Page 100 of Wolf's Providence

Apprehension made me step back. “Caleb? What did you do?”

He looked at me, really looked at me, I felt him in my soul. I felt the bond strumming between us. Tying us together.Bindingus.

“My life for yours, Willow. My blood for your blood.”

“What?” It was no more than a whisper. It sounded as loud as a scream.

“I bound you to me through blood magic. My blood healed you. Strengthened you.”

“Your life for mine?” I mumbled. “But you’re not dead. I don’t understand.”

“No. I could’ve been,” he admitted. Caleb’s eyes shifted up to the sky. “She is not finished with me yet,” he murmured. Looking back at me, he shook his head. “The way you think you feel about me…it could be because of the blood magic.”

“No.” The answer was so sudden, so clear, he looked as surprised as I did. “The way I feel about you is the wayIfeel about you. Nothing else.”

“You should take the time when you are away to think about it.”

That was it? It was that simple?

“That’s it? You tell me you performed some creepy blood spell on me, that your ancestors used tobindwomen to them, and then tell me to think about it?”

Caleb let out a breath. “I don’t know what else to tell you,” he said honestly. “I did what I did to keep you alive. I willalwayskeep you alive.”

“You made a choice for me.” I sounded as bitter as I felt. “You had no right.”

“I know.” He bowed his head. “It won’t help me any by admitting this, but I’d do it again.”

I knew I was gaping at him. “You know it’s wrong?”

“I willalwayschoose you, Willow.”

“And if I don’t choose you?” My voice sounded harsh, the thumping of my heart against my ribcage sounding loud.

“Then it’s your choice.”

Moving away from him, I turned my back as I struggled to think about what he had told me. “Why has it taken you so long to tell me?” I looked back at him. “The others know?”

“They do.” He stood still against the backdrop of white. “I waited to tell you…” He sighed heavily. “Because I knew I could lose you when you knew what I had done.”

“Nothing I feel is real?”

He looked pained at the question. “I can’t answer that,” he spoke slowly. “I know for me, it’s all real, but…you have to decide.”

He moved closer, until he was in front of me, and his hand came to rest over mine, his fingers warm and steady. “I think you’re right. You need to go, figure it out, away from me, and see how you feel now you know it all, Willow,” he said, his tone softer now. “I won’t stand in your way. I only want you here if you want to be here.”

“You’re impossible, this…this isn’t normal.” Looking up at him, I felt like crying. “That you kept this from me… You should have told me sooner.”

“I don’t want to lose you.”

I felt the first tear slip over. “What if you already have?”

“Is that how you feel?”

“I don’tknow, Caleb!” I shouted in the quiet of my surroundings. “You just blindsided me, and Idon’tknow how I feel aboutanything!”

“Then take as long as you need.”

“And if I go and decide I don’t want to be with you?”

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