24. Caleb

TWENTY-FOUR

Caleb

I knew she was bursting to ask me questions, but when it came to this, I couldn’t answer quickly. Familiar rage welled within me as I thought of Jonah.

“Pack life isn’t always easy,” I said to her. “Like any culture, I suppose, we have our rivalries and feuds. Mostly about territory,” I explained. “You asked if it was one mountain per pack, and in a way, it can be.” Looking up at the mountain’s shadow, I felt it tug at me, wanting its alpha on its peak. “Some share the mountain, especially the smaller packs.” Looking at her, I saw the question. “Amos didn’t like to share,” I told her bluntly. “We were small, but we were a strong pack, and this mountain was ours.”

“That caused problems?” she guessed.

“It’s only a problem if the other packs don’t get the message.” I felt the need to explain as she frowned at me. “That peak?” I pointed up. “It’s Shadowridge. It’s my father’s peak, and his father before him, and his before him.”

“Not yours? ”

I looked away, not ready to answer that. “Our rival pack, the Cristone Pack, was a forest pack. They kept to the trees and the pines, but their leader had his eyes set on heights his pack did not deserve. We’d had a few skirmishes with them, and every time, we sent them back to the lowlands with their tails between their legs.” I grunted in recollection. “I left my pack,” I spoke softly, the weight of remembrance pressing down on me. “I was an alpha coming into my power. My Will was strong, and I knew, we knew, I was too strong, too soon.” Swallowing hard, I looked towards the peak. “I left to do one more tour, to learn my control better.”

“They attacked when you weren’t there?” Willow guessed, her voice soft in what she thought was understanding.

“They didn’t attack,” I told her, my hands clenching into fists. “They slipped into their home, while my parents slept in their bed, and they slit their throats before they were even awake.”

“Oh my God, Caleb!”

“Cannon has no guard on his door,” I told her, “but his pack patrols. Their pack can sleep at night, as their border is protected. All packs do the same.” I scrubbed my hand over my eyes as I remembered getting the call. “There was no patrol the night they killed my parents. My pack was not at fault. A simple miscommunication. Those who thought they were on duty were changed. It happened, Amos did it a lot to keep us on our toes.” Anger burned inside me. “But that night, the ones who thought they were changed for another were simply not replaced. Our packlands were left exposed. Vulnerable.”

“It was a mistake?” Willow asked softly.

“No. One shifter stood guard at my parents’ door that night.” I felt the lump in my throat. “And when they came for them, Jonah stood aside.” Pushing myself to my feet, I started to pace. “ Jonah fed the patrol the wrong information. Jonah opened the door to their home. Jonah s howed them where my parents slept.”

“Caleb…” Her voice was heavy with unshed tears.

“I felt the power shift into me as soon as my father left this earth,” I spoke on. “Luna showed me his last moments as the power of the alpha transferred to me. I saw my best friend invite the enemy into his alpha’s house, and I saw him shake the hand of the man who slit my father’s throat.” I could still see it so clearly. “His hand was still wet with my father’s blood.”

“I’m so sorry.” She wept for me. But her tears were shed too soon.

“You should save your sorrow,” I told her, more harshly than I should. “You don’t know all of it.” My eyes flicked to hers, but I couldn’t hold her look. She was so innocent, and I hated that soon she would look at me like I was a stranger. “I left my post. I rushed to return to here.” The peak was hidden in the darkness of the night, but I knew every line of that mountain. “Driven by my desire for revenge, I returned to a decimated pack. It wasn’t just my father and mother that died that night.”

We fell into silence, and I could hear her sniffling, trying not to make too much noise as she fought her emotions.

“How long did it take you to return?”

“Three days.” I blew out a breath, the memories hard to speak. “Cristone Pack were in my packlands. In our homes.”

“What did you do?” Her voice was filled with trepidation.

I met her look. I would not hide from her, not for this. “I waited until they were all in our hall. They were celebrating their win . Their defeat of an unprotected pack.” I took in a shaky breath. “They celebrated the murder of my parents.” I held her wide-eyed stare. “And while they cheered for their leader , I went into the hall and I served my revenge.”

Willow licked her lips. “What did you do?”

“I killed them.”

I saw her swallow, her eyes wide. “How many?”

“All of them.”

She looked as pale as I’d ever seen her. “How?”

“You mean how did I kill them?” I knew my voice echoed my surprise that she wanted details.

“Yes. You were alone. I don’t understand.”

“I’m an alpha.” I held her gaze, seeing the horror in her eyes. “Cristone Pack had a pack leader, not an alpha.”

“You compelled them?” she asked with understanding. “You made them…what? What did you do?”

“I told them to stay where they were. Using my Will, I kept them there. I used my Will to make sure they would not move, and then I slit their throats. One…by…one.”

“Caleb.” She was on her feet, like the gruesomeness of what I told her was too much to take sitting down. “That’s…that’s…”

I knew this was coming. I knew her revulsion at my actions would come. I hardened myself against her disgust. “That’s who I am,” I told her, my lip curling into a sneer. “They took my family, my pack, so I took theirs.”

“That is so much more than an eye for an eye,” she said with despair. “How could you? How much hate was in you that you could do that?”

I laughed. I full-out laughed at her. My head tilted back, and my laughter sounded as jaded and bitter as I felt. “How much hate was in me?” I asked as she watched me with wide eyes, confusion written all over her face. “You speak as if the hate left . It didn’t, I carry it with me every day.”

“Well, that’s healthy,” she snapped, her hands on her hips. “No wonder you’re all messed up. Mass murder tends to do that to a person!”

We stared at each other across the small space. Her anger was evident, but it was insignificant to my own. The only difference was that Willow was mad at me ; I wasn’t angry at her.

I knew she’d be like this. It was understandable. She didn’t understand. I doubted anyone would ever understand.

“Did you get them all?” she asked suddenly. “The pack? Jonah?”

Why would she ask that? “Why?”

“Because if there are survivors, or people holding a grudge, they could be, you know…after you.”

Wait…she was concerned? Seriously? “You’re worried about me?”

“Of course I’m worried about you!” She stamped her foot against the ground, and I fought the urge to laugh at how adorable she looked. “You can’t kill all those people and expect there not to be consequences! Their families, their loved ones, someone is going to come after you!”

Her purity and overall goodness continued to amaze me. “I don’t have that problem,” I told her gruffly.

Willow rolled her eyes, her hands thrown up in frustration. “How can you even know that?”

“Apart from the fact that it’s been ten years?” I asked flatly.

“Ten years is nothing. Have you never read The Count of Monte Cristo ?”

“No. I haven’t.”

“Well, you should, it’s really good.” She drew a deep breath. “Anyway, you don’t know that what’s happening now is not someone looking for revenge.”

“I killed them. All of them.” She stilled as I spoke, whether she finally listened to what I was saying or my tone conveyed my seriousness. “The ones who weren’t there, Willow, I hunted them down. I killed every member of the Cristone Pack. I killed every member of my pack that betrayed my parents. There’s no one left alive to come after me.”

“But there would be children.”

“Not anymore.”

“Oh my God.” She sank onto the tree stump, her fingers shaking as she pushed back her hair. “Everyone?” Her voice was little more than a whisper.

“They took what was most precious to me,” I stated emotionlessly. “They wiped out my pack. An eye for an eye, isn’t that what your God says? Isn’t it what you said?”

“Children?”

“ They killed children.”

“It doesn’t make it right!” She fumed at me from her seat. “It doesn’t make it better. Did it bring you back your family? Your pack?” Her breathing was ragged as she glared at me. “Did it quell your rage?” Her tone was scathing.

I had nothing to say. She would never understand. She hadn’t felt the sting of betrayal. She hadn’t experienced the loss of an entire pack .

“We’re only a few hours from the road,” I told her, not looking at her. “I’ll take you back down when it’s daylight.”

“What?”

“You heard me, one more night, and you can go.” I turned away, which is why I never saw her grab the water bottle until it bounced off the back of my head. Turning slowly, I looked at her in surprise as she took a step back, a hand over her mouth. “The water flask. Really?”

“You make me furious.”

“So you threw a metal water bottle at me?”

“You’re a shifter, you heal.” She still looked shocked at her own actions, so her voice was defensive. “And…”

“And you didn’t think you would actually hit me?” I guessed as I stooped down to pick up the bottle. I crossed the space and dropped it on her pack. “See how easily violence made you feel better?”

“It’s hardly the same thing,” she grumbled, refusing to look at me. “Hitting you with something heavy to knock sense into you is hardly comparable to all the ones you hurt.”

“I didn’t hurt them,” I clarified with a grim smile. “Their deaths were quick. Like my parents’. Only one of them suffered.”

“Jonah?”

“Correct.”

Willow nodded. Pulling her knees to her chest, she rested her chin on them. “If you killed them all, and there are no survivors to get revenge, then why am I drawing it?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“And no one else, your pack authority or whatever you have that polices you, no one held you accountable for your actions? ”

“The facts spoke for themselves.”

Her look told me she didn’t understand, but she didn’t ask. Watchful eyes considered me as I stood in front of her. Her eyes narrowed as her mind ticked over. “This is why you won’t come back here. You told me earlier that the dead waited for you, but it isn’t your pack you fear to go back to. It’s the dead of the ones you killed.”

My gaze landed back on the peak, even though it was covered by the blanket of night. “It’s both.” My attention was fixed on the ridge that wasn’t visible right now. “I don’t fear them. Let them take me if that’s what they want.”

“Jesus,” she groaned softly. “Well, I don’t know what I can do for you. I know nothing about ghosts.”

“I understand.” I pointed at the sleeping bag. “Sleep, I’ll take you down in the morning.”

“I can’t sleep.” Willow looked at me as if I were insane. Maybe I was. “You think after all that, I can sleep ? That’s a lot of information to process, Caleb.” Her fingers drummed against her thigh. “I’m going up that mountain tomorrow,” she told me with a determined look in her eye, “not down it.”

“You want to stay?” Maybe she was the one who was insane.

“I don’t quit.” Willow picked up the water bottle and unscrewed the cap. “If all your enemies are dead, then that means they’re after me, and that makes no sense.”

“I’ll still protect you.”

“By sending me away?”

My back teeth ground together at her stubbornness, and I broke eye contact with her before she saw my anger at her recklessness. The silence between us was thick with tension. “It’s not what I want. It’s hardly ideal,” I finally said. “But I think being away from me is what is safest for you.”

“Safe,” Willow repeated, her voice dripping with disdain. “I hate that word. And I hate how every time you say you are keeping me safe by staying away, something horrible happens to me.”

“You go to the shaman; you tell him to tell Luna to sever the tie.”

“That easy?” she scoffed. “Will I order chicken nuggets and fries at the same time?” Seeing my blank expression, she rolled her eyes. “If it was as easy as ordering at a drive-thru, I imagine you would have done it by now.”

“That was a shit example.”

“Bite me.”

We fell back into an uneasy silence. “It’s getting colder.” I tried to change the subject. “Even if you refuse to sleep, can you just get into the sleeping bag?”

“I want to keep my boots on.”

“Um…okay?”

“There could be bugs.”

Biting the inside of my cheek, I struggled not to laugh, knowing she wouldn’t find it funny, and it was really inappropriate to find anything amusing right now. “I put a spare bag in the side pocket for the boots.”

“Oh.” She searched for it and found it and, without another word, took off her boots, put them in the bag, securely tying them, and then got in the sleeping bag.

Taking the seat on the stump, I focused on the tree line, waiting for her to fall asleep. She would eventually. Her illness would make her if nothing else did .

“Sending me away doesn’t solve anything,” she spoke softly, her words muffled by the sleeping bag. “Whatever this is, it won’t stop if we’re apart.”

“Willow—”

“No.” I heard her move in the bag; no doubt she was glaring at me in the dark. Or glaring at where she thought I was. “If they’re all dead, then it’s me they’re after. You need to stop treating me like a paper doll and accept that I can handle this. I’m not leaving. Not until this is over.”

“And if it’s never over?”

For a long moment, she said nothing, and then finally she spoke, her voice empty of emotion. “Then we deal with it.”

I didn’t tell her what I thought of that idea, but then I decided why not? I had nothing left to lose. “So, your idea is we face it together, regardless of everything I told you tonight?”

“Well, I’m not going anywhere, so that’s not changed.”

Only everything had changed, and we both knew it.