Page 52 of Wolf's Providence

“Didn’t tell her everything,” I snapped back.

He took a step closer, and I really wanted to demand he put a shirt on. All that flesh on display was distracting.

“So that’s how you feel?” he asked me, his face unreadable. “You need to hide what we are?”

Shaking my head, I took a step back. I didn’t have an answer. The truth was, I wasn’t sure what I would call us yet. And until I figured that out, wasn’t hiding the easiest option?

I didn’t say that.

Instead, I walked towards my bedroom, pushing the door open. I saw the new additions to the room. Several potted plants were dotted around my space, making my bedroom more…homey.

“You didn’t answer.”

I jumped ten feet in the air as the stealthy shifter scared the shit out of me by sneaking up behind me. “Caleb!” My heart was pounding. “Donotdo that!”

His look was unrelenting, and I took a deep breath, searching for an answer that would make sense, for both of us. “Caleb,it’s not about hiding. It’s about…I don’t know.” I shrugged helplessly, frustrated at my tangled thoughts. “It’s just you’re…you. And I’m me. And in your world, that means something different.We’redifferent. And I need to have answers before I think of questions, and I don’t have any answers.”

He crossed his arms over his impressive chest, his gaze fixed and unblinking. Completely ignoring the fact he was making me drool at the sight of his physique. “You don’t need answers, you needhonesty. Be honest with them…and with yourself.”

“Honest with them?” I challenged. “So, tell them you’re a shifter, and some of yourspeciesdon’t like it when one of your kind sticks their dick in one of my kind?”

Caleb’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Is that what you think this is? That it was about sex and only sex?”

I hated his crude words, and I dropped my eyes, suddenly feeling exhausted. “No, of course not.”

“Then why are you acting like this? Do you want an excuse to step away from this? From us?”

The simplicity of his question struck a chord in me. But as much as I wanted to believe it, things weren’t that straightforward. Looking up, I took in the hard lines of his face, the intensity in his eyes as he watched me. My mouth went dry as I considered my words.

“It’s that easy for you?” I asked carefully.

His expression softened, and he closed the distance between us. “Yes. I know what I want.” Reaching out, he tucked my hair behind my ear, his fingers rubbing a few strands between them as his hand dropped softly. “I’m not ashamed of that. Or you.”

His words settled around me like a weight. A weight that pulled me closer to the truth I was too chicken to face. But Caleb wasn’t hiding, and he wasn’t pretending. His being here wasn’t just a commitment he felt he owed or empty words. Itwasaction. He wasn’t wavering on what he wanted or letting the doubts of others cast a shadow over his own feelings.

I didn’t know what to say. All my life, I’d relied on myself and my own logic. But with Caleb, my expectations were different.Hemade me different. Being with him meant stepping outside my comfort zone, and it meant trusting him.

I wasn’t sure I was there yet. He had a tendency to disappear on me.

Caleb moved back, giving me space, and for the first time since returning home, I realized how much I wanted him here.

And admitting that to myself terrified me.

“Hey…” I began, but I didn’t know what else to say. “I…”

“You’ve got time,” he said gently. “Just don’t take too long. But also…take as long as you need.”

With that, he turned and walked down the hall, leaving me to confront the questions that haunted me, and no one to ask them.

Except for the plants.

SIXTEEN

Willow

Our evening had been quiet.Not much was said, but it hadn’t been oppressively suffocating. Caleb had slipped out mid-evening to “let his wolf run” as he called it. If I was asked if I breathed easier when he was gone, I wouldn’t have been truthful. I also wouldn’t have been lying.

So yeah, there was that.

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