Escape | ✓

14

"What are you doing here?" I asked both Callie and Cronan the moment I shifted back into my human form and got dressed.

"Isn't that what we should be asking you?" Cronan challenged.

He stared at me with a narrowed, suspicious gaze which made me sigh. Clearly, our last conversation had done little to convince him that I wasn't some kind of threat.

"Calm down, the both of you," Callie sighed and her eyes turned to me. "We're here to try and help the little wolf who roams around here."

I can't help but glance at her with a doubtful expression on my face. "Aren't you human?"

She smelled human, but why would a human worry about a wolf, and more importantly, how did she know about them? She'd just watched me shift and didn't blink an eye.

Callie sighed. "Like I told you, Oakwood is a place people come to when they're running from something. If you think you're the only werewolf I've encountered then you couldn't be more wrong."

I blinked at that. If Callie knew about werewolves being here then just how many more of the townspeople did?

"Why are you here?" I restarted, pushing the new information to the back of my mind.

Cronan began to speak, but Callie cut him off with a sharp glare. "The same reason you are, I assume. We're here to help the wolf."

"Help?" I repeated doubtfully.

I knew after my last encounter with Cronan that he was somehow connected, but I couldn't see him being of much help. In every encounter I had with him, one thing remained constant: his antagonistic nature. Cronan came off to me as an act first, think later type of guy and that was the opposite of what was needed when it came to the brown wolf.

"Help," Callie responded with a nod. "Arlo, Cronan, Reuben, and I have been trying to help the poor wolf for weeks."

Reuben. My wolf grew antsy upon hearing Reuben's name. It had been since leaving him at Cronan's apartment. Knowing that he was close, but I couldn't be with him didn't help the situation either; however, now wasn't the time for this. I needed to focus on the situation at hand.

I forced myself to calm down and turned my attention back to Callie. Had she noticed my change, she didn't comment on it.

"That wolf was the whole reason I was sent here. I'm glad that there were people out here who cared about it enough to try and help, but I got it now," I told her.

I didn't want to run the risk of someone messing up. Working alone would be safer.

Callie shook her head. "I'm sorry to tell you that won't be happening."

My brows furrowed. "What?"

She sighed. "Look, I'm sure you mean good and all, but we've been watching this wolf. We know where it sleeps, the routes it takes to escape, and more."

"And yet you haven't caught it," I couldn't help but say.

Callie's eyes narrowed and for a long moment, neither of us said a thing. It was clear to me that she wasn't going to drop this though. Her hazel eyes were filled with a mixture of annoyance and determination.

"As long as that wolf is out there, I can't leave," I said honestly. Even if Tatum were to say I could, I wouldn't. It didn't sit right with me, leaving when I knew that it wasn't safe.

"Then it looks like we'll be working together," Callie shrugged.

"What?" Both Cronan and I said, looking at her as if she'd gone crazy.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "You can't leave and we won't leave. It's better to work together than to fight each other, is it not?"

I sighed at that because even if I didn't want to admit it, she was right. I didn't want to fight. At the end of the day, the wolf was more important.

"Alright," I begrudgingly agreed. "We'll work together."

Callie smiled while Cronan frowned.

"You don't even know what Arlo and Reuben have to say about this," Cronan argued. "What I have to say."

Callie snorted. "Trust me, Cronan. I know what you have to say, but I just don't care." If looks could kill, she'd be dead. "As for Reuben and Arlo, I'd imagine they'd agree that the wolf is more important. Eli, are you busy tomorrow?"

"No?" I confusedly replied.

"Then how about this, tomorrow around let's say one, we meet up and discuss the wolf. You two, me, Arlo, and Reuben."

"That works for me," I agreed.

"Then it's settled. We'll meet at Cronan's place."

"No we won't," he interjected. "My place isn't an option."

"Why?" Callie questioned.

He opened his mouth but paused and glanced in my direction. He stared at her, but no words were exchanged. I knew they obviously weren't talking through a mind link, but still, she seemed to get whatever message he'd sent her way.

"Then we'll meet at Reuben's. Arlo will probably already be there anyway."

Cronan nodded and I frowned. "I don't know where Reuben lives."

It was one of the many things Reuben seemed to keep to himself.

"Cronan will show you," Callie said and he sighed.

"Will Reuben be okay with that?" I asked. I didn't want to make him mad at me when things only just started to go in the right direction.

"The four of us walk in and out of Reuben's house daily and he doesn't bat an eye. I'm sure Arlo will tell him you're coming beforehand and if he has a problem then he'll let us know."

Then why was he so guarded around me?

"Alright," I nodded, making a mental note of everything we'd discussed. "If that's all then I'm going to head out."

I knew that the wolf had to have been long gone and I needed to think about everything that happened.

Callie told me goodbye, but her words went in one ear and out the other. My mind was on Reuben. As I walked back, I couldn't help but question if he and I were actually moving in the right direction. I thought we were, but was I just trying to make nothing into something?

A deep frown broke out on my face. Reuben had said that he was going to prove to me that we weren't meant to be; however, if anything, my feelings had only grown stronger and I was worried. I was worried that I was imagining the change in his behavior. I was worried that this was all one-sided. I was worried that if they continued to grow then in the end, they'd shatter before my eyes.