Dark Reckoning: The Dark Creatures Saga - Book 5 by Stone Ella

Author:Stone, Ella
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-02-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Five

I want time to stop or, better still, rewind, but my feet keep moving me forwards.

Chrissie was the first person I spoke to when I arrived at North Pack. She welcomed me and showed me where I would be staying. Later, she was the first person I went on a run with. She was the one Calin contacted when I was desperately in need of help. She and Lou were there for every stage of my progress as a wolf, and I thought they always would be. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine this.

At first, she doesn’t notice the body. The late-afternoon sun is blinding her and she's trying to make out who's walking towards her. When she finally does see us, there’s only one person she has eyes for.

“Art?” she shouts, breaking into a run, then stopping short a few metres from us. “Arthur, I can’t believe it. You’re here!”

She lifts a hand to her mouth, shaking her head in disbelief, before moving forwards again. Only then does she zero in on the bundle in his arms. Even with Rey's lightening spell, I can’t imagine how tired he must be, how much his arms must ache. But he never asked for a break or let one of us take her for a while, even when we met up with George and the others. But the physical and mental burden is finally too great for him, and he sinks to his knees, pulling Lou closer to his chest to stop her from hitting the ground.

Chrissie doesn't move. Trembling deepens to a shudder that spreads to every part of her. The blood has drained from her face.

“No. No. Not my Lou. It can’t be. Not my baby girl.”

She runs to Art and pulls frantically at the sheet, until her daughter's face is revealed. Only it doesn’t look like Lou anymore. It looks like a wax replica of her.

Chrissie brushes her daughter’s hair from her face, strokes her cheeks and kisses her forehead, nose and lips. I shouldn’t look, but I can’t turn away. We're all silent, holding our breath, as if that could somehow stop this from happening.

Then she starts to wail.

“Naz.” I feel a gentle touch on my elbow and turn to see Rey at my side. “We should leave them.”

“I … I …”

I want to go, but I can’t just leave them like this. Not after everything Chrissie and Lou did for me.

I bend down to Chrissie and Art. Lou’s lips, that in life never stopped moving, still have that gentle smile on them that I know so well.

Chrissie’s wails are unrelenting.

“Chrissie, I’m so sorry, so very sorry. If there’s anything I can do.”

Her head snaps up and she springs to her feet. When Esther died on my watch, she spoke to me with compassion and told me that Esther knew what she'd signed up for, that I shouldn’t feel guilty for what had happened. But the person staring me down right now is someone I don’t even recognise.

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