Since his question that she'd left unanswered - because how the hell was she supposed to respond to that? – they'd remained in silence. She was sat curled into the sofa while he stoked the fire before retrieving the whisky from the kitchen cupboard.
"Do you know that I've not told anyone about Lily. Not spoken about her either. Not since it happened."
Callie looked up from the dust-covered book she'd found buried on a shelf and gave him a small, understanding smile.
"I keep waiting for you to run from the mate-killer."
She sighed and closed the book, placing it on the arm of the sofa. "I'm not going anywhere. When I leave, it won't be because you killed your mate, Vik."
He paused, his wolf flashing in and out of his eyes. She eyed the movement, the tenseness in his frame and knew what was coming before he spoke.
"When you leave. And why, exactly, will you leave?"
She huffed at him, his jaw clenched. "I have a life to get back to. A pack that's waiting for me." All true. "I miss them. I have to go back." Still true.
So why did she feel like she was lying?
"Plus, I haven't got to the bottom of what happened to my parents. That's the whole reason I'm even here."
He sighed and sank into the sofa beside her, offering her a glass before pouring a generous amount of whisky into it. "I thought you were here to get the deed."
She took a sip, wincing at the initial burn. "I was, for my uncle, who I was hoping would tell me more. Plus, I wanted to know if you knew anything about my parents, or if your parents were behind it. You don't and you say they're not so...a dead end."
He was quiet for a moment, the light from the fire dancing in his glass of whisky – the same colours swirling in his eyes. For a moment, she was transfixed.
"Do you think your uncle could have done it?"
She blinked, her mind swinging from those swirling pits to her parents' murder so fast she felt sea sick. "What?" she blurted, covering her mouth in surprise.
He shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not saying he did. But he became alpha after your dad died, right? Maybe that was his plan?"
Callie was silent. She stared into the glass of whisky. She wanted to deny it. She wanted to tell him he was wrong but- was he? It was a pretty shit plan if that had been her uncle's intent. He'd barely been alpha for more than a few months before stepping down. But maybe he'd overestimated his ability. She thought to how he ran his pack now. Fear and subservience. He craved power. Likely, craved her power.
He said he'd sent Grant as a test. But what if that wasn't the only reason? Had Grant succeeded in mate claiming her, well then her uncle would have had total control over her – and her wolf. A wolf that powerful at his disposal...no one would question his role as alpha then.
She shuddered and, mistaking the gesture for being cold, Vik reached and grabbed a tatty blanket from a small box beside the sofa, gently throwing it over her.
She smiled gratefully, but it was disgust that had caused it – not the temperature. In fact, she was hot, her body temperature always rising in his presence. But she didn't want to tell him that. Didn't want to incur his wrath. The last thing she needed was him murdering her uncle before she'd found out what happened to her parents.
"I don't know," she finally said in answer to his question. The gap she'd left before answering spoke volumes but he didn't push her. "Your parents, have you spoken to them?" she asked, eager to change the topic.
It was his turn to stare into his whisky in the hopes it might provide an answer he could stomach. Pain flickered across his face and Callie's wolf growled in her chest.
"They've tried. A couple times. Mum wrote me a letter a few years ago telling me they'd settled into the new packlands. She wished me well, that kind of thing."
Callie nodded and took another burning sip. "They haven't tried to see you?"
He shrugged, avoiding the answer.
"They have?" her voice rising in surprise.
He sighed. "Once or twice. I wasn't coherent enough to see them. Not really. Honestly, and I cannot understate this, I haven't been this conscious, or this sane, in a very long time. I mean it when I say I spend most of my time in my wolf form, and my wolf is – well, he's angry. Very angry. He killed his mate and he'll never forgive himself, nor will I." He paused, glancing up at Callie, his eyes swirling with something she wouldn't read. "You seem to ground me. Calm me. From the moment I saw you, I felt different."
She could barely breathe beneath the weight of those words. So she ignored them.
"You should give them a chance. Your parents. You should see them. No one deserves to be alone."
He didn't say anything about her blatant refusal to acknowledge what he'd said. "How about you, Callie Magnum," he said, seeming to enjoy saying her full name. "Who do you call family?"
Callie thought about it for a moment. 'Call family'. An odd yet simple way of phrasing a complicated question – and answer. She smiled as she spoke. "There's a few. J, her daughter Ava – she's three, cutest thing ever. Cassidy and Jake, they're the alphas of Rootbridge pack. They're all like parents to me, they were there when..." she trailed off, dark memories clouding her vision. She didn't continue.
"I'm glad you've had people."
She looked up at him, her eyes shining wet. "I didn't for a very long time. So I know," she continued, breaking eye contact to look down at her glass. "I know what it is to be alone." She took a deep breath and looked back up at him. "And you don't deserve that, Vik. No one does."
His entire body tensed and she could see him warring with something, perhaps he could see the dark memories she was trying to force down too, because she'd been so sure he was going to kiss her, but he didn't. He remained completely still, his wolf flickering in and out of his eyes.
The moment passed them slowly, so slowly it was painful. As past memories, fear and her new ferocious need for him collided in her gut.
And then he let out a long breath and finished the rest of his whisky in one shot. "I think perhaps you're right. And I think perhaps we can help each other."
Still barely in control of her emotions, she could do nothing but frown at him in confusion.
"My parents, they might know something about your parents. As I said, they were friends for years. Maybe they'll know something helpful, or at least maybe they'll be able to give you an insight into who they were."
Callie's heart soared with hope.
"So I'll take you to them. You get to hear stories about your parents and ...well, maybe you can keep me sane long enough to see mine."
Callie could barely contain herself. "Ok. Let's go. But, there's one thing I want to do first."