She could hear her mother's voice. Its soft lilting and occasional bark of laughter. So at odds with her melodic voice, her laughter was bold and bright.
Music danced around her and young-Callie laughed as she too joined in the dance.
"I think I'm going to claim you," a voice said.
It was strong, despite how small he was. Determined.
Callie turned to face Vikas and smiled wide. He was so silly. Always saying stuff about them being together forever. She didn't think he was being serious. Not really. That hadn't stopped her from thinking about it though. From planning for it.
She smiled and jumped in front of him, pretending to scare him. "That doesn't seem very fair," she complained, her lip curling down.
"Why not?" he demanded.
She ran in a circle around him and pounced on his back sending them both sprawling across the ground. Jumping back to her feet and preparing herself to jump at him again, he dodged out of her way.
"I said, why not?" he demanded again.
She tilted her head and smiled again. "You can't just claim me. If I'm yours, then you're mine."
He was silent, his little face titled up to the sky above them, then said, "OK then, deal."
He held out his hand to her and she took it. "No matter what?" she asked him, suddenly unsure.
"No matter what." He replied.
Her mother arrived just after they'd finished repeating the claiming words that they'd heard at Vik's aunt's mating ceremony the week before. That must have been where he got the idea from.
"Come along sweetpea, it's time to go home." Vikas' face fell but Callie smiled wide enough for the both of them.
"Don't worry, Vikas. I'll be back soon," she promised before taking her mother's hand and heading back towards the car they'd travelled in.
"Did you have fun with Vikas?" her mother asked as she clipped Callie's seat belt in place.
Callie smiled. "Yup. Vikas said he's going to keep me forever and I get to keep him too."
Callie's mother laughed and checked her reflection in the mirror, adjusting the fall of her long black hair. "I have no doubt about that, little cub. That boy's always got those strange eyes of his on you."
Callie looked out the window, watching as the fields zoomed past in a blur of green and yellow. "I like his eyes," she said quietly, mostly to herself.
"Then that's all that matters," her mother said.
The scene shifted, and Callie's head span.
"That's all that matters," her mother assured her, in answer to a question Callie couldn't remember asking.
They were walking on Magnum pack territory and her mother held a wicker basket that she was slowly loading with flowers as they walked along.
"Can we go to the place?" Callie asked as she picked two flowers and added them to the basket.
Her mother sighed in fake frustration. "I suppose," she said with a smile.
They headed for the house, Callie's favourite house on the whole of the packlands. It had the best views and was far away from everyone else. She liked the seclusion, loved the way the meadow wrapped around the house. It was home. Or it would be, one day.
"I'll live here one day with Vikas," she said as they walked into the familiar home. It was empty, her mother had made sure of it ever since Callie had come across it one day on their walk.
"So you say my little cub. But, you're both going to be powerful alphas, you will want your own packlands."
Callie's face screwed up, she hated when her mother said that. "No I won't. I'll stay here forever with you and dad."
Callie's mother smiled at her warmly and took a seat at the kitchen table. She began to select the flowers and arrange them into bouquets that she'd sell at the market the following day. "Give it fifteen years and tell me that again, maybe I'll believe you."
Callie ignored her and sat on the floor in the corner. Pulling a crayon from where she'd hid it during her last visit, from behind the bookcase. She began to draw Vikas' wolf. She'd had to hunt for ages to find the right yellow. She'd even stolen a few from the other wolf cubs during Activity day. Then she'd taken them with her when they went to visit Shadow Valley. While Vikas was busy trying to quicken his wolf transformation, she was holding up the five yellow crayons she'd collected, trying to find the right shade.
In the end, it wasn't quite right but close enough. Though she still frowned at her drawing. He was prettier than her scribbling, but she'd never been good at capturing him. She was about to draw herself when the front door slammed open.
The room felt heavy. Like the air was thicker.
A man walked in, his wolf growling. It crawled along her skin and made her shudder.
"What are you doing here?" Her mother's voice was shrill, panicked. Callie glanced over her shoulder.
The male growled something at her mother. Callie grunted angrily and put her crayons down.
"Mum, I want to go home," she said, her mood souring. She didn't like this. The wolf shouldn't be here, this was her house. Vikas' house.
"Callie, I need you to go home without me," her mother shouted. Callie frowned and trotted towards the kitchen.
"I don't want to. Why can't we go together?"
"Please. I know you love him too, you wouldn't do this to him, it'll kill him."
"No it won't. It's about time he realised that you aren't true moonmates."
"We are. Please. Please don't do this. Think of Callie, think of Marcus, please."
"I am thinking of him."
Callie froze as something wet and sticky splashed across her face. She complained and looked down to find her white dress ruined by a dark red liquid.
"I want to go home," she said again, turning to look at her mother. But she wasn't sat at the table anymore. She was underneath it.
Her eyes met Callie's, wide with confusion and terror. Her lips were trying to say something, forming syllables but with no energy left to voice it.
"Mum?" Callie whispered quietly, taking a step forwards. "I want to go home, can we go home?"
She reached out for her mother's hand just as she breathed out one final time – a wet, gristly breath that set Callie's hair on end.
Violent hands wrapped around her, a large hand engulfing her mouth as Callie was lifted up and dragged backwards.
She instinctively began to fight, trying to scream around the large hand but there was no give in the wolf's hold.
She was bundled out the back door and Callie saw a grate in the floor was open leading to a dark, dank tunnel beneath.
Callie squirmed again, trying her hardest to break free but there was no hope. The man carried her into the darkness, a large metal thunk signalling that the lid had been shut.
One last, desperate cry for her mother slid past her captor's hand. But it was too late, no one was left to hear it.