Page 26 of Wolf's Providence

But there was something else. Something that I hadn’t been able to shake all day.

My gaze dropped to my lap, where my hands lay, my fingers linked loosely, and it wouldn’t take a doctor to see the slight tremble in them. I’d been feeling the bond more today. It felt like it was changing, morphing into something stronger. I’d tried to push it down, but every time I did, the itch that I couldn’t scratch thrummed under my skin.

It had been subtle at first. I was almost used to the steady hum beneath my skin, but this morning, it started to change. It pulled at the edges of my awareness, like the ghost of a forgotten touch. But throughout the day, it had become more than that.

I could feel him.

Not in the way I felt people when they were close by, but in a deeper, quieter way that was like he was there in the back of my mind. I didn’t know if it was my imagination. Maybe since talking to the shaman, I’d bought into his theories. Or maybe this was real? All I knew was that it felt stronger tonight.

The bond felt alive. I could almost hear it whispering to me that Caleb was nearby.

I closed my eyes to contain the wild hope that surged within me at the thought of him coming here.

Or maybe you’ve finally lost your mind.

Maybe the connection had finally driven me crazy. Did I even know what was real anymore? Between the pain from my injuries, the phantom ache in my chest, and this strange new awareness of Caleb, it was all too much.

Yet, as I sat there, my eyes still closed tightly, I felt it again—him.

His presence was like a shadow stretching across the room, and my heartbeat quickened as a soft flutter of panic and anticipation shot through me.

I wasn’t losing it.

Caleb was close. I would bet my life on it.

The bond tightened and became more insistent. My skin prickled with awareness, and I found myself straightening, smoothing down my hair, hoping it looked decent.

A wave of fear washed over me, and I pressed the palms of my hands against my stomach to soothe the churning in my belly. For days, I’d waited for this moment. I’d feared it, longed for it, and demanded it. Now that I thought it was here? I didn’t know what to do.

Did I want to see him again?

Yes.

The answer came quickly, unbidden, and without thought. A normal person would question it. A normal person would remember the anger, the hurt, and the sense of betrayal. But either I wasn’t normal or I didn’t care. There was more to Caleb and me, and it had been growing ever since the day I first met him.

Opening my eyes, I felt the room become smaller as I struggled to control my racing heart. I could feel the weight of his presence bearing down on me, like the storm building on the horizon, and I knew I wasn’t ready. Pushing the sketchbook further away from me, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, my feet hitting the cold floor with a soft thud.

The air shifted around me, becoming tighter, and my breath caught in my throat. My skin tingled with the awareness of him, the bond humming to life.

He was here.

Before I could even process it all, the door pushed open silently, a slow deliberate push that sent a chill down my spine as the coldness of outside seeped into my room. My blood rushed in my ears as my gaze stayed fixed on the door.

Caleb stood in the doorway, his broad frame filling the space, his face half-hidden in the shadows. His eyes found mine instantly, and for a moment, everything else fell away. The room,the pain, the confusion…it all disappeared, and all that was left was the two of us.

The connection between us snapped into focus, sharper and clearer than ever before. I could feel him. Not just his presence, but his emotions too—faint and distant but there.

His guilt. His anguish. And the raw need that coursed through him.

My chest felt tight as I drank him in, my body a mess of emotions surging inside me all at once.

I didn’t know what to say.

I didn’t know what to do.

I wanted to cross the distance, run to him, throw my arms around him, and never let go, but my mind was screaming to keep my distance.

I saw his eyes darken, his jaw tightening as if he could feel the hesitation, my confusion. He took a deliberate step into the room, murmuring something too low for me to hear as he pushed the door closed, and I wondered who he had locked out. The small sound of the lock clicking echoed in the silence between us.

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