Page 27 of Wolf’s Providence (The Shadowridge Peak #3)

TWENTY-SIX

Willow

The second the rogues were dead, Caleb turned on us. His eyes glinted in the dim light, fierce, almost wild as he focused first on Eamon, then me. I’d rarely seen him so close to losing his control. The tension in the air felt thick enough to choke on.

“I asked what were you thinking? ” His voice was a low, dangerous growl as he stalked toward Eamon, fists clenched.

Eamon held up his hands, but there was a gleam of defiance in his eyes. “She insisted, Caleb. I found her in the woods, hiking to come and find me so I could take her to you. I didn’t see another option.”

Caleb was in his face in seconds. “You didn’t see another option?” His voice trembled with anger. “I gave you one job—keep her safe. Does bringing her here, up the mountain in winter, look like ‘safe’?” His words were sharp, lethal, and the muscles in his neck stood out as he fought for control. I could almost see his wolf straining to take over.

The silence hung between us like a live wire, ready to snap. Caleb’s gaze was pure heat, simmering with an anger so intense I could feel it radiating through the cold air.

His fists were tight, his breathing heavy. He was angry with Eamon, yes, but that wasn’t the worst of it. He was furious with me.

“Caleb—” I started, but he rounded on me, his expression so intense I took a step back.

Caleb took a step closer, and I forced myself to hold my ground. His voice was low, ragged. “What the hell are you doing here, Willow?” Each word felt like a crack in the ice between us, splintering under the weight of his fury. His eyes were bright with anger, his voice low and rough. “I told you to stay back. Why did you think following me was a good idea?” He pointed to the five dead shifters in the snow, the ground bloody. “Is this what you wanted to see?” His eyes burned black with the intensity of his rage.

I opened my mouth, ready with a calm answer, but it was like he wasn’t even seeing me as he continued, “You think this is a game?” His look was intense, holding me pinned. “This was exactly what I told you to stay out of. Exactly.”

I swallowed, clasping my hands to keep them from trembling. “I thought you might need me.”

“ Need you?” He closed his eyes, taking in a sharp breath, then opened them, his gaze fixed on me, blazing with the heat of his barely-contained fury. “You don’t understand, do you? This isn’t some thrill-seeking adventure. These shifters would have killed you, Willow.” He carried on, his temper rising, which I hadn’t thought possible. “Do you think I needed the distraction of you turning up with a fucking branch?” He scooped it out of the snow, breaking it in half like he was snapping a twig. “This? This is what you thought would fight off shifters ?”

Eamon moved to stand beside me, and I felt his gaze, but I didn’t turn. The dude was naked; even with Caleb incensed in front of me, I somehow knew turning to Eamon would be the final straw of Caleb’s control. I didn’t mind seeing Caleb in all his glory, though he was covered in blood and dirt, so it didn’t matter.

So much right now didn’t matter.

“Maybe you don’t understand!” I snapped at him. “What would you have done if I wasn’t here? Who else would have put their hands in your fur and pulled you back ? I told you and told you again, we’re stronger together. I am in this with you. That brink you are on the edge of when you’re here, I am the one holding you back Caleb! Just like I did right here!” He glanced at Eamon and I wasn’t having it. “No! Don’t look at him like you want to murder him. I chose to be here. Me. Eamon just got me here quicker than I would get here myself, but you know there was no way in hell I was leaving you on this mountain without me here to pull you back from that darkness inside of you.”

His gaze softened briefly, almost hurt flashing in his eyes, but he hardened again. “This isn’t about that, it’s about being able to fight, Willow. You don’t know what kind of threat they were. You can’t just follow me into danger like an untrained pup.” He raked a hand through his hair, then turned to Eamon. “You don’t get it. If something happened to her…” His voice broke slightly, but he covered it with another glare as if he could hide the fear with anger.

The silence that followed was thick with tension, the air almost humming with it. Caleb looked away, his fists still tight at his sides, chest heaving as he fought to keep himself under control.

Finally, Eamon’s voice broke the silence, calm but firm. “Maybe she does understand, Caleb. You’ve protected her before. Maybe it was Willow’s turn to return the favor this time.” I saw him crouch and pull out a pair of sweatpants from the backpack he had carried up the mountain. Pulling them on, he threw a pair at his alpha. “Maybe…maybe she wants to do this with you, not watch from the sidelines while you carry it alone.”

Caleb’s gaze flickered toward him, filled with something dark and raw. “You stay out of this,” he said through gritted teeth, his voice cold. He turned back to me, his gaze softer for a second, but his voice was still a low, pained murmur. “You think you’re ready for this world, Willow? It isn’t like yours. It’s brutal, and people don’t walk away unscarred.”

“I’m already scarred.” I met his stare, my pulse racing, a mixture of defiance and fear tightening in my chest, hating the look of pain and guilt in his eyes at the reminder of who scarred me. “I’m still here. Still beside you. Maybe I’m not ready, Caleb, but it’s not your choice to make. It’s mine .”

We held each other’s gaze, his jaw tight, his eyes burning. For a second, his anger faltered, a hint of something vulnerable slipping through, then hardening again. He took a step back, raking a hand through his hair, breathing heavily.

Finally, his voice came out in a rough whisper. “I need some space.” He looked up at the peak. “This is…Goddess, I need to walk away and calm down. Stay here. With Eamon.” The look he gave the other man left us in no doubt that “stay” meant stay .

Caleb turned without another word, disappearing into the trees, leaving me standing in the cold, watching him disappear into the shadows, his retreating figure barely visible as he took his rage—and his fear—out on the quiet forest around him.

The silence after Caleb left was almost as thick as the tension he’d left in his wake. The air felt heavy, the chill sinking into my bones. Eamon let out a quiet breath and rubbed the back of his neck, glancing sideways at me, clearly unsure what to say.

“Don’t you start,” I muttered, crossing my arms, trying to keep warm. The anger still buzzed beneath my skin, the sting of Caleb’s words twisting in my chest. I hadn’t expected a warm welcome, but this…this raw, unrestrained fury at my choice…was more than I expected. More than I’d prepared myself for.

Eamon watched me for a moment, his expression neutral. “You know,” he started, his voice casual, but I caught the note of hesitation, “he’s not wrong. It was very risky letting them know we were here.” He looked down at the broken piece of wood I’d grabbed when I saw that we were too late and the rogues were already here. Surrounding Caleb. “You’d have done nothing with that,” he spoke softly, “didn’t expect you to run into the clearing. You put yourself in danger.”

I turned, narrowing my eyes. “I know that, Eamon. I didn’t come here blind.” The fact I was pointedly ignoring the dead shifters on the ground didn’t help my position. I knew that as well.

A faint smile tugged at his mouth, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “No, you didn’t. But understanding the risks doesn’t make them any less real.” He paused, glancing in the direction Caleb had gone. “He…he doesn’t lose control like that, not often. Not unless he’s worried…or scared.”

I looked away, biting back the words on the tip of my tongue. I knew Caleb’s anger was just another level of fear—fear for me, maybe fear for us? But it didn’t make it any easier to swallow. “I just thought…I don’t know. I thought he’d understand that I couldn’t stay back and wait this out and not know what was happening to him, you know? But when I saw they were already here, I couldn’t just… watch him fight them alone.”

“I know,” Eamon said, nodding slowly. “You saw him and thought he was vulnerable. And that’s what he doesn’t want you to see. Doesn’t want you to feel that you need to put yourself at risk, or get hurt, to save him. That’s why he’s pissed off. He’d rather tear himself apart than let you get a scratch.”

There was something tired in his voice, an edge of empathy that made me glance up at him. “I forget you know him so well.”

Eamon shrugged, the faintest hint of humor returning to his eyes, this time a little softer. “Well enough to know he’s got a thick skull. And he’d risk everything to keep the people he cares about out of harm’s way. Doesn’t always make sense, but that’s Caleb. And even though I brought you here, I would never have let you get this close had I known they were here.”

I nodded, taking in a slow breath, feeling the weight of the moment settle between us. Eamon shuffled his feet beside me, hands shoved into his pockets, a slight tension in his posture that mirrored my own.

“Look,” he said, his voice dropping slightly, “if it means anything, I think maybe you’re right to be here. Not right when we showed up, but I do think you should be where he is,” he admitted with a shrug. “Maybe you two aren’t exactly on the same page yet, but I can see how much he cares about you. And maybe…just maybe, you being here right now, isn’t the worst thing for him.”

I looked away, trying to swallow down the jumble of emotions rising in my throat. “Or…maybe he’s right. Maybe I’m just getting in his way.”

Eamon chuckled softly, his gaze focused on the darkening woods. “Trust me, Willow, you’re more of a help than you know. Even if he’s too stubborn to see it.” He paused, then glanced back at me. “Give him a bit of time. Seeing you threatened during the fight will have rattled him, and he doesn’t always know what to do when he’s shaken. But he’ll come around. He just needs a chance to realize that having you by his side doesn’t mean he’s lost control.”

A small smile broke through my frustration, and I met Eamon’s gaze. “Thanks. For, you know, bringing me here. For not letting him scare you off.”

“Someone’s gotta look out for him, even if he doesn’t know he needs it.” Eamon smirked, a spark of mischief in his eyes. “And, well, someone’s gotta make sure you don’t wander off the side of the mountain.”

I bit back my smile, feeling the tension ease, if only slightly. “I told you I knew the drop was there.” Eamon gave me a look that called bullshit, and pushing my hair off my face, I admitted defeat. “Fine. It maybe would have been too close to the edge to be healthy for me.” His eyebrows rose into his hairline at how much I was downplaying the fact I almost fell off the side of the mountain in our climb to get here. “Good thing I had you to keep me right.”

Eamon snorted but didn’t say anything else about it.

As we stood there in the clearing, surrounded by silence and snow, I felt a surge of gratitude for Eamon—and a renewed determination to stand by Caleb, no matter how hard he tried to push me away.

Eamon turned to me, his tone easy. “Want to help me get rid of these bodies?” He walked over to the one nearest to us and, bending down, lifted the legs.

Before I could respond, I heard the faint crunch of snow underfoot, drawing our attention to the trees. A moment later, Caleb emerged from the shadows, his expression a storm of conflicting emotions. He was breathing heavily, his dark brows furrowed, and a fierce glint in his eyes sent a shiver down my spine.

“What the hell is going on? Why are you still out here?” he demanded, his gaze flicking between Eamon and me, the tension thickening the air.

“Just talking,” Eamon replied easily, though I could see the way his body coiled with readiness. “About to start the tidying up.” He gestured to the dead nearby.

Caleb’s eyes narrowed. “Talking? About what?”

“The dead shifters and how we dispose of them,” I interjected, stepping forward. “Are you okay?” I asked tentatively. “Do you understand why we came?”

“Understand what?” Caleb interrupted, his voice sharp. “How you wanted to get yourself killed? Because that’s what you’re doing, Willow. You put yourself in danger by coming here. You think the threat is gone because they’re dead?”

Did he mean him? That he was a threat? My anger rose swiftly to meet his. “When will you understand that you will not hurt me? I trust you, but I’m not going to sit back and wait for you to handle everything, Caleb! I care about you too much, damn it!”

He took a step toward me, fists clenched at his sides. “And I care about you , which is why you shouldn’t even be involved in this mess. This whole shit with these bastards targeting you. It was never about you.”

“But it was about you !” I shot back, desperation clawing at my throat. “Why do you think that doesn’t matter? You shut me out every time I try to get through to you, and it’s driving me insane!”

Caleb’s expression flickered for a moment, the fire in his eyes dimming as he considered my words. But then, just as quickly, his resolve hardened again. “I’m not risking your safety, Willow. Don’t you get it? They wanted you to use you against me, and I won’t let that happen.”

“Oh my God, Caleb! I can take care of myself!” I insisted, stepping closer. “You can’t just make decisions for me. You think isolating me and leaving me will keep me safe, but it’s only going to push me away.”

Eamon shifted slightly, sensing the tension was about to explode. “Look, let’s just calm down, okay? Emotions are running high. Caleb, we’re all on the same side here. Remember?”

“You stay out of this!” Caleb shot back, turning his intense gaze on Eamon. “You brought her here. Why the hell would I listen to you?”

“Because you’re a dick,” Eamon said calmly, holding Caleb’s stare. “I know exactly what I’m doing. I’m helping you keep her safe, and instead of pushing her away, you should be holding on to her with both hands and asking what you did to deserve her.”

Caleb’s jaw tightened, and I could see the war raging inside him. I took a breath, trying to ground myself, to find the right words that might reach him. “Caleb, please. If you just listened, you’d hear what I’m saying. I’m not scared of what they might have done to me. I’m not scared of what you might do to me. I’m scared of losing you.”

The words hung in the air, and for a moment, Caleb’s expression softened, but then I saw his head tilt, so slightly, that I knew he was listening to the shadows that wanted to cling to him.

“Caleb, don’t listen to them!” I felt the heat rise in my voice, frustration boiling over. “I don’t care what they’re whispering. You have me . I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere.”

He looked at me then, really looked, as if searching for something in my eyes. But instead of breaking through the wall he’d built, he turned away, his hands running through his messy hair in agitation. “I can’t do this,” he murmured, his voice strained.

“Caleb, wait—” But he was already moving back toward the trees, frustration radiating from him like heat off a flame. I stepped after him, my heart pounding. “You can’t just leave!”

He paused, glancing back at me, eyes filled with something I couldn’t quite place—pain, maybe. “I have to. You’ll be safer if I’m not here.”

“Safer?” I echoed incredulously, my voice rising again. “Caleb? No, that’s not true, I don’t believe that.”

His gaze flicked away, jaw set in a stubborn line. “We’ll talk later.”

He melted into the shadows of the woods, leaving me standing there, wondering when would be the next time he’d come back. I could feel the frustration and fear swirling inside me.

Eamon stepped beside me, the silence stretching thick again, his presence a sudden reminder that I wasn’t alone. “Are you alright?” he asked quietly.

“No,” I whispered, feeling the weight of everything I was losing.

“Who’s they? ” he asked. “The darkness you mentioned?” he guessed. When I nodded, he bit out a curse.

Despite my outbursts that I was strong and not weak, I wanted to cry. “He doesn’t see it, does he? He doesn’t see how much he’s losing by listening to them.”

Eamon shook his head, a hint of sympathy in his eyes. “He’s always been a stubborn bastard,” he murmured. “Hopefully, he’ll think about what you said, and he’ll come around.”

“Yeah.” I sighed, tilting my head backwards to look at the sky. “Or he’ll wait us out until we have no choice but to leave.” I looked at the dead men in the snow. “I don’t really have to help, do I?”

He laughed out loud. “No, princess, you go find a cabin that doesn’t reek of death, and I’ll find you when I’m done.”

“Is…” Oh God, how did you ask that question without reminding him what he’d lost? The atrocity that happened on this mountain happened to Eamon, too, and I’d been so wrapped up in Caleb I’d forgotten he wasn’t the only shifter who lost their family. “Is your family’s cabin nearby?”

Eamon shook his head, his head lowered so I couldn’t see his eyes. “No. I burned our home when I realized the alpha of the pack gave up.” He looked up at me, his eyes bright with pain. “There was nothing left here for me.”

“I’m so sorry.” It didn’t feel like enough, and a wave of exhaustion washed over me as the surge of adrenaline that had got me up this mountain drained from my body. “I was in Nell’s cabin last time I stayed here. Caleb turned the generator back on. I can go back there?”

Eamon watched me, his expression closed once more. “Okay, you know how to get there?” When I nodded, he bent back down to the dead shifter. “Good. Go get warm. I’ll meet you there when I’m done.”

I hesitated. “And Caleb?”

Eamon looked between me, the trees, and the dead shifters. “If he’s not back by tomorrow, I’ll go after him, okay?”

“Thank you.” And with that, I turned and headed to Nell’s cabin. If Caleb wasn’t back by tomorrow, we’d both follow wherever the path led.

I ignored the voice in my head that was asking me if I was tired of chasing down the man who had stolen my heart.

Because what if the answer was yes?