Page 61 of Wolf's Fate
“I can hear you.” He flashed me a thumbs-up.
Lord, give me strength.
Turning away to check that I had everything, I tried not tolisten to him in case my water pitcherpitcheditself off his head. I’d come in with nothing. But after a few days in the hospital, with a shifter for a companion who listened to requests, I had some toiletries, a few magazines, and the all-important blank sheet sketchbook. He’d also turned up with clothes. I decided I didn’t want to know where they came from. They weren’t mine, and that was all I needed to know.
“Willow?” I turned to Ned, who was facing me now. “Alpha wants to know what you drew today.”
“Two portraits of Caleb, and the death scene.” It was my nickname for the scene outside that cabin with the dead and dying pack of Caleb’s family.
“Get that?” Ned asked Cannon. “Yeah, same old, same old.” He ignored my flat look and put his hand over the receiver. “Wants to know if you’ve seen anything and not drawn it.”
“No.”
“She says no,” he said, and I saw his eyes narrow as he listened to his alpha. “I don’t know.” He stilled, and I saw him look at me with what could only be described as guilt. “Yes. If I had to bet on it, then yes, I think she’s lying.”
My gasp of outrage fell on deaf ears. It didn’t matter he was spot on, that wasn’t the point.
“Yup, see you soon.” Ned hung up. He held his hands up automatically in supplication. “You can’t ask me to lie to him; he’s my alpha.”
“I wasn’t lying!”
His look was one that clearly saiddon’t bullshit me. “Your heart rate speeds up when you lie. You get sweaty palms, you shuffle your feet, and you push your hair behindyour ear.” He let out an exaggerated sigh. “Your body language is easy to read.”
Right, because he was a shifter with heightened senses. “Shut up.”
He grinned at me again, and both of us turned when the nurse came in with my discharge papers. Ned was keen to leave, and on this, we agreed.
I had to go out in a wheelchair, which made no sense, but it was hospital policy, another thing that amused Ned. But it was hard not to giggle as he ran down the hospital corridors, pushing me at almost dangerous speeds, ignoring all shouts of protest and warning.
He scooped me up out of the seat at the door and carried me bridal style outside. As we burst through the doors, my laughter faded when I saw him waiting for me, and hope surged within me as Ned lowered me to the ground.
“Caleb?”
Caleb looked at how close Ned stood to me, his face unreadable, but when he stepped forward, his hand closing over my arm, he tugged me gently towards him. His hand rested on my lower back.
“Thanks, I’ve got her from here.”
NINETEEN
Caleb
The shifter,Ned, watched me, his eyes flicking between me and Willow with uncertainty. My palm rested on her lower back, my fingertips pressing lightly against her sweater.
Willow looked up at me, her eyes a combination of relief and wariness, searching my face as though trying to decide if it was good to see me or not. Her lips quirked into a small, hesitant smile, but it didn’t mask the concern that lingered beneath the surface.
“You look better,” I murmured, my thumb brushing small circles against the fabric of her sweater. It was the slightest of touches. I doubted she would even feel it, but it grounded me—kept me focused—and I needed that right now.
“I think I still pretty much look like I got rolled in a truck,” she said with a careless shrug, contradicting her soft-spoken tone.
I looked down at her in amusement. “I said you looked better; I didn’t say you were catwalk-worthy.”
“So that’s it? You just come back and don’t do what the alpha told you to?” Ned’s gruff voice held a note of challenge in it that I didn’t appreciate.
“I don’t need to.” My stare was hard and full of warning. “Remember your place, pup.”
Ned’s low growl caused Willow to press into my side. I didn’t think she was even aware that she’d done it, but Ned saw, and that was all that mattered. He reined in his temper and straightened his spine, squaring his shoulders.
“I’m phoning Cannon.”