Page 40 of Wolf's Chance

“And this?”

Swallowing hard, I didn’t demand to know why he went through my trash. It was no longer a surprise the boundaries he willingly crossed. “I don’t have a good flair for animals.”

The wolf stared at me from the sketch. Even it seemed to know I was full of it.

“Looks good to me.” His voice was gruff as he spoke. “Any more of these?”

“No. I…I can’t get it right, so I left it off.”

“Off?” He was suddenly alert. “Off of what?”

“The painting I put in the gallery this afternoon.” He took hold of my elbow, steering me from the room. “Caleb!”

“We’re going back to the gallery. You’ll show me everything.”

Wrenching my arm free, I spun to face him. “You can’t boss me around like this, Caleb!”

“We either go together or I go alone. Which would you prefer?”

Grinding my teeth together, I glared at him, wishing it had the power to hurt him. “Together.”

His scornful smirk set my blood on fire with temper. “That’s what I thought.”

Asshole.

ELEVEN

Caleb

Willow didn’t own a car,or if she did, she kept it somewhere that wasn’t near her home. I had no use for a car, as four legs were better than four wheels, so we walked back to the art studio.

I knew that she was self-conscious of being seen with me. Her furtive glances left and right gave her away, but the walk back to Main Street was quiet. It was early evening, and businesses were either closed or closing up. Too early for the few restaurants to be doing much trade.

“Why here?” I asked her as we walked. I wasn’t particularly interested; I just wanted to make sure that if anyone did see us, she would look more willing to be with me if they saw her talking.

“I liked the name.” She shrugged as she looked around. “How could you not like here? It’s populated but quiet, it has a strong tourist trade who like to buy art of where they’ve been hiking, the property prices are decent… It all worked.”

“It is a good spot,” I agreed. “Mountains and forests on your doorstep, cleanish air.”

“Cleanish?” Willow shot me a look that I’d come to recognize as she didn’t agree with me. “It’s so fresh and clean here.”

She would never understand as she wasn’t a shifter. “I’ve inhaled fresher.” That earned me an eye roll, but she didn’t pursue it. “You study art at school?”

“Yup.”

Okay, so she was going to make it difficult. “Which school?”

“Am I to assume you don’t already know?”

She really was feeling sassy today. “I know very little about you, Willow, and what I do know, I already feel is too much.”

“Then why are you asking me questions!”

“I was trying to make the walk more enjoyable.”

“I wouldenjoymy forced walk more if it was done in silence.”

“Understood.”

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