his name. He sheepishly looked back at me, his ears pressed to the back of his head.

"Listen, I know you don't like it...but you've got to eat the medicine." He huffed and picked up the piece of meat with his medicine in it.

"Good job," He went right back into his enclosure when I opened the door. "I'll see you at dinner!" I yelled through the door. He barked back over his shoulder. I never knew an animal could be so expressive. I cleaned up the food plate and walked off, writing in my notebook as I did.

"James. Tour Duty." Kari called. I didn't look around for her and just ran up top. I placed my notebook in my pocket before lifting myself up on a small podium.

"Tour in five! Tour in five!" I began to chant. People circled around me, and before I knew it I had a small crowd.

"Howdy guys! I'm Dan and I'm gonna be your tour guide today! Let's start in the Avery, shall we? Remember, photos are allowed just please, no flash. If you have any questions, raise your hand and I'll get to you as soon as possible." We walked into the huge bird room, people took photos and I answered questions. Some people had a hawk placed on their hands.

"This here is a Red-Shouldered Hawk, did you know that they eat mammals and can eat something as big as a rabbit!" We continued over to the insect part of the zoo. A group of teenage girls squealed as they held a tarantula.

"That there is a red knee tarantula. They are one of the most docile breeds of tarantula but their bite is equivalent to a bee or wasp sting." The tour continued, we pit stopped at every animal. I was falling in love with this job more and more every day. But, every tour came to an end. Each one ended with the wolves.

"What we have here is our pack of gray wolfs," I looked down quickly, searching for Alastor. When I found him sitting directly in the middle, I smiled. "That there is our Alpha wolf, his name is Alastor." Like usually, someone asked what his name meant. I didn't like that his name meant tormentor. It didn't fit him. At least not to me, maybe to others.

"Wolves use howling to communicate with each other, and trust me when I say it gives you goosebumps." I nodded at Alastor, and just like we planned he started howling. It echoed off everything. It was a deep hollow sound. The females backed up their Alpha and howled with him, but you couldn't hear them over him. The group gasped in surprise and took plenty of photos and videos. I winked at Alastor, and it almost looked like he winked back. I'll have to write that down later.

"All right, I hope you folks enjoyed the tour! My name is Danny, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact us using our email, phone number, or you can visit our customer service desk. Thank ya'll for being an amazing group." The crowd dispersed and I started jotting things down in my notebook. The day continued and I did two more tours before dinner.

"Alastor, nice job on the howling buddy." He smiled at me as if he enjoyed to compliment. I heard the lions starting up their nightly roaring. Perfect timing. I poured his dinner into the food tray and he dug in.

"Hey, tomorrow is my day off. Promise me you'll still eat tomorrow?" I squatted in front of the fencing. I was told that he wouldn't like me being so close while he ate, but he doesn't seem to mind it. His eyes squinted at me.

"You can't not eat man." I crisscrossed apple sauced. He huffed and continued eating. As if to ignore me.

"And you have to eat your medicine." I raised a brow at him but he didn't look up at me. My eyes rolled before I pulled out my notebook. I turned to a new page and my hand started to sketch. Before I knew it, I had drawn Alastor. He was bent over his food like he is now.

"Huh, okay then." I shut it quickly, but his curiosity had already gotten the best of him. When I looked up at him, his face was pressed up against the fence and he was trying to see my book. I waved my finger back and forth at him.

"Ah ah ah, no sir." He let out a small whimper but continued eating. My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was Lucas. I quickly looked around, but no one was in sight.

"Hey, what's up?" I answered. Alastor looked up, curiosity in his eyes. I swear, he was like a human.

"Hey! You answered," I chuckled and stood up, leaning against the wall. " I was just checking in if we were still on for tomorrow?" I smiled softly.

"I'm at work." I retort.

"Still? It's eight." I rolled my eyes and started playing with my hair.

"Yep, and about tomorrow...I don't see why not." I heard him celebrating on the other end.

"Great, it's a date." My face heated up.

"I have to go back to work, bye." I hung up before he got the chance to say goodbye.

"Sorry about th-" I went to apologize to Alastor, but I froze. For the first time, he looked angry. His muzzle was scrunched up and his fur was raised.

"Alastor?" He growled before turning and running out of the feeding pen. What was up with him? Was the medicine not working? He ate every bit of his food today, even the piece with the medicine in it. I scratched my head in confusion but shrugged it off. My shift was ending, all I had to do left was clean the feeding plate. Then, just like that my shift was over. Usually, I swung by the wolf pen upstairs to say bye to Alastor. But he wasn't out today. I wrote that down. Why was he suddenly acting so strange? But that was the last thing on my mind, I was concerned about what to wear tomorrow. 

I ate dinner with the family and took a quick shower, I got through the whole night without anyone asking what my plans were for tomorrow. But I was scared of what hell Eliza would unleash. But I fell asleep with Daisy in a matter of seconds. Exhaustion was merciless tonight.