Chapter 236

Even at speed, the pack moving as one swift line, checking every fallen log, cave, nook, and cranny, and heading further into the deep dark forest, we still see no sign of her, and I start to wonder if she’s out there. Glancing from wolves in the trees around us to the back of Colton’s strong body as we push on beyond our safety net of the frequency and shudder as another wave of revulsion overtakes me. This is the third time since walking beyond the line that a deep well of nausea and cringe consumes me wholly, and this time I gasp inwardly as I am sucker-punched low down at a strange smell that makes me giddy with memories. The almost stinging, astringent whiff of something awful yet out of my grasp of memory as a familiar thing. My eyes water with the intensity of its odor, and I have to pull myself stiff to stop my body from crumbling as I stagger over a fallen log. It’s like the smell alone has hit some deep unwanted thought and made my body react like I’m in trauma. I’m weak in