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The ranch went quiet.
Too quiet.
Around midnight, the dog barked.
Once.
Then again.
Not the bark for a coyote.
Not the bark for a raccoon.
The this-isn’t-right bark.
I stood.
Sadie shifted in bed.
“Beast?”
“Stay here.”
Her eyes opened wider.
“What is it?”
“Probably nothing.”
It wasn’t nothing.
I moved to the window.
Scanned the pasture.
The fence line.
The barn.
Nothing moved.
No truck.
No headlights.
No shadow.
Just moonlight on grass.
But the dog barked again.
Low.
Uneasy.
I grabbed my flashlight.
Walked quietly through the house.
