Page 28 of How Does It Feel?

My biggest regret was never getting to feel love wholeheartedly.

Thump . . . .thump . . . .thump.

I never even had a chance.

Thump . . . thump.

“Holy suns! She’s injured, hurry! She’s not going to make it! Look at what they’ve done to her!”

Something sniffed my face, and a tickle of fur brushed against my cheek. Or at least I thought it did. I must be dead?

What side had taken me, heaven or hell?

A soft pressure rested on the tops of my cold legs. It felt like a warm fur blanket covering me with a sudden warmth, just heavy enough to comfort me a little in my last moment.

“You’re no better than him—” The voice sounded like silk wrapped in sunshine, even through its accusatory tone.

“Bite your tongue. I know what I’ve done,” came an urgent raspy voice.

“Hurry!”

Something soft and velvety ran over the wound on my stomach, and warm droplets of something fell upon my skin. It felt as if the sun had melted and oozed into my flesh. At first, I could hardly feel anything but warmth, but then a sharp stinging sensation ran through me with a wild passion. A fire blazed through my insides, unraveling them one by one only to melt them together once again.

Thump . . . thump . . . thump . . . thump . . .

“It’s working! Thank the gods! Her heart is beating . . . as well as it can. We need to leave here now,” came the silky, womanly voice.

The harsh fire running through me jolted me with intense pain, but the thing on my legs and stomach bore down, keeping me still. Was there something fluffy now under my head?

Tiny prickles coursed through me, similar to when my foot fell asleep, only these rushed through the inside of me like a river. My eyes bolted open in shock as if someone had used a defibrillator on my heart.

The fox lay on my legs and stomach as tears fell freely from its beautiful amber eyes onto my skin while it licked fervently at my wound.

“That’s enough,” scolded the silky voice next to my head. “It’s already too much, she will be affected, and then you will be killed!”

“No one will ever know what I’ve done—including her. As for you, you will be quiet or all of our lives will be taken,” the male voice growled.

“Enough, brother, we leave now! We must not be here!” the female said with panic, her stoic voice cracking.

The beautiful fox locked his glistening eyes with mine, giving my wound one last lick before gently standing up and stepping from my stomach.

I sat up with less of a struggle than I could ever have imagined and watched the fox stealthily canter to what appeared to be another smaller fox. His eyes locked with mine until he reached her. The only sound of their movement was the soft crinkle and crunch of dried leaves under their small feet.

“Wait . . . I . . . where am I?” I mumbled incoherently in their direction.

The pair stopped their trot to look back at me before immediately snapping their heads to the side in unison. They tilted their heads, leaning into their oversized ears just as a dog did when listening intently. In the blink of my eyes, they sprinted away with unnatural speed, even for that of a shimmering fox.

“Please! Wait! I need to thank you for-for whatever you have done! For saving my life!” I shouted after them, but it was no use because they had vanished completely.

What in the world had happened? I was alive. My body felt like a semitruck had blasted into it, but I was alive. Was that fox from here? First, he showed up behind my house in the middle of the day, then attacked me before I fell into the ring of mushrooms, and now he’s saving my life? Magically healing me? I must be hallucinating again.

I shifted to my knees. One of my shoes had fallen off and laid a few feet away, my black dress had bunched around my chest, and I was caked in blood and dirt.

So much blood.

Unsure of what to do and needing to get away, I straightened to pull the dress over my head as I remained on my knees. I didn’t care if I was naked. I was alive and needed to get the sight of gore away from me. Each move my body made felt like an electric shock to my system, but I didn’t care; I just needed to get it off.

After several minutes of frantically trying, I finally gave up. It was plastered to my body like bloodied papier-mâché. This was not what I should be wasting my energy on, plus the black thong and bra I wore underneath were far too small if I happened to find others that could help me. Besides, I wasn’t sure where exactly I was and that could put me in more danger.