The Silver Wolf novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Hesper

I was at the cabin door before the sun cleared the ridge.

I'd slept in my wet jeans on a shed floor, and every muscle I owned had a separate complaint.

Cormick was already outside, splitting wood with his shirtsleeves rolled.

He didn't look up.

"You came," he said.

"You said dawn."

"I said or don't." He set another log on the block. "Most people don't."

"Am I most people?"

"We'll see."

He brought the axe down.

The log split clean in two.

"Rules," he said. "One. I don't touch you and you don't touch me. If I need to correct a stance, I'll tell you where to move."

"Fine."

"Two. You don't go past the stone cairn at the top of the ridge without me."

"Fine."

"Three. When I say stop, you stop. Not a second after."

"And if I say stop?"

"Then you can rest."

I almost smiled.

He didn't.

He walked me out to a flat shelf above the trees and told me to stand with my feet apart and my hands open.

"Now what?" I said.

"Now you wait for it."

"For what?"

"Your wolf."

I stood there.

The sun came up.

My feet went numb, and my shoulders started to burn, and a hawk went over twice.

"This isn't training," I said. "This is standing."

"It's the first half of training."

"What's the second half?"

"Standing longer."

Behind my ribs, the dry voice made a small sound.

It sounded like a laugh.

"Oh, I like him," it said.

I jumped.

Cormick's eyes snapped to my face.

"It's talking again," I said.

"What is it saying?"

"That it likes you."

His mouth twitched at one corner, and then went flat again.

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