Page 66 of Wolf's Providence

“What if something goes wrong?” she asked, almost reluctantly.

“I will be beside you,” I assured her and then thought about it. “Or as close as possible for it to work.” I saw a moment of doubt, and something fierce flared in me. “Nothing will happen to you, Willow. Not again.”

She nodded slowly, and I could feel the bond between us pulling tighter, making me even more confident that this was the right thing to do. The pull was what kept me close to her, in this town, trying to fit into her life, even as I craved the freedom of familiar territory, like Shadowridge Peak, where I could see any threat coming for miles. But if I couldn’t root out these threats and uncover who was coming for her, it wouldn’t matter where we were.

“You think it will work?”

I nodded, feeling a surge of relief—and something else. Admiration. She trusted me, and I didn’t deserve that, but it was more than that, she was ready to fight alongside me. I wanted to shield her from every ounce of danger, but to keep her safe, I had to put her at risk first.

I knew my plan sounded unhinged, but I truly believed it would work. Sometimes you had to take big risks to win big.

I wisely didn’t say that. I knew she was brave and she was being so strong, but I also didn’t want to scare her. I could almost hear my father in my head asking me if I was crazy.

“I’ve been gathering information,” I told her, letting her take a breath. “I’ve been talking to anyone in town who’s noticedanything strange, and trying to piece together something that made sense.” I began to pace as I told her what I’d been doing. “You’ve potentially seen two of them. Can you draw them again?” When she nodded, I felt a surge of pride when I looked at her. “I also have…someone who might have seen them or know of them.”

“Who?” Her eyes were wide with curiosity.

“A contact,” I replied, purposely evasive. “If there’s outsiders who don’t belong here, he’ll find them.”

She opened her mouth to ask another question, but she picked up on my reluctance to share too much detail. I couldn’t tell her everything, I knew that. But the fact she was drawing again, scenes of my past—one of a future I would never have—I knew I wasn’t imagining the prickling under my skin, sensing our enemies were closing in, or the instinct gnawing at my gut, telling me to get her out of here before it was too late.

And I knew I definitely could not tell her that my wolf was aching to return to my packlands. Even if they were filled with darkness, they were mine,myterritory.

Mypacklands.MyWillow.

Yeah, maybe I’d tell her everything one day, but the fact that I was a possessive asshole, I think she maybe already knew. For now, I needed to focus on one thing at a time.

Reaching over, Willow squeezed my hand. “Okay then, let’s do it. What do you need me to do?”

Pulling her over to the couch, I started to lay out my plan so Willow had a clear picture of exactly how I wanted this to go down. She listened intently, a crease furrowing her brow, but she kept quiet as I explained.

“Well, first step is simple recon,” I told her plainly. “I’ve started that, looking at familiar places, your walk to work, the stop you make for coffee, anywhere you’d normally go. Yourroutine is really easy to pick up,” I added. It was how I had known when she wasn’t home after all.

“But I haven’t been in my routine,” she told me. “I’ve been with you.”

“I know, and we need to stop that,” I told her, seeing the slight flare of panic in her eyes. “Move through town like you would, keep to your routine, but without me. I’ll be close,” I added.

“So you stay out of sight…” She looked me over quickly, refraining from mentioning it would be hard for me to blend. “And I just act like there’s nothing wrong?”

“Yes.” I held her gaze. “I won’t be far. The idea is to see who follows you. If they do, I’ll be close enough before anything happens to you.”

“That’s not as reassuring as you think it is,” Willow murmured, smoothing her hands over her thighs. “Alright, so I go about my day…then what?”

“If, and I appreciate it’s an if,ifwe get a lead, we’ll escalate.” She didn’t react to my use of the wordescalate, so I continued. “I’m talking about a more deliberate move to draw them out—maybe a rumor, something that would get back to them.”

Willow bit her lip. “You mean, like I’m leaving town, so they think this is their last shot?” She sounded doubtful, so I didn’t tell her that sounded like a good idea.

“Or…thatI’veleft town,” I told her slowly, trying to keep my tone calm so as not to alarm her. “They’re already watching us, Willow. I can feel their eyes on me. Us. They’ll take the bait if they think I’m gone. They won’t know when I’ll be back, so they’ll act.”

She looked away, staring out her window, and I saw a flicker of fear cross her face. She was so much stronger than she knew, but she wasn’t oblivious to the risk involved.

Glancing back at me, her eyes clear, she folded her arms across her chest. “And what about you, Caleb? When they realize that you’re here to protect me after all?”

“Then there’ll be a fight,” I told her firmly. “They may not know exactly what I am, but they’ll know enough to be cautious. As long as I’m here to make sure they never get close to you, they’ll learn real fast what happens when they try.” I held her gaze. “I’ve killed two of them already; I’m just getting started.”

Willow’s lips quirked in a small, wry smile. “Well, that sounds incredibly bloodthirsty.” Blowing out a breath, she shrugged. “Intimidation first though, right?”

“Sure.” I saw her flat stare and smiled. “I’ll do my best, but I won’t promise. They want to hurtyouto hurtme.” I became serious once more. “Never going to happen, Willow.Never. If intimidation doesn’t work, then we end this the other way.”

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