Chapter 5 - Lila
Caleb barely gives me the chance to regain my bearings before his voice cuts through the trees like a hardened blade.
“You’re coming with me.”
There’s no room for question in the demand. It’s an order, as if he suddenly gets to decide anything about my life.
I stiffen. “Excuse me?”
Despite the way he came to my defense so readily before, there’s something different in the way he looks at me.
That protective edge shifts into what appears to be impatience.
He murmurs, voice low, “We’re not staying here and waiting for them to double back.
You and the child are coming to my place, where they won’t dare to come. Now.”
My jaw clenches, and my immediate reflex is to refuse him. But just as I open my mouth, prepared to spit back something sharp at him, something else hits me.
It starts as a small tug. Like a nudge at my side, telling me to pay attention. Then it crashes across my vision so quickly I nearly miss it.
Everything narrows at once, blurring the forest and even Caleb right in front of me. Everything stills, as if suspended in time beyond my control.
With violent urgency, images flood my mind at once like cracks of lightning.
I see a house bathed in warm light, with a fire flickering inside.
Astrid’s laughter rings through a room I don’t recognise, even with dark shadows lingering outside.
Then I see Caleb standing between us and the danger on the other side of that wall, shielding us both from something deadly.
Despite the cold, unknown out there, the house is warm. Safe and sound.
The pictures tear away from me just as fast, leaving me off-kilter as I come back to the present, steadying myself.
I swallow hard as the forest snaps back into place, able to feel the cool air and the warmth of Astrid’s shoulders beneath my hands.
The men with Caleb rustle around us, reminding me we aren’t alone.
As much as I don’t want to acknowledge it, I know exactly what that vision means.
Go with him. Trust him.
I hate the idea, despising how it tugs at those old wounds. He’s the last person I ever want to depend on, but at the same time, I know he isn’t wrong.
A dull headache forms in my temples from how hard I clench my jaw, feeling like I’m torn between self-preservation and giving my daughter what she needs.
After everything, it doesn’t seem fair. Caleb broke me in so many ways, and yet, I’m supposed to blindly trust him.
Feeling Astrid press back against me, small body trembling while that confusion cloaks her, melts my anger into something softer. Protective.
She comes first before all else, regardless of what the situation does to me, and it has been that way since the day she was born.
In this moment, knowing her life is in danger out here, my pride doesn’t matter. Neither does my heartbreak, nor the feelings I forced myself to bury the moment Caleb left me to fend for myself.
Astrid is my everything, and I can’t let my pain get in the way of giving her exactly what she needs.
Caleb looks at me strangely for a moment, as if sensing something in me, but he keeps his expression unreadable. “We don’t have time for arguments.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to,” he says simply, gaze sliding between Astrid and me before settling on me again. “Let’s go.”
The mere thought of him being right infuriates me, and I have half the mind to think there was something traitorous in that vision, but I force it all down and focus on what’s important.
“Fine,” I mumble, giving Astrid’s shoulders a gentle, reassuring squeeze. “But this is only temporary.”
Something moves subtly in Caleb’s eyes then. Before I can decipher it, it disappears, and he doesn’t argue. Instead, he gestures behind me. “That way. We have vehicles waiting.”
I agreed to go, yet that resistance flares inside me at the order. But I guide Astrid as Caleb moves ahead and starts leading us through the trees. The two guys linger behind us while the two shifted wolves stay at either side of us, keeping a respectable distance.
With every step, the formation feels almost practiced, and even if it’s meant to protect us, there’s something oppressive about it. But maybe that’s just from Caleb’s presence alone.
Eventually, we reach the highway leading into town, and sure enough, two jeeps are parked on the side of the road. The guys move ahead to the one, while Caleb leads us to the other.
“We’ll follow you there, boss,” one of the guys says, grinning with a knowing gleam in his eyes.
Caleb’s expression doesn’t budge. “Don’t call me that.”
“Fine. Alpha-to-be, then,” he teases.
From the way Caleb lets go of an almost exasperated sigh, it’s obvious they aren’t just acquaintances or coworkers. Something vaguely fond exists there, only heightened by how the others chuckle.
As the guys pile into the other vehicle, his attention shifts to me. “You two are riding with me. Get in.”
Biting my tongue, I pick Astrid up, feeling her arms instantly wrap around my neck, and I carry her to the back seats. In whatever act of defiance I can find, I get in the back with her, carefully buckling her in and keeping her close, given the lack of a car seat.
Caleb gets in and starts the engine up, glancing back at us in the rearview mirror before he starts driving.
Being in the vehicle with him makes it feel all too small and warm despite the subtle distance between us. I try to keep my attention on Astrid through the silence stretching between us.
Then, after a while, I feel his eyes on me again. “Are you going to tell me why the Wraith Peak wolves were after you?”
There’s nothing gentle about his tone now. It’s more assessing and calculating, making him sound more like a soldier than a man concerned for us. It isn’t surprising, really.
“I don’t know,” I mumble, despite the faint spark of hesitation lingering in the back of my mind. “They just were.”
His voice reaches me coolly, “I find it hard to believe they’d randomly target a mother and child unprovoked.”
“Then maybe you should try to believe it.”
A quiet huff escapes him, not quite amused, but not irritated either. “I suppose they can be unpredictable. Still… if you know something that puts the girl in danger—”
“Don’t,” I interject, voice sharper than intended. “Don’t pretend like you have any right to care about my daughter’s safety.”
Caleb’s grip on the steering wheel just barely tightens. “You think I don’t care if children get hurt? What do you take me for?”
“Someone who never thought twice about hurting me,” I mutter under my breath, bitterness front and centre. “So forgive me if I don’t trust your concern.”
Of course, he hears it all with his sharp senses, and silence surrounds us at once. He doesn’t look back at me, and he doesn’t attempt to defend himself.
After a beat, Caleb finally speaks, and there’s no lack of control in his words. “This isn’t about us.”
A part of me knows he’s right, but the other is well aware of the scars he left behind.
When I don’t say anything, he reiterates, “What did they want, Lila?”
“I told you. I don’t know,” I say again, knowing it’s a lie.
I do know. At least, I have a very good idea of what they wanted, and it wasn’t me.
But even with Astrid’s magic in mind, I can’t tell Caleb the truth. Not yet, and maybe not ever.
Not when he rejected the idea of any kind of bond between us after I was honest about how I felt about him, and what I sensed along with it. He ran from me like he couldn’t get over the embarrassment of us being together.
And I know his views on the use of magic. It wouldn’t end well.
“I know you’re lying,” Caleb says quietly, but he keeps his eyes on the road and focuses on driving. At the very least, he doesn’t press the matter.
When I feel Astrid tuck into my side a bit more, I rest my arm around her, bringing my opposite hand up to gently run my fingers through her hair.
I can still feel her apprehension, unsure of what’s happening or where we’re going, but she stays quiet regardless.
Her eyes dart over to Caleb, who glances at her in the rearview mirror in return, and something unexpectedly soft flits across his features.
“Hey, kiddo.”
Astrid shrinks back a little, shy but still curious. Her voice comes out like a small thing, “Hi.”
“What’s your name?” he asks, his tone lighter with her.
She responds softly, “Astrid.”
“Astrid, huh?” he repeats, almost like he’s letting it set in. “That’s a beautiful name.”
A small, bashful smile settles on her lips. “Thank you.”
Despite everything that happened with the Wraith Peak wolves and the tension pulled tight between us, Caleb softens a touch, showing me a part of him I’ve never seen before, and it makes something twist in my chest. “You’re welcome.”
After a moment, as if growing more comfortable within a matter of minutes, Astrid’s smile brightens, and she sits up more. “Do you live in a big house?”
He chuckles to himself, turning onto a different road. “It’s fairly big.”
“Do you have any pets?”
“Not yet. I might get one eventually.”
She muses, “You should get a cat. I’ve always wanted one.”
There’s something easy in his smile while he talks with Astrid, and it feels more like a bruise to the ribs.
“Maybe someday.”
Astrid seems content with the idea, and she continues on, nattering about cats and dogs, and all the while, Caleb speaks to her like she’s the most important thing in the world right now.
Even hearing them talk wrecks something inside me I never expected to have to confront. It shouldn’t burn, but it does.
He has no idea. No clue that she’s his.
There’s a touch of awkward honesty in the way he interacts with her, like he isn’t used to talking to children, yet he’s still trying anyway.
After everything, I want to believe that guilt has no right to eat away at me, but it does anyway.
When he says something that makes her giggle, slowly bringing Astrid out of her shell, my heart only twists more.
Despite everything, part of me still remembers how it felt to silently long for him from afar. The part of me I tried to kill for years for my sake, only for him to come right back again.
When he said he wants to keep us safe, that piece of me wants to believe him.
And that might be more dangerous than the Wraith Peak wolves.