They had been walking for a long while, longer than Jacob had anticipated. His legs ached, and doubt gnawed at him. He chastised himself for following a wounded animal this deep into the wild. He should have left, gone to the rangers, let them handle the rest. But he hadn’t.
He glanced at the moose limping ahead, its labored breaths misting in the cool evening air. It was exhausted, but it didn’t stop. Something was pushing it forward, something urgent. Jacob exhaled sharply. He couldn’t abandon it now.