Page 7 of Wolf's Providence

Always present.

Unlike him.

“What have you done?” I whispered into the empty room. “Can you feel it, too?”

The link between us had been there from the start, but I knew now it was something more. Something I needed someone to explain to me. Would it always be there? Would it cause the connection to get stronger? Would it haunt me, always pulling me back to him? And him, me? Could he feel it? And if hecould, did that mean he knew I was alive, and was staying away anyway?

Because that wouldreallypiss me off.

What annoyed me off even more was how much I missed him. I kept expecting him to walk through the door and tell me that it would be okay. But that would probably be just another of his lies.

“I’m exhausted,” I told the empty room. “I close my eyes, and I see you. I hear your fear. I can’t escape this pain, this phantom pain because I’m practically healed. What did you do? Do you even care?”

The sound of the door opening snapped me out of my misery. My breath caught as I waited to see who was coming into my room.

But it wasn’t Caleb.

Ned grinned at me when he saw I was awake. He crossed the room in a few strides, taking a seat as if he belonged there. “I’m getting déjà vu. Me in a seat, and you in a hospital bed.”

“I’m predictable, right?” I joked, pleased to see someone new.

“You being in a hospital bed shouldn’t be so familiar,” he admonished. “You good for me to sit awhile?”

“Definitely, I could use the company.”

Ned settled into the chair, his manspread unencumbered. “You making yourself miserable?”

“You know me too well,” I muttered and saw his wide grin. “Shut up.”

“I want to tell you he ain’t worth worrying about, but I won’t waste my breath.”

I knew I looked surprised because Ned laughed. “It’s complicated,” I argued.

“No, it isn’t.” Ned kicked his feet up onto my bed, ignoring the fact his boots were dirty and my legs were in the way.“He hurt you, freaked out, and disappeared. Leaving you dying. You’re lucky Doc decided to turn back.”

Which was all true, but he’d also healed me. Did Ned know that? I wasn’t sure, and I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him if Cannon hadn’t.

“Have you been to Shadowridge Peak?” I asked instead. “Have you been one of the ones to look for him?”

“Nope.” He met my look. “Let his ghosts have him, I say.”

“Ned!”

“What? The guy’s a mess. You have enough to worry about without worrying about a lost shifter.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Why?”

We were in a stare-off and although Ned was challenging me, he wasn’t being aggressive about it. His eyebrow quirked the longer I stayed quiet, and I rolled my eyes at him.

“I don’t know what to do,” I confessed.

Ned studied me for a long moment and then sighed loudly. “Do you want me to go after him?”

“If he doesn’t want to be found, it will make no difference.” I couldn’t meet his gaze. “Did they tell you what he did?”

“Fucked you up and then decided to give you a blood donation.”

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