Chapter 10
Olivia
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?”
Caleb drummed his fingers against the table. I didn’t think I ever saw him do anything like that before. Was he nervous?
“The bond isn't one-directional," he said. "It goes both ways. It's more like a tether. Something that exists in the body."
I waited for him to continue, but he didn’t. After a moment, he finally took his coffee mug again.
"When we're close, it strengthens us both,” he explained. “It's the reason I healed faster last night than I should have. And it’s the reason you felt what you felt the morning you found me in the yard.”
I recalled the strange voice in the back of my head, and how I felt more panicked than I usually did in an emergency situation.
I realized if the bond was a two-way street, then that meant there were things I couldn’t fully control either.
That explained the kiss last night. I didn’t know if that made it better.
I continued my questions. "And when you're far apart?"
A flash of uncertainty crossed his face, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared.
"The bond… isn’t the same.”
I frowned. I couldn’t tell if it was vagueness or a literal inability to express what happened.
I wanted to pry at it, but I chose to file it. Mostly because I didn’t want him to clam up before I could get anything more out of him.
Finally, I asked the biggest question I had. The one I didn’t want to ask. The part about Stella had already touched on it.
"How much of this was… a lie?" I asked, a prickling sensation spread across my chest.
“Do you mean your job here?”
I shook my head.
“Not just my job,” I said. “I mean everything. The way everyone acts around me. You already mentioned Stella, but what about everyone else? Jake, Donovan, Maureen… you.”
My chest tightened. I didn’t know the answer yet, but the more I elaborated on the question, the scarier it became.
This time, Caleb’s silence was accompanied by a smile.
“Olivia,” he said. “There are some things we couldn’t lie to you about even if we tried. Your job here was ‘convenient’, yes, but that doesn’t change how much Jake admires you. I don’t think he’s ever expressed that kind of joy since…”
Caleb hesitated, then added. “Since our mother died.”
Memories of taking care of Jake, our little garden walks, our readings when his pain became too harsh resurfaced. I couldn’t help but smile.
“Donovan cares about you, too,” Caleb said.
I tried not to laugh. Caleb followed suit.
“I’m serious,” he insisted. “He knows what you mean to people here. That’s why he’s careful. It was for your own benefit as much as it was for us.”
That explained why Donovan’s guardedness never felt antagonistic, and also why Stella seemed to have mixed opinions about him.
“Stella…” I murmured.
Caleb grinned even wider.
“I don’t think I have to tell you that,” he said. “She truly does see you as a friend. You know, she never visited the manor as much until you were here. And her egging you to go on outings? All her.”
I thought back to every encounter Stella and I had. Our texts. Our chats.
I noticed Caleb staring more intently at me now.
“What?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Olivia,” he said. “I don’t think you understand what kind of impact you have on people… You get through to people. You’re sweet, but earnest. You value what’s right over your own self interest. And me…”
Caleb swallowed. I thought I saw the slightest tinge of pink in his cheeks.
“You already know.”
My face went warm. I looked at the grain of the table.
"I understand if you don't like the situation," he said. "There were lies. I won't argue with you about that. But what people felt — what I felt — none of that was arranged."
I tried to assess everything I was feeling. The warmth and the frustration still threaded underneath it.
"I don't know what to believe," I whispered. "You've all been withholding things from me since day one. I get some of it — I'm not naive." I pushed my coffee cup aside. "But I don’t know if I can ever really know where the lies stop.”
Caleb’s expression fell slightly.
"You’re right,” he said.
"Am I safe here?" I said. "In Greyhollow?”
Caleb held my gaze. "There's always a risk around werewolves," he said. "I won't tell you otherwise. You saw it last night.”
I saw, alright.
“The world I live in is dangerous,” Caleb continued. “Knowing about it doesn't make the danger disappear. I… I understand if you want to leave because of it.”
He said the last part without flinching. There was no performance in it. No careful arrangement designed to tip me in one direction — just the plain, flat truth of a man who meant exactly what he said.
After a long moment, I pushed myself back from the table.
"I need some time alone," I said.
He nodded. He didn't follow.
My go-bag was on the floor of the wardrobe.
Half-zipped. Right where I left it.
In every new city, every new assignment, I never unpacked more than I needed. Never stayed long enough to matter. Anything I did, I made sure I could easily take back. Making space for myself, or any form of commitment for that matter, only made leaving messy. Tangled.
For seven years or so, I just passed through.
For seven years, I learned to be at places but never really live in them.
I looked around the room.
Maureen set it up the first day I was here, but there were small changes over time. She always placed the towels on the reading chair, as I never used it. When I remarked I liked the color blue, she changed the curtains and said it might “brighten things up.”
I looked at the end table. Books from the library sat stacked there. I could see small footnotes in some of them with notes Jake left for me.
Read this one when I’m in ULTRA pain.
On my phone, Stella consumed most of my inbox. Sometimes she was complaining about work, and sometimes she was begging to hang out.
I’d been in Greyhollow for more than a month now.
I might not have made room for myself to stay, but the Ashwood estate and the people connected to it did their best to make me feel at home.
“Home,” I murmured.
When was the last time I had that?
I had a patient who made me laugh before noon and apologized for things that weren't his fault. I had a fun gal pal who was always there to lift my spirits and bully Donovan when she thought he was being too harsh on me.
I had people who greeted me in the morning and expected me to eat breakfast with them.
Donovan, in his own way, was there for me, too.
I also had… Caleb.
Caleb, who, despite everything he kept from me, wanted me to have the choices he couldn’t fully give me. Caleb, who not only saved me years ago, but was trying to protect me even now.
I stared at the go-bag one more time.
Then I crouched down, picked up the go-bag, and zipped it the rest of the way.
I lifted it and set it on the shelf in the wardrobe.
“I’m not going,” I said. “At least not any time soon.”
There were a lot of things I didn’t like, and there were things that would always be dangerous so long as I was in Greyhollow. But I couldn’t leave the town — or Ashwood estate — just yet.
The people here had done their best to make me feel like I could stay. The least I could do was stay.
Later that night, I made my way to the fireplace. It felt like ages since I'd last been here.
The area looked cozier than ever. The hearth’s fire glowed steadily. A few new logs had been thrown in, so it was crackling especially lively tonight.
As expected, Caleb was in his typical spot. He had no book this time. Instead, he was hunched over, staring at the ground.
I slowly walked in.
Caleb’s head shot up the moment he heard my footsteps.
“Olivia,” he said. It came out as barely a whisper. “You’re still here.”
I shrugged.
Caleb's gaze moved from my face down to my hands. He noticed the obvious lack of travel bags.
“I’m still a nurse,” I told him plainly. “Circumstances aside, I’m here for Jake first and foremost. And he’s going to need my help more than ever if the first shift is as bad as you make it out to be.”
The fire from the hearth flared. I could see part of it catch in Caleb’s eyes.
He considered that, then nodded.
“That’s true.” He then cleared his throat. “It would be… unfortunate if you left before it happened.”
I thought I caught a flush in his cheeks yet again. I smiled.
“Can I trust that you’ll give me all the info I need for his care this time?” I asked. “Or are you going to tell me he’s half-vampire, too?”
“Did you not notice his aversion to garlic?” he asked.
I chuckled.
Caleb then gave me a firm nod. “Everything for Jake’s care will be accessible. I can guarantee that.”
“Oh,” I said. “One more thing.”
“Hm?”
"Despite everything," I said. "I still care about this place. I want to see it… and everyone here… through.”
I picked up the book I'd left on the side table the night before.
"Jake will be glad," Caleb added.
"He's the one who matters.”
"Yes," Caleb said. "He is."
We both chuckled.
“Good,” I said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve had a long day. I would like to resume my reading.”
Caleb gestured to my chair. “It’s all yours.”
I crossed over to the seat. My body eased into it the moment I sat, like the chair recognized me.
Caleb shifted in his own chair and pulled up a newspaper from the coffee table.
The fog outside had thinned. The moon shone on the flowers in the formal garden, making them glow in a pale blue that contrasted with the orange light coming from the fireplace.
I noticed the trees in the distance swaying in the woods.
A part of me still felt an ache whenever I looked at them. However, there was another piece to that story, too.
Amidst the pain and the past I hated facing, there was a man there who cared for me enough to save me.
A man, who was still here. Who never left to begin with.
After turning a few pages, I finally looked up. He was deep in thought as he read the business section of the dailies.
When he thought I wasn't looking anymore, I heard him.
"Thank you," he said. "For staying."