Page 16 of Wolf's Providence

I was about to find out.

FIVE

Willow

I woketo the sound of the wind bashing and whistling as it rushed over the bunker. The snow falling heavily against my window let me know that the weather on the mountains in November was no fun. I was glad Lily had left, because I had no idea how these people on this mountain survived over winter. I feared it may involve a lot of them shifting to their wolf form to keep warm, and she didn’t need to see that.

The fact that they weren’t people should probably be the answer, but still, they weren’t invincible.

Struggling to sit up, I rubbed my chest, trying to soothe my racing heart. Sweat clung to my skin. My body was cool in the room, but the fear of my dream still lingered.

With a shaky breath, I pushed my hair back with trembling fingers. Slowly, I pushed myself up further on the bed, wincing at the pain from my abdomen and then scowling when I remembered it wasn’t real pain. Although, even though I looked healed on the outside, there was a lot to be said for internal injuries.

With great effort, pushing the covers off me, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and tried to muster the courage to standunaided. It may have looked like nothing happened, but my body was protesting loudly that I was not ready to stand.

“Stop being so weak,” I grumbled to myself, and slowly, tentatively, I stretched my leg, my toe grazing the hard floor like I was a nervous swimmer, testing the waters before getting in.

If Caleb were here, he would be hiding his grin at how silly I looked, I just knew it. I winced again, this time at the memory of Caleb. Thinking of him was still painful. It conjured every detail of that night, which was burned into my mind. The pain, the blood, the way I had been ready to slip into the darkness, believing this was the end. Caleb holding me, begging me to hold on, his eyes wide with fear.

Telling him I loved him.

My cheeks burned in remembrance atthatconfession. And then…nothing.

Until I woke up, thinking I was severely damaged with life-threatening injuries. Only to learn I was healed.

Because of him.

My fingers pressed into my abdomen. Doc had removed the bandages, so there was no barrier between my fingers and the raised skin where the worst of the wounds had been.

Biting my lip, I tried to stop the thudding of my heart. I was supposed to die in his arms that night.

I knew it deep down. I wasn’t being dramatic; Iknewin my bones, that night on Shadowridge Peak was supposed to be my last.

And Caleb had done what Caleb does—he wrote his own script, and instead of letting me go, he saved me.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to ignore the flood of emotions that came whenever I thought about Caleb. They were so overwhelming, too much and too fast, and I was constantly struggling to find my footing. One second, I was angry—furious at him for leaving, especially after everything that hadjust happened—and then…there was that something else. That something that dwelled deep within me, pulling at me, the need I had for him, the feelings I tried to ignore, but other memories, of us in the car, entwined with each other, made my chest tighten whenever I thought about him.

But truthfully, whether I felt one emotion or the other, I didn’t understand any of it.

With a deep breath, I pushed myself off the bed. I needed to stop being weak, and the first step—pun intended—was to get out of this bed. The dream that woke me lingered and, with it, the strange awareness I’d had since I opened my eyes that first day in the bunker. It was as if I weren’t completely alone, even when there was no one around. I thought it would fade, but as the days passed, it only grew stronger.

I knew it wasn’t a figment of my imagination. I knew it from the way Cannon watched me as he spoke to me. It wasn’t in my mind. I could feel Caleb.

The shaman had confirmed it, we were connected, and as I felt Caleb, did he feel me?

My knees were shaky, but slowly, so very carefully, I edged away from the bed. One step then two, I inched closer to the bathroom. I was panting by the time I got there, which with everything they had told me, irritated me the most. I wasn’t hurt anymore, so why was I being so pathetic?

At the door to the bathroom, I stopped in sudden revelation. I may have been healed from my injuries by Caleb’s blood, but I was stillme. Which meant I still had ME, and as my frazzled brain accepted my revelation, the aches and pains I could feel suddenly made more sense.

I wasn’t crazy.

Okay, I was perhaps more unhinged than any other twenty-six-year-old female, but I had shit happening that wassupernatural.

In the bathroom, I answered the call of my bladder, and then while washing my hands, I decided to also wash my face. Eyeing the shower, I wondered if I had the strength to do it. I needed to feel clean.

Flicking the lock on the door, I pulled off my jammies, and after letting the water run, I stepped under the spray of water. The first few moments were honestly the first time I felt truly like myself. My body relished the heat, and my mind felt clear. My toiletries were in the bathroom, and reaching for my usual body wash, I started the slow methodical process of washing.

As I fell into the easy sense of the familiar, my mind wandered back to Caleb. Even here, I could still feel him. Not in the literal sense. It wasn’t as if I could feel his actual touch or hear him or anything like that, but I knew I was connected to him. I hoped no one ever asked me how often I reached out for it, trying to feel him.

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