Page 48 of Dark Shadow of Guilt

Chapter Thirteen

Afew days later, Madelinewatched Dom take to the air, his black wings disappearing against a dark cloud. He’d said he needed flight time, soaring into the sky as fast as possible. Missing him already but acknowledging her obsession with the guy, she reminded herself she was a Syc.

How much of what she felt for this too-serious Immortal was real?

Maddy stroked a finger across her lips. She’d kissed Dom before he left. And he’d responded. She hadn’t imagined his soft lips, his tongue stroking hers when she opened her mouth to let him in. But suddenly he’d jerked away.

Ouch. Burned.

Dom’s friends had defined Sycophancy. Her actions fit the description. Life had not taught her to deny reality. So, what to do?

She struggled with these new impulses. Sometimes she was successful, and sometimes she wasn’t. She and Dom had traded furtive glances, warm touches, and flirtatious comments. Yet, he didn’t act on any of his obvious urges. And she practiced control of her unnatural response to him.

But as she watched the black-winged assassin turn into a dark dot and disappear in the sky, she clasped a hand over her heart. Her attraction to him was more complicated than Praevus’s tangled wires in her head.

None of her relationships with boyfriends in St. Louis had been long-lasting. The guys had never been a perfect fit. They were nice, nerdy types, pencil pushers, well-educated, quiet men. But Dom, who was powerful enough to crush her with a thought, was not human. He possessed an almost cruel masculinity. Oddly, it appealed to her.

Damn.She was way out of her league.

Now, Maddy could almost tell when she slipped into Syc-think. One sure sign was that she would stumble when reciting parts of the Dewey Decimal Classification System. Another was hazy eyes. Dom had told her about that physical characteristic. So, she visited the mirror often.

She’d begun to think of herself as having dual personalities. Syc and Sane. Two women. When Syc, she scrubbed floors, rewashed clothes in Dom’s closet, and cooked or baked. She avoided falling to her knees to worship at his feet. And her brain was fuzzy.

When Sane, she was clear-headed.

At this moment she was un-muddled. Wanting Dom was real. Her attempt to give him a blowjob the other day, even though it was because of Praevus’s machinations, had triggered feelings for the man—strong desires that manifested whether she was Syc or Sane.

With all the thoughts tumbling through her head, a voice from outside made her jump.

At the bottom of the steps leading to an expansive lawn was a dog.No. Too big. A wolf. His thick brown fur was streaked with golden highlights in the fading light. Madeline stared, hoping Dom’s wards kept out feral animals.

The animal cocked his head to the side. “Who are you?” he asked, his ears stiff points.

Maddy’s mouth dropped. Instead of backing away, she inched closer, wrapping an arm around a marble column. “You’re talking. I didn’t imagine it.”

“Of course I am. Do you think I’m stupid?”

She shook her head. Slowly to the left. Right. “No.” Unlike some zoologists who wrote about the behavior of animals, she believed they exhibited thought. But she never believed they could talk. They didn’t have the correct anatomical parts. Yet this wolf was speaking.

“Again. Who are you? I hate repeating myself.” His ears flattened to his head.

“Madeline.”

“Could you be a bit more forthcoming, Madeline? I am hungry.”

As his ears flicked up and down, she said, “Where I come from, wolves don’t talk.”

“Which is where?” He lowered his head, his bright golden eyes fixed on her.

“Earth.”

“That explains your odd behavior.” He loped up the steps and into the salon, his long, fluffy tale twitching. A foot away from her, he lowered onto his haunches. “I’m a wolver. A prototype for your wolves. The OneCreator made my kind but left out the good parts when he sprinkled similar beings across your Earth.”

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