TEDDY
We veered off the usual trail without slowing, cutting through thicker brush, heading toward the edge of town where the forest thinned and the world shifted back toward human territory.
And then—
He stopped.
Abrupt. Absolute. To be honest, I didn’t know a big rig like us could stop on a dime like this, but we did. And the forest went still around us, like it was holding its breath.
I felt it then, too.
Her.
The scent hit first.
It was soft. Faint, but completely unmistakable.
It wrapped around us like a whisper, sliding under skin and bone, deeper than anything I’d ever felt before. My chest tightened, breath catching as something ancient and instinctive surged to the surface.
Mine.
The word wasn’t spoken.
It didn’t need to be.
Bane moved forward slowly now, each step d
