Maria froze as Lila stepped between her and the barricade, blocking her completely. The matriarch planted a foot, pressing it into the soil as if feeling for something deep beneath it. “Okay,” Maria whispered, heart pounding. “You don’t want me near that spot.”
Lila’s head lowered, and she let out a rumble so deep it vibrated through Maria’s ribs, a warning from an animal who had sensed something long before any human would. Maria’s chest tightened.