Midnight Wolves

Chapter Six: Dream

"Callie! Wait!" Caleb's voice stopped her, her bag slipped from her shoulder as she turned, cursing herself for the way her heart fluttered in her chest.

He was slightly out of breath as he reached her. She'd left no more than ten minutes ago but had already covered quite a bit of ground. "I wanted to say goodbye, before you left."

She looked down and readjusted her bag. She'd intentionally avoided him. "Sorry, I needed to get going."

"No, I get that, I just-Cal', look at me."

She sighed at the sadness in his voice before she slowly raised her head up to meet his gaze. She mirrored his sad smile.

"Look, I wanted to talk about what happened. We never got to chat about everything that went down with your moonmate and then with the Magnum pack and then me meeting my mate and-"

"I'm happy for you, Caleb. Really, I am. But-"

She took in a deep breath, "I can't say this is easy for me. To watch you with her. I-" she shook her head, "I loved you, Caleb. I really did and I probably still do but, you're mated and I get that and-"

She was silenced by his lips against hers.

Her bag thudded against the ground as his arms wound around her, tugging her closer to him, deepening the kiss in the process.

She froze, caught by surprise. His tightened just once and she melted into his. Her hands raised to wrap around his neck, so lost in the feeling of his lips against hers, of his hands cradling her to him once more. It was so familiar, tinged in memories - but it was wrong.

Her wolf whined in protest, shattering the moment, managing to break her heart in the process.

She pushed away from him, both breathing hard as Caleb's eyes filled with guilt and regret. Callie couldn't look at it, couldn't look at his own self-loathing.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He repeated, his whole body in shock. "I shouldn't have, I don't know what I was thinking. I shouldn't have...My wolf he...he still thinks of you as his, I-"

Callie chuckled bitterly and picked her bag up off the floor, brushing the dirt from the sides. "Goodbye Caleb," she said sadly as she turned and walked away, the press of his lips against hers, burnt into her memory.

*

As she travelled, she tried not to think of Caleb. She wasn't always successful - but at least she tried. No good would come of it, that she was sure of.

The journey took as long as she'd feared it would. Even running at full pace she still hadn't made her uncle's packlands by late that night, long after the sun had set. So, in a throwback to her years spent in the wild, Callie started a fire, hunted for her dinner and then set about creating a make-shift shelter from some long-dead tree branches and leafy plants.

When she was finally done, she took in the small structure she'd built and grimaced. It was nothing in comparison to the tree house she'd built one summer about ten years ago. Now that had been shelter. But it was better than what she'd lived in for the first few years in the forest.

So, crawling into the little triangle of shadows, she settled into the damp earth and curled herself into a ball. She'd given the Shadow Valley packlands a wide berth, as Felicity had made her promise to do as she'd left. Doing so had added hours onto her journey, but in the end she had decided it was a good idea. Because at one point she'd got a little too close, her wolf leading the way and Callie not paying attention until she felt the eyes watching her. Why her wolf had strayed that close, Callie had no idea. Her wolf was misbehaving, not always reacting the Callie wanted, or expected.

Those eyes had pinned her where she stood.

Even thinking of them now, she shivered. The intensity of those eyes had been enough to drive Callie's wolf away. Felicity was right, whatever lingered in those packlands was deadly. And Callie could only hope that the pack perimeter would keep whatever beast it was, at bay.

Trying to swallow her fear, Callie closed her eyes and drifted into a fitful, restless sleep. It didn't take long for the dreams to find her. Though this one was, thankfully, different. Rather than her child-self wandering alone in the forest, it was her adult wolf.

Her wolf's claws dug deep into the soft earth beneath them as Callie watched through her wolf's eyes. She stood on the very edge of the Shadow Valley packlands, glaring at the predatory beast within. Her wolf was trying to make him submit, her dominant power waves surging from her like a waterfall.

But unlike the Rootbridge pack, this hidden beast did not back down or submit to her.

No, for every dominant wave her crazed wolf sent, he matched and returned it.

Had Callie not been absolutely convinced that it was a dream, she wouldn't have even considered drifting back into her subconscious to leave her wolf to this silent battle.

And it was only as she woke the next day, her clothes at a distance and her fingernails caked in mud that she realised that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't a dream at all.