No reassurance. Noit was probably nothing.
Justnow.
She was in the passenger seat before she’d fully processed moving there. Remington vaulted in through the driver’s door and bolted into the back. Wes had the engine running and the headlights on before his door was fully closed.
He swung them around on the narrow pull-off and pointed the headlights back down the mountain.
Rowan pressed herself against the seat and kept her eyes forward. Her hands were in her lap—and they were trembling.
“Did you see anything in the woods?” she asked.
“No, I didn’t. It was too dark.”
“Me either.”
He kept his eyes on the road and his attention forward, one hand easy on the wheel despite the pace he was keeping.
The trees pressed close on both sides, the headlights carving a narrow channel through the dark. Every shadow at the edge of the light somehow looked menacing.
She studied Wes’s profile—steady, focused, giving nothing away—and felt the cracks in her own composure spreading.
Wes kept his speed steady on the way down the mountain, one hand on the wheel as his gaze scanned between the road ahead and the mirrors.
Rowan sat quiet beside him.
He didn’t push.
She’d already given him more than he expected back at the overlook. Right now, she looked wrung out, her shoulders tight despite the way she tried to hold herself together.
His attention returned to the mirror.
He didn’t see anything behind them.
But that didn’t mean much.
The pull-off had felt like the right place to talk. It had been private and remote, a place where Rowan could finally say what she’d been carrying.
Now all Wes could think about was how exposed they’d been.
One road in. One road out. Dense woods on both sides.
And Remington’s reaction.
The dog hadn’t startled at a noise. He’d locked onto something. Wes knew the difference.
Someone had been in those trees. He was certain of it.
Wes rounded another curve, scanning the road ahead before checking the mirror again.
Still nothing. But he refused to let down his guard.
Beside him, Rowan shifted in her seat.
He glanced at her. “You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine.” The answer came too fast.
“Are you?—?”
