7. Caleb

SEVEN

Caleb

I carried the painting easily, tucked under my arm, and made my way to the edge of town. The folk used to seeing me now never batted an eyelid. Walk with purpose and confidence, and very few people will challenge you, even if you don’t belong.

Especially if you didn’t belong.

I had been here for a week and dined at three establishments. Each one had gathered information about me, noting that I was a hiker with a campsite near town. It was a familiar story for this town. Whispering Pines had so many hikers passing through that my story wasn’t unusual.

I kept to myself. I made the small talk but divulged nothing. What was I going to say? That I was a wolf shifter, and a local girl had drawn me here because she kept sketching me? Yeah. While I stood out as a stranger to this town, I still blended enough not to draw attention from the local cops. If I were to tell them the truth, I would be in a mental institution quicker than I could blink .

I used the trail to move farther away from the town. I passed no one else, and with my senses alert to any unfamiliar noise, I left the trail and entered the woods. It wasn’t the most favorable walk through the woods, and I hoped that the uneven ground, low-hanging branches, and dense vegetation kept even the eager hikers at bay. Any scratches I sustained healed quickly. When I was far enough, I stopped, pulling off my jacket, shirt, and T-shirt and loosening my belt. Taking off my boots, I tucked my socks into them. Stripping off my jeans, I folded them, placing them on top, rolling my head on my neck as I stretched. My wolf was restless, and I was eager to run. But first I needed to deal with this painting.

Uncovering my rucksack, I put my clothes away, ensuring the shirt and T-shirt could pass one more day before I needed a laundromat.

Crouched over the painting, I tore through all of Willow’s careful packaging. Rocking back on my heels, I took in the wolf she had painted.

It was the side profile only. I liked how she had captured the blackness of his thick coat emerging from the dark shadows as if the wolf was morphing into existence from the very darkness it came from. The bright blue of the wolf’s eyes wasn’t diminished just because I could only see one.

The wolf was large. Imposing.

An alpha.

Sucking my teeth, I stood over the painting and brought my foot down heavily on the frame, snapping it.

Pulling the painting from its encasement, I dug in my rucksack, finding my lighter, and with no preamble, I set the painting alight. As it burned, I undressed fully, and as the painting curled and burned under the flames, I shifted into my wolf.

Stepping back from the fire slightly, my wolf waited patiently for the painting and frame to burn out. Satisfied that nothing remained, I let the wolf run.

Ponderosa pine towered over me as I ran, weaving through the dense woods as I climbed the mountain. The higher I ran, the more the trees thinned out, and soon I had vast open areas to run in. While I ran, my mind puzzled over the enigma that was Willow.

Was she human? She definitely smelled human. Her frailty was human. Shifters rarely had sickness. Our Goddess Luna made us strong. She could see perfectly well, so that ruled out being a shaman, and even then, she would still be a shifter.

Willow was human. I would bet my life on it.

Movement at the corner of my eye had my wolf banking, and after a brief chase, I enjoyed a juicy rabbit. The sky was darkening, and with a full belly, I climbed higher up the mountain, taking shelter between a large fallen rock and the mountain. With my head resting in my paws, I watched the night awaken as darkness fell.

Content in my solitude, I wondered how many others were like me, who preferred life away from the pack.

Wolves were not solitary creatures.

We thrived in packs.

Communities.

I couldn’t think of anything worse. I liked it here. Alone. Just me, the quiet, and the open sky.

A black crow settled nearby, squawked at me when I snapped my jaws at it, ruffled its feathers, and then it too, seemed content to settle for the night. So I wasn’t alone. But since the bird really wasn’t going to bother me at all, I lay back down.

Thinking of packs encouraged my mind to wander back to when I was younger. My father was a strong wolf, and my mother was the perfect loving wife. I had been happy. Loved. Our pack was small but content. In my older years, I had seen many packs, ones where stores and businesses were the norm. Where pack paid for goods and services.

Our pack hadn’t been like that. No one had more than the other. Not even the alpha. Everything was shared, everything was equal. There was no “less than” in our pack.

The way it needed to be. The way it should be.

My wolf whined and I pulled the feeling of sadness back into me. Holding onto the past only kept you looking back. The way forward was to face what was in front of you and not look back. The past was the past and needed to stay behind me. No good came of thinking what could have been; we only had what was.

Lifting my head, I watched a shooting star fall across the sky and automatically said a prayer to the Goddess Luna. It was an old tale my mother would tell me when I was a child. A shooting star was the sign from Luna that an alpha had been born.

Having known a few alphas, I could only hope this one was a better one than most. The crow snapped its beak, and I snapped my jaw. I wasn’t fond of crow—I preferred chicken—but I’d snap its neck if it kept annoying me. It hopped up higher on its chosen resting place, and when I saw it wasn’t going to fly away, I returned to watching the stars.

In the morning, I woke to a light drizzle of rain. The crow was still sleeping soundly, and I left it undisturbed. A night on the mountain, under the stars, and undisturbed had refreshed me.

Thoughts of Willow still lingered, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to solve the mystery that she presented. I should probably just leave Whispering Pines and leave her behind me. She drew my picture, but it was hardly sinister.

At the moment .

Even in wolf form, the huff of disgruntlement was loud. For now, it was simple sketches of my face, but what if she drew more ? What if it became shifters she drew? I would need to tell the Pack Council.

I hated the Pack Council.

They did nothing when my family was killed.

They did nothing when my home was destroyed.

They did nothing.

No. The only person I could count on to solve the riddle of Willow Harper was me.

Whether I liked it or not.

The half-drunk coffee cup sat forgotten in front of me as I stared out the window of the small café, watching the movement across the street. Behind me, the two young servers whispered, debating whether to approach me again to ask if they could get me anything else. My coffee had gone cold a long time ago.

In the far corner, a new mother’s baby hadn’t stopped mewling since they came in, and the mother’s sighs of growing despair echoed around the room.

But my focus was on the woman who should have arrived in the store across the street. She was late, and I wasn’t prepared for the feeling of disappointment that hit me. I’d stayed away for a few days after burning her painting, and I expected Willow to be at work today, but it was Lily who was opening the store, while the two regular students hung back uncertainly, and while I couldn’t hear her perfectly, her body language was telling everyone nearby how unhappy she was with their questions.

As I got ready to leave the café, my attention shifted to the male walking down the sidewalk. Tall, dark-haired, with an imposing frame and stoney face, he was undoubtedly an alpha with something on his mind.

And if I were to take a guess, I’d guess that the some thing was some one , and that someone…was me.

He pushed the door open, and with barely a glance at the two servers, he headed straight to me. He pulled out the chair opposite me and sat down. His dark gray T-shirt accentuated the power in his arms and chest. Green eyes pierced mine as he leaned back in the chair.

“Alpha,” I greeted.

“Cannon is fine.” He turned his head to the servers. “Two coffees.” I didn’t say I didn’t need another; he wouldn’t care. He was an alpha and alphas got what they wanted. When he turned back to me, his expression hadn’t changed. “Why are you here?”

No build up. No more of an introduction other than his name. Nothing. It wasn’t the alpha way. “Why are you here? ”

If he was surprised by my tone, he didn’t show it. “I ask the questions.”

“Says who?” The stare-off was broken when the coffees were delivered to the table. I murmured my thanks, while Cannon simply nodded and drank half of his drink in one gulp.

“I needed that.” His quick once over of me didn’t bother me at all. “Why are you here?” He cut me off before I replied. “Don’t do that. We don’t need a dick-measuring contest. I asked a question. You will answer.”

“I’m not your pack.”

“I don’t give a fuck.”

Amusement flickered in his eyes as he watched my reaction to his bluntness, and I hated that his no-bullshit attitude impressed me. “A straight-talking alpha, that’s new.”

“Is it?” Cannon’s eyebrow arched and he finished his coffee. He said nothing as he reached across the table, picked up my untouched cup, and took a drink. “They always assume that ‘two coffees’ mean for me and another.”

So he hadn’t ordered for me; they were both for him. He was holding my interest, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. “Caffeine junkie, I see.”

He smirked slightly. “I have a demanding mate.”

Of course, he did. His whole aura was power. His mate would be worthy of such a strong alpha. “I’m just passing through.”

“You’ve been passing through a town of this size for about three weeks.” He drained his coffee. “How many times do you plan to pass through it?”

It wasn’t three weeks, maybe two at most. I spent a few days watching the town before I walked in as a human. “There are no packs near here,” I spoke quietly. There were too many people faking indifference now. “I do not disturb any shifter with my presence here.”

“You’ve been alone too long, Caleb.” Cannon also kept his voice low, but his posture was hard. The fact he knew my name bothered me, but I tried not to let it show. “Lone wolves are still governed by Pack Council. You know the danger of having no pack.” I did know. No pack could be dangerous for some. They went wild, untamed; it was said that they turned rogue. “There have been changes that you may not be aware of,” Cannon carried on.

“I don’t need to know,” I replied bluntly. “I break no laws with how I choose to live. I bring no attention to myself.”

The alpha gave a long exaggerated look around the room where most eyes were on us. “You’re right, you’re positively blending.”

The smirk escaped before I managed to school my face. “A walk then?”

Cannon stood, his hand reaching for his back pocket, and I didn’t bother looking as he paid. I didn’t think he looked at the bills he laid down. Money wasn’t something most shifters worried about. We didn’t come into towns and cities without it.

Shifters provided for the pack, and the pack provided for them.

Outside, I hesitated, torn between following an alpha or asking Lily where Willow was. Cannon missed nothing, his attention flicking towards the art store. “A woman?”

His slight tone of surprise should have grated on me, but I knew if I were in his shoes, I’d be questioning myself too. “It’s complicated. ”

His smile had no humor. “Simplify it for me as we walk.”

We walked in silence to start with. Neither of us discussed it, but both of us headed to the tree line. Cannon dropped back slightly and let me lead as the trees enveloped us. The alpha knew how long I’d been here. I didn’t bother trying to deceive him with where I had left my stuff.

When we reached the small area I’d been using, Cannon didn’t even bother looking around.

“You’ve already been here,” I realized.

“I do my homework.” Cannon nudged the remains of the charred frame. “This?”

“A painting. I changed my mind about liking it.”

Cannon watched me. “That’s a lie. What was it?”

My stomach turned slightly as I felt the power of the alpha in front of me. I wasn’t expecting him, a walking lie detector, to turn up. I hadn’t been expecting any alpha to turn up.

“A painting.”

“Of?”

The silence grew between us. With a sigh, I turned my head when I answered. “A wolf.”

“A wolf or a shifter?”

“Shifter.”

Cannon frowned, stooping to pick up part of the ruined frame. “You?”

“No.”

My answer was too quick for the sharp alpha in front of me. “Who?”

Fuck, I didn’t want to answer this. “Why are you here, Alpha?”

“Who was the shifter, Caleb? ”

“How do you know who I am?”

Cannon leveled me with a look but blew out a breath. “Things have changed since you last checked in with a pack.” I almost told him I never checked in with a pack, but I was aware that this alpha already knew that. “There’s a lot of shit that’s happened before, there’s a lot still to come, but the Pack Council knows that.”

“Things really must have changed,” I scoffed. “Those old farts know fuck all usually.”

It was the first time the man in front of me genuinely smiled. “As I said, things are changing.” Cannon’s gaze swept the area where we were standing. “You’re a lone wolf,” he said, his voice softened. “It’s admirable to go it alone.”

“But?” I knew it was coming; it usually did when I met another of my kind.

“But how long before lone becomes rogue ?”

“I like my own company,” I told him simply. “I’m alone by choice.”

“Not by choice,” Cannon corrected me. “The death of your family, your pack, you never chose that.”

“Fuck you.”

Cannon’s mouth twitched in a semblance of a smile. “Your fire fuels your temper.”

“You have no right to talk to me about my family.”

“You’re right, I don’t.” The piece of charred wood tapped off his palm. “Who was in the painting?”

“Why are you here?”

“Who is the woman in the store?” Cannon cocked his head to the side. “Who is she to you?”

“She’s no one. ”

“Another lie.” His humor was gone. Instead, he looked ready to take me out, and I did not doubt that he could. “Start speaking truths, Caleb, or the next person I speak to will be her.”

My instinct was to attack, but the movement behind me was the first time that I knew that we weren’t alone. Turning, I saw the sharp watchful gazes of the two shifters who emerged from the trees.

“Luna, you guys are good,” I complimented them as my wolf prowled closer to the surface.

“We’re pack,” Cannon reminded me from where he stood behind me. “And you look ready to run,” he added dryly. “Why are you here?”

The fight left me. He was an alpha, his pack was with him, and although I knew I could defend myself, I also knew I couldn’t beat them. Him. I wouldn’t beat an alpha like him. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “Something drew me here.”

“The woman?”

Why deny it? He probably already knew. “Yes.”

“She made the picture?”

“Painting,” I corrected. “She did.”

“And the shifter she painted?”

I held his steady gaze. “It was you. She painted you, Alpha Cannon.”