Page 2 of Wolf's Providence

“Willow!” Lily entered the room, her face already frowning as her eyes met mine. “I told you to call for me if you needed help!”

“I should be able to sit up,” I grumbled as she hooked her arms under mine and heaved. I tried not to take it personally that she sounded like she was trying to shift an elephant and barely moved me an inch.

“You can’t sit up by yourself because of your accident, youknowthis.”

Because even though she was here, on Blackridge Peak, she was still absolutely clueless about shifters. So, instead of telling her that my friend-slash-lover-slash-headache, Caleb, had gouged four big holes in my stomach, she thought I had been in a car accident. Because she never knew about thefirstcar accident, Doc thought it made sense to cover the lie with the truth.

Or something.

Either way, she was here, for which I was eternally grateful. She was just in the dark about some of the finer things of the town of Blackridge. She had whispered more than once that they were some weird cult, and I hadn’t had a counterargument. So, while I was sure Lily was convinced the residents of Blackridge Peak were waiting for the spaceship to come and ascend them to a higher plane, I was just happy she was here.

I still remembered the look on her face when I woke up. I had never seen Lily scared before, not really, but I wouldn’t ever forget the look she wore.

“You know you’re supposed to be taking it easy,” she scolded, her eyes wide with concern, her frown deepening. “And you haven’t had enough sleep.”

“I’m bedridden,” I reminded her. “I literally cannot take it any easier.”

“Don’t be cranky.”

“How long was I asleep this time?”

“Not long enough,” Lily grumbled. She must have seen the look on my face, because her frown softened as she took hold of my hand. “You were hurt really badly, remember. You’re so lucky you’ll be okay.” Lily took in the “private hospital” I was in. “Such a weird place to have a hospital,” she murmured more to herself than me.

I was fuzzy on the details, but I thinkthey had told her it was a local hospital for the town, and it was the nearest one to my “accident.” Lily was fully expecting me to be transferred to a bigger hospital. I didn’t know who was going to tell her thatthatwasn’t happening, but I knew it wouldn’t be me.

“I saw the doctor on my way in,” she told me with a smile. “He’s so refreshing.”

“He is?”

“Most doctors are kind of superior, and I get it, they can be—they literally hold your life in their hands—but your doctor is so down to earth. It’s so nice.”

I needed to get Lily off this mountain. I knew it the day I woke up. I knew it every day she said something like this.

“Yeah, Doc’s the best,” I mumbled weakly.

“Glad to hear the cheerleading there, Willow,” Doc said as he entered the room. His warm smile made Lily flush, while I scowled at him. “You’re sleeping less,” he told me matter-of-factly as he approached.

“Even I can’t sleep forever,” I grumbled. “Can you sit me up?”

Doc nodded, and with more care and strength than Lily, he lifted me further up the bed into a semi-sitting position. “I need to check them,” he told me quietly. Turning to Lily, he gave her his charismatic smile once more. “Do you mind stepping out while I check Willow?”

Lily nodded, and we waited until the door was closed behind her.

“You don’t worry she’ll go wandering?” I asked for what felt like the millionth time.

“Nope, all the doors are closed, except hers, and she hasn’t tried to go outside yet.” He grinned at me. “Having a faithful friend who wants to be so near to you shouldn’t have you glaring at me like that.”

“The whole backstory is insane,” I hissed at him. “You should have told her the truth.”

“Not my call.” Doc pulled my cover off me. “You ready for your inspection?”

The death glare I gave him only made him grin wider. While he unwrapped my bandages, and I pretended my abdomen didn’t hurt like a bitch, I tried not to think of the night that put me here.

It was so hard to escape it, though. After I woke up the first time, it had come hurtling into my memory like floodwaters from a burst river. Every time I saw the horror on Caleb’s face as he realized what he’d done, it felt like a punch to the gut, knocking the air from my lungs each and every time. I remembered my blood spilling over his hands, so much blood, and his feeble attempts to stop it from pouring out of me as he whispered his pleas for me not to die.

“I thought I was going to die,” I whispered, more to myself than to Doc.

Doc looked up at me, nodding once, before he averted his gaze, his attention back on my wounds. “I thought you were, too.”

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