"Because bears love deep. And you've spent too long convincing yourself you don't deserve that kind of love."
Chloe didn't have a response, especially when her sister randomly knew more about her and what was going on then she would ever share.
"Get some sleep," Wendy said. "Things will be clearer in the morning."
The line went dead as it always did with Wendy’s cryptic talks.
Chloe sat in the dim light of her cottage, her sister's words sounding familiar. Bears love deep. Freya had said the same thing. Like it was common knowledge. Like everyone could see something she couldn’t.
She thought about Corin's hand on her wrist. The heat that had shot through her, electric and warm. The way he'd looked at her afterward, like she'd changed something fundamental between them.
She thought about his voice in the Mercantile, calm and certain. The way he'd walked her home without being asked and said she mattered to him like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
What if it wasn't pity or guilt?
What if Freya was right, and something real was growing between them, something that had very little to do with the land sickness or the accusations or any of the chaos swirling around them?
The thought was terrifying.
She'd spent so long building walls. Protecting herself from the inevitable moment when people realized she was too strange, too different, too much trouble to keep around. If she let those walls down for Corin, if she let herself believe he might actually want her, the fall would destroy her.
But what if she was wrong and the real danger wasn't in hoping but in never letting herself try?
She didn't have an answer or know how to reconcile the fear with the longing, the doubt with the desperate, stubborn hope that refused to die no matter how hard she tried to smother it.
Eventually, she forced herself to stand. To turn off the lights. To climb into bed even though sleep felt impossible.
The feeling of being watched had faded, but the intent she'd felt in the soil lingered in her memory. Someone had touched the land with purpose.
And somewhere in the darkness, Chloe was certain, they were waiting.
18
CORIN
Something was wrong.
Corin felt it the moment the sun dipped below the horizon, a prickling unease that had little to do with his own property. His bear stirred beneath his skin, restless and agitated, pulling his attention toward the south.
Toward Chloe.
He'd tried to ignore it at first. Told himself he was being paranoid, overprotective, letting the mate bond twist his instincts into something irrational. But the feeling only intensified as darkness fell, until his bear was pacing so hard it made his teeth ache.
Someone was watching her.
He didn't know how he knew. Couldn't explain the certainty that settled into his bones like cold. But he'd learned long ago to trust his bear's instincts, and right now those instincts were screaming.
He grabbed his coat and headed for the truck.
The drive to Maple Lane took fifteen minutes. He parked at one end of the street, far enough that she wouldn't hear the engine, and walked the rest of the way on foot. Her cottage satat the very end of the lane, lights glowing warm behind drawn curtains. She was home and safe but the prickling didn't fade.
Corin circled the property, staying in the shadows, his eyes scanning the tree line. Nothing moved. No unfamiliar scents on the wind, no sound of footsteps or breathing. Just the whisper of bare branches and the distant hoot of an owl.
His bear wasn't satisfied.
He found a spot behind a thick oak in her yard and settled in to wait. The cold seeped through his coat, but he barely noticed. All his attention was fixed on the cottage, on the woman inside, on the darkness that pressed in from every direction.
An hour passed. The lights in her cottage went out one by one.
