Page 85 of Wolf's Fate

Watching him, I wondered what made him so sure. He had answered so calmly, so sure. He wasn’t rushing to look for an answer. He seemed to have accepted that it would take time. But time felt like a luxury we didn’t have.

Caleb tossed his last bit of jerky aside and packed up my pack once again. “There’s a creek,” he told me. “It’s kind of difficult to get to, so I’ll go and get us fresh water.”

“Oh, I can try to come?”

His look was one of patience as he shook his head. “I’m going to shift to get partway there. This time of year, the Peak likes to start the game of ‘is it stable ground or not?’”

“Your wolf?” I don’t know why that surprised me. If anything, I should be surprised he’d stayed human for so long.

“Yes.”

“Should I turn my back?”

Caleb frowned at me, unsure of the question. “Why would you turn your back on a known predator?”

“I…I thought you had to take your clothes off,” I stammered and was relieved to see him grin.

“I need to go further in first. You can keep your eyes open.” Caleb pointed at the rock I’d been on. “Sit back down and try to rest. We have more to go today before we lose the daylight. It doesn’t get easier anytime soon.”

“Why would it?” I sassed and was rewarded with a wink before he headed into the tree line.

Settling back onto the rock, I decided my butt deserved better, and untying my sleeping bag, I folded it under me.

I was a human woman on a shifter’s mountain, while said shifter went and fetched me water. When did this become my life? Seriously? What did I do to be given this hand?

For all my bravado and stubbornness, did I really want to be here? Did I want to dive further into this unknown world that was hidden from other humans? There were so many loose threads between us; did I want to keep on pulling at them?

Turning in my seat, I looked up at the imposing peak. “You are uncomfortable, unnecessarily steep, and freaking cold,” I scolded it.

The mountain remained silent, but I grew colder the longer I didn’t move, so as any sensible person would do, I crawled into my sleeping bag. Boots and all.

The visions were waiting for me, as if they had been anticipating me being alone, away from the alpha of the Peak. Scene after scene of death and destruction followed. Not just Caleb exacting his revenge, brutal and bloody, but the Cristone Pack delivering their hate. Tears ran down my face as I saw them fall, one by one, until I was no longer sure who belonged to which pack, and all I knew was the devastating loss.

Loss that Luna wept for.

How did I know that? I looked around me, as my awareness floated through the scenes like one of Caleb’s wraiths that haunted him.

How could he ever come back from this?

Strong fingers cupped my cheek, and I felt the lightest of pressures against my eyelids.

“Wake up, Willow, it’s just a dream.”

Opening my eyes, I looked up at Caleb, seeing his concern as he watched me return to the waking world.

“I fell asleep?”

His smile was gentle, his thumb stroking over my cheek. “Yeah, you fell asleep,” he confirmedsoftly.

His touching me like this reminded me of how he touched me in the car. Reminding me that the connection between us was as physical as it was spiritual. I didn’t know if that was something I’d already accepted or something I still feared.

“What did you see?” he asked me, and I saw in his eyes that he already knew the answer.

“Death,” I confirmed. “So much death.”

He looked away, but he didn’t stop touching me, and I wasn’t sure who was anchoring who.

“Do you think the answers lie in my packlands?” he asked gruffly.