That's when I saw him.
Across the road, half-hidden in the tree line. A man in flannel, broad-shouldered, watching the cabin with an intensity that made my skin crawl.
The stranger from the club.
I blinked, and he was gone. Just... gone, like he'd never been there at all.
My hands were shaking. I wanted to call Fao, but he didn't have a phone — said they were too small for his hands and smelled funny. I'd laughed when he told me that. I wasn't laughing now.
But I didn't need to call. I could feel him through the bond — out there somewhere in the woods, patrolling. I focused on that thread between us and pushed every ounce of fear and urgency I could muster down the line.
Come home. Now.
I didn't know if it would work. We'd never tested it like this, not on purpose.
But less than te
