SEVENTY THREE

Alisha’s POV:

I smiled wanly at the woman who thanked me profusely, leading her child gently away. He had come in along with two other young pups with broken arms. Apparently they had been playing rough as children were wont to do. I enjoyed this part of working in the clinic - seeing grateful patients leave feeling a lot better made me filled with accomplishment and satisfaction after working.

However the satisfaction and accomplishment didn’t happen this time. Instead all I could do was let out a weary sigh and return to jotting down the appointment dates.

I knew what I was doing - I was using work as a crutch for the problems in my life. The issues I had wouldn’t go away. So far I had been able to manage and hide the effects of my many nightmares from Derek and Melissa. Derek had been busy these days with a lot of pack duties so it wasn’t hard. Melissa had been the hardest to convince and I had heard from Simon that she had asked numerous questions of him about my well-being.

Day a