The first days inside the hidden cave went by in a really awkward mood.
Valerie sat leaning against the cold stone wall, and her eyes never once left the big figure resting on the other side of the cave.
Day after day, the terrible wound on Caleb’s back slowly started to close up thanks to the herbal treatment Valerie kept changing every morning and evening.
But his body getting better only made him more aware of how strange everything around him felt.
The narrow stone cave no longer felt like a dead hiding place.
It felt more like a tiny room packed with the heavy pulse of a predator’s presence.
Valerie kept watching the gray furry wolf ears on Caleb’s head move all the time.
They turned toward the cave entrance when dry leaves fell outside, then snapped straight up again when the sound of eagle wings passed far above the pine forest sky.
“Can you hear stuff from really far away?” Valerie asked one afternoon, breaking the silence.
“I mean…
your hearing?” “Yeah,” Caleb answered short and flat without turning his head.
“Way sharper than you think.” “How far?” Valerie pressed, leaning forward with real curiosity.
“Like…
all the way down the hill?” “Far enough to know no human is coming near this hill within two miles,” Caleb said coldly, eyes still shut.
“So stop worrying.” “Two miles?
That’s insane,” Valerie muttered, impressed.
“Seriously, that’s wild!” “For my people, that’s normal,” Caleb said with a dry tone, “just instinct.” Valerie let out a small breath, a little annoyed by how stingy he always was with words.
But her curiosity was way stronger than her irritation.
She watched Caleb suddenly sniff the air hard, the sides of his nose shifting slowly.
Then he opened his eyes, and those golden irises flashed in the dark.
“You brought wild berries from outside,” Caleb said, staring right at the little cloth pouch beside Valerie.
“They smell sweet.” “How the hell do you know that?!” Valerie said, startled.
She quickly checked the pouch in her hands.
“It’s wrapped up tight!” “My nose isn’t gonna be tricked by some thin cloth, human,” Caleb replied, and the corner of his mouth lifted like he was mocking her a little.
“The smell is too strong.” “No way.
I tied it up really tight so ants wouldn’t get in,” Valerie murmured, staring at the red berries in wonder.
“Your nose is seriously amazing.” “For my people, the senses are the main weapon for hunting and spotting enemies,” Caleb said in that heavy voice of his, giving her just enough to make her eyes light up.
“That’s how we live.” “So what else can your wolf senses do?” Valerie asked, scooting a little closer now.
“Can they tell you other stuff too?” “I can smell fear, smell blood, even smell lies from that tiny head of yours,” Caleb said firmly, showing the tip of a sharp fang on purpose.
“So don’t even try to lie to me.” Valerie swallowed hard when she saw the white fang shining behind his lips.
His teeth looked way more solid and deadly than a human’s, built to tear flesh apart in one bite.
A weird shiver of fear and awe hit Valerie at the same time when she realized the creature in front of her was the real deal — a top predator.
“Why do your eyes sometimes glow so bright and sometimes fade into dark brown?” Valerie asked, shifting her attention to Caleb’s golden eyes.
“It’s weird…
but cool.” “That golden color is a sign of emotional power and the Alpha energy inside me,” Caleb answered, his voice dropping a little as if something from his world had just passed through his mind again.
“When my emotions rise, the color gets brighter.” “Alpha?” Valerie repeated, frowning.
“What does that mean?” “Leader, fragile human.
It means I’m at the top and I’m not used to being ordered around by anyone, including you,” Caleb said firmly, trying to pull back the authority he’d lost because of his injuries.
“Remember that.” “Too bad, in this world you’re just an injured wolf whose life is hanging on my herbal medicine,” Valerie shot back, cutting the berries with a small knife like it was nothing.
“So chill out with the attitude.” “Don’t get too cocky, little girl,” Caleb warned in a low voice.
“I can still fight.” “I’m not cocky.
I’m just saying facts,” Valerie said, calm as ever.
“The fact is you need me.” “The fact that you’re treating me doesn’t change the fact that I can break your neck in one second,” Caleb said in a quiet, dangerous voice.
“One second.
That’s all.” “But you didn’t do it, did you?” Valerie fired back, looking straight into those golden eyes.
“You’re not that cruel.” Caleb gave a low huff and stared at Valerie’s quick fingers.
He clearly hated the fact that his power was being challenged by an ordinary human girl, but he couldn’t deny that without Valerie’s help, he might already be rotting under the hill by now.
“Why didn’t you just run to the human city when I was unconscious?” Caleb asked suddenly, fixing her with a deep, searching look.
“You should’ve left.” “I told you already, I was hiding from bad people out there too,” Valerie said, her hands freezing for a second before she went back to slicing the berries neatly.
“The city isn’t safe for me.” “Is your home really that dangerous that you’d rather stay in a cave with me?” Caleb asked.
“That scared?” “Way more dangerous than you can imagine,” Valerie answered quietly.
“Humans can be terrifying.” “Looking at those strange wounds on your body, I’d say your enemies weren’t normal either,” Valerie added, glancing at the remaining bandage on Caleb’s chest.
“They were trying to kill you.” “You assume way too much for a human who knows nothing,” Caleb said sharply.
“Don’t act like you understand.” “I don’t know anything, but I’ve got eyes, and I can see how awful that scar on your back is,” Valerie said softly, speaking honestly without really knowing what had happened to the wolf man.
“That was seriously bad.” The second she said it, Caleb’s stare turned cold and sharp.
The air in the cave seemed to freeze all over again, and Valerie instantly realized she had probably gone too far.
His big hand clenched into a fist until the knuckles went white, holding back a wave of anger and pain that looked buried deep inside him.
“DON’T YOU EVER BRING THAT UP AGAIN IF YOU STILL WANT TO SEE THE SUNRISE TOMORROW MORNING!!!” Caleb warned in a low, shaking voice, and the danger in it made Valerie’s skin prickle.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” Valerie said honestly, lowering her head for a second in regret.
“I was just worried.” “Then watch your mouth,” Caleb said sharply.
“Just handle your berries.” “…Okay,” Valerie answered quietly.
Caleb didn’t say anything else.
He turned his face away again, staring at the darkening evening sky through the gap between the vines hanging at the cave entrance.
The thick awkwardness came back between them, leaving Valerie with a hundred unanswered questions about who this mysterious wolf man really was.
The days after that passed in a blur, smooth and quick like a fast-moving montage.
A week had gone by since that moment, and the atmosphere inside the stone cave slowly shifted from suspicion into a weird kind of routine.
Caleb’s wound had almost healed completely in a way that still felt unreal, leaving behind a long scar across his broad back.
By then, he could already stand straight and walk around the cave, and his tall, solid body made the little cave feel even smaller.
Valerie was stacking dry branches in the middle of the cave to get the fire ready for the night when she noticed Caleb watching her from the corner of the room.
“Is that all the strength you’ve got for lifting one tiny stick?” Caleb asked in a flat voice, standing with his arms crossed and leaning one broad shoulder against the stone pillar.
“You’re slow.” “Not every creature has giant muscles like you, Caleb,” Valerie said, wiping sweat from her temple and glaring at the pile of wood she thought was already heavy enough.
“This thing is heavy, you know?!” “You waste too much energy dragging it around like that,” Caleb criticized.
“Idiot.” “Well what am I supposed to do, carry it on my head?!” Valerie snapped.
“Then help me if you want it faster!” “Humans were clearly made too fragile to survive in the wild,” Caleb said, stepping closer and lifting three big logs with one hand that Valerie had been struggling with forever.
“Move.” “Thanks for the help, mighty Alpha ruler,” Valerie said dryly, giving him space to put the logs down.
“Turns out you’re useful too.” “I’m not helping you.
I just don’t want to watch such a slow process,” Caleb said, brushing dust off his hand with a smooth motion.
“It’s annoying to look at.” “Nice excuse to hide your kindness,” Valerie muttered under her breath.
“What was that?” Caleb asked, one eyebrow lifting.
“Nothing!” Valerie said fast.
Even though Caleb always answered her with cold and sharp words, Valerie was starting to realize there was a hidden caring side beneath that hard shell.
Since his strength returned, Caleb never let Valerie go to the river alone to fetch water anymore.
He always followed a few meters behind her, acting like an unseen guard between her and the thick pine trees.
“Why does your tail keep moving so slowly when you’re thinking?” Valerie asked while they waited for the fire to catch properly.
“It’s been swaying nonstop.” Caleb gave a small jolt and looked down toward the lower part of his body, where his thick furry wolf tail was moving in steady sweeps over the dirt floor without him even noticing.
“It’s an instinctive movement I can’t control with my thoughts,” Caleb said, looking a little awkward that the human girl noticed him so closely.
“None of your business.
“It’s kinda cute, like a house pet waiting for food,” Valerie teased, trying to ease the mood.
“Like a pet dog.” “WATCH YOUR MOUTH, HUMAN!!!
I AM ABOVE ALL OF THIS, NOT SOME HOUSE PET YOU CAN COMPARE TO SOME DOMESTIC CREATURE IN YOUR WORLD!!!” Caleb snapped in a low voice, jaw tight, even though his eyes no longer carried that old murderous threat.
Caleb stepped forward, closing the gap between them until Valerie had to look up.
The corner of the wolf man’s mouth lifted into a thin grin full of dominance, but there was also a sudden warm glint in his eyes as he studied the human girl’s face carefully.
“Besides, a pet wouldn’t be ignored by its owner until the owner secretly saves the sweetest berries in the bowl for it, right?” Caleb said in a lower, rougher voice, his eyes dropping to the berries in Valerie’s hand.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Valerie said quickly, her heart suddenly pounding way too fast.
“Don’t just make stuff up.” “You know exactly what I mean, Valerie,” Caleb whispered, leaning in until Valerie could feel his warm breath smelling like pine forest.
“Don’t lie.” Valerie felt her breath catch in her throat when she saw the intensity in Caleb’s eyes locking onto hers.
That sudden closeness made her skin tingle all over, sending a strange rush pounding fast behind her chest.
She hurriedly turned her face away to hide the red heat spreading across both cheeks.
“I just gave you the berries I didn’t finish, don’t get all full of yourself,” Valerie argued, turning back fast and stacking the firewood in front of her with shaky hands.
“You’re so annoying.” “Liar,” Caleb said simply.
“I’m not lying!” Valerie insisted, not daring to look into those gold eyes again.
“Your eyes move up to the left when you talk.
That’s what humans do when they’re making up a story,” Caleb said, exposing the lie with a tone that sounded way too sure of himself.
“I know that.” “What does a wolf know about human body language?!” Valerie shot back with the last bit of courage she had left.
“More than you think, especially about you,” Caleb said, his voice softening in a way that made Valerie’s defenses crack right away.
“A lot more.” Caleb only let out a small laugh at that, a low sound that came out like a soft growl and echoed through the quiet stone cave.
He chose to sit across from the pile of wood, letting the warmth of the fire and the strange sweet spark of tension settle between them as the cold night crept closer.
“Caleb,” Valerie called softly after a long silence stretched between them.
“Hm,” Caleb answered without opening his eyes.
“Do you miss your home?” Valerie asked in a very gentle voice, careful not to push him too hard again.
“I mean…
where you came from.” Caleb stayed quiet for a while, his eyes resting on the fire dancing in the middle of the cave.
“Home is where you feel safe, and that place is gone for me,” Caleb said, and his voice sounded painfully lonely.
“There’s nothing left to go back to.” “I know that feeling.
I lost my safe place out there too,” Valerie said quietly, looking at Caleb with eyes full of empathy.
“We’re the same.” Caleb turned his head and met her gaze, and there was warmth in it now, slowly melting the ice wall between them.
“But at least this cold cave feels a little better with you here,” Caleb murmured, making Valerie freeze for a second as a blush rushed back to both of her cheeks.