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Shifting Bethany Wiggins 26550K 2023-09-02

Bridger crossed his arms over his chest I bit my bottom lip and looked at him He raised one eyebrow

"Do you want a place to stay or not?" he asked

I sighed "Yeah Just give me a sec to see if any of this is still wearable" I sifted through the pile of s and held up the black T-shirt--at least I held up half of it The other half was soroan It looked like I’d be clothes shopping at Wal-Mart in the very near future

"Are you all right?" the officer asked

"Yeah Fine" I stood and kicked the pile of shredded stuff "Let’s go, Bridger" We walked through the stuffing-filled front rooht

"So, why are you really here?" I asked

"I already told you I’hed I folded my arht and seeped beneath er unlocked his SUV "Climb in It’s warmer in there" He pulled off his hoodie and handed it to ed it over my head and thrust ot into the SUV, but Bridger, instead of getting in, too, walked to the vegetable garden and picked up the elk skull, ghostly white beneath the heavy e of the property and placed it back between the two trees The exact spot I’d taken it from

As he walked back to the SUV, his eyes ht flashed on

"Don’t ot in He shut the door and the light stayed on while he put the keys into the ignition The sleeve of his long-sleeve T-shirt lifted as he cranked the engine, and then the interior light diht and leaned toward hi three bloody gashes on the back of his wrist He sucked a breath of air in through his teeth and pulled his ar"

"What happened? Why are you here? And why are you bleeding? I want the truth"

He looked atof Naalyehe’s warning But all he did was turn off the interior light "When I got home from dinner, I could feel so it , I could even tell whose fear it was--Mrs C’s I knew soot here, there were three wolves in her house"

"Wolves? The police officer said it was dogs"

Bridger shook his head "Wolves"

"And one of the the wolves fro un"

I leaned back in my seat and stared out the frontWolves--not the pack of dogs that had attacked ? "That is freaky"

"Yeah" Bridger put the SUV into drive and pulled out onto the quiet road We passed a parked car wrapped in police tape I pressed my nose to the

"Whose car is that?" I asked

"Danni’s," Bridger said, his tone nonchalant

"Danni Willia parked in front of Mrs Carpenter’s property?"

Bridger glanced at me "She ca creaift to you, Maggie Only, she got a bit of a surprise"

"What do you mean, ‘bit of a surprise’?"