Midnight Wolves

Chapter Twenty Seven: Always

By the time Callie made her way back to the house, Vik's parents were gone and the house was eerily silent. Night was drawing in, and Callie hadn't been in the house long when the front door opened. "Vik?"

Kennedy winced. "Sorry, it's just me."

Callie shook her head. "No, don't be sorry, I just thought it might be him."

Kennedy placed a bowl of something on the kitchen table they'd all sat at earlier before walking into the living room and taking a seat in an old arm chair opposite Callie. "He hasn't turned up yet then?"

"No. I haven't seen him for hours."

Kennedy eased forward in the chair, placing her elbows on her knees. "What happened? You ran out of here like you'd seen a ghost."

Callie shrugged. "I realised something while we were talking. I-I don't want to talk about it." Callie hung her head in shame, missing the flash of hurt across Kennedy's face.

"The Cliffwater alphas said that their enforcer will be standing guard outside. Just in case anyone from the pack tries to confront Vik. If we need to go anywhere then the enforcer will go with us."

Callie nodded, anger pitting itself in her stomach. "Do they think someone will come for Vik?"

It was Kennedy's turn to shrug. "Hopefully they're just being cautious."

Callie sighed, studying Kennedy for a moment. She hoped the she-wolf would look better after leaving her uncle's pack, but she still looked stressed. Tired even. They'd travelled at some pace but Kennedy had seemed to sleep well when they did stop. Kennedy caught her stare and immediately looked away. She couldn't – or wouldn't – meet Callie's eyeline.

Sadness pricked at Callie. She had a feeling she knew what this was about. "All you heard earlier, about me and my life. It's a lot. But I'm still the same she-wolf who nearly clawed your face off when we first met. Does it-does it make you look at me differently? Knowing all that you do?"

Kennedy's face was full of surprise, she was speechless for a second and then a wild, desperate look entered her eyes. "No. Of course not. Why would it? You survived for so long alone. I-I don't know how you've done it."

Relief flooded Callie. "Good. But you know better than anyone how I did it, you were alone too," she reminded her.

Kennedy waved her hand. "Yes, but I was never actually on my own I always had Sirus with me."

Callie's eyebrow rose. "Who's Sirus?" She thought Kennedy had been alone when she'd wandered into Rootbridge and when she'd been found by her uncle's pack.

Kennedy's face shuttered and she looked down at her hands, her frame tense. "No one."

She was lying. Callie knew it in her gut. But she didn't want to pry because judging by the way Kennedy's hand wiped furiously at her cheek, beneath that curtain of hair the she-wolf was crying.

Callie left her in silence, eyes drifting to the bowl on the table that she'd carried in. Callie stood up and headed for it. The glass bowl was topped with mashed potato, meat of some kind underneath it judging by the scent.

"Dinner," Kennedy said from just behind Callie, making her jump. "Some wolf gave it to me."

Callie nodded and peeled off the plastic cover before putting the bowl into the microwave that sat in the corner of the kitchen. The hum of the machine drowned out the silence that was beginning to feel suffocating. Callie was missing Vik, she realised.

"Callie, I-" Kennedy stopped. Callie turned to face her. The she-wolf looked conflicted. She took a shaky breath before slowly looking up to Callie, her eyes wet. "Sometimes, we have to do things in life that we don't want to do. But we do it for the ones we love."

Callie frowned at her in confusion. She agreed with the words but could quite get her point.

"I-I would have loved to call you my alpha," she admitted sadly.

Callie's frown deepened. "I've never really considered starting my own pack," she said, confused by the waves of sadness washing off of Kennedy. "But if I did, you'd be my first pick to join," she offered half-heartedly, trying and failing to add a little humour to it.

Kennedy hung her head even lower, shaking it slightly. By the time she looked back up, she had a fake smile plastered across her face. "Maybe not first?" she teased. "But second, I'll take that."

Callie blushed and chuckled.

"I don't really know what's going on between you two. But, I've heard enough stories of the beast of Shadow Valley, and Vik is nothing like them. You seem good for him. And, with him you seem...lighter, somehow."

Callie smiled, her chest warming at the she-wolf's words. "Honestly, I don't know what's going on either. With him, it just feels different. It's like my wolf has always known him. He was never a stranger."

Kennedy was quiet, thoughtful for a moment. "You knew each other as kids, right? That's what Tara was saying. So I guess your wolf always has known him."

Callie nodded in agreement. "Yeh, I guess. I don't know. It just feels like there's something more."