A Warrior's Second Chance (Faye and Alexander) novel Chapter 638

Chapter 616

FAYE

I took a slow breath and tried to clear my mind. I wasn’t even sure what I was supposed to be doing anymore. The last time I had used my healing ability, it had felt natural. I couldn’t really control it, but I didn’t have to force it.

The power had simply been there. Now, I wasn’t even sure if there was anything left to reach

for.

Still, I kept my hand against the deer’s side. “Come on,” I whispered, closing my eyes again as I tried to focus. I searched for that familiar sensation inside me, the one I had once known so well, but there was nothing.

I concentrated harder, trying to remember what it had felt like before, but the more I tried to force it, the more distant it seemed.

I opened my eyes and looked at the deer. Its breathing remained weak and uneven, and the sight of it made panic begin to creep into my chest. “Please,” I whispered. I didn’t know whether I was speaking to the deer or to whatever part of myself I was trying to reach.

I closed my eyes again and tried to push everything else out of my mind. The forest disappeared from my thoughts. The trees, the sounds around me, the path behind me- everything faded until there was only the animal beneath my hand. I focused until my head began to ache, but nothing happened.

I opened my eyes again.

The deer remained still beneath my hand.

“Just give me a little more time,” I murmured.

I placed both hands against its body and tried again. I concentrated until my head began to ache, searching desperately for even the smallest response from whatever remained of my gifts. Nothing came.

Maybe the gift really was gone. Maybe I had been foolish to think I could simply close my eyes and bring it back because I wanted it to be there. I swallowed and tried one last time.

I closed my eyes and focused until there was nothing left in my mind except the feeling of my hands against the deer’s body and its shallow breathing. For a few seconds, there was nothing.

Suddenly… I felt it.

< Chapter 616

The warmth.

+25 Points

I opened my eyes immediately… I knew that feeling. I stared down at my hands, barely breathing. The sensation was faint at first, almost like warmth spreading beneath my skin, but then it grew stronger, moving through my palms and into the animal beneath them.

My heart began to pound harder. It was there. I could feel it strongly now.

“Come on,” I whispered.

I didn’t dare move. The warmth continued to spread, and then the deer moved again. Its leg twitched, and I froze.

A moment later, it took a deeper breath, and I stared at it in disbelief. The wound beneath my hand began to change, the bleeding slowed, and the tension in its body seemed to ease. I could barely believe what I was seeing.

It was working… I had actually done it.

A laugh almost escaped me, but I stopped myself because I didn’t want to break my concentration. “You’re okay,” I whispered. “You’re going to be fine.”

The deer moved again, but this time there was no fear in the movement. Its breathing became steadier, and the warmth beneath my palms remained constant. I felt something inside me loosen.

For the first time since Stonevale, I allowed myself to believe that maybe I hadn’t lost everything. Maybe my gifts had survived. Maybe whatever had happened to me hadn’t taken that part of me away after all.

I kept my hands where they were, watching the deer carefully. Then, a moment later, something changed.

The deer suddenly stiffened. My smile disappeared.

“What?”

Its body jerked beneath my hands, and I pulled back slightly. “Easy.”

The deer’s breathing became rapid, and its legs kicked against the ground. I stared at it, completely confused.

“What’s wrong?”

The warmth I’d felt moments earlier suddenly felt different. Stronger and unsteady.

I tried to pull my hands away, but the deer jerked violently again.

Chapter 616

“No.”

I reached for it instinctively. “Wait. Stop. What is happening?”

The deer struggled for another few seconds, and I panicked. I didn’t know what to do. “Please, please…”

+25 Points

I placed my hands against it again, desperate to reverse whatever was happening even though I had no clue what I was doing, but the deer suddenly went still.

I froze.

Its body stopped moving… Completely.

“Hey.”

I touched its neck, searching for a pulse… Nothing.

“No.”

I checked again, pressing my fingers more firmly against its neck as though I could somehow force a heartbeat to return.

Still nothing.

“No, no, no.”

I shook its shoulder gently. “Come on.”

There was no response. I stared at it, unable to understand what had just happened. It had been getting better. I had felt it. I had seen the wound beginning to heal.

So how had it died? My hands began to tremble.

I slowly stumbled backward, still on my knees, staring at the animal lying motionless in front of me. I couldn’t breathe properly. I had only wanted to help it. I had wanted to prove that I could still do something good with the gift I thought I had lost.

Instead, I had no idea what I ended up doing. I looked down at my hands, and a terrible thought entered my mind.

Had I done this?

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “No, I was trying to help you.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify