Midnight Wolves

Chapter Twenty Eight: Know

The following morning, Vik had not returned. Callie slept fitfully through the night, waking up routinely, hoping to find him lying next to her. By the time she got up and made her way downstairs, Kennedy was already busying clattering around the kitchen and Callie was in an awful mood.

"Coffee?" Kennedy asked brightly as she busied herself with pouring two mugs of the delicious smelling liquid before handing one to her.

She took it with a grunt of thanks and sat at the table, holding her head in her hands. "How do I feel hungover when I didn't even drink?"

Kennedy laughed softly and sat opposite her. "I'm not surprised you're tired. I expect everyone is today."

Callie glanced at her in confusion. "Why?"

Kennedy cocked her head, looking remarkably wolf-like as she did so. "You had us up for most of the night, do you not remember?"

Callie froze, ice sliding up her spine. "Oh no," she whispered. "Please, not again."

Kennedy's face fell at Callie's obvious distress. "I'm sorry, Cal'. I thought you'd remember. You had us all submitting to you again."

Callie's breath left her body in one go. She really thought it had stopped. Had hoped that maybe it was all over.

"I should go and apologise to everyone," she said as she rose from the table, but Kennedy darted to her side, steadying her.

"It's alright, Callie. They'll understand."

She shook her head violently. "I shouldn't have come here. We shouldn't have stayed on their packlands and-and-" and Vik hadn't come to her, even when she'd been forcing everyone to submit to her. The only wolf who might have been able to calm her down and he hadn't come.

She sat back down again, hard. She wanted to cry. Maybe to scream. Wanted to be angry. Instead, all she felt was hurt. Where was Vik?

She hadn't realised she'd zoned out until Kennedy shook her with some force. She snapped her attention up to the she-wolf, her wolf flashing in her eyes. Kennedy eased back, hands in the air in surrender.

"Sorry, I was calling you and you weren't replying."

Callie shook her head and got to her feet. "No, it's fine. I'm sorry."

"Why don't we head into the centre of the packlands and take a look around? Then you can see that no one cares about last night," Kennedy suggested with a smile.

Callie's face creased with confusion. "Why are you so sure that they don't care?"

The she-wolf's response was non-committal. "Let's just say that I've got a feeling it's fine." She went to walk away but Callie had had enough and she stopped her by grabbing her arm, her grip a little too firm but her wolf was riding her, shame and anger a dangerous concoction.

"Explain," her wolf growled through her.

Kennedy's face paled and she shook Callie's grip off of her. She swallowed a lump in her throat. "I can uh-I mean, my family could – my grandmother before me, but now me," the she-wolf said, tripping over her words. She stopped and took a deep breath. "I can sense how people are feeling. Really feeling," she said slowly. "So, right now I can tell you that the enforcer outside is bored but also nervous. I think he's going to ask his girlfriend to mate with him judging by the love I can also sense. I'm not sure. And you," she paused, carefully eyeing Callie as though to make sure she wasn't about to rip her throat out. "You're angry, at yourself but also at Vik, I think. You seem hurt. Scared. Lonl-"

"Stop."

Kennedy fell silent at Callie's growl. She swallowed hard and looked down. "Sorry. My point is that I can sense the general feeling of the pack. I'm not saying everyone is OK, there's a lot of concentrated anger in some parts, but generally everyone is just surprised. I think they think it was Vik who made them submit. Though the alpha's seem to know it wasn't. They're...grateful, I think. To you. For bringing Vik home."

Callie shook her head, she didn't want to hear this anymore. "Fine. Point made," Callie muttered. "Let's just go look at the packlands." Callie had heard of seers, of wolves that claimed to be able to read a person's soul. She'd never really believed them. But she'd seen Leah's healing abilities first hand, and knew there were those with abilities above and beyond what the average wolf was given. But this was a surprise. And a reminder that she didn't really know Kennedy that well.

Callie walked out of the house before Kennedy could say anything else, her sadness sitting on her chest until she could barely breathe. A logical part of her knew it was the shame of making the Cliffwater pack submit to her that was causing it – but another part of her knew that it was Vik. His absence. The fact he hadn't come to her last night even after she'd lost control of her wolf, again. Why did it feel that every time she was getting somewhere, she ended up worse?