Page 33
Story: Grave Matter
“She had a fall,” Kincaid says. “Nothing to worry about. The moss can be slippery.”
He grabs my elbows, ready to pull me up, and I give him an incredulous look. Why isn’t he telling them the truth?
His eyes narrow slightly as he tugs me to my feet.
A warning to keep my mouth shut.
“We should head back now, make sure she’s alright,” Kincaid says to the others, putting a hand at my lower back and guiding me forward.
“Shit. Sydney, you sounded like you were being murdered,” Rav says as I pass him.
I give him a faint smile. I want nothing more than to tell him I saw an undead wolf, but I’m realizing that might make me seem crazy. Even a normal wolf might be enough to worry and panic the others.
Still, I don’t feel good about keeping it inside, and I know I’ll have to talk to Kincaid about it later.
We’re halfway through the forest when I realize something.
The only person who didn’t come running was Clayton.
“It’s bruising, but it didn’t break the skin,” Everly says calmly as she handles my arm, cleaning it with solution. “Still, I think I’ll have to give you a tetanus and rabies shot just in case. Then a series of shots over the next couple of weeks.”
“Do you have to?” I ask.
I’m sitting in the nurse’s room, which is beside reception in the main lodge. The room is only accessed through reception, which meant a lot of Michelle fussing over me as they led me in here.
Kincaid is here with Everly, leaning back against the door with his arms crossed, as if he’s barricading it. His expression is serious, his brows lowered, creating shadows over his eyes, his mouth firm.
“Better to be safe than sorry,” Everly says, giving me a sympathetic smile. “It sounds like the wolf was rabid, and we can’t take that chance. Rabies is fatal once the signs show, and the last thing we need here is…well,that.”
The wolf wasn’t just rabid, it was dead!I’m screaming inside to tell her the truth. But I don’t want Everly to think I’m losing my mind, even though I know what I saw. Kincaid is already looking at me like I need to be in a psych ward.
She walks over to the cupboard and starts pulling out a few syringes. I can’t look, turning my attention to the posters on the wall, one of which readsDo You Know the Signs of Mushroom Poisoning?
“Can you roll up your sleeve?” she asks.
The arms of my sweater are fairly tight. “No.”
“Please remove it, then.”
“I’m not wearing anything underneath.”
“That’s fine,” Everly says patiently.
I look over at Kincaid as if to say,but he’s standing right there.
But he doesn’t look away, doesn’t protest and say it’s inappropriate like I thought he would.
I meet Everly’s eyes again, and she smiles faintly. “We’re all adults here, Syd. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before.”
I gulp. I suppose she’s right. At least I’m wearing a bra, albeit a cheap black one from Target.
I pull my sweater off over my head, feeling utterly self-conscious. I can feel Kincaid’s gaze burning my skin, visceral and real, and I don’t have to look at him to know that he’s staring at my breasts.
I swallow hard, feeling both on display and vulnerable yet desired at the same time, and I force myself to close my eyes as Everly wipes my upper arm with a sanitizing pad.
“This shouldn’t hurt much,” she says.
I wince as the needle breaks the skin, grinding my teeth together. I hate that I have such a low pain tolerance.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33 (Reading here)
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143