Page 33 of Wolf's Fate

Gritting my teeth, I pushed harder, my muscles burning with effort, but I ignored the burn. The road in front of me was a blur. All I could see was the vision of her—standing alone, fear in her eyes as the shadows surrounded her. She didn’t know I was coming for her. She didn’t know I had seen it or that the link between us, the thin thread that connected us, had become taut and stronger, pulling me back to her.

She thought she was alone. She was wrong.

ELEVEN

Willow

It shouldn’t have botheredme how easy it was for Lorna and Lily to replace me, but it did.

Replace mewas perhaps melodramatic, but as I stood in the corner of my own store and watched them bouncing ideas off each other, I couldn’t help but feel slightly disgruntled.

Hanging up a new piece of art that had come into the store a few days ago, I was grateful for the fact it filled up the too empty walls. I clearly marked that it wasn’t mine, making sure the label was obvious to anyone who cared to look. It was a small hope, probably a naive one, but if the same people who broke in before came back, they would see the label and leave this piece alone. It didn’t deserve to be destroyed because of me.

While I knew I couldn’t count on much anymore, I really did hope that this one tiny label would save this piece from the destruction my own work had suffered.

“Willow, if there are any sales while you are gone, how do I deal with that?” Lorna asked, turning from my computer. “Ifound the packaging tape and everything, but I need more information.”

Standing back and looking at the newly hung piece, I admired it for a moment more before going to the counter to show Lorna how to log inventory. It shouldn’t be too taxing. The walls were sparse, and any art I had produced myself I hadn’t shared with anyone. I’d taken a couple of photos on my phone of ones I was sure Cannon and the others needed to see, but the rest I had destroyed.

Caleb Foster owed me compensation for the number of sketchbooks, pencils, and charcoal I had gone through. I’d bypassed paint. I had a harder time destroying canvas. The artist within me protested loudly. Plus, burning canvases brought unnecessary attention.

I knew it was silly, that I was being paranoid because of what had happened, but I had the constant itch between my shoulder blades that I was being watched.

I hadn’t told anyone of my fear. They would never let me leave if they thought I was being watched. It all sounded incredibly dramatic. I was a twenty-six-year-old woman, I had no parents, and I was an adult. No oneletme do anything. I did what I wanted.

Which is why you keep asking for permission, I snipped at myself in the same surly tones as a teenager. The thought made me smile. I did ask Lornaa lotif something was okay, and she took everything in her stride so easily it was a difficult habit to break.

Noel was delighted that I’d asked her for help. While she had joked when she first came to my class that she was doing as many things as possible to keep her marriage from implodingsince her boys were at college, I did think there was some truth in that. Only, I think the way she had done it was perhaps the opposite of what her husband had wanted.

Noel wanted her to be happy and busy, but not too busy to avoid actually spending timewithhim. The funny thing was, I thinkthatrevelation had completely passed her by.

Of the three of them, Noel was the hardest to convince that my taking a break was a good idea. Well, that was unfair; he agreed with the break, but he didn’t agree with the leaving town part.

I smiled as I watched her repeat the information she had just learned back to me for confirmation that she had understood it correctly. She also wrote everything down, a quality I admired. Both Lorna and Noel made me feel cared for. It was something I had rarely felt in my life, and I was clinging to it for as long as they let me. It had been a long time since I had a parental figure in my life, so the fact I currently had two made me feel rich.

“Are you all packed?” Lorna asked me, her attention on her notepad.

“Yes.” I had one backpack, and that was all I was taking.

“And your friend is meeting you in Baywater Creek?”

I shook my head. “No, Kettlebridge,” I told her. “Then we go to Baywater Creek.” I’d never heard of the town, but Cannon had suggested it, and his tone held a fondness I didn’t understand, but I didn’t argue.

When you need a diversion, you take the diversion offered.

The truth was, I was going to pretend to make my way to Baywater Creek, and after two of the four buses I needed to get there, I would get picked up by Doc, who would take us toBlackridge Peak. All very elaborate, but Royce was sure I was being watched, and I was sure he was right.

I would leave town, and if I was followed, they would follow the bus. Why I would be followed was as much a mystery as why they would break into my home and store.

Cannon was tightlipped when I asked if it was Caleb they wanted. With neither a confirmation nor denial, I was left to my own thoughts.

For someone like me, that wasn’t the best option. It didn’t help that I was seeing him everywhere. Caleb, not Cannon. Obviously. I scoffed at my stupidity. They all thought a break was the best thing for me. If they had asked me what I really wanted, it was to rest. I wanted to sleep undisturbed and wake rested with no new sketches to draw of the man who left me.

I really was on a roll for being a drama queen today.

“I’ve never heard of Baywater Creek,” Lorna told me, and I snapped out of my inner musings.

“Mm-hmm.” What could I say?Sorry, I haven’t either, and I only heard of it when a six-five giant told me to use it as an alibi?