Page 60 of Wolf's Chance

“Really?” I was panting. “D’ya think?”

“You’re in shock.”

“Mm-hmm.” My heart was racing, and I couldn’t catch my breath. The tightness in my chest made me gasp.

“Willow, I need you to relax.”

The grunt I answered with was more pain than the derisive snort I was going for.

“Willow.” Caleb reached for me, gently cradling my face in his large hands and making me meet his gaze. His brown eyes exuded warmth. “Calm down.” His voice was soft and low as he gently instructed, “Take a deep breath with me.”

In unison, we breathed in and out, and I sensed the panic releasing its grasp on me. As I attempted to move away, Caleb pulled me towards him, until we were intimately close, and I could feel his breath on my lips. We carried on with the breathing exercises until he moved his head back slightly. “Better?”

I gave a nod. Although I still felt a bit unsteady, the chest pain had subsided, and even though I was aware of my anxiety, I wasn’t in a state of panic.

Caleb sat back. “Good.” He looked around. “We need to move. There may be more.”

A spike of panic jolted me forward. “Wolves?”

“Yeah.” He put the truck in drive. “Now that you’re calmer, we can talk and drive.”

I didn’t know where to start, and we’d actually been driving for about five minutes before I found my voice again. “What just happened?”

If I thought my question came out of nowhere, Caleb was ready for me. “A wolf was on the road.”

“You got out of the truck and confronted it…” I still couldn’t believe it.

“Done a lot of hiking in these parts. They say if you stare the wolf down, it won’t attack.” His attention was on the road,and he didn’t look at me as he drove. “Wolves are pack creatures,” he told me easily. “But they have a leader. An alpha. They say that if you stare a wolf down as if you’re its leader, they will submit.”

“That’s stupidity.” I couldn’t wrap my head around it. “No, that’s not stupid…that’s absurdity. Madness!”

“Never been accused of being sane.” He glanced at me. “It worked, didn’t it?”

I was at a loss for words. I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to demand a better explanation because I was sure there was one. Though God knew, I didn’t know what. A whirlwind of emotions swept over me—confusion, fear, and an overwhelming sense ofreliefthat he was safe. I didn’t know which one to address first. The latter reaction won, and I impulsively threw myself at him, despite him being behind the wheel, wrapping my arms around him.

Caleb grunted in response as I fell on top of him, his arm instinctively coming around me as I nestled my head into his neck.

“Willow?” The combination of his hesitant and worried demeanor stirred something inside me, and I burst into tears. “Shit,” Caleb muttered, but rather than pushing me aside, he embraced me even tighter.

As I scrambled to move closer, he pulled me into his embrace, offering comfort as I released my shock and fear through my sobs. It had hit me hard to see how unconcerned he was about his rash actions, and I was filled with fear at the thought that something bad could have happened to him.

That I was concerned about him and didn’t know how to handle it could be postponed until I was in a better placeemotionally. I quickly acknowledged that the level of adrenaline I’d just experienced was not something my body was used to, and the exhaustion that followed caused me to crash sooner than I anticipated.

I was aware of the truck coming to a halt, and Caleb gently moved me away from him. The sound of doors opening and closing didn’t fully rouse me from my sudden fatigue, nor did the sense that I was being lifted from my seat by powerful arms. I could feel the cool breeze on my skin before I was gently placed in the back of the truck.

“You’re okay.” His familiar voice settled me. Caleb covered me with a blanket and gave my shoulder a comforting squeeze. “Sleep.”

Once he sat back down in the driver’s seat, the truck started moving, and I fell asleep, aware that there was something not quite right about his earlier explanation, though I couldn’t quite put my finger on what.

I suspected that Caleb knew a lot more than he was sharing with me. While drifting off to sleep, I made a vow to myself that I would get answers when I woke up.

SIXTEEN

Caleb

While she wasin a deep sleep, I parked the truck, grabbed my jacket, and locked the truck after I got out.

Cannon answered on the first ring. “What is it? Where are you?”

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