10. Caleb

TEN

Caleb

October had arrived on Shadowridge Peak. The wind howled through the trees as it swept over the peak, bringing with it the scent of pine and dank earth. Shifters ran hotter than humans, so the cold didn’t bother me.

Nothing bothered me anymore.

Restless, I moved easily over the terrain. This mountain, once my refuge, felt more and more like a cage. The solitude I had carved for myself over the last ten years now settled around me, weighing me down.

At the ridge, I stopped, staring over the valley and the familiar dips of the mountain. Still, the view never failed to take my breath away as I took in the stunning vistas of my home. Since I had realized the betrayal of the others, the hollow feeling in my gut had been hard to fill. The tightness in my chest had been gnawing at me for days.

A voice whispered in my mind that the isolation was causing me unease, but I knew it was better than the alternative. It was better than looking at them in their faces as they lied to me about their concerns. I hadn’t figured out how they got to Willow, to make her compliant with their plans, and as I scented snow on the air, I reminded myself that I had decided it didn’t matter.

That she didn’t matter.

My eyes closed briefly at the thought. No matter what I told myself, raged at myself, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was wrong about Willow. Her innocence was so…raw. I doubted my own conviction that she could fake it.

Shaking my head, I turned away from the breathtaking backdrop and continued back to the cabins. As I made my way there, I contemplated what to have for dinner. Rabbit was tasty, but I had a hankering for some venison.

I yelped when without warning, it hit me— her .

Willow appeared so vividly in my mind that I staggered, my paws slipping on the ground as I tried to catch my balance, checking my surroundings, momentarily wondering if there had been something that physically hit me. But I was alone.

At first, I thought it was nothing more than a memory. I had just been thinking of her, so it would make sense. Her face, her voice, that stubborn determination that frustrated and fascinated me. But…this felt different; this was not a memory.

I was outside her…house? My form changed from wolf to man. I needed to see clearly. I needed to be human so I could make sense of what was happening.

The scene changed; her house was still there, but I could see the rest of the houses in the row. It was still daylight but silent in the sunlight. She lived on a quiet street, but this…this was too quiet.

Crouching low on the trail, immune to the cold that nipped at my bare human skin, I blinked hard, squeezing my eyes shut and shaking my head to clear the vision. When I opened my eyes, I could still see the image clearer than the forest and rocks in front of me. The scene was clearer now, crisper.

The front door to Willow’s home remained shut. But my feet took me to the back of her house. I wasn’t moving—alone and naked on my Peak, I wasn’t moving—but I was moving closer to her house, walking past her window, crouching low.

Why I crouched, I didn’t know.

Her bedroom window was open, and even in the shade, wolf sight showed me the chaos that lay inside.

Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. But I needed to see more, so I rushed to look through the back door.

I saw her face. I saw the fear in her eyes. The tremble in her hands as she took in the mess, the tears shimmering as she looked around in shock. The horror registering as she realized someone had been inside her home. Her sanctuary. Violating the place where she felt safe.

Willow began to pace, her lips moving, and then she spun on her heel and went to her studio.

I could feel her panic, her frustration, and then the absolute devastation as she took in the destruction of her home studio.

I dropped down, my knees resting on the cold earth, my fingers curling into the dirt, grounding myself to the mountain as if by doing so, I could sever the connection. Instead, the connection, the link to her, felt stronger. Her emotions washed over me, settling around me, blending with mine, and I could feel her, everywhere. I’d never felt it this strongly before. Previously, in the past, I had felt a pull towards her, but this, this was more than a pull. This was like I was being dragged through the miles that separated us to witness what had happened to her.

“What the hell is happening?” I muttered, knowing I was on the Peak but seeing Willow’s house.

Lurching forward, I felt nauseous as the scene shifted once more. Willow wasn’t in the house, thank Luna, but I could see the shadows moving—dark and faceless figures moving out of the trees at the back of her house. I watched as they took entry into her home. Her space. My claws broke free of my skin with painful slowness as I fought my instincts to run to her, my body screaming in agony as I forced myself to be still and watch , to see who had invaded her home.

I saw one of them move closer, and my heart thumped in my ears, the blood pounding in my veins. He was a shifter, one I didn’t know but one I would never forget. I drank in his features, his height, the length of his hair, and the fact he favored his left leg. Was that an injury? Permanent or recent? I knew as I kneeled on my mountain, that I would permanently wound them when I found them.

My pulse rocketed as the connection held me like a vise as I watched them move to her bedroom and touch her things. I saw one pick up a pair of her underwear, raise it to his nose, and inhale. Rage coursed through me, and I heard my snarl echo in the air around me.

My howl of rage ripped free of my body, and suddenly, the connection snapped.

Panting, my breath was coming in too short a gasp as I fought the adrenaline racing through me. I wiped the sweat from my face as I came to terms with what I had seen. My hands were submerged up to my wrists into the earth, and I could feel my claws were out.

“What the fuck was that?” My voice sounded hoarse, and I looked around, knowing there was no one here to give me answers.

Standing, I didn’t enjoy the feeling of weakness in my knees. My legs felt shaky, and I wasn’t sure they would hold me. Only once in my life had I felt so unsure on my feet, and I had sworn I would never feel that helpless again.

My body was streaked with dirt, which made no sense, but it was the least of my concerns. Shaking some dirt from my hands, I tried to make sense of what I’d just seen.

I wasn’t supposed to see this. I wasn’t supposed to be linked to her. I wasn’t the psychic.

Only a shaman could see visions. I was no shaman, and Willow Harper sure as fuck wasn’t Luna.

Neither of my parents held any other gift. My father was an alpha, and my mother was simply his mate. That was all they were. I felt a twinge of guilt; they were so much more, but in terms of gifted , they were normal.

Yet, I couldn’t deny what I had seen. What I had felt.

Her fear.

So sharp I could taste it. Danger surrounded her, and I wasn’t there .

My fists clenched at my side at the thought. My anger felt as if it would boil over. I’d seen their violation as if I was seeing it in real time, but when I had stood in front of her house, I knew that this hadn’t happened today. I didn’t know how I knew that, but I did. A week at most had passed .

Why hadn’t she told me? Why hadn’t she told Cannon? Why had no one told me?

Was it a trick? I rejected that as soon as I thought it.

I should ignore this. I could ignore this. But…what if it was real? Shifters were in her house, wrecking it, looking for something.

What were they looking for? What would they do to Willow to find it?

I took my wolf form, my body moving and running as if on autopilot as I ran to the clearing. I needed to get to Willow and make sure she was safe. I feared that whatever was coming for her was connected to me, and the idea that she would pay for something that had nothing to do with her, I couldn’t have that.

Quickly, I checked the ground I had slept on for weeks. The cabins I had never gone inside. Those homes were not mine. I’d returned to this mountain, driven by the need to be here, to defend it, but now every fiber of my being was telling me I needed to protect her .

I didn’t understand this or what was happening between us, but I couldn’t shake the sight of that bastard holding her underwear to his nose, and I knew one thing was very clear—I couldn’t stay here.

Willow needed me.

The descent down Shadowridge Peak was no less brutal than the climb up. It didn’t matter what form you took, it’s not for the fainthearted. Which is why Shadowridge Peak was such a dream to defend .

The rock shifted underfoot as the cold wind needled under my fur. I felt the pull to get to Willow, but I could also feel the tug in my bones to turn around and head back up the way I had just come.

But I wouldn’t turn back. I couldn’t do that, not after seeing the fear on her face.

The tall pines that I had moved so effortlessly through now felt claustrophobic as they closed around me. The wind shook them, and the shadows gave the impression the branches were claws reaching out for me. My serene solitude now felt wrong.

I could see her as I had seen her. The frightened look, the unshed tears as she struggled to accept what had happened to her. The danger that surrounded her. I closed my eyes, and I could see her. With my eyes wide open, I could see it. See her, standing in the middle of her house as police questioned her. She stood straight and tall, trying so hard to be brave, trying so hard to hide how vulnerable she was.

Wherever I looked, I could see her .

Whoever it was that had walked into her home and destroyed it, they were still out there.

I knew it. I could feel it.

I could feel the link between Willow and me. It was stretched so tight, but the moment I accepted it was between us, I felt it become thicker. Stronger. The more I saw her clearer in my head, the tighter and stronger the link became.

It no longer felt fragile. No longer like it could snap at any time.

I felt like I could reach out and touch her. Was that how it was for Willow? When she drew me, was that how real I felt to her when she painted? I wished it were as simple as being able to reach out and touch her and pull her to me, to safety.

Instead, I knew there were many miles between us.

The ground beneath me moved, and I was brought back to the present, to the uneven ground beneath my paws, as the rubble and debris of the mountain warned me to slow down as my descent became steeper. My back paw slipped on a stone, and I skidded, catching myself sharply before I went sprawling. Tentatively my wolf became still, claws digging into the ground below.

I needed to focus. I would be of no use to Willow if I lost focus and ended up bloody and broken at the foot of the mountain. I ignored the reminder it wouldn’t be the first time. You don’t grow up on Shadowridge Peak without taking a tumble down the mountain one or two times.

It would take me days to get to Whispering Pines; did I have days? I’d come here believing that it was for the best, but now the distance between us felt like a curse.

The ground evened out so suddenly it caught many unprepared, but not me. I knew every crag of this mountain. Picking up my pace, I ran to the lower slopes of Shadowridge Peak, knowing soon the densely packed trees would even out.

Voices on the wind whispered to me as I ran, trying to slow me down, urging me to turn back, telling me that I wasn’t ready. That I wasn’t the hero Willow needed. That I didn’t deserve to return to her. Maybe I should’ve listened, but I didn’t.

I’d never wanted to be a hero.

What tied us together needed to be understood, but I had left, the past too heavy for me to confront, and now my cowardice was costing her. Willow needed me.

The morning that I kissed her flashed in my mind. The way she’d responded. The taste of her on my lips. I shouldn’t have left. I’d thought I was doing the right thing. Seeing her draw the darkest moments of my life had been too much. Closing myself to those old memories, I concentrated on getting to her now. What if by leaving her, I was the reason she was in danger?

The very idea of it made me feel sick. It also made me run faster, and soon I was descending the last steep incline.

The shadows of my past called for me, desperate to cling to me, but I felt a different darkness now. Something cold, and obscure, skirting the edge of my awareness. I’d seen it in Willow’s house as she looked at the damage to her home. I felt it within me now. A new darkness, so different from the one I was used to, and I hated it. Hated that it was closing in on her, reaching for her, ready to tear apart her life.

And I had already wasted so much time.

Finally, I reached the bottom of the mountain, and I headed south towards the nearest town. It was miles from where I was, but it was the first place I would find clothes. I’d need to steal a car. That also wouldn’t be the first time, and I doubted it would be the last. All that mattered was that I got to Willow before anything else happened to her.

I had a fleeting thought that I would be better off contacting Cannon and his pack and telling them I needed them to protect her, but the lingering doubt that they couldn’t be trusted still clung to me.

I didn’t have any confidence in them. I wasn’t ready to face them. Right now, I only cared about getting to Willow .

Gritting my teeth, I pushed harder, my muscles burning with effort, but I ignored the burn. The road in front of me was a blur. All I could see was the vision of her—standing alone, fear in her eyes as the shadows surrounded her. She didn’t know I was coming for her. She didn’t know I had seen it or that the link between us, the thin thread that connected us, had become taut and stronger, pulling me back to her.

She thought she was alone. She was wrong.