186

I mind link her back privately, ashamed of my own lack of worth at something this basic, but silence is all I get as she ignores my protest. Stubborn to the core, for once though, I’m glad she’s the way she is.

We speed up, and within seconds she overtakes everyone who was before us and catches up to Meadow, sliding up, side by side, to carry their riders up front and proud. She knows the pack need to see us there to focus and not lose faith when we hit the first wave of our own. A sense of urgency cloaking us, and the tension somehow increases the farther we get. The sun breaks over the distant horizon and the fog starts thinning as we move from the border, so seeing becomes easier, right until the moment we spot them.