"Find me instead."
Kumoe's curious head stopped chasing the blood trails.
The right no longer searched every branch for movement, and the middle remained close enough to cover both Alexandra's wounds and Kumoe's injured leg.
All three centered their attention on Alexandra.
NineLivesLeft laughed from somewhere beyond the trees.
"That's your solution? Ignore me?"
Alexandra raised both swords. "You'll come to us."
"You sound confident."
"You're too curious not to."
For several seconds, only rain moved through the forest.
Blood ran down dozens of trunks, dripped from branches, and collected in shallow puddles around exposed roots. NineLivesLeft had filled the entire road with false trails, but none of them mattered anymore.
Kumoe did not need to find him first.
She only needed to protect the space she shared with Alexandra.
A scrape came from the canopy.
Alexandra did not turn toward it.
Something moved through the brush behind Kumoe.
