Page 81 of Wolf's Fate

“Well, you should, it’s really good.” She drew a deep breath. “Anyway, you don’t know that what’s happening now is not someone looking for revenge.”

“I killed them.Allof them.” She stilled as I spoke, whether she finally listened to what I was saying or my tone conveyed my seriousness. “The ones who weren’t there, Willow, I hunted them down. I killed every member of the Cristone Pack. I killed every member ofmypack that betrayed my parents. There’s no one left alive to come after me.”

“But there would be children.”

“Not anymore.”

“Oh my God.” She sank onto the tree stump, her fingers shaking as she pushed back her hair. “Everyone?” Her voice was little more than a whisper.

“They took what was most precious to me,” I stated emotionlessly. “They wiped out my pack. An eye for an eye, isn’t that what your God says? Isn’t it what you said?”

“Children?”

“Theykilled children.”

“It doesn’t make it right!” She fumed at me from her seat. “It doesn’t make it better. Did it bring you back your family? Your pack?” Her breathing was ragged as she glared at me. “Did itquellyour rage?” Her tone was scathing.

I had nothing to say. She would never understand. She hadn’t felt the sting of betrayal. She hadn’t experienced the loss of an entire pack.

“We’re only a few hours from the road,” I told her, not looking at her. “I’ll take you back down when it’s daylight.”

“What?”

“You heard me, one more night, and you can go.” I turned away, which is why I never saw her grab the water bottle until it bounced off the back of my head. Turning slowly, I looked at her in surprise as she took a step back, a hand over her mouth. “The water flask. Really?”

“You make me furious.”

“So you threw ametalwater bottle at me?”

“You’re a shifter, you heal.” She still looked shocked at her own actions, so her voice was defensive. “And…”

“And you didn’t think you would actually hit me?” I guessed as I stooped down to pick up the bottle. I crossed the space and dropped it on her pack. “See how easily violence made you feel better?”

“It’s hardly the same thing,” she grumbled, refusing to look at me. “Hitting you with something heavy to knock sense into you is hardly comparable to all the ones you hurt.”

“I didn’t hurt them,” I clarified with a grim smile. “Their deaths were quick. Like my parents’. Only one of them suffered.”

“Jonah?”

“Correct.”

Willow nodded. Pulling her knees to her chest, she rested her chin on them. “If you killed them all, and there are no survivors to get revenge, then why am I drawing it?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“And no one else, your pack authority or whatever you have that polices you, no one held you accountable for your actions?”

“The facts spoke for themselves.”

Her look told me she didn’t understand, but she didn’t ask. Watchful eyes considered me as I stood in front of her. Her eyes narrowed as her mind ticked over. “This is why you won’t come back here. You told me earlier that the dead waited for you, but it isn’t your pack you fear to go back to. It’s the dead of the ones you killed.”

My gaze landed back on the peak, even though it was covered by the blanket of night. “It’s both.” My attention was fixed on the ridge that wasn’t visible right now. “I don’t fear them. Let them take me if that’s what they want.”

“Jesus,” she groaned softly. “Well, I don’t know what I can do for you. I know nothing about ghosts.”

“I understand.” I pointed at the sleeping bag. “Sleep, I’ll take you down in the morning.”

“I can’t sleep.” Willow looked at me as if I were insane. Maybe I was. “You think after all that, I cansleep? That’s alotof information to process, Caleb.” Her fingers drummed against her thigh. “I’m goingupthat mountain tomorrow,” she told me with a determined look in her eye, “not down it.”

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