(Catherine POV)
The standoff might have continued until dawn if exhaustion hadn't finally caught up with me. My eyelids grew heavy despite the adrenaline coursing through my veins, and I found myself blinking more frequently as fatigue warred with fascination.
Just for a moment, I told myself. Just close your eyes for one second and then look again.
But when I opened my eyes—had it been a second or several minutes?—the tree line stood empty.
I pressed my face against the glass until my nose went numb, scanning every shadow, every possible hiding place where something that large might have concealed itself. Nothing. The forest edge looked exactly as it always did during my daytime explorations—peaceful, natural, utterly devoid of supernatural sentinels.
"No," I whispered, my breath fog
