I went up the ladder, but my dog yanked my trousers—and suddenly it all made sense.

I turned to look at him. He was standing by the kennel, the chain stretched tight, his gaze steady and full of something deeper than words.

“My God,” I muttered, shivers racing across my skin. “You saved me.”

Dropping down beside him, I wrapped my arms around his neck. He wagged his tail gently, as if to say he knew exactly what he’d done.

And in that instant, I realized a truth: sometimes our animals sense and understand what our human minds cannot.