Chapter Eleven — Something Watches
The forest did not welcome me.
It closed around me instead — branches interlacing overhead, roots coiling beneath my feet, shadows thickening until the moonlight barely reached the ground. Every sound felt amplified: my breath rasping too loud, my heartbeat thundering in my ears, the faint crackle of leaves shifting somewhere behind me.
I forced myself to slow.
Running blindly would get me killed. Or worse — caught.
I crouched behind a fallen log slick with moss, pressing my palm to the earth as I fought to steady my breathing. The ground was warm beneath my skin, pulsing faintly, like it remembered me.
Or recognised me.
That thought sent a shiver through my spine.
A howl echoed through the trees — closer now. Not wild. Organised.
Pack howls.
My
