Page 48 of Before the Bond
Ispent the rest of the night going over what happened.
I didn't pace. I didn't cry. I sat at the edge of my bed with my hands open in my lap and let the weight of it settle over me the way cold does — slowly, then all at once.
Werewolves. I said it again, out loud, just to hear how it sounded.
It still didn't sound real. But the wolves that chased me through the trees were real. The car crash was real. Caleb shifting in the moonlight — that was real, too.
I wanted to pick it apart. Find the place where it stopped making sense. Instead, every piece I turned over only clicked further into place. The secrecy. Jake. The town's strange rhythm. The way I'd felt since the moment I arrived — like something here already knew me.
It did. He did.
Caleb had found me eighteen years old in the California woods, watching a hawk, and my life had quietly pivoted around that moment ever since — without me ever knowing. He saved me the night I lost my parents, and then disappeared. And I spent seven years running from that night like it was a wound I made myself.
It answered everything. And somehow, that made it heavier.
I didn't know yet if I could stay. I didn't know if I could leave either.
At the thought of Caleb, my hands went to my lips.
I steadily made my way to the kitchen the next morning.
I didn’t sleep a wink, but I was too wired for coffee. I went there knowing he would be waiting for me. I was correct.
Caleb sat with his coffee and his typical, careful posture. The moment I appeared in the doorway, he straightened up even further.
"What else?" I asked.
Caleb raised his eyebrows.
"What else don't I know? I want everything on the table. All of it."
Caleb placed his coffee cup down. His hands rested on the wooden table and interlocked gently.
"Stella," he said.
I went still.
“No,” I said.
He nodded.
"She's a she-wolf,” he said. “She’s part of the pack, even if she’s not a family member. We asked her to keep an eye on you while you were in town.”
I took a deep breath.
That landed harder than I expected. I started connecting things. She knew the Ashwoods, but I chalked it up to coincidence. Hearing it now, though, it stung. I thought I'd made a real friend, but as it turned out, it had all been arranged.
I shook my head. There was still more to ask.
“What about the bond?"
Caleb's hands shifted on the mug. "What do you want to know?"
"Why does it matter?" I asked. “Why does it exist? Is it…”
My eyes lowered.
“Is it something you can control?”
