Chapter 32

Her scent was still fresh; panicked even. Her fear threaded through the air, sharp and unmistakable, cutting through pine and damp earth like a blade. It was faint, already stretching away from him; but it was enough. He could trace her main scent and it was just enough for him to know where she was headed.

She was running.

Cole’s snarl deepened. Without another word, he threw the guard aside, not minding that the man crashed into the dirt. Cole didn’t look back.

He launched forward.

The forest loomed ahead, the trees darkening as they thickened, shadows still heavy despite the sunrise bleeding weak gold through the canopy. His heart hammered as he ran, anger driving him hard; fear riding just beneath it, colder and sharper; fear that she would actually go where he was thinking.

He could sense that she was heading in the same direction; the same damn direction. The place where blood had soaked into soil once before because he decided to save her.