The Silver Wolf novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Training Exception

He didn't come back until dark, and he didn't come to the shed.

I heard the cabin door close at nine.

I lay on the cot in his flannel shirt and listened to the rain.

At ten I got up and went out in my bare feet.

The porch boards were cold and wet.

A thread of light showed under the door.

I opened it without knocking.

Cormick sat on the floor in front of the stove with his back against the table leg.

A whetstone lay in his lap, and he wasn't using it.

He looked up.

"Go to bed, Calla."

"You said it won't happen again."

"It won't."

"I didn't agree to that."

"It wasn't a question."

I shut the door behind me.

"Give me the reason," I said. "The real one. Not 'I can't.'"

He turned the stone over in his hands.

"I don't take students to bed," he said.

"That wasn't one of the rules."

"It's the first one I ever made."

"Then you've been breaking it since the day I climbed up here."

"I know."

"So stop teaching me."

He stared.

"Tonight," I said. "Be done. Rule one, rule two, rule three, all of them."

"And tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow you start again, and I'll call you Warden and carry every bucket on the ridge."

"Calla."

"Tell me no." I crossed the floor. "Look at me and tell me no, and mean it."

"Calla."

"Then I'll go back to the shed."

I stopped in front of him.

My heart was going so hard I thought he could hear it.

He looked up at me for a very long time.

The stone slid out of his hand and hit the floor.

"I can't," he said, hoarsely. "God help me. I've tried for twelve days."

"Then don't."

He stood and took my face in both hands.

He kissed me slowly this time.

I went up on my toes and wound my arms around his neck.

His beard scratched my chin.

His mouth was hot, and tasted of coffee.

He lifted me by the thighs and set me on the edge of the table.

I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him in.

"Tell me to stop," he said against my throat.

"I won't."

"Tell me to go slower."

"I don't want slower."

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