Page 14 of Wolf's Fate

Alone.

If this had happened to Caleb, would he have had an army of helpers to step up and lend a hand?No. He had no one. I remembered what I had thought earlier, and my resolve strengthened.

Not true.

He had me, and I knew I needed to make him realize that. Because people had been in my home and my business, and left a warning.

Was it a warning for me, or him?

FIVE

Willow

Waking up,I felt refreshed and well rested. Lying in bed, snuggled warm and cozy, I judged myself for how well I’d slept in a bed that wasn’t my own. I mean, the sleep wassogood I didn’t want to get up, and it had nothing to do with hiding from my reality.

I’d genuinely had one of the best sleeps of my life.

The smell of bacon and coffee eventually lured me out of bed and down the stairs. Lorna was in jammies similar to mine. Granted, the ones I was wearing were hers, so it shouldn’t have surprised me. Hers were blue, her slippers fluffy with bunny ears, and it just made me adore her even more.

Noel was at the breakfast counter, shoveling in his breakfast like a man possessed. He saw me lingering and straightened himself up, waving at me to come in.

“You slept well?” he asked, and Lorna turned, realizing I was behind her.

“I slept like a log,” I admitted, walking to the counter where Lorna pointed with her spatula.

“We let you sleep a little bit longer,” she told me as she served up bacon. “Noel’s been to the house and store. All was okay, nothing further has happened. We have a town meeting to attend in about an hour.”

I’d been in the process of helping myself to some toast at Noel’s insistence, but I stared at her, my arm suspended in the air between me and the golden slices of toast. “A town meeting?”

“You’ve been targeted,” she told me, flipping a pancake perfectly. “Your home and your business.” She glanced up as the pancake settled back in the pan. “That’s not random acts of violence,” she told me slowly, like I hadn’t thought of this already. “No, you’ve been targeted and we need to discuss this.”

“At a town meeting?” I looked at Noel, whose head was down, and I didn’t know him well enough to say for sure, but if I were to guess, I’d say he wasn’t in agreement. “Did you…did you call this?” Noel glanced up and his look confirmed that would be correct.

“Willow, honey, we need to know what to do to stop this spree of violence.”

Spree of violence? Oh damn, what had I done? Just last night, I was grateful for their help. This morning, I was wishing I’d kept my mouth shut. We didn’t need a town meeting. I was pretty sure that the ones who had broken into my home and store weren’t in the slightest bit interested in anyone else.

I couldn’t say that though, because then I’d have to let them know I knewwhyit had happened, and I was not bringing that kind of attention to myself or shifters.

I needed to get hold of Lily. Lorna kept fillingmy plate with her delicious home-cooked food, and I soon began to appreciate the speed that Noel ate at.

When I was finished, she told me to hop in the shower and we’d go to the town hall together. Upstairs, I closed the door and went to the furthest corner of her son’s room. I called Lily, who answered on the second ring.

“I know, I know,” she told me while sounding breathless. “Dad thinks it’s best to stop the, and I quote,wave of crimebefore it gets out of control.” I could hear her exasperation, and I echoed it.

“Lily, I can’t tell them what happened, and we can’t have this blown out of proportion!”

“Iknow,” she hissed down the phone. “But we also can’t do or saynothing. You called the police first,” she reminded me.

“Because Royce told me to!” I wailed in defense.

“Well, maybe we need to ask thisRoycehow we get you out of this?”

Which may not have been a bad idea, but I’d told him I wouldn’t say anything, and I could already see Lily being confrontational about their involvement. They would have no reason to believe that I’d kept my word.

“They don’t need to hear about this,” I told her quickly. “I’ll go and just say as little as possible.”

“Jesus, Willow, you dothatanyway.” I heard the sigh. It sounded determined. Dread filled me, and I knew I was in trouble when she said, “Leave it to me.”