The Alpha In The Pines

ouldn

g. The morning light through Lex's kitchen blinds should have felt comforting, domestic, some

ng. Just slid the mug in front of Ava and sat across from her, fo

far," Ava s

w f

ing. She let it burn. "I don't know

window. "That mak

ight last week. I woke up at the back of the

under he

lid the river charm onto the tabl

tated. "So this is h

urse. Not a bite. It's something

ed it between their plates. Circles marked where bodies had been found

building a terri

ted to a mark close to the trailer. "Last week. The Jen

ine," Ava

y. "We need to g

d his cab

oof had collapsed inward and smoke still curled

his name. Lex pulled a f

or was

s ruined, bones blackened, books turned to pulp, his maps

ossed

ed but still visible. And beside i

"DON'T FORGET

"He knew. He kne

ushed over the carved l

have to finish w

ned. "Wh

to survive i

reamed. A sound not o

ed at th

d, "we finish it by

a returned to

midnight, on foot. The forest open

this time. Only an

sound. Her breath didn't steam. The air n

iv

g. The same one from th

as t

ng. Wa

n. Both. Its eyes bur

epped

dn't

t, but there was no charm

ins

red he

a tilted

ember,

t inside her head. Like a w

mber wha

spond. She di

lu

forest c

in. Her bones didn't shift, they unlocked. Her muscles

dn't s

ho

lent embrace. Their bodies tumbled together through the ferns. Ava's m

her. Not to dom

oment, she sa

lood rituals in pine hollows. Bone circles older than maps. Her father, k

the be

e saw

not

a

her body trembling. Daw

pha wa

hands we

hest a secon

sitting on the

een gone

dn't a

ok diff

iled.

d. "Are you

idn't

nger hadn'

only