Page 71 of Wolf's Chance

To catch us.

I didn’t give them a chance. I vaulted over the hood, my boots hitting the ground on the driver’s side just as the first wolf broke free of the forest.

Something barreled into me, knocking me away from the door, and I realized it was the shifter from the inn, still in his human form.

I shoved him off, barely registering his weight, Willow pushed the truck door open, and I clambered inside, jammingthe key into the ignition. The engine roared to life, and I floored it, the tyres churning up Shelby’s neat graveled parking lot.

The truck fishtailed as I jerked the wheel to the side to avoid the wolf that jumped in front of us as we tore down the road, leaving the B&B behind us. My hands were white-knuckled on the wheel, my eyes darting to the rearview mirror. I saw the shifter was on his feet, watching us drive away, two wolves on either side of him.

They weren’t following us—yet.

“You okay?” I asked, glancing over at Willow. She was breathing hard, but she nodded, her eyes still wide with adrenaline.

“Yeah,” she said, her voice shaky but strong. “You?”

I let out a deep breath. “I am now.”

“What in the actual fuck is going on?” She looked at me, anger, confusion, and fear etched on her face. “Why are they after us? Who are these people? Where thehellare all these wolves coming from?”

Her voice trembled slightly, and I could tell she was trying to make sense of something that didn’t fit into her world.

ThatIdidn’t fit in her world.

“Not yet,” I murmured. “Let me put a few more miles between us.”

The reminder that they were behind us and could be following us made Willow jerk around to check if the road was empty.

We drove in silence for a while, the tension slowly draining away as the distance grew between us and the shifters. But the feeling lingered—the sense that we were only just ahead of the danger, that it was still out there, waiting for us to slip up.

Formeto slip up.

Tightening my grip on the wheel, I pushed the truck harder down the empty road.

Whatever was coming, I’d be ready. I just had to hope that Willow would be as well.

NINETEEN

Willow

As the day wore on,the truck rumbled down the narrow, winding road, its engine echoing through the stillness. Outside the window, the dark trees became a jumbled mess, their outlines blending together. Despite the passage of time since the incident at the B&B, my heart was still pounding, each beat a reminder of the fear that enveloped me when the stranger had launched himself at Caleb. As I tried to make sense of the events, they played back in my mind like a disjointed film, each scene more surreal than the last, leaving me utterly perplexed.

“What happened back there?” I asked again, my voice trembling despite my best efforts to stay calm. I glanced over at him, searching for answers in his profile, but his jaw was clenched tight, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

He didn’t answer right away, and the silence between us grew heavy, suffocating. My fingers curled into the seat, nails digging into the upholstery, as I pushed down my need to demand answers.

“Who were they?” I pressed, hearing the fear in my voice. “And why were they after you?”

He hesitated, his grip on the steering wheel tightening as though he could strangle the truth into submission. The tension between us was building until it was almost unbearable. The air hung thick with unspoken words and secrets Caleb didn’t want to tell, but he needed to.

He promised.

“Caleb!”

“I’ll explain,” he snapped. “But not here. Not yet.” His voice was rough, almost reluctant.

It wasn’t the answer I wanted, but I could hear the strain in his voice, the way it cracked around the edges.

No matter how hard I tried to tell myself that I was being dramatic, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was coming, something I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear.

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