Alex appeared at her side, alarm flashing in his eyes. “Stay here,” he said quickly, voice firm but not unkind. Samantha couldn’t have moved even if she wanted to. She watched with frozen horror as he descended the shallow ditch, moving carefully toward the small, broken body lying motionless.
For a moment, the world seemed to balance on a knife’s edge. Samantha’s fists curled painfully tight. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. And then Alex looked back up at her, the relief in his face immediate and real. “It’s not Juniper,” he called softly. “It’s a rabbit.”