Kindling the Darkness by Jane Kindred

Author:Jane Kindred
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-05-07T17:32:57+00:00

Chapter 16

Her enhanced vision fading with the adrenaline surge, Lucy felt around in the dirt for her goggles. Oliver was slumped against the passage wall with his own goggles askew, looking dazed, and the young wolf lay motionless beside him.

Lucy crouched and felt for the wolf’s pulse at its throat. It was weak, but it was there. She could see the movement of its narrow chest now, rising and falling shallowly.

“Oliver.” Lucy shook him. “We need to get out of here. Colt needs help.”

Oliver breathed in suddenly as if surfacing from underwater and opened his eyes wide. “What happened? Where’s Colt?”

“He’s right next to you.”

He turned and checked the wolf as she had. “I think I hit him with a dart.” He rubbed his chest absently and grimaced. “But I think the wolf got in a good blow, too, before he went down.”

Lucy moved her hand over the softly panting body and felt something wet and sticky matting in the fur at the side of his rib cage.

She nodded. “It doesn’t look like he’s losing a lot of blood, but it definitely swiped him pretty deep.”

Oliver got to his feet, straightening his goggles, and lifted the wolf in his arms. “We’ll take him to my place. I’ve got supplies there.”

“Yeah, I remember.”

Lucy gathered up the rest of the weapons and followed Oliver back out through the mine shaft to the surface. Cold rain was drizzling over Cleopatra Hill when they emerged, and the dust on their clothes had turned to mud by the time they reached the truck.

“I’ll drive,” she insisted. “You took a pretty good blow to the head.” She glanced at him as he laid the wolf on the seat and climbed in. “I’m honestly not sure how you’re conscious right now.”

“I have a very strong constitution.” It was nonsense. He had something far more than a strong constitution. Only something inhuman could have gotten up and walked away from a blow like that. As something inhuman herself on occasion, she ought to know. For the time being, Lucy kept it to herself. She was still trying to figure out how the hell beast had looked like Oliver. And how it had disappeared.

“It’s strange,” said Oliver, echoing her thoughts as she drove toward his place. “I could have sworn you were going after Colt. I mean, I saw Colt. I didn’t see anything else until the wolf jumped me.”

“I didn’t see Colt until he came to my rescue. And I honestly don’t believe he was there, except hiding in the side tunnel.”

“You’re saying I imagined I was seeing him the whole time.”

“And maybe I imagined I was seeing a large wolf creature. Because we were both seeing what it wanted us to see.” Lucy glanced at him. “I also saw you.”

“What do you mean, you saw me? What did I do?” He grimaced. “Besides get in your way.”

“I mean the hell beast, when it got mad, after we’d finally slowed it down. It looked like you when it spoke to me.

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