Cold Mercy (Northern Wolves) Read Online Free PDF Page B

the right hand corner of the screen and behind it, blurred in the distance along the far line of trees in Kennedy’s back yard, was a white wolf.
    “Shit.” Eden leaned in closer. It was hard to tell in the picture, sometimes a good photograph could throw off visual perception, but the wolf looked huge. Bigger than any real wolf. Her head jerked up.
    “You didn’t imagine it,” Kennedy said. “Believe me. And, when I saw this on my screen I dashed out to have a look myself.”
    “Dee,” she started but her friend waved her off.
    “It was gone by the time I got my feet in my boots. But,” she said and leaned over the table, her voice dropping into an almost conspiratorial whisper, “there weren’t any tracks. You could still see where I’d had taken the snowmobile out yesterday. But the wolf? Not even a dent in the snow where it would have stood.”
    Eden leaned back in her chair. This, this sounded insane. Crazy. A wolf the size of a bear would leave footprints behind. Eden felt her shoulders slump. “Maybe it was a trick of the camera?”
    “Don’t you dare!” Kennedy jabbed a finger at Eden’s coat. She’d had to toss the one shredded from the other day and was wearing one of her older ones, but Dee pointed right where the tears had been. “That wasn’t some figment of your imagination. And I’m a damn good photographer.”
    She was. And her friend hadn’t doubted her. No matter how unbelievable it was. Eden bit her lip. “So what? It’s some damn ghost?”
    Except, even if she believed in ghosts, they couldn’t shred her coat like that.
    Kennedy shrugged. “Maybe it’s really light on its feet? Maybe it’s magic?”
    Eden rolled her eyes at the teasing in her friend’s voice. “Oh no, we are not doing that again.”
    “Not doing what again?” Rowan asked as she slid into the booth next to Eden, her grandma behind her.
    “Hey Dorie,” Eden said with a wave, and Rowan’s nana leaned in for a hug.
    “How have you ladies been?”
    “Good,” Eden said, just as Kennedy piped up with, “Eden got attacked by a wolf yesterday.”
    Doreen Bast eyed her for a moment and Eden had to fight not to squirm under the look. “I’m doing well, now.” She shot Kennedy a look. “Not a scratch on me.”
    Her coat, however, was another story.
    “ But I was just saying there might have been something ‘magical’ about that wolf Eden saw. Here, look.” She wiggled her eyebrows as she snatched her camera out of Eden’s hands and passed it over to Rowan.
    It only took Rowan a quick glance and she let out a small gasp, leaning closer. “Damn, that’s one big wolf.”
    “And there were no tracks.” Kennedy leaned back in the booth, arms crossed over her chest, and mock-glared at Eden.
    “I’m not saying it wasn’t real. Hello, I saw it to. I’m just saying that I’d buy light on its feet before I’d buy magic. Wooo.” She made a sound like a ghost, wiggling her fingers while she did it, and they all laughed. Still, relief nudged at her heart. She wasn’t crazy after all, they had proof. That was all that mattered at the moment.
    “May I?” Dorie asked and Rowan showed the camera to her grandmother. She pointed at the corner of the screen. “See it?”
    Dorie went white and she swayed slightly. One hand shot out and slapped the table for balance. In a moment both Ro and Eden were standing beside her, Dee’s camera sitting on the table. Rowan gave her grandmother a worried look, her eyes wide. “You okay, Nana?”
    Eden could feel the old woman trembling and for the first time in as long as she’d known Dorie, Rowan’s grandmother felt frail. Old. It tore at her heart. Dorie was the kind of woman who had always seemed younger than them. Unstoppable.
    “I, yes.” She gave a shaky nod. “Just feeling my age.” She laid a hand over Eden’s, then kissed Rowan on the cheek. “You ladies enjoy your breakfast, I’m going to see if Quinn can drive me home. It’s on his way back to the