Land of Wolves

Chapter 7

I curl my fingers into Caleb's chest, slightly embarrassed by his insistence on carrying me. It was one thing when my wounds were fresh, but I'm more than capable of walking now.

My movements may be a bit slow, that much I'm willing to admit, but I can still get around without such extreme help.

Caleb's breath hits the top of my head as he carries me up a flight of stairs, and I try to be subtle in the way I bury my face in his chest and breathe in his scent. He smells good, and I hate myself for how weak I am whenever the opportunity arises for me to indulge.

Arguably I know he probably likes it, and it plays perfectly into this character of mine, but I need to keep distance for my own sake. Caleb's not what I expected, and it's making things hard.

I can't let myself get too attached.

"My people are going to be very upset with me for bringing you out so early in your healing," Caleb whispers, grinning wildly at me.

I hum, licking my lips as I scan his face. Fuck. Why does he have to look so good?

Caleb gives me a gentle squeeze before turning and entering a large office. I assume it's his, and scan the space in approval. A large desk sits directly across from the door, and tall, full bookcases span both the walls on either side of us.

He's got two oversized leather chairs across from the desk, and behind it is an equally large office chair. All the furniture is made of dark wood, but there are a few plants that add some life to the space.

Not to mention the sunlight streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling glass windows behind his desk. The president of HPAW didn't even have an office this nice.

I want to see the view, but Caleb instead carries me to one of the chairs in front of his desk. He's slow to set me down, lingering with me in his arms. I do my best to remain unaffected by his clear desire to keep holding me, but my heart still flutters nonetheless.

Am I to spend the entire day in his office?

I'm sure he'll hold any important meetings outside this room because of it, but this is still more than I anticipated. I thought he'd stick me with a receptionist or something.

"Are you comfortable?" Caleb asks, pushing my hair behind my ear.

I gulp, reminding myself not to get attached as I subtly turn my face away and nod. Despite the lower dosage of medication he's been giving me these past few days, I'm feeling okay. The pain is manageable, and I want to save as many of those pills as I can.

Caleb kisses my temple, and it takes everything in me not to move so his lips are on mine instead.

He's gone a second later, and I watch his long legs carry him to his own chair. The wooden surface of his desk is clean, but I still scan it for anything that may be of interest.

The laptop in the center of it stands out, and I'm willing to bet that's where he keeps his most important information. I'm also willing to bet it's password protected. It'll be hard to get that code out of him, but maybe when he's more relaxed around me I'll ask him for it under the guise of wanting to look something up.

Caleb's soft, and I don't doubt he'll give it without so much as a second thought.

It would be too risky to try and send or download anything to share with HPAW, but luckily for them, I have a good memory. What we really need are his expansion plans. Humans are always caught off guard whenever he begins to move the wolves, and even though we try our best to protect our borders, it's hard to have every inch of them guarded.

The wolves are smart about it, too, constantly pushing in during the winter months when we're weaker. Their animal forms are resilient to the cold, and that natural advantage has come to bite us in the ass more than once.