Page 114 of Dark Shadow of Guilt

Freki whistled. “Pile on, runts.” He stretched across Maddy’s calves, the young wolvers also taking positions on her legs.

She inched forward, her upper body stretching farther over the cliff. “A little more.” She wiggled until her fingers touched fur. Taking her eyes off the pup, she stared down. A fucking long fall. But she squirmed nearer, hoping a pile of wolvers could keep her from falling.

Finally, she grabbed a chunk of fur and a bit of skin. Maneuvering backward, she cleared the edge, pup in hand.

Maddy rolled into a seated position. Bolt didn’t move, his body lifeless. The other pups whined while Freki used his snout to nudge the injured juvenile wolver.

Nothing.

Freki’s sad gaze met hers. He howled, his cry plaintiff rolling through the air.

When she cradled Bolt to her chest, a tear fell from her eye and landed on his golden fur. Her hands heated, and the warmth passed to the small, broken creature.

She thought,If only...

Bolt stirred. He shuddered. When Maddy opened her hands, he jumped from her grasp, jacked onto four legs, and shook, ruffling his fur. The pup dropped to the ground and curled into a ball beside her as she stroked his back to the sound of his soft whimpers.

Maddy’s gaze locked on Freki, who said, “What the fuck just happened?”

“I don’t know.”

She continued to pet Bolt. “My blood got very hot. Then the heat seemed to travel to my fingers and into Bolt.”

Freki blinked. “Pretend I’m scratching my head because what you said is crazy.”

At home, birds hit glass windows all the time. Stunned for a time being, they sometimes awakened and flew away. Surely, that’s what occurred in this case. Nonetheless, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something more significant had happened.

“Maybe Bolt was just stunned from the fall.” She gave words to her thoughts.

Freki’s snout bobbed up and down as if he agreed. But slowly he changed direction, shaking his head. “He was dead, Maddy.” He said to Bolt, “How ya doing, champ?”

The pup yipped. Off he scampered to play with the others, careful to stay away from the edge of the cliff and slightly wobbly on his feet.

Maddy chewed her lower lip. “Do you think Dom can explain all this?”

“Sometimes he’s smarter than he looks.”

Despite her worry, she chuckled, stroking a hand over Freki’s head. “You love him. Admit it.”

“I tolerate him.”

That was all she’d get from Freki. She returned to puzzling the strange occurrence. Her blood had heated, warmth flowing through her and into the animal.

Impossible.

How could she use that word after everything she’d been through in OneWorld?

Pushing to her feet, she waved as Freki disappeared with his charges. She strolled across the yard to the gardens where flowers thrived in the morning sun. She bent forward to smell one that looked like a daisy, albeit blue and huge.

Maddy touched the bloom and drew in the fragrant scent. When her blood cooled, frost spread to her fingertips. She gasped as she stared at the flower. Shocked, she moved from plant to plant, getting the same result each time.

As a test, she cradled a bloom in her palm and allowed warmth to travel into it. The desiccated flower sprang to life, as sweet-smelling as a moment before. She experimented again and again. Cold. Heat. Dying. Living.

Oh, shit.

****

Dom called out, “Hey,” when Maddy didn’t answer to her name. She was focused on some bush in the garden.

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