Ryleigh didn’t breathe as the massive dark brown wolf stared at her, silent and unmoving beneath the canopy of the forest. Its golden eyes didn’t blink. Its chest rose and fell with slow control, every breath like thunder to her ears. She waited—frozen—until her lungs began to burn.
When the wolf made no move to lunge or growl, some of the panic began to loosen from her chest. It just stood there, watching. Then, without warning, it rose to all fours and began to circle the tree she sat under—her tree. Their tree.
She turned her head to follow its movement, her muscles locked in place. It padded around the trunk once… then again. The sheer size of it became clearer with each pass. Shoulders higher than her waist, paws as large as her hands. Power rippled beneath its dark coat as it sniff
