Page 149 of The Moonborn's Curse
Because for the past week, she'd felt it—that itch on her spine. The sense of being watched. Of something big and quiet and patient just there, at the edge of her awareness.
She reached into her coat, fingers curling around the tactical baton tucked neatly inside. Ryn had helped her train with it. She knew how to wield it now—when to swing, how to disarm.
She wasn't prey anymore.
The street was still busy enough—shifters loitering, humans stumbling drunk, witches flirting from doorways.
Good. She needed eyes.
She pushed a ripple of intent through the space—tiny suggestions to nearby shifters to watch for her. Just in case. She had been exploring her gift like a toddler with a new toy. It had so many facets that she still had to explore. This ability to place a suggestion into a creature's mind was new.
She turned down a quieter alleyway near the edge of the Quarter. Purposefully. Casually.
Footsteps followed.
Heavy ones.
She slowed. The steps slowed.
Her fingers tightened on the baton. Her breath evened.
Just as she reached the mouth of the narrow side street, she pivoted hard on her heel—
SHHHHK.
The baton snapped open with a hiss and click, the metal gleaming in the low light. The air sang as she swung it down in a brutal arc—
CRACK.
It slammed into the figure's shoulder, the shock of it jolting through her arm. The man grunted, staggering sideways. Big. Bigger than she expected. Maybe bigger than she could handle.
She didn't wait.
Her instincts screamed follow-through, so she spun, shifting her weight, and brought the baton sweeping behind his knees—
THUD.
He dropped like a felled tree.
She leapt forward, knee pressing into his chest, breath ragged as she yanked the mask down—
And time stopped.
"...you?"
Her voice froze with disbelief.
Brown eyes. Wild, familiar. Shaggy hair that curled around too-sharp cheekbones. Thin. So much thinner than he'd been.
The bear. Her bear.
The silent one. The guardian of the cave. The ghost in the woods.
The one who had watched her. Followed her. Protected her.
He stared up at her like he didn't know her. Like she'd morphed into something unrecognizable. He blinked slowly—like she was the one out of place.
Like she'd morphed into something unrecognizable.
