A soft whine escaped her before she could stop it.
Closing her eyes only made things worse, because when she closed them, she found herself thinking about home.
About Kade.
About the estate.
About warm blankets and familiar scents.
For the first time since escaping, she felt very small.
A sudden gust of wind swept through the trees, scattering droplets from the branches overhead.
Takoda's eyes opened immediately. Something felt wrong.
The sensation had lingered at the edge of her awareness for some time now, growing steadily stronger with each passing minute. At first she had dismissed it as nervousness. Being alone in an unfamiliar forest would make anyone uneasy.
But this felt different.
The forest itself seemed altered somehow.
The rain still fell.
The branches still swayed.
Leaves still rustled in the wind.
Yet beneath those ordinary sounds there was something else... Or perhaps something missing.
