BOUNDED BY THE MOON

Blak

d me from the e

re buried ankle-deep in damp moss and

Not animal eyes. Not wi

ished into

I muttered un

McKay's voice crackled over t

t. "Yeah. Just.

're in the Da

orthern ridge.

Then, "Arden,

hy

lves go there.

at the place the wolf ha

said, and

rough the trees, carrying a scent I couldn't place. Not decay.

didn't belong

hat made my

through. Lone wolves happened. It wasn't like I hadn't see

f a twig made me flinch. My head told m

to the cabin lab, my puls

ng his glasses up his nose as I t

m f

e swea

's

fty-two

off my gloves. "I saw a wolf. Big. Blac

ed at me.

halluci

n't sa

thinking

in the Darkpine Woods, then maybe y

ea's off-limits for scientific reasons when really

to Halewood. I thought maybe you could... co

laugh. "I'm not here to

n here, Arden

on

shu

eight. After my parents died in a car accident-or so I was told. I didn't

ike home. It felt like a

t tomorrow," I sai

one you

not a

acting l

ith grizzlies. This is a patch of forest in a sleepy litt

. "Some tales com

r. I didn't wa

sleep. I dreamed of yellow eyes watching me through the trees

eared up early and lef

g inside me pulled toward it like gravity. Maybe it was

No rustle of squirrels or deer. Just the wind through skeleta

line into the

ir ch

r. Like steppi

GPS. Signal d

minutes, maybe thi

wo

w, massive, crouched on

hispered. "

wl. Didn't ru

into the woods, slow lik

d out loud. "

Looked over

before my br

oll

n't care. I just needed to see where it went. I couldn't ex

lipped beh

around it, th

w

t a

ke

me, muscles tens

nt dry. "Wh

rned

I fr

l. Scars across his chest like cl

eyes as

owed me,"

ark velvet. Something

," I said. "A li

oward me. I

y aw

hurt you, I alre

vinc

ght you

. "You lured me

t didn't rea

ee if it was t

ha

ke I was a puzzle

't smell

dropped.

oaked. But now that you're here... I ca

nother s

razy. Good talk

l shif

ha

coming. You

ned a

lungs burned. I didn't stop u

ng hit me fr

nto the gro

over me. Not the

e had r

ed. Loud

first," h

l back but he g

ssed. "You're the one w

sank into m

cre