The Alpha In The Pines

m or whisper or crea

ho cracked through the pines like a warning shot. Lex laughed from the driver's side an

ow, and winced. Whiskey. Cheap. Fa

er hiking pack. "Yeah, and you left.

s half-joked was cursed. No trail markers, no campsites, no safety rails. Just tree

s. What she didn't believe in was the kind of thing people whispered about in bar corner

onfidence, as if daring the dark to try something. Ava followed slowe

d her out of the wreckage, broken but breathing, and told her she was the only one who made it. She still heard

brakes too late. Everything still looked the sam

her had died years ago. Her father had vanished w

e branch out past the old quarry. The

eted the ground like rusted velvet. "This is

ere the Skin-Taker lives? Or the B

. "All of them. Or none. Depends on who you ask

nd the edges of the bite scar on her collarbone, an

said. "Big, bad, and

. "You remember

d away. "Not really. Just his boots. He used to take them off

rt m

hey talked. N

and watched the trees. No animals calle

" she said. "Why he

mes. It popped violently. "Because

inked.

romantic. It wasn't. He went to take a leak and never came back. I f

nd had started ag

ld've tol

reached into her bag and pulled out a small cloth bundle. Unw

anything in a b

It burned col

g moved. A branch sna

flashlight. Ava step

whispered

gnore

ere. Between the trunk

e firelight an

glo

they we

ized she was holding her breath. Lex was already backing toward

ed again. Clo

eliberate exhale. Like somethin

," Lex said, almos

d but did

ness in the air. Like standing t

it gr

t started in the earth an

stuttered.

sa

like something trying not to scrape the sky. Black fur matted with rain.

snarl. Did

st wa

sm

scre

fire

kne

second growl answered t

more than one