Page 20 of Wolf's Providence

I felt like I would never swallow past the lump in my throat. “And how is this tied to me?”

“Without balance, he loses himself. You’ve seen it. Luna has seen it. She has chosen you, Willow, to be the balance in his life.”

I could only hear the sound of my heart racing, and I feared he was going to have to repeat himself. The idea was…preposterous. No, that wasn’t right. It was huge. It was absolutely incomprehensible and strange. So strange. Was this even real? I saw his finger twitch, and I knew he was patiently waiting for me to get over my meltdown. “Chose…me?” He nodded. “But, I’m just?—”

“Human,” he finished for me, with a gentle but firm tone. “Yes, you are human. I think that’s exactly why she chose you. You’re grounded in a way shifters are not. You seem to be able to ground Caleb in a way a pack could not. I believe the power you have to tether him, to keep him from falling completely to his wildness, is why he’s still with us. Luna’s Will is what created the bond between you two, and his blood bound you to him not only to save your life…but to save his.”

My mind was racing as the words hung in the air, heavy and profound with the power to blow my mind. “Why me?” I asked him eventually as I realized I was taking huge gulps of air. “Why did she choose me of all people?” I looked down at myself. “I’m no one. Absolutely no one.”

“You are Willow, not no one,” he corrected me gently. “And why you? I don’t know any more than you do. Our Goddess works in mysterious ways and does not always provide clear answers. Maybe she saw something in you, something that was strong enough to stand between Caleb and the darkness that’s so desperately trying to consume him.”

“She saw something in me?” I snorted, knowing I probably insulted him, too far gone in my “what the fuck” moment to care. “Was it the debilitating illness? The fact I’m an orphan? Or the complete and totally plain fact that I am not enough?” I felt aswell of anger rise. “Does she know I’m failing? I don’t know how to help him! This can’t be on me. I don’t know what I am doing!”

The shaman wasn’t the least bit bothered with my meltdown. He let me rant and then he waited until I was taking huge gulps of air again before he spoke. “You’ve already helped him, Willow. More than you realize. Your bond is not one-sided. He feels it too, even though he’s doing his best to deny it. This is why he ran. He’s so scared he’s going to hurt you again. He knows what he is capable of. The blood on his hands should never have been yours, and he knows that.” The shaman drilled me with a hard stare, a feat for someone who was almost blind. “He knows, without you, he will be lost.”

“And?” My snark was lost on the shaman.

“And he’s still here, still fighting. For you.”

This was madness. Shaking my head in disbelief, I fought the conflicting emotions rising inside me. “You make it sound like I am the one to save him, but that can’t be right. I have no powers. I don’t belong in your world. In fact, while no one has outright said it, I don’t think I’m evenwelcomein this world.”

“You belong more than you know,” the shaman said quietly. “Luna’s choices are never random. You have the strength inside you that Caleb needs. A strength that goes beyond the physical. You may not be a shifter, but you are tied to our world now, to Caleb. You are his balance, and you cannot escape that.”

Silence fell between us once more as I tried to process the weight of the words pressing down on me. I’d spent so much time thinking of myself as an outsider, someone who didn’t belong here, that I hadn’t accepted that the truth was so much more complicated than being a human in a shifter world. The bond between us wasn’t something random or born out of desperation or chance—it was something greater. Something beyond either of us.

And I had no idea if I wanted it. Could I be what he needed? After everything that had happened, did I even want to be?

“How do I help him?” I asked, my voice barely audible, the question surprising me as it wasn’t what I thought I would say.

The shaman’s look softened, and I batted away the thought that for the first time since coming into my room, he looked hopeful. “You don’t have to force it,” he spoke gently. “The bond will guide you both, but Caleb must be willing to face his demons. To do that, he needs to accept that the beast inside him is part of who he is and not something for him to fear. You, Willow,youwill remind him of the balance he needs. Remind him that he is more than just his darkness. His actions ten years ago when he exacted his pack’s revenge, it haunts him. While he does not regret his actions, he feels the weight of their deaths. Carries it with him. He needs to learn to forgive.”

“They killed his entire family,” I spoke in his defense. “It will be hard to forgive that.”

“I meant he needs to forgive himself,” the shaman corrected me softly. “He needs to forgive himself for the death of his pack, of the pack he killed, and for the harm he has done to you.”

My mouth would never have moisture in it again, I was sure. “And if he doesn’t?”

The shaman’s expression darkened. “Then he will lose himself to the beast and the wild forever.”

“Beast? His wolf?”

The shaman shook his head. “No, our wolves are part of us—they want what we want. But the beasts? The darkness all shifters carry? That’s different. The more we feed it with hate and self-loathing, the stronger it grows.”

Clenching my hands together in my lap, I tried to keep my emotions in check. The thought of Caleb, the man I knew and cared for, turning into something wild and uncontrollable—itwas too much. But the knowledge that I might be the only one who could stop it, was even more overwhelming.

“And if I decide to return to my life and never think of shifters or him again?”

The shaman cocked his head to the side, a small smile playing on his lips. “You can lie to yourself, child, but you can’t lie to me, or Luna.”

Well, what the hell did that mean?

“You love him.” He said it so simply, so matter-of-factly, that I blushed crimson. “Your heart will rule your head, child, and I thank you for it.”

“Um…” Yup, I had nothing.

“You won’t be alone,” the shaman added, his voice once more reassuring. “Luna chose you because she knows you are strong enough for this path. Trust in that, and you will be able to trust in yourself.”

That may be true, but the knot of uncertainty in my chest remained. The idea that this was my life, that I was part of something so much bigger than myself, felt impossible. But…I couldn’t deny the truth of the shaman’s words. I knew the bond was real, I could feel it, and it was growing stronger every day.

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