Then her glare softened and she gazed at him again like she was trying to believe he was real.
Then her eyes changed slowly and, he wasn't certain because he didn't f**king well understand it, but it looked in their depths like the light of hope shined.
Finally, she emitted one of her fluttering sighs and relaxed against him.
"All right, wolf," she whispered quietly, her eyes never leaving his.
At her sweet endearment, he wanted to kiss her.
Hell, he wanted to swipe the remains of breakfast off the table and f**k her until she said it again and again.
As he couldn't do that for obvious reasons, instead, he told her, "You can be a pain in the ass sometimes, baby doll."
She pressed her lips together but she still couldn't hide her smile.
When he looked at the table he noticed immediately that all the wolves were also smiling.
However, both the vampires looked worried and they didn't hide it.
Callum rose from his seat, lifting Sonia to her feet as he did so.
With his arm around her shoulders he announced, "We'll be back shortly and resume Christmas."
Then he and his queen put on their boots and coats and Callum drove his pretty, little wife to the hospital to have her blood drawn.
* * * * *
Sonia in his arms in their bedroom tipped her head back to look up at him.
"What did you want to talk about?" she asked.
It was early evening. They'd returned from the hospital. Sonia had helped Regan prepare the enormous Christmas banquet which was all wolf. It consisted of a prime roast of beef cooked rare, sliced potatoes baked in milk, cream, garlic and layered with cheese, thick, meaty gravy, Yorkshire pudding and green beans tossed in butter and bits of crisp bacon. It was finished with Regan's special trifle which had more custard, more cream, less jam and more cake than any trifle Callum had eaten.
After that, Sonia gave both Gregor and Yuri warm hugs and they left. Then Sonia rounded up Jay, Jed and Jake from down the road. Ryon went to the house across the street where they'd planted Trenten, the warrior who'd looked after Sonia for years. They joined Callum and his brethren who had to alter their play significantly so as not to harm the humans in a game of American football in a local park. While this was happening, Sonia, Regan, Trenten's mate, Helena, and Jo were part-time cheerleaders but mostly they sat on the sidelines under woolen blankets, sipped hot cocoa from a thermos Regan prepared and chatted.
They'd said good-bye to their neighbors, came home and made sandwiches from the roast beef. Callum gave Sonia her injection and Ryon started to give Callum pointed looks which meant it was time to go.
They had a distance to travel and, at first light, they had war to wage.
Callum had whispered to Sonia he wanted a private word and led her to their room.
"I hate to say it, baby doll, but Christmas is over," he informed her and the regret could be heard in his voice.
She leaned into him and grinned. "No it isn't. We have hours left. We can stay awake until past midnight again and watch movies. I have tons of Christmas movies. We can watch It's a Wonderful Life. Or we can watch A Christmas Story, that's a funny one. Or we can ndash;"
He cut her off with a squeeze of his arms. "We can't, honey. The men and I are leaving."
Her grin died slowly and she blinked in confusion before whispering, "Leaving? But why? It's Christmas."
He drew her closer and dipped his face to hers. "We had a great day, little one, but my warriors spent today assembling and preparing for tomorrow's battle." She pulled in breath but he kept talking, "I must go meet them."
"Battle?" she breathed.
"Tomorrow, we quell the rebellion," Callum told her and she stared at him a second before she closed her eyes tight.
When she opened them again, they were bleak and that look cut him to the bone.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked.
"Because I didn't want to spoil your Christmas," Callum answered.
She watched him again, her face gentling at his words and then took in a shallow breath and let it out on another fluttering sigh.
Then she suggested, "Maybe you should explain what lsquo;battle' means."
"I don't have time," he replied and when she opened her mouth he gave her another squeeze and continued, "And you don't want to know."
"But I don'thellip; you can'thellip; I mean, how can you battle whenhellip; I mean, will my people see it?"
He shook his head. "Your people's government knows it's coming, when and where. As usual, they've prepared."
Her mouth dropped open in horrified wonder.
His head dropped and he marked her hair with his temple. "It'll be over soon, baby doll," he assured her, lips at her ear, hoping at the same time that he was right.
Then he gave her another squeeze, her arms grew tight and she jerked her head away.
"You don'thellip; you know, as king, you don't fight." She paused and stared at him, fear obliterating the desolation in her eyes. "Do you?"
He gentled his voice further when he explained truthfully, "Unlike your generals, in our battles, I would not be a good commander if I didn't only fight at my warriors' sides but lead them into battle."
Her body jolted, the fear now stark on her face and she cried, "But you can't do that! You might get hurt!"
Her strong reaction pleased him just as much as it hurt him which was to say, for both, immensely.
"Sonia, I must."
"Have you tried talking to them?" she asked desperately.
He had. Mac had. His grandfather had.
For millennia they'd attempted a diplomatic solution. The rebellion remained staunch in their beliefs.
"We've tried that," he told her.
"But ndash;"
"Sonia, I have to go."
Her hold grew tighter.
"Baby doll, I have to go."
She stared at him as tears gathered in her eyes.
The first time witnessing his mate's utter despair at the thought of him entering battle, unable to stop himself, Callum bent his neck and kissed her, thoroughly and long enough to taste her tears yet again.
He enjoyed everything that was her but if he never tasted her tears again for the length of her short life, he'd be able to live his long one much more contentedly.
When he lifted his head she lifted a hand, slid her fingers into his hair and then watched as her thumb slid along his eyebrow, his cheekbone then his lower lip.
"At least tell me you're a goodhellip; um, warrior," she whispered and he grinned.
"The best," he told her truthfully. "That's why I'm king."
At his words, she gave him a sad smile then got up on her toes to place her lips against his.
"Come back to me safe, my handsome wolf," she murmured there.
He wanted to kiss her then but he couldn't. If he did, with her so sweet in his arms, he wouldn't have been able to stop.
Instead, he touched his forehead to hers, gave her another squeeze, let her go and walked out of the room without looking back.
Outside by his SUV, he embraced his mother, took off the wedding band Sonia had given him and handed it to her.
"Keep that safe," he growled so low even Sonia, standing at the window upstairs, tears falling from her eyes and watching him, didn't hear. "I'll want it back the instant I come home."
Regan nodded.
He swung in his SUV and, for the first time in his life before a battle, his mind wasn't on the coming fight.
It was on his queen.
Little did he know her mind was on him as well.
And she cried long after he was gone. Long into the lonely night, in her lonely bed, in her lonely room, in her lonely house that even the company of the twinkling lights on her tree and her stuffed wolf couldn't abate.
Callum's queen cried not because he was going to battle (entirely).
She cried remembering the last two days they shared. Days that cracked through the bitterness that had built around her heart. Bitterness he had broken through with his tenderness and generosity and had given her hope that her dream had finally come true.
Bitterness that slammed back with a vengeance when that dream died the minute he took off the ring he seemed so proud to wear but, as observed from an outsider who had no idea why he did so, obviously was not.
Indeed, as observed from an outsider, it appeared he didn't care about the ring or what it meant at all.
If he did, he'd understand, like her claiming chain, that he was never to take it off and, if he was truly proud to wear it, he never would.
* * * * *
"Sign it," Callum growled, standing over Nikolas, the only chief of the rebellion left alive. He was on his knees, naked, wounded and bloodied, before his king.
Callum was also bloodied, both from his own healing wounds and from the blood of his victims, but he had taken the time, and given it to his warriors, to don clothes.
He had not allowed that courtesy amongst the scores of defeated wolves who were all now kneeled in front of him.
He might have done, if they had not slain his brother Calvin.
And he might have done, if they had not slain his father.
And he might have done, if the battle he'd waged on three fronts in the mountains, and on simultaneous fronts in four other territories, had not taken eight days to win.
And he might have done if he'd had more sleep in those eight days, which he had not as he'd only had an hour here or there and exhaustion had settled into his bones.
And he might have done if he'd not been so f**king hungry, not having the time to eat as he didn't have the time to sleep.
And he might have done if the loss of wolves on both sides had not been so great simply due to their stubborn refusal to admit defeat because their surprise attack had indeed been a surprise, a resounding one. The enemy had been caught unaware, had never recovered and they should have admitted defeat days ago. In fact, within f**king hours.
And, lastly, he might have done if he hadn't been so long separated from his queen.
But, because of all of that, and because he was King Callum, far more impatient and intemperate than his father, especially weary, hungry and angry, their humiliation ran alongside their defeat.
Nikolas stared up at him obstinately.
"Sign it!" Callum barked.
Nikolas's face twisted with fury but his voice was a pained whisper when he said, "She's a pretty piece."
Callum's body grew taut but he sought patience.
"Sign the terms of surrender and accept punishment as leader of your followers. Don't sign it and we don't stop until we've brought low every last one of you," Callum warned.
"A pretty piece," Nikolas repeated quietly. "She'll make a beautiful slave."
At once, Callum's arm swung out and the back of his fist caught Nikolas with a brutal blow to his jaw, sending him sprawling on his back.
"For f**k's sake, sign it!" he roared, bending over the wolf.
Nikolas scrambled back to his knees and shouted fanatically, "They all will! When we align with the other immortals who believe as we do, who believe in the divine order of things, all the humans will be what they were always meant to be. Our slaves!"
Callum drew in a sharp breath through his nose.
Then he turned his back to Nikolas and walked three paces away.
Swiftly, he turned again, crouched low and, in a blur of motion, sprung up through the air and landed as wolf on the defeated leader.
He ripped Nikolas's throat out with his teeth.
First.
Then he tore the warrior's head off.
Springing back to man, he caught the towel thrown at him by one of his wolves, wiped the blood from his jaws and sauntered to the clothes that he'd long since learned to leap out of while becoming wolf. He grabbed his pants and pulled them up.
As he did so, he turned to Ryon. "Go through every last one until one of them signs it," he gritted as he picked up his shirt and shrugged it on. "They don't sign it then send the order to the commanders on the fronts of the other territories. Give every rebel wolf the opportunity to sign the surrender." His eyes locked on his cousin. "If they don't, slay them."
"It's done," Ryon replied, eyes lit with fury even through his fatigue.
When Callum was dressed, he turned to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Ryon called.
Callum kept walking and didn't look back when he answered, "To my queen. We're going home."
Chapter Fifteen
Castle
Sonia woke under the heavy hides, feeling the soft sheets and the traitorously pleasant ache that sat heavy in every muscle in her body.
Then her eyes opened.
She stared at Callum's empty pillows and the memories of the last nine days crashed brutally into her brain.
Even while Callum was away battling the rebellion, Sonia spent that time adhering to his orders as given to her through Regan.
She was to train Kerry and Mabel in managing Clear as Diana couldn't stay forever, nor, apparently, could Sonia. Under his edict she also began the process of hiring a new shop assistant who her girls would eventually choose and who would work alongside them. This was because Sonia, as soon as the rebellion was quashed, Regan told her, would be moving to Callum's castle in Scotland.
She could not argue this "fact" with Regan as Regan had as little power as Sonia did.
Furthermore, Sonia couldn't argue with Regan because Sonia spent those eight days with a very concerned mother. Her mother-in-law had lost a husband and son to this rebellion (Sonia learned) and she greatly feared for her family and her people.
Diana, Julianna, Helena and half a dozen other mates, mothers or sisters of warriors away at the fight spent time at her home, the latter of whom Sonia had not met until then. But, when Regan told her they lived close, she invited them to her home (comfort in numbers, Sonia thought). They all congregated with Sonia at her house and, as they would be, were also openly troubled.
Sonia tried to be calm and as upbeat as appropriate to soothe the worries of women (especially Regan) who she grew to care about in a short period of time. It was hard not to care about women whose faces were taut with anxiety and whose lives would be a misery if their warriors fell.
So Sonia kept the coffee going (in the mornings) and the wine flowing and food available (in the evenings) and did the best she could in a tense situation that seemed to last an age and not eight days.
Therefore, as Sonia was busy seeing to her female subjects while the males were at war, Sonia would have to argue with Callum when he got home about the fact that she intended to stay home and not move to his castle.
While Callum battled a faceless (to Sonia) enemy, Sonia waged her own battle.
A battle within.
She battled against her feelings of fear that he would be hurt (or worse). She also battled to control her feelings of rage that he had again, for whatever demented, Callum reason, fought to win a place in her heart and succeeded brilliantly only to prove he didn't belong there.
This was proved time and again after he took off her ring, handed it to his mother and left without a single glance at her house. A place where he built the best Christmas she'd had in decades only to end it by nonchalantly blowing down his own house of cards.
He proved it in making it known he was taking her away from her home, her friends, her business by doing nothing more than ordering it so and not even having the courtesy to order it to her face. He proved it by making her say good-bye to her friends and neighbors by, again, ordering it done. He proved it by making Regan take her shopping for the numerous clothes (how she needed more, Sonia would never know) that Regan told her would be required in her new home. He proved it by doing all of this without asking Sonia what she wanted, where she wanted to live, who she wanted to surround her and what she wanted to wear.
Lastly, he proved it by his behavior the moment he arrived back safely from the fight and the hours after he swept her away.
Callum, her dream Callum, her handsome wolf, was a figment of her imagination.
No matter how he behaved sometimes, there was only King Callum and she vowed in her head that she would always, always remember that.
* * * * *
The worst part started when Regan received a phone call in the kitchen and came rushing into the living room where Sonia was sitting with Julianna and Helena.
"It's over! Victory is ours!" Regan shouted with delight, Julianna and Helena cried out their joy and Regan looked at Sonia. "Callum, Calder, Caleb and Ryon are fine." She looked at Helena. "Trenten is too." She looked at Julianna. "Your brother is also with us and I'm sure Saint already knows his two brothers are safe." Then she hugged herself and laughed out loud before Julianna, Helena and Sonia surged up to hug her and each other, so great was their relief. Though Sonia's, obviously, was mixed with other things as well.
Then suddenly Regan grabbed Sonia's face in both her hands and cried, "Oh sweetheart! I forgot! It's time to get you prepared!"
Before explaining a word of this statement to Sonia, Regan started dashing around the house while Helena and Julianna, still wreathed in relieved smiles, gave her hugs and fond farewells but, Sonia noted, no explanations.
Regan was banging around upstairs when Sonia finally joined her in her bedroom. The six suitcases and one large cosmetics bag they'd purchased three days earlier were all open and littering her bed, her window seat and even the floor.
"The boys will be here soon. You go find the things that you want to take with you. Don't worry if you miss something. Julianna can send it if you remember something you'd like to have." Then she paused, whirled on Sonia and exclaimed, "Oh no! The boxes are in the garage. I'll need to go get them. You! Pack your clothes. I'll run and do that."
"Regan, what on earth?" Sonia started but she was talking to no one. In the blink of an eye Regan was gone.
She followed her mother-in-law and found her in the kitchen for some reason struggling with large, flat-folded cardboard boxes and tape.
Regan glanced her way before babbling, "We should have done this before but I didn't wanthellip; just in casehellip;" She hesitated. "Well, obviously, if something happened, you'd be staying here so I didn'thellip;" She paused again and went on, "Anyway, Callum ordered me to do it and if we don't get it done by the time he arrives, he won't be best pleased."
Even though Sonia had no idea what Regan was talking about she figured that last part was the sorry truth.
Regan continued, "And Caleb said Callum wants to leave for home the minute he gets to the city so we must be ready."
"Regan, I don't know what you're talking about," Sonia told her and Regan stopped and looked at her as if perplexed.
"You're moving to Scotland with Callum," she replied. "I thought I explained that to you."
"Yes, but ndash;"
"There's no time to waste, Sonny." Regan threw down a box. "You do this. Build the boxes. There's that bubble wrap stuff and tissue paper for packing in the garage. Anything you want from here, pack it up in the boxes. I'll see to your clothes."
"Regan ndash;" Sonia started again but Regan's phone rang.
She lifted a hand palm up for Sonia to stop speaking and she answered her phone. While listening, the palm went down but she twirled her hand adamantly toward the boxes.
On a sigh (even though Sonia was going nowhere), she started to build the boxes as Regan listened, mumbling, "Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Right." Regan flipped her phone shut and announced, "We have less time than I expected. The boys will be here in an hour and a half. Let's get cracking."
Before Sonia could utter a word, Regan flew up the stairs.
Sonia stood amongst the boxes and decided, for Regan, she'd do as she was asked. She could easily unpack them later when she told Callum she wasn't moving to Scotland.
An hour and a half later, Sonia stood staring out her window in shock as her six full suitcases, one full cosmetic case, Callum's three suitcases and five boxes full of her family's Christmas decorations, her stuffed wolf, her photo albums and a few odds and ends were whisked away by one of Callum's men.
That'll make unpacking tonight a bit more difficult, she thought as she bit her lip and worry began to nag her.
Any hope she had of staying put was dashed fifteen minutes later when Callum arrived.
The door opened and Sonia, sitting and enjoying a mug of herbal tea with Regan in the living room, got to her feet, turned to her mate and opened her mouth.
Then she froze and stared.
Callum's body, hair and clothes were clean although his clothing was wrinkled.
However, the beard that had grown in the weeks she'd been with him was now immensely thick and untrimmed. Further, his hair seemed to have grown tremendously in that short time and it went from overlong to just plain long falling past the collar of his shirt.
Further, his face appeared so exhausted he looked almost haggard, something she would never have guessed as he always seemed alert and energized.
And his eyes were hungry and not in a good way. The lines beside them deeper, and they were positively seething, not with anger but with wrath. A rage so deep, so strong, it emanated from him and filled the room with its terrifying intensity instantly.
He looked wild, even savage and Sonia was frozen to the spot when Callum didn't look at his mother who had risen at Sonia's side. He came directly at Sonia and she had the desire to flee, to run away from him as fast as she could. However, her terror was so absolute it felt her feet had grown roots into the floor.
She didn't move a muscle when he used one arm to hook her brutally at the waist and yank her body so that it crashed into his. Then he used his other hand to twist viciously in her hair causing so much pain it didn't feel sensuously pleasant, it only felt like pain. Then his mouth slammed down on hers and he kissed her in a way he'd never kissed her before. In a way that Sonia didn't even know you could kiss.
It was violent and merciless and seizing and even cruel.
Therefore, when his head came up and he glanced dismissively at his mother, Sonia didn't say a word.
"We'll see you at home," he growled, his voice rough with all that was in his eyes, all that was carved in his features and every line of his enraged frame.
Then he took Sonia's hand and dragged her out to his SUV.
Yes, dragged.
She even tripped twice trying to keep up with his ground-eating strides and he didn't even glance at her.
She was buckled in and he was speeding casually through the streets before she realized he hadn't muttered a word to her.
He hadn't even said hello.
She was too terrified of him to suggest it or say it to him.
Definitely too terrified to tell him she wasn't going to Scotland.
He took her to an airfield, tossed the keys of the SUV to a waiting Saint and dragged her up the steps into an aircraft.
When she got inside she saw to her shock it was a personal jet. There was a set of four, wide, comfortable seats upholstered in rich, tan leather facing each other over a gleaming wood topped table, four more seats in the back, two on each side of a door. There was a bar and refrigerator on the wall opposite the jet's door, the bar also made of highly-shined wood where glasses and bottles were in snug, secured shelves. There was a television screen on the wall behind the cockpit. And there was a long, wide, deep-seated couch running the opposite side to the seating area and bar.
Callum turned to her and commanded tersely, "Strap in."
Looking into his forbidding, hostile eyes, without a peep, Sonia did as she was told. She chose a seat at the back by the window and buckled in.
He stuck his head into the cockpit and said one word, "Go."
Then he strapped himself in beside Sonia.
She tried to get her heart to stop beating so crazily. She tried to find one thread of courage. She tried to catch a single thought.
She failed at all of these things in the face of this new, fearsome Callum.
When they leveled off in the air, again without saying a word to her, he unbuckled her, picked her up and carried her to the couch.
Sonia tensed as Callum all but tossed her on it then came down on top of her.
With most of his body pinning her between him and the back of the couch, he tucked her face in his neck and, within moments, the tightness left his body, his enormous weight settled into her and he fell fast asleep.
She was shocked at this, shocked silent and still for long minutes.
Then the shock wore off and she realized she was not comfortable nor was she tired, primarily because she was scared out of her mind. But anytime she tried to shift out from under him, his arm tightened reflexively, pulling her further underneath him.
So Sonia gave up and lay mostly under him, trying to get comfortable, sometimes dozing (as he slept for nine hours straight without moving a muscle) but most of the time deciding that she couldn't live this life.
No matter how good they were, she couldn't live for the times when Callum remembered she existed and at least attempted to be the mate he didn't want to be but it was his duty to be as king. She couldn't rail against the times when he forgot to do that and was just king.
She couldn't bear this for a lifetime.
She knew she couldn't leave but she also couldn't live like this.
She'd been right all those weeks ago. Living like this would drive her mad.
Before she came to a single conclusion and thus before she made that first plan, Callum woke.
It was moments before the captain announced over the intercom that they would shortly be landing and they needed to take their seats and fasten their seatbelts.
Callum used the restroom at the back as did she, finding it wasn't a restroom but a full on bathroom, four times the space as in a regular airplane's. It even had a shower.
When she came out, his arm extended to her, he pulled her into his lap and kissed her, this time slowly, lingeringly, reminding her how good it could be and how much she missed it.
Her heart lurched as her belly tightened but her mind fought against the sweetness of it even as her body rebelled and relaxed into his.
Then he nuzzled her neck, flicking her ear with his nose and he whispered, "Buckle in, baby doll. We're almost home."
She did as she was told, the frightening Callum still fresh in her mind even though his voice was no longer harsh, his eyes were no longer hungry or enraged and his warm tone indicated an extreme sense of relief.
When they alighted from the plane, one, tall, dark-haired man was standing beside a hunter green Range Rover that Callum, holding her hand, guided her to immediately.
The man was looking at Sonia curiously but he did not drop to a knee.
He bowed his head deeply to her and to Callum before he lifted his head and, to Sonia, he murmured reverently, his Scottish burr evident even though he spoke two words, "My queen." When she nodded and gave him a tremulous smile, he grinned at Callum and said, "She's pretty, your grace."
"Yes, she is, Drogan," Callum answered as the man threw Callum a set of keys which Callum caught.
"Good to have you back," Drogan called as Callum practically pushed Sonia into the left side passenger seat.
"It's f**king good to be back," Callum answered, slamming Sonia's door without bothering to introduce her to Drogan.
"Hail victory, my king," Drogan went on, his voice was soft but it was also filled with pride and relief.
"Hail victory," Callum repeated, his voice was threaded with a vein of steel.
Callum drove them through the darkening afternoon of a wooded countryside just as swiftly as he drove them to the airfield hours before.
She wanted to ask him to slow down. She was too numb to speak.
He didn't bother.
However, finally he said, "There she is."
Sonia turned her head from her silent, angry, fearful contemplation of the countryside whizzing by on her left to look straight ahead.
On a small rise sat a castle.
In the waning light she saw it. Not exactly large and also not like any castle she'd ever seen in the times Gregor had taken her to France and Germany.
This one was like out of a fairytale.
It had eight (she counted them) turrets upon which long, streaming pennants flew. It seemed to have no straight sides, no sharp angles. It was all rounded with sweeping edges. It didn't ramble across the rise but was compact and tall, at least three stories except the turrets which were much higher.
She barely got a good look at it before Callum swung around the circular drive which had a small, round fountain dancing in the middle, stopped the Rover and parked.
She also barely got a good look at the two statues (she could swear they were wolves) guarding the banisters on either side of the six (or seven, or even eight) foot wide set of steps. These led to the studded, wooden, arched double doors that seemed fifteen feet tall and had enormous, scrolled, iron hinges.
She also barely got a look at anything in the welcomingly lit interior as he dragged her up a winding, stone staircase lit by sconces on the wall and cut by thin tapestries hanging on the rounded walls.
One flight, two, three, four and on the landing of the fifth he walked them straight into the only room that led straight off the landing. A bedroom that she didn't see at all.
Because she was concentrating on the fact that Callum was almost tearing her clothes from her body.
"Callum ndash;" she began.
"Quiet," he ordered in his kingly voice.
"Cal ndash;"
He kissed her.
She struggled. Not against him but against the urge which was fighting to emerge during his deep, heady, hungry kiss. She struggled because she was never going to sleep with him.
Not ever again.
But concentrating on her inner battle, she lost track of him taking off every last stitch of her clothing.
So when she was na**d and he had his hands on her bottom, lifted her and threw her on the bed but caught her ankles and yanked her forward at the same time he pulled her legs apart she was losing the fight in her head.
And when Callum, still fully clothed, dropped to his knees beside the bed, that was when Sonia was lost and the urge took over because he bent forward and suddenly his mouth was between her legs.
The soles of her feet planted themselves at the edge of the bed. With a brazenly deep moan of pleasure starting at the core of her, tearing its way up her throat and through her lips, her h*ps surged up to meet the voracious, consuming demands of his mouth. He cupped her bottom in his big hands and took from her like a man who'd been wandering a desert for days without water and had just dropped to his knees at the pool in an oasis.
In what seemed like seconds, Sonia came against his mouth. Her orgasm was so intense she barely noticed him flipping her to her belly then tugging her h*ps up. Her knees going into the edge of the bed, he entered her savagely.
The urge devoured her, causing her to reach her arms straight out in front of her and her fingers to fist in the hides there as he took her, rough and fast and hard. Then harder, then harder and she met his every thrust with mindless abandon and reared back in desperation to deepen the contact. Her first orgasm seemed never to stop as the next one came and then the next before he seated himself to the root one last time, filling her full, and growled his release.
But he wasn't done.
He took her again, Callum on top, Sonia wrapping her limbs around him and letting him ride her, again hard, again fast, again rough, until they both cl**axed.
And he took her again, Callum behind her, his hands on her inner thighs holding her suspended and steady for his thrusts as she grasped the headboard of the bed, her head back on his shoulder, her whimpers piercing the air.
And he took her again, Sonia on top and riding his shaft as Callum, sitting up, coaxed her to go faster with one hand on her hip and the other hand cupping her breast and feeding it to his mouth where he tormented her nipple.
And lastly, he took her again, but neither of them cl**axed as they were spent, lying on their sides, spooning, his shaft sliding tenderly, almost lazily, in and out of her and his arms were wrapped around her tight.
"Sleep, baby doll," he whispered after he seated himself to the hilt and remained there.
Exhausted, all she could do was as he commanded.
Now, she lay in his bed in his castle in Scotland, her body exhausted and aching but content by his play. Content in the knowledge that he again fell asleep inside her and she again fell asleep full of him. All of which she told herself she would never be and would never again do.
Humiliation crept into her muscles alongside the ache and the bitterness that guarded her heart turned to hatred.
The tears of that bitter hatred started stinging the backs of her eyes when she heard a knock on the door.
She froze and stared, silent, hoping whoever it was (for it wasn't Callum, she would smell him, and anyway, he would never bother to knock) would go away.
The head of a tall, very pretty woman peeked around the door. She had dark hair burnished with coppery highlights and a huge smile on her face.
"You're awake!" she said brightly, her words also softened by a Scottish burr, and she threw open the door, balancing a tray in one hand and closing the door behind her with a hefty kick of her foot.
Sonia sat up, holding the hides to her bared br**sts. The woman, wearing jeans, boots and a pretty, bright orange, woolly sweater with a fluffy scarf in orange and red and purple stripes wrapped around her neck, walked into the room. Then she put the tray on the bedside table and dropped immediately to a knee, head lowered.
Sonia stared at her, stunned.
Then she remembered what she was supposed to do.
"Please rise," she invited and, with abundant energy that startled Sonia so much she jumped, the woman surged to her feet.
"My queen!" she exclaimed. "I've been waiting ages! Everyone has! Ages and ages and ages! And look at you! You're even prettier than I expected!"
"Umhellip;" Sonia muttered, taken aback by her exuberance and, of course, the small fact she was na**d in bed and confronted with a stranger. "Thank you."
The woman burst out laughing while she turned and rushed to Sonia's six suitcases (and one cosmetics case) that somehow were all lined up with Callum's cases in the room.
"She's thanking me because she's pretty," the woman said to no one. "Hilarious!" she cried.
Then she started opening suitcases in apparent abandon. She was digging through Sonia's possessions while Sonia stared in shock, uncertain what to do and unable to do anything seeing as she was na**d and the woman had four inches and at least fifty pounds on her.
"I'm Maraleena. I'm Drogan's mate," she announced while opening another suitcase and still digging. "Drogan is Steward of the King's Estates." She snatched something out of a suitcase and whirled, brandishing Sonia's stretchy, black, cotton nightie with the deep hem of black lace and matching lace covering the cotton at the bosoms. "Ah ha!" she cried and rushed to Sonia. "You can put that on. Then you need to eat. Everything. King Callum said he wanted me to bring down a clean plate."
Of course he did, Sonia thought but didn't speak aloud as she took the nightgown Maraleena dropped on the bed beside her so the other woman could start pulling covers off food on the tray.
"You're human, I forgot," she said apropos of what Sonia thought was nothing but going back to her earlier subject. "Steward of the Estates means Drogan takes cares of all things castle. You know, the plumbing and heating and the cars and the gardens and the forest and stuff like that. He also helps Callum with other stuff too, official stuff. Ho hum. Bohellip; ring!" she decreed, lifted the tray and Sonia had just pulled the nightgown down over her h*ps when Maraleena planted the tray on Sonia's lap then she looked at Sonia and said, "I'm housekeeper, or I was. That means I take care of all things castle that are, you know, housekeeping things. Keeping it clean, doing the laundry, ironing, getting the food in. Though, I'm a terrible cook. Poor Drogan, he loves his food. His life is a misery with me." She grinned a grin that belied her words and then carried on, "We've a she-wolf who sees to that, or saw to it, her name is Callista."
Sonia's astonished eyes went from her tray to Maraleena. And her tray, incidentally, consisted of two eggs over easy on what looked like two fried pieces of bread and sat next to a pile of baked beans, a pile of sautéed mushrooms, two rashers of bacon, two huge sausages and two patties of some kind of meat that was black. This was accompanied by a toast caddy of four half-diamonds of perfectly toasted toast and three small bowls, one of butter, one of strawberry jam and one of orange marmalade. This was finished off with a cafetière of coffee, a mug, a small jug filled with milk, a sugar bowl and a tiny salt and pepper shaker.
"She-wolf?" Sonia breathed, forgetting her food and she watched as Maraleena went stock-still and her face paled.
Then she blinked.
Then she stammered, "Oh, it's just something wehellip; it's just. Wellhellip;" she spluttered, her eyes lit and she proclaimed, "King Callum is known as The Wolf!"
It was Sonia's turn to blink at her, stunned silent by this news.
Callum was known as The Wolf?
The Wolf?
The Wolf?
Why had he not mentioned this to her?
Not once.
Not while she was calling him that, screaming it during her orgasms (as hideous as that memory was at the moment), cuddling her stuffed wolf, fiddling with the wolf charm his mother bought her or any time in between.
"King McDonagh was known as wolf too. Because of that we're all known as wolves." Maraleena beamed down at Sonia looking, for some reason, strangely pleased with herself and her announcement. "So, you know, if anyone mentions that, say, calls us wolves or she-wolves orhellip; whatever, you know why."
Sonia was only partially listening.
She was more hooked on the fact that she didn't know Callum's father's full name was McDonagh.
She thought it was Mac.
Callum hadn't told her that either.
And McDonagh was a strange name (not that some of Callum's people didn't have strange names).
Was it a last name? Was it Callum's last name? Did Callum have a last name?
He'd never told her that either and she'd never (stupid, stupid her) thought to ask.
Not, of course, that she cared (anymore). It was just that his last name was probably her last name and she should know her own last name!
Maraleena, oblivious to Sonia's rampaging thoughts, moved back to the suitcases. "King Callum and Drogan are down in his study going over things and beginning plans for the celebration and The Mating." She lifted an armful of Sonia's clothes out of an opened suitcase and turned to Sonia animatedly. "Two parties to ring in the New Year!" she shouted happily. "One of them the end of those terrible rebels and the other a Royal Mating! How exciting!"
Sonia thought she should reply or perhaps ask Maraleena what she was doing with Sonia's clothes but the former became moot when Maraleena babbled and the latter became obvious when Maraleena started to put them away.
Therefore, Sonia decided to eat and let Maraleena chatter.
"I figure King Callum will go big on both, The Mating definitely." She threw a smile over her shoulder at Sonia as Sonia forked up some mushrooms and Maraleena dumped her clothes on top of a bureau and started sorting and kept talking.
Sonia took her prattle as an opportunity to look around and finally see her new bedroom.
The minute she did she stopped eating and stared about the room in wide-eyed wonder.
It was like no other room she'd seen.
The walls were not flat but rounded however the room wasn't a circle but seemed to go in waves.
And it was huge.
There were two, five-doored, dark wood wardrobes that went from floor to high ceiling and they also followed the wavy curves of the walls. There was a thin dresser but it was tall. There was a wider one with seven drawers and a longer one that had four drawers up and four abreast but was shorter (the one Maraleena was at presently). The walls not covered in furniture were covered in intricate tapestries that looked old but were definitely well-kept and hung from curving, polished brass rails at the top edge of the wall.
There were many windows, all of them diamond paned and the glass was so old it was wavy as well, giving the gray, green and white landscape beyond it an almost dreamy quality.
There was an oblong alcove set in one wall which was big enough to seat two and had a fluffy pad covered in hunter green twill and humongous cushiony pillows scattered around in different shades of brown and green.
There was a circular fireplace that, she noted in shock, was in the middle of the room. It had what looked like a stone hood over it which served as a chimney. On one side of the fire was a half-circle, comfy couch in a reddish-brown and on the other side were two cozy chairs with ottomans separated by a stout, round table. The couch and chairs were also piled with big pillows, woolen throws or soft animal hides.
The bed Sonia was in was bigger than any bed she'd ever seen, not only wider but longer. It had four curtained posts and was covered in heavy, soft, dark hides stitched together. There were copious pillows across the head, the mattress were covered in soft, clay-colored, flannel sheets and Sonia was separated from the underside of the hides by sheet of the same.
The floors were littered with rugs, all of different sizes, most of them large and thick and elaborately woven in browns, rusts and greens.
Any part of the room not taken up by furniture, tapestries or rugs was made up of a mellow, golden-red-brown stone.
It was the most inviting, comfortable looking, beautiful room she'd ever seen.
She immediately felt like crying.
For it was this room she sensed in some of her dreams. She knew it from the many times she'd see that golden-red-brown at the edges of her consciousness that wasn't involved with her handsome wolf or saw the dancing of the firelight on his skin.
To bury these thoughts and halt the tears she could not shed in front of Maraleena, Sonia looked down at her plate and forced some egg into her mouth.
Then she glared at her crockery on her tray for it, too, was beautiful in a sturdy, handsome way with the bottom of the plate and the outside of the bowls, mugs and jugs being a rich, earthen brown but the inside was a gorgeous, muted turquoise.
Of course, only Callum could have crockery that she instantly loved and therefore forced herself to instantly hate.
"hellip;executed them all," Maraleena was saying as Sonia pushed down the top of the cafetière, her words catching Sonia's attention.
"Sorry?" Sonia asked.
Maraleena was zipping up an empty suitcase and setting it aside as she looked at Sonia.
"They should have executed them all," Maraleena repeated.
"Who?"
"The rebels!" Maraleena exclaimed, not ceasing in her endeavors and heading toward another suitcase then repeatedly pulling out Sonia's jeans and cords and piling them, folded double, on the couch. "A stroke of brilliance, we all think, King Callum handing down the order to slay them one-by-one until they signed the terms of surrender."
Sonia sucked in breath and the oxygen burned her frozen lungs.
Slay them one-by-one? Sonia repeated in her brain.
"Nothing less than they deserved," Maraleena muttered, again oblivious to Sonia's reaction. "Lots of us feel they shouldn't have stopped. This has been going on years. Years! And what they want, what they're fighting for! And killing our males for. It's revolting. Now, finally, it's over."
Sonia decided to get her system working by pouring coffee into it which always helped and therefore, with studious precision in an attempt to stop her hand from shaking, she prepared her mug.
Callum had ordered the executions of men.
One-by-one.
Until they did what he wanted.
It was barbaric.
He was barbaric.
And he was her mate, her husband, now he was her king!
"Anyway, it's a happy New Year with this business over and you seated in the lap of your king," Maraleena declared while hanging Sonia's pants on hangers. She threw another smile at Sonia as if she hadn't just been crowing at the deaths of multitudes of men. "Everyone's really excited."
"I'm glad," Sonia replied but her voice sounded choked so she sipped her coffee.
It was delicious. But it didn't help.
"You know," Sonia started, wishing (desperately) to change the subject in an effort not to go stark, raving mad. "I can do that."
Maraleena froze while shoving the hangers with her pants on them in the wardrobe.
Slowly, she turned and bowed her head low.
Then, deferentially, she murmured, "Yes, my queen."
But before her head bowed, Sonia saw a look on her face that was near to tragic.
"What?" Sonia asked before she remembered Callum telling her that Julianna would be offended if Sonia tried to help. So, quickly, she said, "Maraleena, I'm so sorry. I'm human and new to this royal business." Maraleena's head came up but her face had lost its cheerfulness as Sonia carried on, "I'm used to doing things for myself."
"I suspected, as King Callum's mate, you'd want to take care of him," Maraleena replied in a dead voice.
Hardly, Sonia thought but did not say out loud.
"It's not that, it's just ndash;" Sonia stopped speaking when the hint of a light of hope lit in Maraleena's eyes.
Sonia made a decision, put the tray aside and got out of bed. She walked to Maraleena, grabbed the surprised woman's hand and led her to the couch. Seating them both side-by-side, she faced the tall woman.
Then she explained, "Callum has been kind of busy. He hasn't had time to tell me about the ways of your people and my people are very different. So, if you would, could you tell me what's happening here because I need to understand it so I canhellip;" Sonia trailed off, not knowing what to say then found her words. "Be a good queen."
It sounded lame but the hope built in Maraleena's eyes and, obviously not a woman who needed a lot of coaxing to talk, she did so.
"Well, you see, as King Callum's mate you can decide to take the running of the castle, you know, the cooking and cleaning and stuff. Queen Regan did it for King Mac." When she stopped, Sonia smiled and nodded encouragingly for her to go on and the hope dimmed as she began to get nervous but she sallied forth. "But, you see, this is my duty to my king but it's alsohellip;" She hesitated. "My job. King Callum pays me to do it and Drogan and I just bought a bigger cottage because our pups are growing and we need the money so if you ndash;"
"You can keep your job," Sonia cut in swiftly and the light flared bright in Maraleena's eyes before she pulled a surprised Sonia in her arms and hugged her.
"Really?" she cried then went on before Sonia could reply. "Oh, I'm so happy! I'd been so worried since I heard he claimed you." She pulled back and looked at Sonia. "Drogan said we shouldn't get that cottage because we never knew when the king would find his mate and if she'd want the running of the castle." She beamed. "But I told him not to worry. I had a feeling all would be well and now you're here and you're so tiny and pretty and nice. And, I know it may sound crazy but I love my job, I love this castle and it's an honor for anyone to be of service to our king." She pulled Sonia in her arms and gave her another fierce hug with a whispered, "Thank you."
Sonia hugged her back thinking she would like Maraleena which was something good in a world that looked pretty dreary and replied, "You're welcome."
Maraleena let her go and jumped up, quickly resuming work. "You better finish your breakfast. It'll get cold and King Callum said you had to finish every bite."
There it was. A reminder of her dreary world.
Sonia resumed her place in bed with her tray and she stared at the black patties.
"What's this?" she asked, forking one up and showing it to Maraleena.
"Black sausage," Maraleena answered after glancing at it and before zipping up another bag and setting it aside.
Something about her answer, though it probably wasn't her answer, it was probably hysteria, caused Sonia to start giggling but she spoke through her laughter, "I can see that, Maraleena. It's definitely black and it looks like a kind of sausage but what is it?"
Maraleena grinned at her again and said, "Black sausage, blood sausage, you know, sausage made out of blood."
Sonia paled.
Maraleena laughed.
"It's really good. Try it," Maraleena coaxed.
Sonia gulped.
"Honestly, try it," Maraleena prompted. "I only get the best in. You'll love it. King Callum does."
Of course Callum would love sausage made out of blood. He'd probably drink blood if he could.
Wanting to be a good queen and nice to Maraleena, wincing the whole time, Sonia nibbled at the patty.
It was delicious.
So she decided she hated it.
"Isn't it lovely?" Maraleena asked with a smile in her voice, watching Sonia closely.
"Yes. Lovely," Sonia agreed, made a comical face, Maraleena burst out laughing again and got back to work.
As she did so, Sonia forced down too much food that she didn't want even though she hadn't eaten in ages. Alternately, when she could get a word in edgewise, she chatted with Maraleena as the woman finished with two more suitcases.
It was while Sonia was gulping down the last bit of toast with a sip of coffee that Callum arrived.
Sonia looked at him and her heart leaped into her throat.
He was wearing the chocolate brown corduroy shirt she bought him for Christmas over jeans that fit him well and a pair of brown boots.
Since yesterday he'd had his hair trimmed but he'd also shaved off the beard.
Completely.
No stubble, nothing.
He was exactly the vision of her dream Callum. The vision she'd never seen in real life (except he was clothed).
She was so struck by the picture of him, he was sitting on the bed grinning at her before she realized it.
Then he was leaning in, evading her coffee mug which she was holding aloft and her tray, to brush her lips with his.
He pulled only an inch away before he murmured, "Morning, my little one."
"Morning," she replied but her voice sounded husky and low.
She cleared her throat.
His grin turned into a smile.
She wanted to conk him in the head with her coffee mug.
"Brilliant." They both heard muttered from Maraleena and they both turned their heads to look at her.
She was clutching one of Sonia's sweaters and watching them openly.
"You're so cute and sweet together," Maraleena noted, a big, happy grin on her face. "Brilliant. I love it." Her eyes moved to focus on Callum. "Hi there, your grace, welcome home."
"Hello, Mara," Callum returned, shifting so he was sitting in bed beside Sonia. Close beside her, his legs straight out in front of him, his back to the headboard and he seized her mug of coffee from her fingers and then took a sip.
Sonia clenched her teeth together at the unwanted (she was telling herself) intimacy.
Maraleena continued folding sweaters like she was in a couple's bedroom every day seeing to her chores while they lounged in bed.
"Well done with routing the rebels," Maraleena threw out casually on another sunny smile in their direction.
"It is that," Callum murmured on another sip of coffee but his arm was pushing through the pillows at Sonia's waist where it settled. His hand at her hip, finding the wolf charm through her nightgown and, as ever, he started fiddling with it.
Sonia tried not to look like she was seething while allowing herself, if only in her mind, to seethe.
"Can't wait," Maraleena muttered as she placed Sonia's sweaters on a shelf in the wardrobe.
"Mara?" Callum called as he set the mug on the tray and then divested Sonia of it.
Maraleena turned to the bed with her brows raised.
"You want to do me a favor?" Callum asked, holding the tray out to her.
Maraleena's eyes grew so bright they practically singed the room with their glow.
Then, for some reason, she burst out laughing though Sonia was thinking that Maraleena did that on a regular basis. She rushed forward, nabbed the tray and was out of the room before Sonia could make a peep.
The minute the door closed, Callum turned his body into hers, pulling her down into the bed so her head was on the pillows.
Then he kissed her, soft and sweet but also wet and lingeringly.
It was a great kiss.
Sonia's body responded but, luckily, her brain did not.
Nevertheless, she was breathing heavier when he lifted his lips from hers.
"Callum," she whispered.
"You're here," he whispered back, his eyes, full-on tawny, roaming her face, his fingers sifting through the hair at the side of her head. "In my arms, in my bed, in my home."
She had to stop him. She couldn't listen to this, couldn't witness it again and want it just as much as she knew he'd never give it to her.
"Callum. I feel strange." His head cocked to the side at her words and the warm look on his face vanished as his brows shot together. "Not that," she said swiftly, she couldn't bear his false, loving concern, not again. "Just, I think jetlag or something. All that food. Everything went so fast yesterday. I feel weird. I think I need a shower and more coffee ndash;"
She stopped speaking because his face relaxed and he touched his mouth to hers.
"Take a shower, baby doll," he allowed (would she ever get used to him telling her what she could and couldn't do and when she could and couldn't do it?). "I've got a few things to do but I'll come back and take you on a tour of your new home." His head bent and he nuzzled her neck a moment before he marked her hair with his temple and lifted his head again. "You'll take it easy a few days, get acclimatized. Is that good?"
Was he asking like he cared about her answer or was it a rhetorical question?
She answered the only way she could. "That's good."
He grinned at her.
She loved his grin just as much as she told herself she hated it.
He pushed away from her and exited the bed.
She looked at the big room and called out to him, "Callum?"
He glanced down at her, brows raised.
"Um, where's the bathroom?"
She really hoped it wasn't on another floor or something. That would be awful, climbing down those winding, stone steps should she need the facilities in the middle of the night.
He smiled, planted a fist in the bed on either side of her, touched his lips (again!) to hers, pushed away and then walked across the room and opened a door that was in a tapestry. The tapestry was affixed to the door in a way that it looked a seamless part of the bigger tapestry all around it. The doorknob, too, was hidden in the tapestry's design.
It was very neat and super clever.
She didn't share this with Callum.
She just threw back the hides (really? who slept under hides?), got out of bed and headed to the bathroom.
Callum stalled her progress by hooking an arm around her stomach and she twisted her neck and looked up at him.
"I'm anxious to show you your new home, honey," he murmured, before kissing her forehead and finishing by ordering gently, but definitely kingly, "You have an hour."
Then he was gone.
She was glad for the reminder that he was king.
And the reminder that, even if she was queen, and not of his people, she was still nothing but a subject.
* * * * *
The bathroom was (almost) as nice as the bedroom. The walls and floors were still that stone but there was a big, brass towel warmer, a huge circular tub in a very pretty shade of rust and a shower cubical tiled in rich-colored tiles. The ceramic basin was rust-colored and set in more of that mellow golden-red-brown stone. There was a set of shelves inset in a wall with stacks of fluffy, neatly folded towels. The shelves also bore pretty stoneware boxes and trays that Sonia would love to fill with her girlie bits and bobs. There was a huge, round mirror over the basin surrounded on the top half with brass lights. And last, twin, narrow, thin handsome cabinets on the walls on either side of the recessed basin.
Seriously, so far, Sonia could see why everyone was so happy in this castle.
She tried to hate it, she just couldn't.
She lugged her cosmetics case into the bathroom, found her stuff, took a quick shower and did the best she could do with her hair and makeup when she didn't know where anything was.
Luckily, there was a blow dryer (as hers didn't have the right plug) and fortunately, when she was ready, she didn't look a fright as one wouldn't want to look when one was possibly meeting their new subjects as their new queen.
She decided not to wait for Callum (he hadn't ordered her to stay in the room) and she started wandering on her own.
The bedroom was the best of all but it was also the best room Sonia had ever seen in her life. But the rest was still really, really good.
It was all decorated in warm, rich, manly shades. The furniture was handsome and comfortable looking. There were lots of pillows and snug throws and hides tossed everywhere, all of it inviting as well as beautiful. There were tons of circular fireplaces in other rooms, not to mention wavy walls and diamond-paned windows.
It was magical.
Sonia wanted to hate that too but she couldn't.
In her new life she'd have Regan and probably Maraleena and of course Ryon and Caleb and maybe Calder, though he hadn't been around as much and sometimes he could be surly so she didn't know what to make of him yet.
And she'd have the castle.
That just wasn't enough.
But, she decided, it was all there was going to be.
For, she decided, she'd tell Callum she'd do her duties as his queen but she wouldn't be his mate.
Last night was the last night they'd have.
Forever.
She was standing in what she guessed was a living room though all of them kind of looked like that. Or at least as far as she got except she found a library and what appeared to be a knitting room as there were huge skeins of wool in big, wide-woven baskets by the comfy chairs. She was staring out the window at the landscape (mostly tall, rolling, snow covered woods, as far as she could see) when Callum found her.
She tensed, expecting him to be angry that she'd started the tour on her own but he just strode right up to her, shifting to stand at her back. His arms wrapped around her and he pulled her to his front and dipped his head to kiss her neck.
She told herself she shivered because she was cold (though that wasn't the reason).
And she decided now was as good a time as any.
Sonia opened her mouth to speak but Callum beat her to it.
"Yes, you have a lovely home," she told him and then went on, "Callum ndash;"
He interrupted by correcting her, "We have a lovely home."
"Yes. Right. Cal ndash;"
He cut her off yet again, informing her, "We're planning a victory celebration first. I owe it to my men. All the warriors who fought will be arriving over the next few weeks and my guard returning home." He gave her a squeeze and his voice dipped low. "Then, two weeks later, we'll have The Royal Mating." He rested his chin on her shoulder and asked, "Are you okay with that?"
As she didn't know what A Mating was, even though she heard a lot of talk about it, she couldn't exactly say.
As she didn't feel like there was anything to celebrate, though, the answer was "no".
"Callum ndash;" she began again.
"There you are." She heard a man say and both she and Callum (though Callum didn't let her go) turned to the door to see Drogan entering while smiling.
He started to drop to a knee but Sonia blurted out, "No!" and his head jerked up as Callum's body went solid.
Oh good goodness.
She'd done something wrong.
Drogan looked questioningly at Callum.
"Keep your feet," Callum told him, his voice purely kingly and sounding annoyed.
Sonia needed to cover.
"I did something wrong," she stated to which neither man replied so she ventured forth. "It's just that, in yourhellip; I mean our home, it should be casual. People should feel comfortable and nothellip; you knowhellip;" she trailed off and twisted her head to look at Callum before asking, "Shouldn't it?"
Callum looked as annoyed as he'd sounded (and as kingly).
He didn't speak.
Sonia's heart started beating madly.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm just not used to people bowing to me and it makes me uncomfortable."
There was a long moment of silence before Callum sighed.
He let her go and looked at Drogan. "Your queen doesn't want you to take a knee in the castle, inform Mara and Callista."
"Of course, your grace," Drogan said but his mouth was twitching and he thankfully changed the subject by informing Callum, "There's an urgent call from Duke Ryon."
Callum nodded, curled a hand around her neck and brought her close for a kiss on the top of her head before he started to the door. "Sonia needs coffee. Can you show her to the kitchens so Mara can get her some? Have Mara bring her to me in my study when she's done."
He didn't wait for a reply as he disappeared out the door.
Drogan came forward and held his crooked arm out, inviting, "Let's get you some coffee."
She took in a breath, let it out and slid her arm through his.
He escorted her out the door as she announced, "So far, I'm not good at being queen."
"Oh, I don't know," he replied and she looked up at him to see he was grinning. "His grace seemed very pleased this morning with the reports we heard that, during the battles you'd taken our women into your home, kept them company and tried to keep their spirits up even as your own mate was fighting."
Sonia told herself that the warm feeling that bloomed in her belly was not the feeling of pride at his words (when it was).
"Okay then, I think it's all the royal stuff I'm not good at. The rules and the protocol," she went on.
"Don't worry. I'll get Mara to explain it to you. She'd love that," Drogan told her.
If Maraleena was the talker she seemed at their first meeting then Sonia was pretty certain she'd love it too, so would Sonia.
"That's a great idea." She smiled up at Drogan.
They'd gone down two flights of stairs and were in a hallway when Drogan stopped her and stated, "You should know, Cal doesn't like all that official stuff either. I only call him lsquo;your grace' in company. I've been in his service and the service of his father for so long I never bow anything but my head to him and neither does Mara or Callista."
She stared up at him in astonishment, not believing a word he said and also shocked because he, too, looked old enough to be Callum's brother, not to have served his father.
"But he was just sohellip; sohellip; annoyed in there," she protested.
"You're his mate and my queen. It's my duty to kneel before you and, I'm sorry, Sonia, I know it's different amongst your kind, but it's Cal's right to tell me that I don't have to do so."
Now how had she forgotten that?
"Of course," she murmured.
"You'll learn in time," he said kindly, patting her hand and then went on to say mysteriously, "Or he will." When her brows shot up, he chuckled and finished, "Let's get you coffee."
He took her to the friendly, warm (both in looks and in temperature) kitchens (three rooms!) where she met Callista who was less chatty, not as tall, but definitely as friendly as Maraleena. Drogan left after depositing her with the women. They gave her a tour of the kitchens, Sonia had a cup of coffee and then all too soon Maraleena led her back to Callum.
His study was also a beautiful room with inviting furniture but included a big, heavily carved desk with two huge chairs facing it. There wasn't a circular fireplace in the middle but a cavernous one behind his chair at the desk in front of which stood a tall, intricately wrought, iron grate.
Callum was seated in that chair. He was on the phone but the minute she walked into the room, his eyes came to her and his arm went out to the side.
He wanted her in his lap.
She had to admit she'd been getting used to the lap business and, in the end, liking it.
She didn't like it anymore.
"See you later," Maraleena whispered and then walked out, leaving Sonia alone with her mate.
With nothing for it, she approached him and sat silently in his lap as he talked on the phone, obviously to Ryon. She knew this because he kept saying "Ry", not because she was a sleuth that deciphered it from clues in his side of the conversation.
When he finally rang off she instantly wished his attention was on the phone again for it came directly to her.
Both of his arms wrapped around her and he pulled her closer to him.
"Have you been taking your injections twice a day?" he asked, surprising her with his subject.
"Yes, Regan told me you told her that Dr. Mortenson said I should."
"Did you take them only when she was there?"
She nodded and tried not to clench her teeth at his domineering. Seriously, he acted like she'd never taken an injection before he stormed into her life.
"Have you taken one today?" he queried.
Her body jerked and she stared at him.
"No, I didn't think. My clock is off. I don't even know if it's due," she told him stupidly for it had to be due. It had been hours since the last one.
"We'll go up and do it in a minute," he stated, luckily without anger then went on to ask, "Did Dr. Mortenson get the test results back?"
She shook her head. "Not that I know of. He didn't call. It can take a while sometimes."
Callum looked away and muttered, "I'll call him."
Sonia took in a deep breath and then opened her mouth to speak.
He turned back to her and again beat her to it.
"Don't do that again, Sonia."
She snapped her mouth shut.
Then, even though she knew to what he was referring, she asked sharply, "What?"
"It was explained to you that my people defer to me when we're together. They will defer to you when you aren't with me but I give the commands when we're together," he told her patiently. "You don't need to keep silent anywhere but during official business but you don't make a command like you did today with Drogan when I'm at your side."
Sonia forgot the subject she wanted to talk about and decided his subject was an excellent one to be on.
"And I explained to you that I thought that was medieval."
A muscle jerked in his jaw, indicating, perhaps, he was no longer patient when he replied, "Yes, you did. And I believe I told you at that time that it was the way of my people."
She straightened in his lap. "Yes, and I believe that it was also once the way of my people to treat diseases by using leeches but they found another way that works a whole lot better so now they're doing that."
The gold started to penetrate the blue in his eyes when he stated in a low, vibrating tone, "Baby doll, a warning, you want rough play, for once, I have the time to give it to you."
She'd learned what that meant and there was not going to be any of that.
"I don't want rough play. I don't want any play," she announced and the gold shot forth, obliterating the blue as his hand trailed up her spine.
"Now, that sounded like a challenge."
Oh no! Now what had she done?
She had to think fast.
She managed it just as his fingers slid in her hair and put pressure there to bring her mouth to his. "It wasn't a challenge, Callum," she whispered. "Last night washellip;" She fought for a word and found it. "Vigorous." His tawny eyes instantly lit with humor upon hearing her word (and they also lit with something else entirely) and he grinned before she finished, "I ache a little bit."
At once, the humor swept from his features. His hand in her hair kept putting on the pressure but only to tuck her forehead into his neck.
"Poor baby," he murmured. "Jetlagged and misused by her king." His hand slid to her neck and started massaging and she told herself it didn't feel good (when it did). "I'm sorry, honey," he went on softly. "After a battle, one like thathellip;" She tensed at his words and he sighed. "Being away from you was not good."
She wished she could believe him.
She really, really did.
He bent his neck to kiss her forehead and then said, "We'll give you your medicine, I'll show you your new home and then I want you to take it easy for the rest of the day. Yes?"
Again she wondered if it was a genuine question or a rhetorical one.
She learned it was rhetorical for he lifted her off his lap and took her to their bedroom. He located her medication and gave her the injection and she found, as much as she hated to admit it, that she missed emerging from the burn in the strong safety of his arms.
He spent some time showing her her new home and it was obvious as he did it, in the pride that was evident in his words and his features, that he loved this castle. Then again, there was a lot to love not only in how it looked and how much there was of it but how it felt.
They went to the library where he ordered her to find a book which she did then he took her back to his study.
He deposited her on the big, fluffy couch which was under a diamond-paned window, just as the snow started to fall outside.
He threw a big, fluffy, warm woolen throw over her body and tucked it tight around her h*ps and legs and arranged a pillow behind her head. After he settled her, he picked up the phone and ordered Maraleena to bring them lunch.
He went to his desk and made calls, went through mail and eventually started writing notes. She set her book aside and stared out at the snow wondering how she managed to find herself trapped in a fairytale castle with a fairytale king when all of it was real but none of it was true (except, of course, the castle).
Callum ate lunch at his desk.
Sonia defied his unspoken command to clean her plate and picked at her food because she was nowhere near finished processing her enormous breakfast.
Callum didn't have the chance to confront her for she curled up on the fluffy couch under her fluffy woolen throw with her hands under her cheek and fell asleep.
So she was asleep and missed it when her king glanced her way and his face grew soft.
And she missed it when he walked to her on the couch and sat in the crook of her lap.
And she missed it when he slid her hair off her neck but tucked the throw tight around her shoulder so she wouldn't get a chill.
And she missed his soft kiss at her temple before he dropped his forehead there.
And she missed him whispering in her ear in a voice threaded with an emotion that even Sonia couldn't have misunderstood, "Fuck, baby doll, I missed you so f**king much."
Chapter Sixteen
Exposed
Sonia sat on the sofa in Callum's study, stared out the window at the gray sky, the landscape covered in white snow and tried to find at least a shred of courage to say what she had to say to Callum.
She'd been with Callum at the castle for three days.
Three days!
Had she told him she did not want to be his mate but was willing to be his queen as she vowed to herself she would?
No.
Had she stopped him from making love to her as she vowed to herself she would?
Had she become enchanted by his castle, the people in it, the village at the base of the rise and the people in that?
Yes!
After her first quiet day of Callum ordered rest, she woke up in his bed, in his arms, the urge nearly upon her because his hands were roaming and his lips were trailing across her shoulder.
"Callum ndash;"
His mouth went to her ear and his arm wrapped tight around her, pulling her into his big, warm body.
"Morning, baby doll."
Good goodness.
If her world was real, she would live for the morning when he said those words to her in his deep, rumbling voice.
"Morning," she replied, trying to blot the thought from her mind.
"How are you feeling this morning?"
As her body betrayed her and snuggled closer to him, her mind latched on a way out of her first thing in the morning predicament.
"Still a little bit achy," she told him (and it wasn't a total lie).
"Poor baby," he whispered in her ear and, even though he sounded vaguely arrogant, she couldn't stop the tremble his being close and whispering in her ear caused. "I'll get Mara to draw you a hot bath." He bent and kissed her neck. "Have a lie in, little one."
Then he was gone, out of bed, into the shower, out of the shower, into his clothes and, with a final trip to the bed to lean down and kiss her temple, he was out of the room.
Well, she'd dodged that bullet and she was pretty proud of herself because the whole time he was in the shower she kept thinking of his tall, muscled, na**d body with water sliding down it and she'd had the nearly overwhelming impulse to join him there.
She lay in bed practicing her words for when she would confront him.
However, she lay in bed too long for a knock came at the door.
She pulled in breath.
Then she sighed.
Maraleena (she'd learned the woman's scent).
She called a good morning, Maraleena stuck her head around the door and smiled huge. "Hi there, Queen Sonia, you sleep okay?"
Then she was bustling in, pulling back the curtains, fussing with the throws on the couch before she headed toward the bathroom while Sonia replied, "Yes, Maraleena, I slept great."
And she had.
She'd slept like a baby in Callum's strong arms in his big bed with his heavy, warm hides covering them.
"Cal says I should draw you a hot bath and Drogan says I can call him Cal in front of you," she called half this statement from the bathroom before Sonia heard the taps turn on.
"Well, Queen Sonia says you can call her Sonia," Sonia called back, throwing the covers off, her legs over the side of the bed and finished, "Or you can call me Sonny, that's what all my friends call me."
Maraleena appeared in the doorway to the bathroom but stopped and stood still, her eyes fastened on Sonia.
"I've known you a day," Maraleena breathed and, taking one look at her shocked expression, Sonia decided she must have done something wrong.
Again.
She started walking swiftly toward Maraleena at the same time she started talking fast, "I'm sorry. I did the wrong thing again. If you have to call me Queen Sonia then do it. That's okay. I'll get used to it."
She stopped in front of Maraleena who stared down at her a moment.
Then she burst out laughing and snatched Sonia in her arms, giving her a strong hug before, just as abruptly, she let her go.
"I just can't believe how nice you are!" she declared, walking briskly to the bed. "I was on the phone all night telling everyone our new queen is teeny and pretty and nice. And that she and our king were all sweet and cute together," Maraleena started to make the bed as Sonia tried to decide how she felt about Maraleena gossiping about her.
Then, since what Maraleena said wasn't bad and clearly Maraleena had double (or triple) the words any normal female had to use daily or she'd explode, she decided she didn't mind.
"If it was me, I'd probably be all queen of the castle," she went on, pulling the sheets to then she threw a smile Sonia's way. "Though I'm glad you're not."
Sonia smiled back at her and replied, "I'm glad you're glad."
She shooed Sonia into the bathroom with her hand. "Shoo. Get. Cal says you've got some aches to work out of your muscles." Her grin turned naughty. "I remember that. After my claiminghellip;" She giggled. "Oo, I was aching for weeks. Drogan was insatiable. And rough! It was brilliant! And, I might add, two times last night, it still is! It's a wonder I can even walk today!"
Sonia stared at her, wishing she had the wherewithal not to gape in horrified astonishment.
But she did not.
Maraleena caught her look, her smile died and she straightened.
"What?" she asked.
Sonia's body jerked out of its shocked stupor and she slid her hands along her belly, crossing her arms at the black fabric of her nightgown there.
"Nothing, I'm justhellip; humans don'thellip;" she stammered but stopped when Maraleena suddenly slapped herself on the forehead with the palm of her hand.
"Stupid!" she cried. "I forgot. You're human." She threw her arm out to Sonia. "You said Cal hadn't had a chance to explain things and Drogan told me you wanted me to teach you about protocol and such. I'm an idiot."
"You aren't an idiot, Maraleena," Sonia said softly, walked to her new friend and asked, "I met a lady, one of yours, and she was kind of blunt too. Do all your people talk abouthellip; um, sex like that?"
Maraleena's grin came back full force. "Uh. Yeah." Her eyes gleamed, she leaned forward and whispered, "Definitely." Then she went back to making the bed. "I've never spent a lot of time with humans but I know you don't." Then she finished on a mumbled, "Weird, that."
Sonia smiled at the thought that someone would think the human's way was weird.
Then again, to her people, it obviously was.
"Anyway," Maraleena went on. "You have your bath. Cal says you should dress warm. I'll bring up breakfast in a bit."
"Can I have breakfast in the kitchen with you and Callista?" Sonia asked and Maraleena burst out laughing.
Through her laughter she said, "Sonny! You're queen! You can do anything you want!"
She took a nice, long, hot bath in the big, circular tub fragranced with bath salts Callum had given her for Christmas. She put on light makeup and blow dried her hair, absently acclimatizing herself to where to locate all of her things in her new surroundings as she did so.
But when she went to the wardrobe to decide on her outfit for the day she saw, with all her bags unpacked and all of her things put away, Regan had not packed a stitch of Sonia's clothes.
She'd only packed the clothes Callum bought her.
Sonia searched through hangers, piles of sweaters and drawers for something from home, something that was hers.
Nothing.
That was likely an order of King Callum too!
Fuming, Sonia "dressed warm", as Callum commanded her to do, in a pair of cords so dark brown they were nearly black. To this she added a wide, dark brown belt, low-heeled boots over thick socks and a bright-salmon, boat-necked sweater. The sweater was not one of Sonia's colors but in the shop Regan had told her it was simply her and she had to buy it, so Sonia did.
She grabbed a long, thin but woolly, hot pink-colored knit scarf with fluffy dangling strands at the ends, wrapped it round and round her neck and let it hang down her front and then she stormed to the kitchen.
It was hard to keep fuming with Callista and Maraleena both so unceasingly cheerful and both so excited to share with Sonia the ways of their people.
And over a breakfast of porridge sweetened with what Callista called "golden syrup" (and it was delicious and it wasn't huge and artery clogging), Sonia learned a lot.
For instance, she learned that when a man claimed his mate, he and his mate would hole up for weeks (even months) after the claiming, not to be seen or heard from until they emerged for the mating ceremony.
And she learned that once they emerged, they told everyone about everything as in everything about their claiming, down to the most intimate detail. Indeed, they'd do this often over the years trying to best each other's claiming stories. And it wasn't just the males who did it for both Maraleena and Callista shared theirs, in shocking detail (Sonia demurred, using being human as her excuse which luckily worked).
And she learned that the mating ceremony and ritual was like the humans' wedding reception except they didn't have any wedding dresses, tuxedos, champagne toasts, posed pictures or pre-arranged dancing. They went straight to what sounded like drunken debauchery with a big buffet of food that, as Callista assured her on a wink, "In the old days, dear, we don't do that anymore," led to the male actually mating with the female in front of everyone.
Now, apparently (and fortunately), at the end, the couple just stood (or swayed, depending how drunk they were) in front of everyone and restated the words, male: "Are you mine?" female: "Yes." Then they went home with everyone shouting advice and encouragement and had sex again.
That was it!
"It's a shame those rebel rascals had to spoil things for you and Cal. Ruined your whole claiming with their antics," Callista muttered irately then added as an afterthought, "Oh, and the fact that he's king."
"What does that mean?" Sonia asked as she poured more coffee into all three of their mugs.
Callista gazed closely at Sonia, giving Sonia the (correct) impression that she hadn't quite decided about her yet and replied, "Just that he's like his father. Mac never rested on his laurels and Cal certainly doesn't. Everyone knows no one could seize his rule. He's the mightiest warrior in the kingdom. But there's a great deal more to it and he takes it all seriously."
"Like what?" Sonia asked, curious in spite of herself.
"Like a great deal, too much for now," Callista answered but she did it on a genuine smile. "Now, dear, you need to get to your king."
Sonia stifled her sigh, dashed milk (not skim but also not full fat, thank God) into her coffee and started to head to Callum's study but stopped when Maraleena called out to her.
Sonia watched as Maraleena pulled down another sweep-lined, earth brown mug with turquoise interior and poured in coffee and milk.
She handed it to Sonia who took it in her free hand.
"For Cal," she muttered and grinned. "He'll like that you're looking after him even though you chose for us to do the, umhellip; bulk of it."
Sonia nodded and smiled her gratitude to Maraleena but on the way to his study she had a mind to throw his coffee mug out the window. She liked the mug too much, so she didn't.
He was sitting behind his big desk when she appeared in the door and his handsome, dark head came up instantly.
Somehow from yesterday to today his desk had become covered in strewn and stacked papers and files, mounds of post and an open laptop.
She gazed at the mess on his desk and couldn't stop herself from asking in all jest, "Are you planning another war?"
He burst out laughing and her body jerked then stilled at the rich sound.
She'd made him grin. She'd made him smile. She'd made him chuckle. She'd heard him laugh, even at her. But she'd never purposefully made him laugh and doing it made her feel like she'd planted her flag at the top of world's most treacherous mountain.
"No," he replied after he got control of his humor. "This is what it normally looks like."
"You need an assistant," she informed him, walking forward trying to get control of herself and sound curt and not doing a very good job of it (because she wasn't a curt-sounding person).
"I have four, Ryon, Calder, Caleb and Drogan. None of them are good with paperwork," Callum told her on a grin.
Sonia figured that was the truth. None of those men seemed the paperwork kind.
She stopped on the opposite side of the desk and reached over it, trying to find a safe place to lay his mug. Then she scooted some papers aside to expose the blotter and put the mug down because he hardly could have a system going that she would mess up in that clutter.
"You brought me coffee," he stated and his voice was soft and warm.
She looked at him not wanting him to get any ideas. "Maraleena thought you might like a cup."
"I do," he replied. "Would you like to know what I'd like more?"
No, she wouldn't.
"Callum ndash;" she began but he interrupted her.
"What I'd like is to know why you're standing over there?"
She straightened her shoulders, deciding the time had finally come and declared, "Because we need to talk."
His voice was firm but still soft and warm when he ordered, "Sonia, come here."
That voice did weird things to her system. Weird things such as setting the urge upon her. Weird things such as making her want to sit in his lap and put her mouth on him. Anywhere. Everywhere.
Yes, just his voice.
She fought the urge back.
"No, Callum, I ndash;" she stopped speaking because he stood up.
Then she stared at him as he rounded his desk.
She began retreating too late.
He grabbed one of her wrists, pulled the coffee cup out of her other hand, set it on some papers on his desk and, as she tried to twist her wrist free, he yanked her to him. Then she was in his arms. He walked back around the desk and sat down with her in his lap. He calmly leaned forward, nabbed her cup and handed it to her then nabbed his.
Finally, his attention came to her and he invited, "Now, baby doll, what's on your mind?"
Nothing.
Nothing was on her mind except for the fact that she was again in his lap where she'd told him she didn't want to be.
"Sonia?"
She blinked at him, wanting to cry and scream at the same time (not to mention scratch his eyes out).
He waited.
She didn't speak. There were too many words to say and she couldn't put even two of them together.
"I see this is one of those times," he muttered mysteriously, not sounding irritated or angry about whatever one of those times was, but amused. "All right, little one, this is what we're going to do today," he told her softly. "We're going to go upstairs, I'm going to give you your injection then we're going to go into town."
She wasn't keeping up. Her mind was churning but her body was registering the fact that she liked the safe, comfort of him so close.
"To town?" she asked.
"To town," he answered. "Then we're going to come home and you're going to take it easy the rest of the day," he finished. "Agreed?"
He took a sip of his coffee which would have given her time to agree or, say, perchance, disagree. But before she could speak, he slid her carefully off his lap, grabbed her hand and led her out of the room and up the winding staircase.
As he did, he spoke. "I talked with Dr. Mortenson while you were napping yesterday and he said your blood tests all came back normal. He's still concerned. He says there's a specialist consultant in Aberdeen he wants you to see. I made an appointment this morning for Friday."
Sonia's mind cleared at this astonishing news and she asked, "There's a specialist in Scotland?"
"According to Dr. Mortenson there is."
"I didn't know there was such a thing," she told him.
"Well there is, baby doll. And you're lucky he's a short flight away," Callum replied, led her into the bathroom, gave her the injection, held her until the burning fire died away and held her long after.
"Callum," she whispered when he didn't seem to want to let her go, her hands gliding along his forearms which were crossed at her belly.
In these moments, now twice a day, she could believe in him, really believe.
His head came up and his now tawny eyes caught hers in the mirror.
"I hope to f**k this new doctor knows another way."
His voice was rough with frustration and she could almost believe that too.
Lost in the moment, she promised, "You'll get used to it."
His laugh was as harsh as his voice before he said, "I don't think that's going to happen, baby doll."
Then he zipped her pants, buckled her belt and took her to town.
* * * * *
"Town" was not a town.
It was an enchanting village. The cottages and buildings were all made of the same warm golden-red-brown as Callum's castle. There was only one cobbled street which was lined with shops on both sides and, on small alleyways that led off the street and up the rise behind the village, there were picturesque cottages and houses.
The melted snow had given the cobbled streets a glistening shine and the sidewalks were all brushed clear of snow.
Regardless of the gray day that threatened more snow, the village seemed vibrant and fascinating. There was a bakery with jam donuts, cookies and pastries displayed in its window, a peek inside showing different loaves of bread and rolls on wire racks behind a heated counter filled with warm savories. There was a fruit and vegetable shop with brightly colored produce in bushels in suspended baskets outside. There was a florist with vivid blooms in steel buckets out front. There was a butcher, a drug store, a shop that looked like it sold nothing but fishing gear. Another store that looked like it sold nothing but yarn. A women's clothing store with a window that displayed more active, outdoorsy gear (but the bags and sweaters looked lush). A gift shop, which, when Sonia stole a glance inside while they strolled past, looked like it was filled with fun bits and bobs, none of which you needed but all of which you could convince yourself you did. And there was a café that was heaving with people eating or ordering teas and cakes.
And, lastly, even though it was a small village, it had no fewer than five pubs. Five!
Sonia would have liked the opportunity to peruse but this opportunity didn't present itself.
Mainly because the other thing about the village was that it was busy with loads of people shopping or chatting on the sidewalks.
And all of them were Callum's people, with clear eyes, long bodies, dark hair and beautiful faces.
And all of them, when they saw Sonia and Callum, looked surprised then delighted then they'd smile and start to drop to their knee.
And to all of them, Callum would say something like, "Keep your feet, Merriden, your queen doesn't stand on ceremony." Or, "Stand, Rhiannon, Queen Sonia isn't big on formalities."
Then they'd bow their head, grin a friendly grin at Sonia and chat with Sonia and Callum before letting them get on their way.
There were four things that surprised Sonia about this.
The first was that Callum knew all their names. Every last one.
The second was that he apparently wasn't big on formalities either. She knew this because he chatted amiably with the villagers, his arm around Sonia's shoulders, as if they were normal people, not a king and his new queen.
The third was that everyone was so welcoming, open, full of life and smiles and quick to laugh.
The last was that Callum acted to save her the discomfort of people bowing to her in the streets. People she had to live with and she wanted them to like her, not bow to her. She didn't want to think that was a kindness he'd shown to her, having learned she didn't like it the day before and thus stopping it from happening again. But she couldn't help but think that it was.
They slowly made their way down one side of the street, stopping and chatting along the way as everyone else gazed at them frankly and speculatively. Then they slowly made their way down the other side of the street doing the same.
At the end of their journey, Callum led them into a pub, called "The Claw". It, too, had diamond-paned windows but the glass was multi-colored in ambers, reds and greens and it had a furry paw with sharp claws painted on its suspended shingle.
The inside was inviting and warm after the cold of outside. There was a circular fireplace in the middle with a brass hood over it and a fire lit within. There were brass taps at the gleaming bar and a variety of cushioned seating. And there was another clawed paw etched in the mirror behind the bar.
Callum guided her directly to the bar and, when they stopped, he asked her, "Do you like cider?"
She gazed up at him and, figuring he wanted to warm her up with hot apple cider, though she would prefer hot cocoa but would request herbal tea, she asked, "Apple cider?"
He smiled and answered, "In a way, though not the way you're used to." Then he proclaimed, "You'll try a cider."
Then he turned to the bartender (who was named Ralph, by the way) and ordered their drinks and also two fish pies though he didn't ask Sonia if she wanted fish pie, or anything to eat for that matter. He handed her a half pint glass of something cold and golden, told Ralph to, "Put it on Canis's account," and led them to a comfortable, curved couch by the fire.
He shrugged off the brown leather jacket she'd given him for Christmas. But he kept on the brown, burgundy and navy striped scarf wrapped around his throat over his thick, navy wool, cable-knit sweater (both of which Sonia had given him too). Sonia took his lead and divested herself of her own dusky-blue, woolen pea coat. Then Callum sat them close together.
Sonia tasted a sip of her cider and found it was brilliant, cool but refreshing.
She didn't want to (she told herself) but she couldn't help it. She liked the village. She liked the villagers. She liked being outside in the snowy cold. And she liked the cider.
"This is brilliant," she told him as his arm slid around her and pulled her close.
"I'm glad you like it, honey."
"I like the village too," she added.
He made no response, just smiled down at her.
She didn't want to (she told herself) but she couldn't help it. She was just too curious to stop it.
"Have you lived here your whole life?"
He pulled her an inch closer and lifted his leg to rest the sole of his boot against the edge of the fireplace.
"A good part of it, yes. We spent some time in France, with my mother's people. During a time of peace, when my father didn't need me close, I lived in Canada for a while. And my father appointed me liaison to the British government for a brief period and I lived in London then."
Well, that explained his accent.
"But you like it here?" she queried.
"I like it here."
"The best?" she went on, Callum laughed and his hand gave her waist a squeeze.
"The best. Though I found it difficult leaving the Canadian Rockies. I'd been happy there," he informed her.
This knowledge settled somewhere in Sonia (and, if she was honest, it was in the region of her heart) for she'd always been happiest in the American Rockies. And, she hated to admit it, but she really liked it right there.
Belatedly, she decided to find a different, less personal subject. One that couldn't give Callum an opening through that guard around her heart.
Therefore, she enquired, "Liaison to the British government?"
He nodded and took a sip of his beer. "All governments know of our people."
She looked to the fire, sipped at her cider and murmured, "I'm surprised about that."
His hand gave her waist another squeeze and he asked, "Why?"
She looked back at him and replied, "Because you're so secret. I had no clue."
"No one has a clue," he responded, "unless we want them to." His face got closer and his voice got lower when he finished, "Like you."
She pressed her lips together in an effort not to respond to how much she liked his face that close and his voice that low and looked again at the fire.
His big body relaxed further into hers. "Our people intermingle with your people all the time."
"Do a lot of your people have human mates?" she queried.
"It's rare," he answered. "But it happens."
Sonia looked about the pub and saw all eyes on them and all the eyes were clear and light. All the heads were dark. And all the bodies were big and long.
She turned back to Callum and whispered, "This whole village is your people."
He looked down at her and smiled, "You noticed that?"
She nodded.
He pulled her even closer. "This is one of the reasons we need a liaison to the British government and why we have liaisons to every government. There are small countries like this around the world."
"Countries?"
"Yes, little one," he replied. "Villages, towns, even some small cities. This is our land, our country. The village and miles of wood that surround it. It isn't owned by the British government. It's owned and ruled by us. Didn't you wonder why you didn't go through Customs and Immigration when we arrived?"
She hadn't thought of it, her mind was on other things.
"No," she told him. "I'd never flown in a private jet before. I didn't think about it."
"Well," he said, "that's why. Not because you arrived in a private jet but because we landed on an airstrip, a private airstrip, our private airstrip that no one uses. The roads leading to this village are not on any map. Essentially, to your people, this place doesn't exist."
Sonia didn't respond, she just stared at him.
Callum continued, "That doesn't mean that humans don't find their way here on occasion and they aren't welcome when they do. They just wouldn't be able to find their way back unless they had excellent memories and little fear of very bad roads." He gave her a quick grin before he took a sip of his beer and then went on, "There are those of us who prefer living amongst their own, being who we are and how we are and not having to keep anything secret. There are those who find their calling in the human world and their profession takes them there. There are those who just like living in the human world, amongst more people, having more opportunities. There are others who move back and forth, depending on their mood. And there are others who live here but also like to spend time in the human world." Then he finished, "Ryon's like that."
"What are you like?" she asked quietly, more curious than was prudent as to his answer.
"I like being with my people and I rarely stray into the human world," he answered honestly.
"Don't you like humans?" she blurted on a whisper before she could stop the words and then wished she could kick herself because she didn't care (though, she did).
"I do," he grinned again, his voice went soft, his eyes grew warm and his face got closer. "One in particular."
She pulled in breath and reminded herself that he could be like this, sweet and tender one minute and the nexthellip;
Well, the next he would not.
"So why don't you spend time with humans?" she pushed.
He sighed and pulled away, saying, "I just don't understand them."
Her eyes grew wide. "What's not to understand?"
He gazed at her a second before he threw back his head and roared with laughter.
"What's funny?" she demanded when his laughter calmed.
"You, baby doll," he was still chuckling when he responded. "How much of my culture makes sense to you?"
She had to admit, he had a point.
She didn't inform him of that fact. She looked to the fire and sipped her cider which caused him to chuckle.
"I'll make you a deal," he said on another squeeze of her waist, capturing her attention.
She looked at him again and raised her eyebrows.
"I'll help you understand my people and you help me understand yours."
Before she could answer, she heard a noise outside. A noise that sounded like someone carrying bags slipped and fell to the sidewalk giving a startled cry of pain. She automatically tensed at the noise, as if she was going to rush outside to help, her eyes flashing to the door.
Then she realized it was a noise that Callum wouldn't hear and she couldn't help because she wasn't supposed to hear it either.
As she had many times in her life, Sonia forced herself to relax and took another sip of her drink.
"Sonia," he called and she hesitantly turned to look at him.
"Yes?" she answered, trying to look innocent and thinking maybe she failed for he was studying her closely.
He opened his mouth to speak but Ralph was there with two big plates on top of which sat smaller, oblong dishes of browned, fluffy mash potato-topped fish pies that were so hot they were steaming and looked delicious.
"Two fish pies, your grace?" Ralph asked.
Callum didn't look happy to be disturbed but he nodded, moved them to a table and they ate their pies (filled with salmon, cream, carrots, herbs, onions and cheese, they were to die for and likely a million calories each).
Their conversation died because Callum seemed deep in thought and Sonia didn't have anything to say.
After that, he took her back to the castle.
But not before taking her to the bakery and buying her a huge Viennese cookie, half of it dipped in a thick layer of chocolate. This he ordered her to eat in the Rover and, when she refused, he pulled the car to the side of the road, turned to her and raised his brows ominously.
She ate the cookie and she hated herself for being so weak.
She hated him more.
But the cookie, she had to admit, was delicious.
* * * * *
Callum made Sonia take it easy the rest of the afternoon but he made her do it while lounging on the couch in his study while he sat at the desk and worked. Clicking through his laptop or talking on the phone but mostly he seemed to spend his time writing notes in longhand.
They ate dinner, he took her to their room for her injection and after they lay on the couch in the room he called "the lounge". It was a couch upholstered in hides (and she told herself it wasn't soft and snugly, but it was). He threw a woolen rug over them (making them snugly too) and they watched Cool Hand Luke which, according to Callum, was his brother, Calder's favorite movie, a fact Sonia didn't find surprising.
The phone rang (or, dozens of them rang all through the house) as they were winding their way upstairs to bed. Sonia was also winding herself up trying to figure out how she was going to stop him from making love to her, or, more precisely, herself from wanting him to.
"You go on up, baby doll, I'll be there in a second," he murmured distractedly and peeled off into a room.
She was asleep by the time he joined her in bed.
And the urge was over her by the time he woke her with a hand between her legs and fingers rolling her nipple.
There was no chance to fight it, she was too far gone.
She arched her back and pressed her h*ps into his hand.
"You're still tender, honey, I'll ndash;" he started but she rolled to him, dislodging his hands, and kissed him.
Then she did other things to him with her mouth.
Then he did things to her.
Then he took her, not hard and rough, but slow and sweet and she didn't scream to her wolf when she cl**axed. She whispered it in his ear on a contented sigh.
Then she fell asleep in his arms.
She woke up in them too, just as far gone as the night before but Callum wasn't in the mood to be slow and sweet. He was in a different mood. And, with the urge over her, Sonia liked his mood.
She liked it so much she begged for it.
After, she lay on her belly, her eyes closed, her mind trying to regulate her breathing.
She felt him lying beside her, her head was turned away from him but she knew he was up on an elbow and his fingers were trailing lightly along the na**d skin of her back. His hand finally glided down over her bottom and he reached low as it slid down the back her thigh and he gently cocked her leg.
Then, just as he had done after her claiming, he coated her thighs with their combined wetness.
She felt his chest at her back and his fingers digging in her hip when he growled in her ear, "That's the most beautiful thing in the world."
Sonia didn't respond verbally but she shivered deliciously because, somewhere, deep down, even though she told herself she didn't, she agreed.
His fingers gave her hip another, far gentler, squeeze.
"Dress warm before coming to me," he ordered before exiting the bed, throwing the hides over her and walking to the bathroom.
Before he left the room, he tucked her stuffed wolf in her arms and kissed her temple.
Sonia stared at the pillows, clutching her wolf, and told herself not to cry.
She also told herself, that day, she was going to find a way to end this.
Before Maraleena could arrive, she threw back the hides, went to the bathroom and took a shower.
Instead, she had breakfast with Maraleena and Callista in the kitchen again and they spent that time teaching her queenly etiquette and protocol and doing it hilariously. Callista acted out the silent part of the queen while Maraleena acted out the domineering part of the king and all three of them giggled until their sides hurt.
When she arrived at the door to Callum's study, he was already striding across the room. Sonia barely got her mouth open before he took her up the stairs for her injection and then he said they were off to explore the wood.
Before she could say another word, they were off to explore the wood.
That was the worst because it was the best.
Tramping through the snow and the trees, the brisk air in her lungs, the cold on her face, the warmth in her active muscles, she could smell the wildlife, hear it and sense it all around her.
And she loved it.
It reminded her of being out with her father all those times when she was a child. She hadn't done it since he'd died and she forgot just how much she loved it.
No, how much it felt right, like she was where she belonged, like she'd come home.
And being there with the sweet, tender Callum. Feeling that with him, while Callum held her hand as they trudged through snow. Stopping her every once in a while to place his hand under her jaw, tilt her head to his and brush his lips to hers (and sometimes it was far more than a brush). Coming to a rise which exposed a new vista and both of them halting, standing close and just experiencing the view. She allowed herself to pretend. Just that once, she allowed herself to be where she always loved to be with the man she wanted for so long to be hers.
So, when they returned, without demur, she ate lunch seated in his lap and, after lunch, she made out with him in his desk chair that was turned to face the roaring fire. She didn't make a peep when he picked her up, walked her to the couch and set her down.
Arranging the woolly throw over her, he murmured in a tone filled with regret, "I've work to do, little one." He framed her face with his hands and touched his mouth to hers. "We'll finish in a bit." Shafts of tawny sliced through the blue of his eyes before he whispered, "There're a few things I want you to do to me in that chair."
Sonia felt the throb pulse between her legs and she also heard the soft moan that caught in her throat.
The gold took over the blue when he growled with approval, "In heat."
Then he kissed her, harder, longer and wetter before he let her go and went back to his desk.
Once Sonia emerged from her pretend world of enchanted castles and fairytale kings you met in your dreams, she realized that she'd been in Scotland for three days.
She didn't intend to go to Scotland at all but she'd been there three days, met people she liked and fell in love with the village and the woods.
She didn't intend to have sex with Callum again but they'd had sex six times, not passable sex, not good sex, but (as usual) fantastic sex.
But she did intend to get a few things straight which was the only thing she didn't do.
And she had to find the courage to do it, and soon. Or she was going to be doing things to Callum in his chair, things her mind was making up on its own, things that were making that throb beat between her legs and her br**sts swell. Things that, the very thought of them, when Callum wasn't even looking at her or speaking to her, were deeply affecting her.
And she was, she decided, in serious, serious trouble.
So deep was Sonia in her thoughts, when she heard the front door open, miles away (well, not exactly, just two floors of winding stairs and a long hall, but still), she didn't even think to stop from looking toward the door.
She thought about it when Callum said her name.
Her body tensed but she looked toward him.
He was studying her closely again, eyes narrowed, brows drawn.
His ominous look.
Finally, he asked, "Did you hear that?"
Oh good goodness.
She'd forgotten to hide her gift. Her father told her never, never to forget.
She tried to cover. "Hear what?"
Callum answered instantly, "Regan and Ryon arriving."
She stared at him.
She knew it was Regan and Ryon too, she could hear their voices and they were getting closer.
How did he ndash;?
He interrupted her thoughts, "Answer me, Sonia, did you hear that?"
She didn't have time to think about him hearing the arrival of his family. She still had to cover.
"Ryon and Regan are here?" she asked, tossing the throw aside and standing.
"You didn't hear it?" he returned as he, too, stood and started toward her.
She considered running.
Instead, she lied, "No." Then she cocked her head and went on lying, "Oh. I hear them now."
Anyone would, they were coming up the stairs.
Callum stopped in front of her and looked down at her. "If you didn't hear them, why did you turn your head the minute the front door opened?"
"You can hear the front door open from all the way up here?" she asked immediately, shocked and extremely interested in this news at the same time still hiding her secret.
"I can," he replied tersely, stepping closer, making her tilt her head back to look at him and feeling the heat from his body then he finished with, "And so can you."
Her eyes flew wide, her mouth opened to deny it and Regan came through the door.
"Cal! Sonny! It's so good to be home!" she cried, rushing in, her face wreathed with smiles.
Ryon was following her, his eyes were on both Sonia and Callum and they were wary like he felt the tense air.
Callum turned to face his mother.
"I hate that plane ride. It's so long and you're so pent up. There's nowhere to roam," Regan declared while placing her hand on Callum's bicep, giving his cheek a kiss and then giving Sonia a hug.
After Regan moved away, Sonia tried to step away from her mate.
His arm slid around her shoulders.
Sonia stopped moving.
Callum tucked her into his side.
"But I'm home now!" Regan announced gleefully before turning to Sonia. "And I want to know how you're getting on, Sonny, but the very first thing I'm going to do is change my clothes and take a walk. Then I'm going to ask Drogan to light a fire in the knitting room and you're going to tell me everything. Oh, I do hope Callum took you to the village. They have the best bakery in the world and I'm French so that's saying something!" She grinned, looked between them and teased, "Then, I suppose, I'll let Cal have you back for dinner."
"I'm glad you're home, Regan," Sonia smiled at her mother-in-law then turned her smile to Ryon. "And you too Ryon. Glad to see you safe."
"It's good to be safe, Sonny," Ryon smiled back.
"Oh!" Regan cried suddenly. Sonia jumped and looked to see her mother-in-law was digging in her purse. "Things werehellip; well, we didn't get much time and I was just so happy everyone was okay and then I was worried about getting Sonny ready." She pulled her wallet out of her purse and zipped it open. "So, I forgot, buthellip;" Her arm extended toward Callum and she announced, "Here!"
The wedding band Sonia gave to Callum was gleaming between her thumb and forefinger.
Sonia stared at it and felt every muscle in her body grow so rigid, she feared if she moved she'd break into a million pieces.
She watched as, casually, Callum reached out and took the band from his mother, murmuring his thanks. And, just as casually, he reached across Sonia's rigid body and slid it on the finger that was curled around her shoulder.
They said that people had their limits, their breaking points.
That was Sonia's.
Something came over her. Something she'd never felt in her life. Something she didn't understand, for a moment.
Then she realized it was fury. It was a fury so mammoth, she could think of nothing else but it.
She looked up at Callum not noticing the air in the room had gone dense as all of its inhabitants sensed her rage.
"I need a word," she declared before yanking out of his arm and practically running to their bedroom.
In the seconds before Callum followed her in and shut the door, Sonia realized that the time had come.
She was going to do this.
Now.
She lifted her hand out, palm up and demanded, "Give me my ring."
Callum was watching her carefully, arms crossed on his chest as he asked, "Sorry?"
She wriggled her fingers. "My ring. Give it to me."
He wasn't watching her carefully anymore. He realized what she was talking about and his jaw clenched.
Then he asked, "Why?"
"It doesn't mean anything to you. And, when I bought it, I wasn't certain it meant anything to me." She watched the muscle leap warningly in his jaw at these words but she was too enraged to care. "But then it did. It meant something. And it isn't right, if it means something to the giver, for the receiver to wear it if it means nothing to them."
He paused for a moment before he spoke.
Then he said in a tone that was as much of a threat as the muscle jerking in his jaw, "Can I ask why in the f**k you think it means nothing to me?"
Sonia ignored his tone too.
She dropped her hand and snapped, "It doesn't matter how I know, I just know. Now give me my ring!"
She watched his body grow taut before he stated, "You've got about two seconds, baby doll, to tell me what the f**k you're on about."
Something broke inside her and the pain was excruciating.
Because of that she leaned forward and hissed, "Don't call me baby doll."
And the second the words were out of her mouth, she saw it, clear as if she was an inch away.
His eyes instantly turned golden.
And he started toward her.
Sonia was alert enough to retreat.
"Two seconds are up," he growled as he stalked her.
She was still throwing caution to the wind in the frightening face of his mirrored fury. She might have been alert enough to retreat but she was definitely not going to back down.
"I didn't know your kind existed," she threw at him. "But you knew about humans. You knew what wedding rings were."
"And?" he clipped.
She stopped retreating, braced and shouted, "So I had an excuse when I started to take off my claiming chain! I didn't know what it was!" She jabbed her finger at him as he stilled his progress and stared at her. "But you knew what a wedding ring was and you took it off just the same!"
His head jerked slightly, his face cleared of his fury and he murmured, "Honey."
"Don't call me that either," Sonia snapped. "This charade is over. You don't like blondes? Great. Fine. Whatever. Consider your duty served, Callum. In public, if your people want me, I'll be their queen. My parents wanted that. It's my destiny. Even I feel it, though I don't want to. But in private, it's over. I'm done. If you aren't okay with that, that's good too. I'll just go home."
Sonia thought that was pretty good. However, when she focused on Callum and not what she was saying she saw he was grinning.
Yes, grinning.
He was such an arrogant bastard!
Then he asked calmly, "What makes you say I don't like blondes?"
Sonia gaped at him.
Was he mad?
"That crazy woman said it before you sequestered her!" Sonia cried.
He started toward her again, not stalking in the same way but definitely still stalking.
"Baby doll," he said with humor threading his tone, "She's crazy."
Sonia started retreating again in exactly the same way as before.
"Do you like blondes?" she queried with a bite in her tone.
"No," he replied honestly. Her shoulders hit tapestry and she was forced to halt at the same time she gasped at his effrontery before he finished, "Or, I should say, not until recently."
He got close and she tried, quickly, to move to the side to escape him.
This failed.
With no effort at all, his arm shot out, hooked around her waist and he pulled her in front of him, took a step forward and she was back against the tapestries, pinned there by his tall frame.
Sonia decided she'd fight her way out of it. Not physically, she wasn't stupid or, at least, not that stupid.
Verbally.
"You sequestered her," Sonia accused.
"I did," he replied, gazing down at her patiently, one arm around her, the other hand coming up to curl around her neck.
Sonia tried to yank her neck away.
This failed too.
She quit trying and went on, "That was cruel."
His eyebrows shot up. "Sequestering Mona?"
"No," she shot back. "Everything you did to Mona."
"Sonia, you don't know what you're talking about." She opened her mouth to speak but his hand at her neck moved to her jaw and his thumb pressed against her lips. "But if you'd calm down a second, I'll explain."
She jerked her face from his hand and then snapped, "I don't want an explanation. You're right, I don't know what sequestered means. But I know you humiliated her in front of a room full of men. Then you forced her to go somewhere she didn't want to go and she barely got a word in edgewise. There is no explanation for that."
Callum watched her speak with curiosity then he muttered, "Bloody hell, Ryon was right. Baby doll, have you been holding onto this for a whole f**king month?"
"Has it only been a month?" Sonia retorted sarcastically. "It's felt like years."
He studied her a moment still with that strange curiosity then he remarked musingly, "I thought this would be annoying but it isn't. You're pretty all the time, little one, but you're spectacular when you're pissed off."
Sonia growled and shoved at the massive wall of his chest.
He rocked back a few inches but recovered quickly and returned to his previous position.
"All right, Sonia, you obviously need to talk, we'll talk," he offered but it looked like he was fighting a smile. "Tell me what's on your mind. All of it."
She stared at him in astonishment.
He was enjoying this!
Her vision covered with a film of red.
She'd never been so incensed and she didn't care that he could snap her like a twig. She shoved him again, harder this time, but he just rocked back and then came forward yet again.
So she went back to her earlier strategy.
"I don't want to talk!" she yelled in his face, "There's nothing you can say about how you treated Mona. About me being here without you even asking me if I wanted to move, wanted to leave my business, my friends, my home. There's nothing you can say about coming back fromhellip; wherever, whisking me away, just like that, without even saying hello! There's nothing you can say about me not having any of my clothes here, about you taking over everything, every move I make, everything I wear, everything I eat. There's nothing you can say to explain allhellip; thingshellip; you!"
He was still fighting a smile when he commented, "There's a lot there, baby doll."
"Stop calling me baby doll!" she shrieked.
She barely got out the word "doll" when he bent, put a shoulder to her belly and hefted her up. She kicked out her legs and beat at his back with her fists but he didn't notice or didn't care. He strode nonchalantly to the bed and tossed her on it.
Sonia instantly rolled, got up on all fours and started crawling but his hands seized her ankles and he pulled her knees out from under her, dragging her across the bed and rolling her to her back.
She growled and went at him.
In no time at all, he was on top of her and had her wrists pinned over her head.
"We'll play later, Sonia," he informed her, his face suddenly serious but it was studiously so, as if he was being serious for her benefit but still found the situation amusing. "Now we're going to talk."
Sonia gaped at him, mouth open and everything.
He thought she wanted to play?
He was mad.
"We'll start with Desdemona," he announced and she bucked under him but his hands tightened on her wrists and he gave her a warning shake before he demanded, "Pay attention."
She stilled and glared at him.
"There's a lot of history with Mona I won't get into," he started to explain.
"I gathered that," Sonia snapped acidly.
He watched her still obviously trying to fight back his humor. "You've got nothing to be jealous of, little one."
"I'm not jealous!" she screeched.
He shook his head, ignored her screech and continued, "Being sequestered is not a bad thing. Your people do it as well when someone is not right and they need help. Mona, as you could tell, is not right."
"She just has a thing for you," Sonia retorted.
"Yes, she does but it's more than that," he returned smoothly. "She's in a far better place than she deserves to be. For what she did, or, more to the point didn't do, she should have been punished. Instead she's amongst people who will try to help her sort out her head."
Sonia's eyes narrowed on him and she asked scornfully, "She should have been punished just because she's got the hots for you?"
His painstakingly serious expression changed to genuinely serious.
In fact, deadly serious. So deadly, one look at it made Sonia hold her breath.
"No, Sonia," he stated slowly. "She should have been punished for what her inattention to her responsibilities caused. She should have been punished because what she didn't do meant hundreds of warriors died. Hundreds on both sides. She should have been punished because what she didn't do means I've spent the last three days writing letters to mates and mothers explaining that their lovers and sons died brave. Died honorably. Even though every word is f**king futile because nothing I say will ease their anguish."
At his words, and the depth of feeling with which he spoke them, the fight left Sonia. She felt her body relaxing under his as she felt her heart slide into her throat and tears start to prick the backs of her eyes.
He'd been writing a lot. She saw him doing it.
Callum had been handwriting letters to grieving mates and mothers.
She couldn't imagine writing hundreds of letters like that. She wouldn't know what to say. The task was so atrocious she couldn't ever imagine having the strength to bear it.
But Callum did. He did it at the same time he grinned at her or took her to the village or walked with her through the snow, never once letting on that this heavy weight was bearing on his broad shoulders.
For the first time since she met him the burden of his responsibility as king to his people struck her and it felt like she'd been seared by lightning.
It came out of her mouth before she could stop it. It came out softly, gently, even lovingly as the tears welled in her eyes and slid out the sides.
"My handsome wolf."
The instant she whispered those three words, his hands released her wrists and his forehead dropped to hers.
Freed, her arms wrapped around him tight.
He rolled to his side, taking her with him and curling his arms around her to hold her close.
She realized then she was another one of his burdens. A mate he didn't exactly want but he had all the same and it was his duty to do right by her.
And he was attempting to do his duty, not only to his people but to her. His moments of kingliness were a part of him, ingrained. It was who he was.
The rest of it, his tenderness and humor, was him doing the best he could with a difficult situation.
Her destiny had brought her to him to be his queen, his people's queen and she had a duty as well, to him, to his people. It was an awesome responsibility but it was also an honor no one but no one of her kind would have.
But Sonia had been chosen and she'd been acting like a selfish idiot, thinking of her lost dream instead of doing her duty to him.
No man, not even someone as strong and charismatic as Callum, should face such a burden alone. It was her duty, her destiny, to stand by his side and provide what she could to help him see it through.
Still weeping silently, she tipped her head back to look at him.
"Callum ndash;"
He looked down at her and started talking at the same time, "Your place is beside me, Sonia, wherever I go. I'll take you to visit your friends as often as we can but you belong at my side. After what happened with the rebellion, I needed to be home and I needed you with me."
"Callum ndash;" she repeated.
He kept going. "You can't wear your fancy clothes and high-heeled shoes here. It's cold and it snows, a lot. It's my duty to take care of you and I did, by getting you what you needed to live your life at my side." Then he muttered with irritation, "Christ, you're the only woman I know who doesn't like new clothes."
She wanted to kick herself at throwing his generosity in his face but instead attempted yet again to interject, "Callum ndash;"
He kept right on talking just as, visibly, his irritation grew. "Your life is too short to worry about calories, f**k, it's too damned short to worry about anything. You have a beautiful body and it'll be even more beautiful when there's more of it. But you have to learn, little one, to enjoy your life and not waste it on ridiculous things like counting calories and making certain you've taken every last vitamin."
"Callum ndash;" she tried again but he was on a roll.
"And when I arrived to collect you and didn't say hello it was because I'd been fighting for eight days straight. No food, no rest. And I'd left the front after having given an order, an order I knew was carried out in my absence, a vile order I had no choice but to give for they would not admit defeat."
Her body grew taut against his again because she knew he was talking about the executions and she fully realized the weight of his burden wasn't immense.
It was colossal.
She tried to break in. "Callum, please ndash;"
She failed in her endeavor and he carried on, "This has been going on for too f**king long. My father dealt with it, his father before him, we've tried everything. I had no choice but to break them. I don't f**king like not having a choice and I don't f**king enjoy being forced into a corner that requires me to make a decision that means the end of the lives of men who are probably good men but they followed the wrong path. If I didn't break them, even more warriors would die, more letters would be written, this would never f**king end."
She decided to wait it out. She'd created this, now she had to bear the consequences.
However, apparently, he was done, for he asked, "Do you understand?"
Sonia did understand.
Boy, did she understand.
She lifted her hand to the side of his face, her fingers going into his hair but her thumb swept along his cheekbone and she replied softly, "I understand."
He studied her face and must have approved of what he saw for the intensity moved out of his, his big body relaxed into hers and his fingers started stroking her back.
"So we're good?" he queried, his deep voice as soft as hers.
No, they weren't good.
But they were as good as they were going to get. And, as always, Sonia had to accept that.
Feeling his warm strong body against hers, gazing into his handsome face, allowing the stroking of his fingers to relax her she thought perhaps she was wrong.
Perhaps, if she simply gave up her dream, she could do this and she vowed at that moment she would.
Therefore, she nodded.
"All right, little one," he was still speaking softly but, for some reason, his arms were getting tighter, "we have one more thing to talk about."
Committed to her new vow, Sonia nodded again.
Then he stated, "You heard Regan and Ryon arrive."
Forgetting her vow completely, Sonia automatically jerked in his arms to try to get away.
Those arms tightened further.
Panicked, she stared at him and denied, "I didn't."
"You did," he returned firmly. "You heard the person fall outside yesterday as well." Her panic rising, Sonia kept pushing against his arms but he held her fast. "You hear a lot you don't let onto hearing, you smell a lot too." At the extent of his knowledge, she started to struggle but he didn't let her gain an inch. "You see a lot too. More than any human does."
"I don't," she lied.
"Sonia," he warned.
She shook her head.
His brows drew together and he asked in a far less soft tone, "Why are you hiding it?"
She stared at him and then something pierced her panic.
He'd heard Regan and Ryon as well and the person falling outside yesterday and he'd heard Waring arriving at the cabin weeks before. And he smelled them between her legs, just as she did. Thinking about it, she'd noticed it often in a distracted way that he could sense the same things she could.
And her attackers that night, they'd sniffed her. They could smell her and she'd forgotten or blocked it out of her mind but she'd thought, at the time, they were just like her.
It was because they were Callum's kind.
So much was going on she never thought about it but Callum consistently exhibited the same abilities, the same gifts of sight, hearing and smell that she did.
And he never hid it. Not once.
"You have heightened senses," she breathed in wonder.
He continued to watch her with knitted brows. "All my people do."
"They do?"
"Yes, Sonia, they do," he replied and his arms gave her a squeeze. "All my people do. What I want now is for you to admit that you do too."
She didn't know what to make of this. She'd never met anyone who had her gifts except her father. She had always been the strange one, worried about what people would think, how they'd react if they knew.
