Page 98 of Wolf's Providence

Slipping my hand into his, I squeezed his fingers. “You don’t have to be alone anymore, Caleb. You have us…” I looked around for Eamon, but he had wandered off a few minutes ago. “Does it feel good to have this done?”

Caleb nodded, his eyes bright with emotion. He looked around, taking in the changes. When we first started, I hadn’t been privy to the reason certain ones were saved, but as the day went on, I learned that when there were too many memories associated with the former occupants, the cabin was burned.

The cabins were replaceable, the owners were not.

“I could sleep for a week,” I told him, relishing the warmth of his arms around me.

“Your ME has been very well-behaved,” Caleb noted, pulling away and looking down at me. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I feel good.” I beamed up at him. “I can show you if you like?”

His eyes gleamed with wicked intent, but Eamon’s very loud, deliberate approach had me hiding my smile as Caleb glared towards his friend.

“You can bang each other all night long as soon as my cabin’s built,” Eamon growled, walking past with charred wood. “Until then,Alpha, why don’t you do something useful, like help clear the dead wood?”

“He never used to be so…bossy,” Caleb grumbled, kissing my lips and hurrying after Eamon.

We’d done so much work that I wondered why I wasn’t lying passed out in the snow. But apart from a few days where I’d been sluggish and needed to rest, I was fine. I might actually be able to say I’d been healthy…well, maybe that was a push, but I’d definitely been able to do more than I thought possible. But I’d also had time to consider what would happen when I wasn’t ableto do anything. Shifters didn’t get sick; what would happen if I needed a doctor? Would Doc be on call? He was hours away. It was a thought I hadn’t been able to push to the side.

The morning sun slipped through the gaps in the trees, casting a gentle warmth over the cabins that still stood. It had been days of hard work, and while Caleb, Eamon, and I had fallen into a routine of clearing the cabins, each day was a mix of clearing and quiet conversation, finding our way back to the peace we were all so clearly craving.

I was also craving some fresh food.

One of us needed to leave Shadowridge Peak and get us something other than rabbit. And I knew I needed to go home and see my friends and decide what to do next. Caleb and I had been so honest with each other since he opened up to me, it felt wrong to keep these thoughts to myself.

Caleb was chopping wood when I found him, his steady movements a comforting sight. I looked around for Eamon, but he was out of my line of sight. I took a breath and called to Caleb, watching as he paused, turning to look at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Hey,” I started, a little uncertain but determined. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

He set the axe down, giving me his full attention. “What’s on your mind?”

I took a breath, choosing my words carefully. “I was thinking about going back home for a little while. Just to check in, see Lily and the others, and…clear my head.”

His jaw tightened slightly, his gaze unreadable. But after a second, he nodded. “Makes sense. I know it’s been a lot, all of this. You don’t have to explain.”

“No, I want to explain,” I said, my voice quiet but firm as I stepped closer. “This isn’t me running away. I just need some time to…figure out how everything fits together. There’s a lot towork through, and it’s not about needing space from you or this place—it’s about needing clarity.”

He looked down, exhaling slowly as his hand gripped the handle of the axe. “You’re wondering if this life fits, aren’t you?” he asked, the words careful, almost resigned. “If you and I even belong together in this world I’ve dragged you into.”

I closed the distance between us, my hand resting on his arm. “That’s just it,” I said, gently squeezing his arm. “You didn’t drag me into anything, Caleb. I chose to be here. But…there’s a lot about myself I still need to figure out. I need to know for sure that this is what I want, not just because of everything we’ve been through, but because I’m certain it’s right.”

“I need to tell you something.”

Warily, I stepped back. I recognized that look in his eyes too well. “What have you done?” I asked in trepidation.

“Take a walk with me?”

“Or you can tell me what you did?” I suggested.

“Let’s walk. I have something to show you.” He started to move away. Looking back over his shoulder, he gestured for me to follow. “Come on, it isn’t far.”

We walked in silence, questions burning on my tongue and as quickly dying out when I opened my mouth to ask them. Was I scared of what he was going to say?

The trees grew thicker, denser, and more than once, Caleb had to lift me over a fallen log, and if I hadn’t known better, I would have been sure this was the place where my body would be buried.

All sinister thoughts were swept aside when we broke through the trees and the most beautiful waterfall tumbled into a small pond. The sound had been in my ears for a while, but I hadn’t put it together.

“Oh my God, it’s real,” I whispered as I looked around the scene I had painted a long time ago. It looked different in thesnow, but it was still breathtaking. I saw the two flat rocks that I had painted but left the wolf out of the scene. “It’s beautiful.”

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