All Chapters of The First She : Chapter 11 - Chapter 12

NOAHThe sky had gone from black to gray and Maeve still wasn't back.I stood at the edge of the river and watched the far bank until my eyes burned. Nothing. No splash, no soft padding of paws, no wet fur shaking itself dry over my boots. Only the water sliding past.She'd said before sunrise.I paced to the tree, then back to the water. Her clothes were still in a pile at the foot of the trunk, exactly where she'd dropped them. I picked up her shirt, turned it over in my good hand and put it down again.Dawn was almost here. Something had happened.I made myself breathe. Maybe she was hiding, waiting out a patrol. Maybe she'd found a good spot to sit tight. Maybe a lot of things. I'd been telling myself that for hours.Should I go? Or should I stay? If I left and she came back, she'd find an empty clearing and think the worst. If I stayed and she didn't come back...No. I couldn't sit here.Something in my chest was pulling tight, an old sour feeling I had learned to trust. She was