Midnight Wolves

Chapter Thirty One: Truth

VIKAS

Anger burned so brightly through his middle. Anger and disgust, shame even. He hated this. Hated himself. Hated all of it. Memories of the day he'd killed Lily had plagued him all night, that was the only reason he hadn't gone to Callie – because he was scared of what his wolf would do as it was so agitated.

If he hurt her...he had barely survived losing Lily but to lose Callie too? No. He couldn't think about it. Wouldn't.

But, his wolf had reminded him, pushing him to return to Callie's side with every breath. Callie was not Lily. She was strong. Deadly. Powerful. Vik's wolf was convinced that Callie could - would - survive them.

But Vik had remained strong, and even when he'd felt Callie's wolf calling to him, just as she had done the first time she'd arrived at his packlands, he had not gone to her.

And now...seeing Lily's family again had been an unpleasant reminder of how much pain he'd caused them all. But they were wrong if they thought he'd ever have called Lily to him when he was in such a state.

Callie was wrong about Kyle, too. He was sure of it. So sure in fact that he headed for the enforcer's offices to find him.

Kyle had been his best friend since birth. The day that Kyle had introduced his new girlfriend to Vik had nearly changed everything between them. Kyle was high on a new love, eager to show off to his best friend - and then Vik and Lily had locked eyes and everything had changed.

It had not been easy to start with, they'd struggled in the next couple of weeks but Kyle had eventually stepped aside – because even he knew that there was no coming in between moonmates.

They had always planned to be enforcers together, him and Kyle – even though they both knew that one day Vik would become alpha. So, they'd undergone training and had been half way through when Vik's world had imploded. He knew that by now, Kyle would be fully trained – one of the enforcers for the pack.

He hesitated at the door, suddenly unsure about what he was doing here. Was he here to prove Callie wrong? Or because he was chasing some hopeful ideal that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't entirely his fault that Lily had died.

He entered the office, immediately receiving an angry glare from the man sat behind the desk. He tried to ignore it. Tried to reign in his wolf, to calm his pulse so that he didn't appear too menacing. He needed Callie, lamented at her absence. He'd forgotten what is was like to half to wrestle with his wolf's control all the time. In her presence, it had become easy.

He vaguely recognised the flowering wolf but not enough to recall his name. He was lost to the fog pre-Lily.

"Where's Kyle? I need to speak to him," he grunted, his wolf eyeing the man before him.

He shifted beneath Vik's yellowed gaze and coughed as though trying to hide his discomfort. "He-er, he's not here. Why would he be here?"

Vik frowned. "He's an enforcer, isn't he?"

The man swallowed a lump in his throat. "No. He-er, he works at the convenience store round the corner."

Vik's frown deepened and he placed his hands on the desk between them, his claws springing from his finger tips to dig into the wood surface. "What do you mean he's not an enforcer?"

The man shrugged and glanced down at Vik's hands. "I-I don't know. He-he dropped out after..." his voice trailed off and Vik knew what he was referring to. Guilt coiled in his stomach. He'd ruined Kyle's life too.

"Fine," Vik snapped, standing up and putting his claws away. He headed for the door but stopped himself long enough to say, "thanks."

He hoped Callie would be proud.