The town never looked the same after the sun dipped below the horizon. Streetlights glinted off wet pavement, and shadows pooled between buildings like ink. My apartment felt impossibly small, the walls pressing in on me as if they knew the truth I was hiding.
I paced, one hand curved over my belly. The baby kicked again, harder this time, and I whispered, “I’m not letting anyone touch you. Not him. Not them.”
The wind carried more than the scent of rain tonight. Something wild and predatory lingered at the edge of my awareness, moving just beyond the streetlights, rustling leaves, stirring branches. My wolf rumbled low in my chest, warning me that danger was near.
It wasn’t just a rumor anymore. It was here.
I left my apartment cautiously, the baby’s weight in my belly a constant remi
