Page 101 of Wolf's Fate
I would wait for him. Even if it meant standing on this godforsaken mountain, standingwithhim, surrounded by his demons, and together, we would wait for the storm to pass.
THIRTY
Caleb
I felt them leave.I was angry at myself.
I had run.
Like a coward.
Like a lowly cur who was too chickenshit to fight.
I disgusted myself.
It had been a few days since I left, but she was in the cabin. The lights were low, but she was still awake. I could hear her moving around. She’d left my jeans on the porch, wrapped in a blanket, I assumed so they wouldn’t get wet from the snow that was falling.
She had stayed.
Another trick?
I remembered her telling me that she cared. That she’d fallen for me. It’s how I knew it was a trick. Humans weren’t allowed in my world.
Shewasn’t allowed in my world. Her and me? A shifter and a human? It would never happen. My laws forbade it. Whyhadn’t I seen that sooner? Had I been gone so long that I forgot simple pack reality?
Had she been so good at seduction that I forgot who I was?
I thought she was pure. Innocent. She was probably a cheap whore they found somewhere.
My wolf growled in warning, hating the way I’d spoken about her, and I hung my head, shame coursing through me. I knew that wasn’t true. Willowwasinnocent; she was everything I was not.
I heard the door creak open, and turning my head, I saw her standing in the doorway, a blanket wrapped around her.
“Hey.”
I walked forward as my wolf. I watched her as she took a step back into the cabin.
“I have soup on the stove,” she told me. “I’ll get you a bowl.” As she turned away, I knew that was her way of letting me change form.
Pulling on the jeans, I stepped onto the porch, but even a Will as strong as mine couldn’t make me walk inside that cabin.
She must have anticipated my reluctance, because she returned with a tray and two bowls of soup. We didn’t speak as we ate a simple meal, Willow cocooned in her blanket, avoiding looking at my bare feet on the wooden porch.
“You scared me the other day.” Placing her bowl on the tray, Willow looked at me. “Do you really think I’m here to manipulate you?”
“I don’t know why else you would be here.”
Her eyes flashed with pain, but she turned away quickly. “I’m truly sorry you think that, Caleb.”
“When are they coming back?” I placed my own bowl on the tray. The soup had been nice, warm.
“A week.” She refused to look at me. “They’re not coming back for you,” she added. “They’re coming for me.” She looked back at me. “But that will only fuel your conspiracy theory, right?”
“You’re feeling feisty.”
“Am I?” Her eyes narrowed in anger. “I told you that I care about you! I kissed you, letting you in, letting you feeleverythingI feel for you, and you accused me of being a…aspy.”
“It doesn’t make sense.”