Caleb stopped abruptly and dropped into a crouch. He swept aside a pile of dry leaves to reveal something small yet unsettling—a bright red plastic collar.
Lisa’s stomach knotted. “That’s not Nina’s…”
“No,” Caleb said, examining it. “Too big. Too worn. This has been out here a while.”
A cold heaviness settled in her chest. This wasn’t just about Nina anymore. Whatever was out here had probably done this before—maybe more than once. Her grip on her bag tightened.
The forest began to open up, the trees thinning. Through a break in the brush, Caleb lifted a hand. “Hold up.”
Lisa dropped into a crouch beside him, breath shallow as her eyes swept the space ahead. A clearing sloped gently down into a narrow gully. And moving through it—low, fluid, powerful—was a mountain lion.
Lisa went rigid. It glided with the unnatural quiet of something born to vanish. Sunlight caught its tawny fur, making it ripple like water. Its tail swayed lazily. And between its jaws—not gripped by the scruff, but held carefully—was a small white bundle.
Her breath hitched. Nina. Even from this distance, she recognized the twitching ears, the delicate frame, the faint flash of a tiny bell. She started to rise, but Caleb’s hand clamped around her arm. “Stay still,” he whispered. “Don’t spook it.”
“But she’s—”
“She’s alive. If it gets startled, it could drop her or vanish into the woods. We wait. Then we follow.”
Lisa’s nails dug into the dirt. Every muscle screamed to move, to grab, to rescue. But she stayed frozen as the mountain lion padded down the slope and slipped behind a jumble of boulders and brush.
When they finally moved, it was in silence. Caleb led, keeping low, each step slow and deliberate. They crept along the gully’s edge until the path curved behind a wall of mossy stone.
There, in a shallow hollow worn into the earth, lay the mountain lion. It was curled in a nest of dry ferns and leaves—and it wasn’t alone. Two kittens nestled against its side.
Lisa’s breath caught. Nina was one of them. The other was a dark grey tabby. Kevin’s daughter’s kitten. Both were alive, alert, but unnervingly still. Not playing. Not moving much at all.