Page 88 of Wolf's Fate

Caleb looked away, his eyes back screening the trees. “Notall.”

“So you still have a pack?” I asked him excitedly.

The look he gave me was full of scorn. “Shadowridge Peak died the day my father did.”

“But the others?”

“You think they wanted to stay on this peak? You think they wanted to sleep in their beds, knowing it’s where the rest of their kin were murdered?” Caleb scowled at the homes that lay empty and neglected. “You think thatIwas fit to lead them?” His voice dripped with acid as he spoke. “My pack needed time to grieve, and they wouldn’t get that with me.”

“You made them leave?” I asked in disbelief. Surely then was the very time he needed his pack around him? Surelytheyneeded him, their alpha? “When they needed you?” I couldn’t hide my shock from my voice, or my face it seemed, as Caleb’s scowl grew darker when he looked down at me.

“You think we should have gathered around the fire and toasted to the dead?” he asked disdainfully.

“Yes!”

He stepped away from me, arms folding across his chest. “My parents were betrayed.” The pain radiated through every word he spoke. “You think I had anytrustleft? You think, after I killed all those shifters, that my packwantedme to lead? Trust is earned, Willow. Every single one of them was in doubt. How could I know they were loyal? How did they know I wouldn’t kill them? My pack was weakened. We were ripe for attack. Had they stayed, they would have died.”

“You don’t know that.” My voice sounded as fragile as his control when I spoke.

“I wasn’t willing to test it,” he snapped angrily.

“Youleftthem?” My voice was incredulous. “After all that, you walked away?”

“My presence here would have brought more harm than good. I went to the Pack Council and I disbanded my pack, as I hadfailedthem. I had failed to protect them and my family.” His head was held high. “I told them of my revenge, and they gave me their punishment.”

“You didn’tfailthem!” I was almost shouting. “You weren’there!”

Caleb moved so quickly I stepped back when he towered over me. “Exactly! Iwasn’there, Willow. Ifailedthem.”

“Oh my God, that’s not how it works, Caleb!”

“I don’t give a fuck how it works in your world.Thisis how it works in mine!”

“You complete idiot.” I was seething. “I can’t believe you walked away and left them. They were hurting. They needed to heal, just like you did!”

“They healed in their new packs. They flourished elsewhere.”

He didn’t sound like he believed it, and I didn’t either. “You mentioned punishment. What happened to you?”

Caleb didn’t look at me as he spoke. “I walked away from my pack. I wasn’t fit to lead, but the Pack Council are cruel bastards. They would not let me give up the mountain. Shadowridge Peak is still the home of the Shadowridge Peak Pack.” He looked at me, eyes full of self-loathing. “Pack members: one.”

I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to hold him and never let go. “You are the most stubborn, unreasonable man I have ever met.” Pushing my hood back, not caring that itwas snowing, I clutched my hands in my hair. “No wonder this place haunts you. You left the livingandthe dead on it.”

Caleb huffed out a breath that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. What the hell did he have to laugh about?

“You’re laughing?” I asked incredulously.

“Don’t you see, the joke’s on them!” When he saw that I didn’t know, he carried on. “You want to know why we’re here? The Pack Council! They asked a shaman to decree what our Goddess Luna wanted from such a dangerous alpha.” An ugly sneer twisted his features as he spoke, his eyes housing a darkness I hadn’t seen before. “To be a packless pack,” he spat out. “But a pack has to have a home,” he continued furiously. “And this peak is my pack’s home. No other can claim this peak while I still live.” He leaned forward, madness in his eyes. “That’swhat they want from me. They want my mountain.”

“Wha-what?”

He turned to look back towards the main hall. “When I left, I thought that was it, an alpha with no pack. It’s what I asked for. I thought, if I stayed away, the dead would rest. But they’ve done something. They’ve worked some magic and linked you to me. They weren’t ready to lose this mountain. They want it, they’ve always wanted it.”

He was insane. He was definitely talking like a madman. “Why would they want it?”

Caleb blinked as if he didn’t understand the question. “Why? Isn’t it obvious?” When he saw that I didn’t think it was, he threw his hands up in exasperation. “Look at its position! Shadowridge Peak sits in a strategic position to Blackridge Peak. The cliff face, the ascent, the way the packlandsare positioned for the best vantage points? If you have Shadowridge in your control, then you have a strategic advantage.”

I felt a cold chill creep up my spine. “That makes no sense, Caleb.”

---