Midnight Wolves

Chapter Thirty: Save

"What the hell are you doing here?" a voice snapped, interrupting them. Vik's growl was feral, his hands caught on her hips, his claws slicing through her top. His eyes were glazed with lust and possession as they pulled apart - too soon.

Callie turned to face the intruders, a line of four wolves watching them in a mixture of disgust and anger. It was the youngest she-wolf who'd spoken, her hands locked with a taller wolf beside her – her boyfriend, Callie assumed.

Vik turned to face the intruders but his whole body froze when he saw her. "Vanessa," Vik breathed.

"What are you doing here? Why aren't you dead yet?" the she-wolf yelled at Vik, making Callie flinch and her wolf raise her head in anger.

The hate in the young she-wolf's voice was a surprise. Callie hadn't experienced any animosity and to go from that to this hatred was such a swing.

"Vanessa, I-" Vik started, then stopped as her boyfriend stepped forwards. He was as tall as Vik, though slightly skinnier and nowhere near as powerful, but that didn't stop him from growling at Vik.

Callie stepped to Vik's side, eyeing the towering wolf. Her wolf was fighting for dominance, she didn't like the threat to Vik.

"You shouldn't be here. You don't belong to this pack. You're a murderer," the boyfriend seethed, pushing his face into Vik's. Vik didn't blink. Didn't move. Didn't deny it.

Callie's wolf wanted the boyfriend's head. Preferably detached from his green bean-like body.

"You killed Lily, you should have been put to death. She was my sister," the she-wolf, Vanessa, added.

"I should wipe you off the face of the earth," the boyfriend threatened, his wolf flashing in his eyes. Vik merely lowered his head in shame.

"Stop," Callie warned.

The boyfriend glanced at her, sneered and looked back to Vik. "You've got someone new then. I wonder how long it is until you kill her too?"

Callie's wolf lunged for control, she managed to stop her, just.

"Leave him alone. It was an accident, nothing more. He was outed from his pack and ostracised, isn't that enough?" Callie seethed.

The boyfriend chuckled humourlessly. "He should have been torn apart, just like she was."

Callie saw the words hit Vik, saw him flinch. She also saw the moment the boyfriend decided to make a point by lunging for his throat.

So Callie let her wolf have control and shoved Vik backwards, jumping into the path of the hulking beast. Vik cried out as the boyfriend jumped towards her, claws and fangs ready to sink into her flesh.

But he didn't get a chance.

Callie's power slammed into him and he hit the ground, hard. His wolf whined in agony as she doubled down on it, sending dominant wave after dominant wave. Behind him, Vanessa and her other friends fell to the ground too.

Around them, the packlands fell silent. Wolves fell to their knees, their heads forced to the ground. All of them submitted to her, every single wolf – bar one. Vik stepped to her side, pulling her attention from the wolf before her.

"Let them go, Callie," Vik commanded gently, his wolf flashing in and out of his eyes.

With some reluctance, and only because he'd asked, she did so.

She turned from him and eyed Vanessa as she slowly got to her feet, cursing Callie in the process.

"I understand that you've lost someone. I get that. More than most. But so has he. There is not a day that goes by that he doesn't live with that pain. There will never be a day when he won't feel it. But one mistake shouldn't cost him his life. He's been exiled for five years. Lily never should have been there that day, Vik was affected by things beyond his control. It was a terrible, terrible accident and everyone will bear the scars of that."

"An accident! It wasn't wrong time, wrong place – Vikas called her to him and then slaughtered her." Vanessa snarled, her wolf raging against her, no doubt unsettled by Callie making her submit to her.

Vik finally broke his silence. "That's not true. I didn't call her to me. I never would have. My wolf was..." he drifted off, eyes snapping to Callie before glancing away. He cleared this throat and levelled Vanessa and her boyfriend with a look. "I didn't ask her to come to me. I would never have put her in that danger. I loved Lily with everything I had. I will always love her."

"Bullshit," Vanessa snarled in response to his words. "I remember that day. It is etched into my brain. I see her every time I close my eyes. We were having dinner and Kyle came in and said you'd asked for her. I asked her to stay. Begged her to. But she would never deny you anything." Vanessa's voice was dark, pain etched into every word.

Vik shook his head. "I didn't. I would never have her near me while on patrol, and that day I remember avoiding her intentionally because my wolf was so temperamental."

"Who's Kyle?" Callie interjected before Vanessa could counter his words.

Vik glanced at her, his eyes full of pain and torment. "My best friend, or he was. He was Lily's boyfriend until we realised we were moonmates and he stepped aside."

"And he sent Lily to you, knowing you were struggling with your wolf?"

Vik frowned, anger flitting across his face. "He'd never put her in harms way. Kyle loved Lily as much as I did."

"Exactly," Callie countered, suddenly convinced by her own theory. "The next day you were supposed to mate claim her. Maybe he was jealous. Maybe he was hoping you'd scare her."

"You're wrong," Vik snarled with such poison that Callie flinched away, Vanessa having fallen silent at Callie's words. "It was my fault. I did it. No matter what was happening with you, or with Lily, or anything, it was my fault. My claws. My wolf. Mine." He snarled before turning and storming away, leaving everyone staring after him in silence.