Page 61 of Wolf's Chance

“I had a welcome committee on the road this morning.” The rage I’d kept tempered surfaced white hot within me. “A fucking shifter in the middle of the road! What the fuck is your problem? I told you I was coming!”

“Be careful how you speak to me, Caleb.” Cannon’s voice was low and calm but with unmistakable authority.

“And if I’m not, then what? Are you planning to send more reinforcements?” I was reckless with anger. “She could have been killed!”

“But she wasn’t.” He was still calm. His tone grew cold as he stated, “I didn’t send anyone. I trust you to come in with her yourself. I take it you did not reveal yourself to her?”

“I’m not stupid,” I spoke through gritted teeth. “If not you, who?”

“I don’t know.”

This was bullshit. “This is Pack Council bullshit,” I hissed down the phone at him. “I told you they were fuckers.”

“I don’t think this was them.” I heard him sigh. “Just make it here, and we’ll sort things out once you arrive.”

My gut twisted. I’d avoided pack for a long time. For good reason. I tilted my head back and gazed at the sky.

She wouldn’t be safe there.

Would she be safe anywhere?

“You’re driving through pack territory,” Cannon calmly stated, as if he could read my mind. “Pack patrol will catch your scent. Did you stop to consider it wasyouthat they were checking out?”

I hadn’t. I looked back at the truck, feeling torn about what to do. “She’s vulnerable.”

“More so with just you at her side, Caleb.”

My foot bounced as I mulled it over.

“Caleb?” Cannon’s low warning was enough for me.

“We’re not coming. End of discussion.” I hung up on him and quickly turned the phone off. Packs had different ways of operating, but most of them had some members who went to college and worked like humans to earn money for their pack. I wouldn’t turn on the phone until I swapped the SIM card since every pack knew about human technology.

I walked back to the truck and opened the back door, being careful not to wake Willow. I grabbed her phone from her bag and switched it off.

I’d need to change this truck. I didn’t doubt that Cannon knew what mode of transport I’d picked.

Worry gnawed at my gut as I considered if I was overreacting,but looking into the back seat at the woman who lay asleep there, I was sure I was doing the right thing.

Willow was different from most humans. She was fragile. I had to protect her…even though she was the reason she gained the attention of a powerful alpha.

I got in the truck, made the turn, and went back the way we came. She was gonna see a shaman—she would have to—but I decided to try to find answers on my own first.

The pack was our last option, not the first.

I didn’t lack resources on my own. I had some connections. I hadn’t talked to them in years, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t.

Feeling more confident about my decision, I settled into the seat, ready for the long drive. We’d go back to Whispering Pines. The human numbers would be to her benefit. The paintings, we’d put somewhere that Lily wouldn’t see them, and I’d stay with Willow, and we’d figure this out together.

Our relationship was not the smoothest, I knew that. She didn’t like me, and I hardly put up with her. Yet, she’d cried earlier, and whether it was conceited or not, I think a few of those shed tears were for me. I went against the order of an alpha for her sake, so although we weren’t friends, there was more than mere indifference in our relationship. We would learn to coexist until this matter was resolved.

While driving down the empty roads, I was conscious of the occasional presence that sprinted through the woods alongside the truck. Observing another shifter on their territory, the border patrols were content to see me leave quickly and not stay in territories where I was unwelcome. Maybe Cannon had been right; maybe it was me the wolf made a stand for. Either way, I wasn’t willing to chance it.

Willow woke a few hours later, and I saw a deeper effect of her ME. Her complexion was ashen, devoid of color, and she displayed signs of extreme exhaustion. She had a sore and swollen throat, and when she hoarsely mentioned needing lozenges, I immediately changed direction and drove to the closest town to find a pharmacy. Throughout the entire journey, she stayed in the back seat, constantly feeling lightheaded and dizzy.

The owner of a small bed & breakfast on the edge of a wood welcomed us. She was curious but respectful with her silence when I carried mywifepast her and up the stairs to our room. Willow’s groans echoed through the room as I gently placed her on the bed, and my gut churned with anxiety until I relented and sought the doctor in town.

I described her condition to him, and after a thorough examination, he reassured me she was experiencing a severe episode and needed to rest and recover. I checked my wallet when he was gone and she was still asleep, finding that I had thirty-one dollars left.

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