Page 91 of Wolf's Fate

The wolf not so subtly stepped behind me and nudged me through the door, careful not to enter.

When I turned to protest, he was already trotting back theway we had come. That was it? I was to go into this creepy abandoned cabin and what? Wait?

It wasn’t warm, but it was better than being outside. Slowly, I took a few more steps inside, crying out with alarm when the lights came on. They were dim, but they brightened up the place. Looking around, the open-plan living space with the kitchen in the corner was pretty. Comfy even. One door to the back led to a small bedroom, and the other led to the bathroom.

My gaze rested on the shower for too long. Was it possible? Was there hot water? Coming back into the living space, I saw him outside the window. In his jeans and nothing else.

Hurrying to the door, I stepped out onto the small wooden porch. “You’re going to freeze.”

“Nah.” He didn’t look at me, placing my backpack on the porch. “The generator’s on. It’ll take a while to get everything running again. I’m feeding the supply to this cabin, but heat and hot water shouldn’t be too far away.”

“Why change form?”

“Going hunting, I’m a better hunter on four legs than two.” He still didn’t make eye contact.

“You’re not going to come in, are you?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Whose home was this?” I didn’t know why I asked. It wouldn’t make a difference to me, and I wouldn’t know if he lied.

“Nell’s. Never liked me much. Said I was pampered.” His eyes were back on the tree line. “Never really cared for her either, if I’m honest. Old age got her before Cristone Pack did, so this one is safe.”

Safe.

I stepped closer to him, my heart pounding. “Caleb, you need to listen to me.” He never turned his head to look at me, but I kept on going. “Something’s happening to you, something I don’t think you are aware of.”

His silence was unnerving, but finally, he turned to me. The look in his eyes sent a chill through me that had nothing to do with the cold. “What are you talking about?”

The way he was looking at me but not really seeing me made me want to reach out to him. “Caleb.” I took another step closer, careful, measured. “You know what I’m talking about. Being here, the darkness that follows you, you’re not yourself, Caleb.”

“I’m going to get dinner,” he told me, his voice low, rough, and irritated. “Try to get warm. Run the water for a few minutes, clear the pipes. Shouldn’t be too bad.”

It’d been ten years, maybe longer since those pipes had been run, was he serious? “Are you listening to me?”

“Yeah. I don’t know what you’re trying to say to me, Willow. I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.” I tried to make my voice gentle and careful. “You’ve been different since we got here.”

“Have I?” I heard the defensive tone, and I made my own voice firmer.

“You’ve been erratic, paranoid…angry.”

“You got this from me turning on the generator?” His arms crossed his chest, snowflakes melting on his bare skin.

“Don’t do that,” I warned him. “I’m not fighting with you.” Taking a deep breath, I stepped off the porch. “I’m not trying to hurt you.” Reaching for him, I let my hand fall when he stepped back, trying to hide the pain of his action as I carriedon. “You told me yourself, there are…thingshere, and I think they are influencing you, Caleb. You’re not being rational.”

His eyes flashed with something. That murky purple color was back, and I was worried I’d pushed too far. But I had to make him see it, I had to make him realize.

“You think I’m losing my mind?” His hands were clenched at his sides.

“Are you?” Swallowing hard, I held his gaze. “Ignoring the fact that you’re in jeans, barefoot, and shirtless in the freezingsnowlike it’s perfectly fucking normal, you’ve got all this darkness around you.”

“I’m a shifter, we run hot.”

“You don’t run with anti-freeze, though, do you?” My anger was rising. “You’re listening to the shadows that surround you! Whose voices are you listening to? You told me the dead lived here; are you so eager to join them?”

Caleb watched me, remaining quiet, and I could feel the weight of his struggle as he tried to hold onto his temper. He didn’t want to hear this, I knew that, but I wouldn’t remain quiet until hebelievedme.