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Draven stopped pacing. “Something’s been following us all day.”
“What?” I exclaimed. “What do you mean?”
“It’s out there now. Watching us.”
I leaped to my feet, pulling my cloak tighter. “What are you talking about?”
“Hush.” Draven lifted a hand commandingly. “There. In the trees.” He slowly pointed.
I squinted. “I don’t see anything.”
Draven looked at me with something like disgust. “Terrible eyesight.”
“As if yours could be that much better,” I retorted. But he did seem to be focused on something as he looked into the trees.
“Ah,” he said softly. “There you are.”
“What is it?” I hissed.
He ignored me. Stooping down to the ground and picking up a fallen branch, he stood back up and threw it hard into the trees.
“What are you doing?” I protested.
“Scaring it away.” He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Go on. Get.”
There was silence.
“You’re talking to yourself,” I said sweetly. “Or to the trees. I’m not sure what’s worse.”
He ignored me. Cupping his hands again, he raised his voice. “I don’t want to hurt you. Now get out of here. Go!”
I waited, listening to the forest, for the sound of something, anything. A snapping branch. Footsteps.
Draven turned back to the fire with a satisfied expression. “It’s gone.”
“You can...hear something?”
“I hear everything,” he said, with infuriating smugness. “It’s gone for now.”
“Yes, I heard you the first time. But what wasit?”
He sat down by the fire. “An exmoor.”
I gawked. “An exmoor? Like the one Whitehorn killed?”
An odd expression crossed his face. “Not quite.”
“What does that mean? Not quite?” I mimicked.
“This one’s not an adult,” he said quietly.
My hand flew to my mouth in shock. “You mean it’s a baby? One of the exmoor’s cubs? Has it been following us all along?”
Draven seemed to be considering. “Possibly. Exmoors are nocturnal. This cub has probably been tracking us for a while, catching up each night. Now that Whitehorn’s gone, it’s become more daring.”
“Poor little thing,” I murmured. “At least you avenged its mother.”
Draven looked amused. “Hardly little. It’s half the size of Haya and growing fast.”
