Page 24 of Wolf's Chance

“Caleb.”

“You gave him your spare key?”

I just knew her eyes would be like saucers.

“No, he found it.”

“He found it? Why? Was he in your house? Did you tell him where it was? Why was he in your house?”

I raised my hand to stop her barrage of questions. “Girl, shhh. Enough with the questions, I need sleep.”

She muttered the whole time, but soon I was in bed, nestled under my blankets, and the door closed as Lily left me alone. I had no doubt I would be interrogated when I woke up, but for now, I could sleep.

I just needed to sleep.

SEVEN

Caleb

I carried the painting easily,tucked under my arm, and made my way to the edge of town. The folk used to seeing me now never batted an eyelid. Walk with purpose and confidence, and very few people will challenge you, even if you don’t belong.

Especiallyif you didn’t belong.

I had been here for a week and dined at three establishments. Each one had gathered information about me, noting that I was a hiker with a campsite near town. It was a familiar story for this town. Whispering Pines had so many hikers passing through that my story wasn’t unusual.

I kept to myself. I made the small talk but divulged nothing. What was I going to say? That I was a wolf shifter, and a local girl had drawn me here because she kept sketching me? Yeah. While I stood out as a stranger to this town, I still blended enough not to draw attention from the local cops. If I were to tell them the truth, I would be in a mental institution quicker than I could blink.

I used the trail to move farther away from the town. I passed no one else, and with my senses alert to any unfamiliar noise, I left the trail and entered the woods. It wasn’t the most favorable walk through the woods, and I hoped that the uneven ground, low-hanging branches, and dense vegetation kept even the eager hikers at bay. Any scratches I sustained healed quickly. When I was far enough, I stopped, pulling off my jacket, shirt, and T-shirt and loosening my belt. Taking off my boots, I tucked my socks into them. Stripping off my jeans, I folded them, placing them on top, rolling my head on my neck as I stretched. My wolf was restless, and I was eager to run. But first I needed to deal with this painting.

Uncovering my rucksack, I put my clothes away, ensuring the shirt and T-shirt could pass one more day before I needed a laundromat.

Crouched over the painting, I tore through all of Willow’s careful packaging. Rocking back on my heels, I took in the wolf she had painted.

It was the side profile only. I liked how she had captured the blackness of his thick coat emerging from the dark shadows as if the wolf was morphing into existence from the very darkness it came from. The bright blue of the wolf’s eyes wasn’t diminished just because I could only see one.

The wolf was large. Imposing.

An alpha.

Sucking my teeth, I stood over the painting and brought my foot down heavily on the frame, snapping it.

Pulling the painting from its encasement, I dug in my rucksack, finding my lighter, and with no preamble, I set the painting alight. As it burned, I undressed fully, and as thepainting curled and burned under the flames, I shifted into my wolf.

Stepping back from the fire slightly, my wolf waited patiently for the painting and frame to burn out. Satisfied that nothing remained, I let the wolf run.

Ponderosa pine towered over me as I ran, weaving through the dense woods as I climbed the mountain. The higher I ran, the more the trees thinned out, and soon I had vast open areas to run in. While I ran, my mind puzzled over the enigma that was Willow.

Was she human? She definitely smelled human. Her frailty was human. Shifters rarely had sickness. Our Goddess Luna made us strong. She could see perfectly well, so that ruled out being a shaman, and even then, she would still be a shifter.

Willow was human. I would bet my life on it.

Movement at the corner of my eye had my wolf banking, and after a brief chase, I enjoyed a juicy rabbit. The sky was darkening, and with a full belly, I climbed higher up the mountain, taking shelter between a large fallen rock and the mountain. With my head resting in my paws, I watched the night awaken as darkness fell.

Content in my solitude, I wondered how many others were like me, who preferred life away from the pack.

Wolves were not solitary creatures.

We thrived in packs.

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