“I’ve seen this before, child,” she whispered, her eyes distant with memory.“Thirty years ago, when the mine first opened and the Song pack still ran with the Roberts wolves.”
Her grip tightened, surprisingly strong.“Last time they poisoned this valley, the Roberts men came at night with checks and threats.”Her thumbnail brushed aside my bangle and traced a circle on my wrist.It was an old protection symbol I recognized from my grandmother’s teachings.“The ones who refused to sign disappeared into mine shafts.The rest drank themselves to death within a decade, as the guilt ate at them from inside like the poison ate their packs.”
My blood turned to ice.“Why doesn’t anyone talk about this?How could everyone forget?”
Juniper’s eyes flashed with fire that belied her age.“Time may have forgotten, child, but I remember.The earth remembers.And now you know too.”She pressed something into my palm.It was a small leather pouch that smelled of protective herbs.“You’ll need this.The mine has eyes everywhere, and they don’t like people asking questions.”
Night had fallen by the time Logan returned, moving through shadows like he belonged to them.“The private lab’s ready,” he said, voice pitched low enough that only shifter hearing could catch it.“We’re moving the evidence tonight.”
His eyes scanned the clinic walls, nostrils flaring slightly.“The mine has people sniffing around.Started this afternoon after you visited the creek again.”His gaze locked with mine.“It’s not safe here anymore, Sabrina.”
The use of my first name sent a jolt through me.He rarely called me anything but “Wu” or “Doc.”The change signaled our situation’s gravity more clearly than words could.
I nodded, already gathering the case of samples and securing the latches.“Where?”
Logan stepped closer, his warmth radiating in the cool night air of the clinic.“Somewhere they won’t think to look,” he said.“Do you trust me?”
The question hung between us, weighted with more than just our current predicament.“Yes,” I said aloud, meeting his gaze steadily.“I trust you.”
Something shifted in his expression.It was a softening around his eyes, a brief vulnerability that vanished so quickly I might have imagined it.He reached for the case containing the samples.
“Then let’s go,” he said.“And don’t look back.”
