Then she thought about her destiny and how it brought her to this man who shared her gifts.
Then she took a huge chance, hoping her father wouldn't disapprove and, quietly, she shared.
"Father told me never to tell anyone," she whispered and watched his brows unknit and lift.
"Why the f**k not?" he asked irately.
She shook her head and answered, "Humans don't have my gifts. He said I should be proud of them but I had to hide them from everyone. Everyone. I could never tell a living soul. And I didn't. Even Gregor and Yuri don't know."
His mouth got tight at that but he didn't speak.
"If they knew, Callum, they'd think I was a freak," she went on to explain. "They might even fear me." She pressed closer and her voice dropped back to a whisper. "They might even harm me. My senses are that good. They could think I was a mutant. They could want to study me."
As her lifelong, perhaps hysterical fears were verbalized, Callum gave her a shake. "Baby doll, no one is going to hurt you."
"Not now," she agreed. "I have you to protect me. But before, who knows?" she cried. "It's not just that, it's more," she added. Now that she'd let it go, after so, so long, she couldn't stop the information flowing. "Animals don't fear me. And I'm not just talking dogs and cats, I'm talking all animals. Birds and the wild animals Papa and I would see when we were out in the woods. And even more, I can feel eyes on me, smell people from far away but I know if they're good or they're bad. I'd been sensing your people watching me for years and I knew I had nothing to fear. I also knew those men who attacked me that night before they came into my house. I knew them because I'd been sensing them for weeks."
It was Callum's turn to try to cut in. "Sonia ndash;"
But it was Sonia's turn to be on a roll.
"And I dreamed of you. I dreamed of you for ages and you were real. I dreamed of you and I in this room and I didn't know you or this castle existed. No one does that! I'm a freak!"
His arms grew so tight, for a second it cut off her breath and she stopped ranting and stared at him.
"Baby doll, calm down. You aren't a freak. Me and every one of my own have the same abilities."
Her eyes grew wide at this revelation and she breathed, "Did you dream about me?"
His gaze grew soft and he rolled to his back, rolling her on top of him at the same time. Then his hand came up and his fingers tucked her hair behind her ear.
"No, unfortunately, I never dreamed of you," he whispered. "That, honey, is a gift all your own." She drew in breath to speak but he kept talking. "But your father was right, it's a gift. All of it and you shouldn't hide it. You should be proud." His thumb swept her lower lip and she trembled against him, hearing those words again, words her father said time and again but this time from Callum, spoken in his fierce whisper, his eyes never leaving hers. "You don't have to hide it here, not amongst my people who are now your people. Baby doll, with me, you don't have to hide anything. You can be all you."
A relief so extreme, a relief that she never thought she'd know, hit Sonia and it was so immense, her body sagged with it. Melting against his, she dropped her cheek to his chest, clutched his shirt in her fists and burst into sobs.
"I never thoughthellip; it's been sohellip; so hahellip; hardhellip;" she stammered as his fingers sifted soothingly through her hair. She was focusing on his hand's movements, trying to come to terms with everything (an impossible task) when something occurred to her, Sonia's head jerked up, the tears ceased and she asked, "Do you think I'm one of you?"
Callum shook his head. "No, baby doll. We don't have any blondes among us." His hand came to her face, he swiped at her tears and said softly, "But you know you aren't. If you take a minute, you can smell the difference."
She took in a breath and she knew what he was saying. She'd never given herself the time to make the connection before but his people's scents were different than hers. They were deeper, muskier almost wild and animal but not in the least unpleasant.
In fact, she liked their smell better than humans.
"I like your smell," she blurted, meaning his people's smell (though she liked his too, immensely) but it didn't come out that way.
He grinned before he rolled into her saying huskily, "I like yours too."
The tawny was spiking through his irises and Sonia knew all too well what that meant.
And she suddenly felt vulnerable.
Exposed.
She'd never been with him knowing him the way she did then, understanding both their duties, their abilities, their connection on a level that hadn't, until that moment, penetrated.
"Callum ndash;" she whispered but he was mostly on top of her and his face disappeared in her neck.
Then his tongue slid up its length before he said, "Regan wants you and she'll be back from her walk soon, we have to be fast."
"Callum ndash;" Sonia whispered again but his mouth moved over her jaw, took hers in a hungry kiss and she was instantly lost.
They were fast, or, she should say, Callum was fast.
With practiced ease, he'd drawn the urge over her but, even if they needed to be fast, he felt in the mood to play.
Therefore, she was fully clothed, as was he, but Sonia was on her knees in front of him. His arms were around her, one hand in her unzipped jeans, the other up her sweater having yanked down her bra. His fingers were torturing her in beautiful ways in both places.
Her head was resting against his chest and, as she ground down into his fingers, she tipped it back to gaze unfocused at his strong, square jaw.
"I want you inside me," she begged.
"Tonight," he growled.
"Please," she breathed.
He gave her what she asked for but not what she really wanted and two of his fingers entered her, stroking deep.
Taking what she could get, she rode them wildly.
"That's it, baby doll," he groaned hoarsely into her ear, "Fuck yourself and come for me."
Instantly upon hearing his words, she did as she was told. Her cries piercing the air as the orgasm overwhelmed her and her body trembled in his arms.
When she was done, he was cupping her breast and her sex and his mouth was at her neck.
Her body wasn't okay. It was more than okay, happy and content.
Her mind wasn't okay either but it was better than it had been since Callum stormed into her life and turned it on its head.
She understood him and his duty and she knew her place.
It was okay as it was ever going to be.
She decided to nod.
"Good," he murmured, his hands moved gently away and he righted her clothing but his arms wrapped around her and he held her where she was. "One more thing, baby doll." He was still murmuring but there was steel veining through his tone and she held her breath for what was to come next. "Never again ask me to give back my ring. No matter how pissed you are, never do that again." His arms tightened around her and he growled, "I can't wear it into battle for reasons you'll eventually understand. I gave it to Regan for safekeeping. From now on, if I need to, I'll give it to you. But it means something to me. I can't f**king imagine why you'd say it doesn't but get that out of your head right now. Am I understood?"
Her breath caught in her lungs, the steel in his tone piercing that guard around her heart. Even though she wasn't entirely certain she understood or believed what he was saying, Sonia could do nothing but nod.
Satisfied with her response, he kissed her neck, gave her a squeeze and then pulled them out of the bed, walked them out of the room and took her to his mother, leaving her in the cozy, warm knitting room with its blazing file and her mother-in-law smiling happily at them as he kissed her thoroughly and left.
Likely to write more letters.
She stared after him long after he'd gone.
Then Sonia Arlington sighed, finally accepting her fate, and she turned with a smile to Regan.
Chapter Seventeen
Betrayal
Walking down the hall toward the kitchen, Callum heard the three women's voices filled with laughter just as he smelled the three distinct scents.
Two wolves.
One Sonia.
As he turned the corner to enter the room, Sonia, no longer hiding her gifts, was already looking toward the door expectantly, a small smile on her face.
Callum smiled back.
She was sitting at a stool at the counter, a mug of coffee cupped in both hands. She had her long hair pulled back from her face with a wide, pale pink band and she was wearing the cashmere robe he bought her for Christmas as well a pair of thick, pale pink socks. Her face was free of makeup and he thought she'd never looked lovelier, not simply because she was but because, since their blowout fight that afternoon a week and a half before, she'd changed.
As he walked into the room, Callum nodded to Mara and Callista but he went directly to his mate, getting close and when he did she tipped her head back to look at him.
"Hey," she said softly, her eyes warm on him and that single word made his c**k jerk.
He threaded his fingers in her thick, soft hair and bent his mouth to hers.
"Hey," he replied against her lips before he kissed her lightly.
When he lifted his head, her cheeks were pink but her eyes showed her disappointment.
Satisfied with her reaction, Callum grinned.
Her gaze dropped down to his grin and she emitted a delicate, fluttering sigh.
Loving that sound, Callum's hand twisted reflexively but gently in her hair.
"Do you want coffee?" she asked.
No. He didn't want coffee.
He wanted to order Mara and Callista out of the room and he wanted to lift Sonia up on the kitchen counter and do things to his queen that, just from the memories, would make certain that pink stayed in her cheeks any time she was having coffee with her new friends in this room.
"Yes," he answered.
His fingers glided through her hair as she put her mug down, got up, her body brushing his, but she didn't go to the coffeepot immediately. She stopped, went up on the tips of her toes, kissed the underside of his jaw and then she went to the coffeepot.
"Big day tomorrow," Mara commented as Callum leaned a hip against the counter and watched Sonia make him a mug of coffee.
"Mm," Callum replied, his mind on his mate.
"I can't wait," Callista remarked. "My house is full. Every room, every couch. Even some in sleeping bags on the floors. The whole town is buzzing with excitement."
"I know!" Mara exclaimed. "The place is heaving. Last night, Drogan and I took the pups up to our roof just so we could look all around at the campfires dotting the hills in the dark." She clasped her hands together and breathed, "It was so beautiful, it was like a dream."
Sonia returned and handed Callum his coffee after which she slid an arm around his waist and rested her weight into his side. When she did, he pulled her closer with his arm around her shoulders.
Sonia looked to the women and stated, "It's seriously crazy. Every day for days, more and more fires. I can't believe so many people are out in this snow and cold in tents."
Callista grinned at her. "Our people don't mind the cold."
"They'd have to not," Sonia replied. "It was below freezing last night. Even in the castle, Callum kept the fire going all night in our room to fight back the chill."
"I'll bet he did," Mara muttered with comically wide eyes to Callista and Callum watched Sonia's cheeks go pink again for Mara was right. Callum kept the fire going in the fireplace but he kept Sonia warm under the hides in other ways.
Callista noticed Sonia's blush and she teased, "Mara, you forget our dainty queen is a respectable human. They don't talk over coffee about all the best ways to fight back a chill."
"Maybe not but I'm going to have words with Drogan. It's been ages since he's been able to go all night fighting back the chill."
Callista and Mara burst into hysterical laughter and Callum glanced down to see Sonia, not in the least offended, smiling at them.
She must have felt his eyes for she tipped her head back to look at him and announced cheerfully, "Mara and Callie think I'm a prude."
"You are a prude, Sonny!" Mara shrieked and then her gaze moved to Callum. "Still, after all this time, no one knows her claiming story! It should be illegal."
"I agree," Callista nodded mock soberly, "illegal."
Sonia calmly grabbed her coffee cup, brought it to her mouth and mumbled into it, "Lucky for me, my husband's king."
That was when Callum burst out laughing, curling his wife into his front. She dropped her mug and tipped her head back to grin at him.
"Find me when you're done here, wife," he ordered quietly, his hand tensing on her shoulder on the word "wife".
Her eyes flashed briefly and she nodded. He touched his mouth to hers and, with another nod to Mara and Callista, he left the room and went to his study.
Sitting at his desk, trying to focus his mind on the hundreds of matters that should be taking his attention, chiefly the victory celebration that was taking place tomorrow, he found his task impossible.
His eyes slid to the window and he saw for once the sun shining bright upon the snow.
He turned his chair to face the view and his gaze became as distracted as his mind as he looked at the over-bright vista but didn't see it.
The last week and a half had been a revelation.
Ryon was correct. Female humans needed communication and giving it to Sonia had made the world of difference. Not knowing her hardly at all before claiming her, he'd not known how much she was holding onto in that head of hers.
And thus holding back.
Now he knew.
Fucking hell, but he knew.
She was like an all new Sonia and if he thought the old Sonia was perfect, he'd been wrong.
This Sonia, sitting in her robe with her hair pulled back in her kitchen with her new friends, having a laugh, getting him coffee, muttering jokes in her dry humor and leaning into him was f**king perfect.
And this all worked exceptionally well for Callum. In fact, he couldn't have been f**king happier.
His mate was meant to be there for him to talk to, to work out his frustrations with and he'd found, since he'd never done it with another female, human or she-wolf, it was an extraordinary release.
Telling Sonia about Desdemona, about the letters he had to write, the order he had to give, all the while feeling her soft body against his as they lay in their bed, it was like being liberated from a mental prison. He could and did talk to Ryon and his brothers but nothing was like Sonia's face gentling and her body melting into his as he let that shit go. Nothing. He'd never experienced anything like it. It was beautiful.
But, with Sonia, it was more.
Nearly three weeks ago, Ryon had asked how lucky he could get and Callum had thought he was lucky then with the mate destiny had chosen for him.
Now he couldn't fathom the depths of his fortune.
* * * * *
It started the day after their fight, after she'd had her breakfast and he'd given her the injection. He took her back to his study and sat her on his lap as he bent to the task of writing more letters.
She sat quietly for a short while then she started to arrange things on his desk. Then more things. Then she slid off his lap and started tidying in earnest.
He allowed this. Mainly because his mind was on other matters but also because he'd noticed she was very organized and if she wanted to organize his desk, he'd let her.
Callum, he found out too late, should have paid attention. Though, in the end, he was glad he didn't.
"What's this?" she asked and he looked up to see her head tilted to the side and she'd flipped a piece of paper to face him.
Callum's gaze dropped to the paper.
It was the report that Caleb had sent him with the list of the names of the fallen warriors, their next of kin and the kin's address. About a third of the way down the list had tick marks, letters he'd already written.
"Those are the fallen, honey," he explained softly.
Her brows drew together in confusion and she started, "The fallndash;?"
Realization dawned, her face paled and her hand pressed the list to her chest. He stood as she flipped the list around and he saw her eyes scanning it. She stepped back when he stepped forward, not raising her head to look at him when she did.
Callum stopped.
"I know him," she whispered and flipped the list back to Callum. Peering over it, she pointed to a name then her head snapped back and her eyes caught his. "I met him at the mansion. We talked a couple of times. He was very sweet to me."
There was more than one name of one wolf she talked to a couple of times at the mansion on that list. Which meant, from the troubled expression clear to read on her face, Callum had to get it away from her.
He held his hand out and ordered, "Baby doll, give me the list."
She defied him and took another step back, shaking her head and she looked at the list again.
He started moving toward her but she kept moving back, her eyes scanning.
"Sonia ndash;"
He stopped speaking and moving when she halted and gasped. Her head snapped back again, this time the movement sharper, her eyes were wide, her face ashen.
"Honey ndash;" he began but she cut him off and when she did her voice was trembling.
"Tell me there are two of your men named Waring."
Fuck!
He moved faster but she retreated just as fast, skittering across the room, her gaze locked to his all the while begging, "Tell me, Callum. Tell me that's a common name for your people."
It was rare his people's names were common. Since wolves didn't have last names, their parents often had to get creative. At the very least, they carried a name that no one in their town or village shared.
Callum had lived over three hundred years and he'd never met another wolf named Waring.
Except the one Sonia knew.
She ran into the wall but lifted her arm, hand out, palm up, to ward him off.
"Tell me, Callum."
He ignored her arm and her palm hit his chest as he got close and framed her face with his hands.
Then, trying to be gentle with her, he whispered, "I can't, little one."
She closed her eyes tight and turned her head away.
She didn't open her eyes when she whispered back, "He saved my life."
He did. But Waring did more than that.
"I know," Callum shared. "He saved mine too."
Her eyes jerked back to his and Callum saw stark terror mixed with her grief.
"What?" she breathed.
He swiftly debated the merits of telling her the story but her hands came up to his at her face and her fingers curled tightly around them, fisting the paper in her hand as she did so.
Then she demanded loudly, "What?"
Callum sighed then quickly he explained, "I'd been targeted. I was defending myself against six attackers, maybe more. Waring drew several of them away, dispatched two but was killed by the third before I could aid him."
"Oh my God," she breathed in horror as her fingers tensed.
His gentle explanation had no effect for she repeated, "Oh my God."
Before he could move to comfort her, she tore violently away from his hands and stepped to the side.
"Who's this?" she demanded to know, turning the paper and pointing at the name beside Waring's.
Cautiously, Callum answered, "That's his mother."
"Right," Sonia snapped and walked stiffly to his desk, sat herself in his chair and rolled herself forward.
Callum watched as she grabbed a piece of paper embossed with his crest at the top and started writing.
Silently, he walked to stand beside her and looked down to watch as she wrote:
Dear Michaela,
By now, you've likely heard of me. I'm Sonia, queen to Callum and I knew your son.
In the few weeks I'd known him, he did several kindnesses for me, two very important. One of those saved the life of my mate.
He also made me laugh.
There is nothing I can write in this letter which will help you during this time of sorrow. But I hope it gives you some small measure of comfort to know that there are two beings very grateful for the fact that they shared this glorious planet with your son, even if it was for a short time.
Please know you and your family are in my and Callum's thoughts.
Forever indebted to your handsome, brave, fun-loving son, Waring,
-Sonia
Once she'd finished writing her extraordinary letter, writing it without hesitation or difficulty, she folded it, dug through his desk until she found an envelope, inserted the letter, sealed it and handwrote the address.
Then her head tipped back to look up at him. Callum saw the trail of wetness on her cheeks and the tears still shining in her eyes.
All right, it was abundantly clear she didn't write it without difficulty.
"Okay, Callum," she said in a trembling voice, picking up the report filled with names of dead soldiers and shaking it at him. "Who's next?"
At first, Callum didn't move.
There weren't many times in his long life that Callum, king of the wolves, was uncertain what to do but in the face of his queen's profound but poised compassion, that was one of them.
So he did what his instincts told him to do. He leaned down to his mate, curled his fingers around her neck and he marked her hair with his temple. Then he kissed her softly on her lips.
Then he pulled her out of his chair, sat in it, tugged her gently into his lap and, together, they wrote letters to the kin of the fallen. Callum writing the letters, Sonia, sitting in his lap, addressing them, ticking off the names and writing personal notes to the next of kin of the few wolves she knew, however briefly.
Her assistance made it a less difficult task, if not a less wretched one.
And, in that day and age of phones and e-mail, news of her notes, especially those received quickly by the kin of his Royal Guard who lived in the village (including Waring's mother), spread widely and it spread rapidly.
Just like he expected but much more swiftly, in fact, before most of his people even met their queen, they fell in love with her.
* * * * *
The new Sonia continued to emerge when, three nights later in their bedroom, the firelight dancing on her skin, her face tucked into his neck, her body straddling his, their physical connection still held but their breath having recovered from their orgasms, she lifted up with her forearms on his chest.
Her eyes moved over his face before they caught his and she asked, somewhat timidly and even with a hint of embarrassment, "What's your last name?"
He was surprised at her question but he shouldn't have been. Most immortals, including vampires (although Gregor and Yuri had adopted one and they did it for her) didn't have surnames. But humans, of course, did.
"My people don't carry surnames," he informed her.
She looked surprised for a moment as she whispered, "Oh," and her gaze drifted away as she went on, "This is a problem."
His arms about her gave her a squeeze, bringing her attention back to him before he queried, "Why?"
"Well, in my world, we do have surnames," she told him. "People will expect you to have one and they'll expect me to take it or explain that I didn't." She sighed and finished, "Which I guess is what I'll have to do."
There was one thing he liked about the human's mating ritual, the female accepting the male's name. Callum liked this not because it denoted possession but because it signified the birth of a single unit, a family.
He found at that moment to his further surprise he wished he had a name to give her.
It was with delight when he heard that Sonia had an even better idea.
"Mara told me your father's full name was McDonagh," she remarked.
"It was," Callum confirmed.
"Well," she started, her gaze drifting away and her manner again became tentative before she looked back to him. "That's a last name for my people."
"I know," he replied.
"Well," she went on after giving a brief nod, "I thoughthellip;" she hesitated then forged ahead, "if you don't mind, and, um, if Regan doesn't, maybe, when we're in my world, I can tell people my new name is Sonia Arlington-McDonagh."
At her quiet, faltering words, he had the same exact reaction he had when she gave him his ring. Something shifted inside him, so big it was as if the bed moved. His gut and chest tightened and all he could think of was her being known by the name of Sonia Arlington-McDonagh.
She stared at him and her face grew worried before she whispered, "I don't have to ndash;"
But he cut her off by rolling her to her back so he was pinning her to the bed, his h*ps snug between her legs, his c**k still inside her and hardening again as his mouth took hers in a hungry kiss.
When he lifted his head, both their breath was coming faster.
His eyes locked on hers and he decreed, "You'll be known by that amongst my people as well."
Then he started moving slowly inside her and, automatically, her h*ps moved with his.
One of her hands glided up his back as her other one came to rest at the side of his face before she said softly, "I take it you like that idea."
He stopped moving, slowly pulled out and surged back in, burying himself to the hilt before he growled against her mouth, "Yes, I f**king like it."
At his surge, her arm had clasped around him, her knees had come up to press against his sides and the fingers of her other hand had slid into his hair.
Her lips went to his ear and, beginning to pant, she breathed, "Mara also told me you're known as lsquo;The Wolf'."
His body stilled and at his reaction her head fell back to the pillows so she could gaze at him curiously.
"Sorry?" he asked, a different feeling seizing him.
He'd planned carefully with Regan and Ryon as advisors as to when to share the information with Sonia that his people were werewolves. Her reaction could be anything and Callum wanted to control it.
Werewolves were fantasy creatures to humans and not good ones. Vicious, murdering and abhorrent, something to be frightened of, the villain in a horror story.
Back in the day when wolves were less careful about who witnessed the transformation, humans had sometimes seen it. And, being humans, instead of trying to understand it, they feared it.
And hunted it.
Which was one of the reasons the rebellion they'd been fighting for millennia had remained so staunch in their beliefs that humans should be enslaved.
Sonia might fear what his people could do and unless he took the time to allow her to experience the fact that wolves were friendly, good-humored and kind, there was little doubt she would.
He also wanted their bond to strengthen. He felt confidence in their connection but this would be a shock. Callum wanted her life thoroughly entwined with his in a way she couldn't imagine it without him, no matter what secrets and how great they were that he may hold.
Regan and Ryon had agreed to his plan and it was even Ryon's suggestion to keep this knowledge from Sonia until she was securely inserted into their fold.
However, after their blowout, Callum had concerns about this plan.
Sonia seemed to prefer to understand what was happening to and around her. The longer he waited, the less it felt he was protecting her, the more it felt like a lie.
So much so, he'd begun to feel something he'd never experienced before. A twinge of something unpleasant. Almost as if he feared she'd discover his secret and consider his keeping it from her a betrayal.
Werewolves were half man. They weren't immune to f**king up, say taking to too much gaming or drink. Though wolves never strayed. Infidelity to your mate was unheard of. Before you found your mate, finding play partners (and numerous of them) for both males and females was the norm. After you found your mate, never. Callum had known many a wolf to succumb to the weaknesses of drink and gambling and, in so doing, betray their mate through deceits. And, with a she-wolf, it was never pretty and it was often the female would never get over it.
Living an eternity paying for a betrayal was a daunting prospect.
Living an eternity expecting another one, he reckoned, would be far worse.
Callum didn't want anything to mar the perfection of what he had with Sonia.
And he didn't want her to think he'd betrayed her, not for an instant but especially not for the short time that represented her eternity.
He didn't want this so much he actually thought that unpleasant feeling was that he feared it and fear was not something that he'd experienced before.
Further, he didn't f**king like how it felt.
"Mara told me you're known as lsquo;The Wolf'," she repeated quietly, watching him closely.
"Honey ndash;" he started.
She interrupted with, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I ndash;" he began again but she lifted her mouth and pressed it to his at the same time she tilted her h*ps and he slid in deeper. Both felt so good, his word ended in a growl.
"I like wolves," she whispered against his mouth and her hand put pressure in his hair. Her head tilted slightly to invite his kiss and her eyes turned hungry before she finished, "I like them a lot."
Her enticement was nearly too much.
But the time had come. He had to tell her.
So, he said, "Baby doll ndash;"
But she cut him off again, cut him off with the words that always shattered his control at the same time her sex clenched around his shaft, making her invitation a demand he couldn't ignore.
"Fuck me, wolf."
With another growl, Callum did as she asked, in three different positions, as hard and rough as both of them liked it.
It was so hard and rough and exhausting, by the time he forced her off her knees to her belly and settled between her widespread legs, his forearms tucked into her sides and his lips at her ear to whisper his secret, Sonia was fast asleep.
* * * * *
Two days later, Callum had still not found the appropriate time to explain things to Sonia.
The first day it was Sonia again who took his mind off his determination to share his secret.
After breakfast, as usual she wandered into his study. However this time she did it with a funny look on her face that Callum couldn't quite read.
After their extensive play the night before, he'd left her arms that morning without waking her and started his day.
This was unusual. Since coming to the castle and giving her time to acclimatize, he'd usually wait for her to wake and he'd either take care of her or the both of them before he started his day.
However, he remembered her complaints of aching when he'd taken her "vigorously" when he brought her home and, as the night before had been nearly as vigorous, he'd decided she needed her rest.
It was also unusual when she walked to him and he turned his seat toward her to offer his lap that she didn't immediately sit.
Instead she stopped, tilted her head to the side and stared at him, seemingly mesmerized.
"What is it?" he asked but her body gave a soft jerk at his words as if he'd woken her from a daydream.
She bit her lip, looking indecisive then she sank to her knees before him.
It was Callum's turn to stare.
She put her hands to his knees and then she put pressure there to pull them apart.
Then, Callum watched, his c**k responding instantly, as her pretty head dropped and she nuzzled his crotch with her face.
"Fucking hell," he breathed and she lifted up, pressed her front to his groin and placed her hands on his chest.
"You didn't play with me this morning," she accused quietly, her expression no longer unreadable but greedy.
Always in heat, his Sonia.
Clearly, the night before hadn't been that vigorous.
Callum marked that knowledge in his mind and his fingers slid into her hair at the side to cup her head.
Her hand dropped to his crotch to palm it softly and she whispered, "Can I play with you?"
"Fuck yes," he gritted through his teeth and she smiled.
Then she dropped her head and he watched as she pulled his sweater up, exposing his stomach, and put her mouth there, then it slid down while she undid his pants and freed him.
Without leading into it, she gripped his rock-hard shaft with her hand and took him in her mouth, stroking and sucking simultaneously. Often, she'd lick while she stroked, her eyes would rise to catch his as she did so and each time hers were hungrier, like she couldn't get enough of him.
For his part, Callum didn't take his eyes away from her for a second.
And what he saw was f**king beautiful.
It wasn't much later when he'd had enough and roughly maneuvered her body so it was bent over his desk, pulled her jeans and underwear down her thighs, that he found she was so aroused by sucking him off that the minute he buried himself in her abundantly wet silkiness, she slammed back to receive him and cried out her instant release.
Callum didn't long follow.
Allowing them both time to recover, Callum eventually righted their clothes. But it was Sonia that curled herself fully in his lap, pulling her legs up and bent to rest them against his front, her forehead tucked in his neck, her arm around him.
"Is that what you wanted me to do to you in your chair?" she asked softly.
It was.
But it was also far better because she did it of her own accord rather than because he told her to.
"Yes."
"Mm," she replied and snuggled closer.
Callum held his queen for a while then he resumed work.
Sonia didn't move, just stayed cuddled close in his lap.
As he worked with his wife held close, Callum decided that day wasn't the day to tell her his secret.
* * * * *
The next day, Callum didn't have time to tell her because Caleb returned.
Regan had taken Sonia away for a more in-depth perusal of town, something which it was obvious Sonia wanted to do by the look of excitement on her face when Regan suggested it. So Callum allowed it.
While she was gone, he was holed up in his study with Caleb and Ryon discussing the aftermath of the rebellion, the cleanup of the Western Territories, the sweep across the various regions to locate and neutralize all remaining rebels that Calder was leading and he'd lost track of time.
Regan had called explaining that she and Sonia were having dinner with Maraleena and Drogan in town and by the time Callum and his brethren emerged from his study it was late. It wasn't only late, it was time for bed and Sonia hadn't had her injection.
He went in search of her and found her alone in the knitting room. The fire obviously Regan had laid and started was burning for Sonia had no clue how to start a fire. This was something Callum learned days earlier when he walked into their bedroom in the middle of her adorably frustrated attempts and she made him promise he'd teach her to do it. He had lied (not exactly a betrayal in his mind) and promised he would when he had no intention of doing it because if she didn't ever learn, she'd have to find him to do it for her and he liked that idea.
She was standing at the window but she wasn't looking out.
Her head was bent and she was watching the fingers of one hand at the other twisting the wedding bands he'd given her around and around.
Something struck him then and he stopped in the door, leaning a shoulder against the jamb, crossing his arms on his chest and he studied her.
During their fight she had said that when she gave him his ring, she didn't know if it meant anything to her.
He'd not called her on that. He was satisfied with the outcome of their altercation. There was no reason to dredge it up, process every word she said in anger when, from her behavior since then, she'd given every indication that she wasn't only settling into her life with him splendidly but enjoying it thoroughly.
But now, watching her, her face thoughtful and far away, twisting those bands which had meant nothing to him when he'd given them to her but an hour later when he'd heard her call him "husband", they meant everything, he felt a definite and acute unease. An unease akin to that unpleasant feeling that felt like fear.
Without looking up, she said softly, "I know you're there."
"I know you know," he replied.
She finally looked at him and her fingers stilled in their turning but they didn't release the rings. "So why are you standing all the way over there?"
"I'm wondering what's on your mind," he told her truthfully.
She dropped her hand but wrapped her arms around her belly and explained, "What's on my mind is, I'm wondering why my husband stopped in the doorway when he never stops in a doorway when I'm in a room. He always comes to me. So, what's on my mind is, I'm wondering what's on your mind."
She was probably telling the truth.
Just not all of it.
He walked to her and when he arrived she slid her arms around his middle and leaned her body into his, tilting her head far back to look up at him.
It struck him then that she did this a great deal recently. Effortlessly putting her arms around him, leaning her weight into him. Before, her hugs and moments of affection were rare and when they came seemed, compared to the recent ones, uncomfortable.
Now they were relaxed and natural and Callum preferred them greatly.
He returned the favor, wrapping her in his arms, pulling her deep in his body and dipping his chin to look down at her.
"All right, Sonia, now what's really on your mind?" he asked.
"I told you," she fibbed.
"You weren't standing at the window twisting my rings for the f**k of it," he informed her, his voice meticulously even and calm, that unease he felt was still acute.
She scanned his face. Then she sighed. It wasn't the fluttering sigh that he loved. It was a frustrated sigh.
He knew this by the sound but he also knew it by the irate flash in her green eyes.
"You're too perceptive," she muttered, her voice just as irate then she informed him of the obvious, "It's annoying."
He preferred his topic of conversation so he gave her a gentle squeeze and said warningly, "Soniahellip;"
"Oh all right," she breathed out, her frustration still clear and then suddenly her eyes left his and she looked at his shoulder a moment before they came back. "Okay, Callum, what I was thinking washellip;" She hesitated a moment before stating, "And you can say no because, well, I'm sensing you're not big on human stuff and, well, this is definitely human. Obviously I wouldn't dream of asking you to go whole hog or anything because considering, even for my Christmas party, you wore cords and a nice sweaterhellip;" She paused and went off tangent, "Though, the boots you wore were really nice that night. I liked them. You should wear ndash;"
He couldn't help it. He started chuckling and gave her another squeeze, cutting her off by saying, "Honey, your point?"
Her eyes got big a moment, she pulled in breath and whispered, "Right." Then she went on swiftly, "What I was saying was, you don't have to do the big thing for me, you know, even though, outside your sixteenth birthday, it's the most important day in a girl's life. But I wouldn't ask you to wear the tuxedo and get a photographer and all that formal stuff but can Ihellip;" She looked at him, her eyes filled with discomfited yearning. "Would you mind ifhellip;?" She hesitated yet again and then forced out the words, "I know it isn't the done thing but, at our Mating, can I at least wear a pretty, white dress?"
He stared at her a second, thrown, because he had no f**king clue what she was on about. At Matings wolves would dress up but dressing up for wolves was just wearing nicer but still casual clothes.
Then, unusually slowly, it hit him. Her twisting her wedding rings, talking of tuxedos and formalities and the most important day of a girl's life.
Fuck, she was talking about a human wedding.
Which, being his mate, she'd never get.
But, being his human wife, she would want.
And she wanted it and her wanting it meant she wanted him.
That unease sifted away leaving Callum feeling only the soft warmth of her body pressed to his and her arms around him.
"Baby doll ndash;" he started.
"You can say no," she blurted. "It's probably a stupid idea. Your people will thinkhellip;" Her eyes got big again and she said, "Oh no, would they be offended?"
One of his hands traveled up her back and tangled in her hair as his face got closer to hers. "No, they wouldn't be offended. Wear whatever you want."
He saw excitement light in her eyes for a second before it extinguished. "Will I look stupid?"
Callum grinned, pulling her tighter to him. "Impossible."
"I don't want them to think I'm holding onhellip; I mean, I don't want them to think I don't take my responsibility ndash;"
He cut her off. "They'll think you're proud of who you are and proud of who you're bound to, both of which my people will find honorable."
The excitement came back in a flash.
"Really?" she whispered.
"Yes," he answered.
"Seriously?" she pressed both verbally and by pushing closer to his frame.
Callum bit back laughter at her adorable, earnest look but he didn't manage it entirely and still said through chuckling, "Yes, little one."
She gazed at him as if looking for evidence of dishonesty.
Then her weight sagged into him, she put her cheek to his chest and she gave him a squeeze. "Good."
He kissed the top of her head, enjoying the far different feeling he had now rather than the one he had when he first stood in the door to this room.
It was more than her embrace. It was more than the knowledge that she yearned to be tied to him through his rings, bearing his father's name, adhering to the traditions of her people.
It was enjoying giving her something she very much desired.
Which meant what he had to do next hurt like a bitch.
"It's past time for your injection."
He felt her body tighten in his arms before she forced it to relax and he was glad he couldn't see her eyes.
"I know," she replied.
"Let's go, baby doll."
She nodded, her cheek sliding against his chest. She pulled away, he took her hand and guided her to their bathroom.
* * * * *
Callum shifted in his seat behind his desk and lifted his hand to his forehead pressing away the tension that formed there after the reminder of the injection.
Last week, he'd taken her to Aberdeen to visit the "specialist" who simply decreed that what Dr. Mortenson said about tolerance for the drug and life changes were to blame for her "turn". He explained (three times) that there were no other treatments. He took more blood which, again, came back normal. And he suggested they titrate off the morning dose, injecting half for a few days then stopping altogether.
"Let's hope that works," he said on a distracted doctorly smile while simultaneously writing notes.
Callum had wanted to break his jaw for it not working meant unendurable pain for his mate which was what, through gritted teeth, he'd informed the doctor after he'd tersely called the man's attention back to his patient and her husband.
"You know what to do now. Just give her another dose if she becomes symptomatic and go back to twice daily injections," the doctor had replied calmly in the face of Callum's controlled fury.
It was then Sonia had squeezed his hand and Callum made the decision not to throw the doctor out the window which was the decision he'd made the instant before she'd squeezed his hand.
Luckily, the titrating had worked and Sonia hadn't become symptomatic.
Then again, if it was stress and life changes that had affected the efficacy of the drug, she was settling in and hopefully they wouldn't have another "turn".
Callum heard Ryon approaching and his mind moved directly to what filled it any time it wasn't filled with Sonia's smile, her affection, her laughter, her kindness, her humor, her sweet little body and how it responded to him, her deepening connection to him and his family and her f**king injection.
Where his mind moved also wasn't to his duty as king.
It went to the fact that every day he didn't tell her his secret, their life was becoming a lie.
Ryon came in on a smile and closed the door.
Since discovering Sonia had had her abilities her entire life, long enough for her father to explain she should hide them, they no longer held suspicions against the vampires.
However, they were also all aware that Sonia's abilities rivaled theirs and clearly Ryon closing the heavy door meant there was something he wanted muted should Sonia be in hearing distance.
He approached Callum's desk and sat opposite, declaring, "All is in place for tomorrow."
Callum's mouth got tight.
Ryon still felt Sonia needed time with the wolves and was against Callum telling her. They'd had words about it. Callum disagreed and decided he'd bloody well tell her when the right time arose.
Unfortunately that hadn't happened and tomorrow hundreds of wolves would be celebrating in the streets.
Therefore, like Drogan, Maraleena and Callista, his Royal Guard had been warned by Ryon that Sonia was to be protected from witnessing any transformation or talk of werewolves and tomorrow everywhere she went she would be with him, his family or under escort of his Guard.
"I don't like this," Callum told his cousin. "I'll find time to tell her tonight."
"You should wait until after tomorrow," Ryon differed. "She'll enjoy tomorrow. She'll see the true wolf nature. You need to give her more time."
Callum watched his cousin, again questioning his motives when it came to Callum's mate.
"What makes you think she needs more time?" Callum asked.
Ryon grinned. "Call it instinct."
Callum didn't find anything amusing.
"Have you not noticed the change in her?" he queried.
Ryon's expression turned serious and he shared, "Yes, Cal, I have and I don't f**king trust it."
Callum felt his blood run cold. "And why the f**k not?"
Ryon shook his head and his eyes went vague as did his tone when he said, "I can't put my finger on it but I feel she's holding back."
It was then Callum's hands clenched into fists.
First, if Sonia was holding anything back then the true Sonia would be beyond perfection which was impossible.
Second, because his cousin was still clearly keeping a close eye on his mate and he didn't like it.
And last, because it felt like Ryon was trying to make Callum doubt his wife.
"I think," Callum said calmly and evenly, a tone that Ryon knew and it caught his immediate attention therefore his distracted gaze cleared and focused on Callum, "that perhaps you should stop worrying about my mate so f**king much."
"Cal ndash;"
Callum leaned forward and said deceptively softly, "She's my mate, Ry. Mine."
"Cal ndash;"
"Leave it," Callum warned and Ryon leaned forward as well.
"Have you been talking to her as I told you to?"
"Leave it."
"Cal, have you?"
"Yes, I f**king have. Now, f**king leave it!" Callum bit out.
Ryon scowled at him then sat back. Callum watched the muscle work in his cousin's jaw for long moments before Ryon spoke again.
"You should know. I've given a vial of her medicine to a friend of mine who knows someone who can analyze it."
Callum sat back too. "I thought we'd covered this. She's had her abilities since birth."
"I know. It doesn't hurt to check though," Ryon returned.
Callum stared at him before asking, "What are you thinking?"
"Well," Ryon replied, still aggravated but, Callum sensed, not because of their earlier exchange of words. "I've had my fair share of experience with humans. I've never run across anything like her abilities."
"Yes, we've had this conversation before."
"It's unusual."
"Yes."
"I don't like it."
"Ry ndash;"
"You don't protect a life-threatening condition behind nearly unhackable passwords, Cal. Something's wrong here. I don't like it and I haven't had time to give it my full attention."
Callum sighed. "You do if she's destined queen to a secret society and that knowledge in the wrong hands would make her vulnerable. She's had her gifts since birth, her father knew about them for f**k's sake. She and I have talked about it. Her father likely made some explanation to her doctor. Gregor nearly came out of his skin when he'd heard she'd had a turn and he's not a male prone to showing his reactions. My instincts tell me his reaction was not because of some nefarious plot but because the thought of her in pain hurt him. Lassiter probably told him about her gifts as well but even if he didn't, he's a vampire who's lived with Sonia for years. He'd notice it. It took me a bloody week. If Lassiter didn't tell Gregor, it probably took him about as long as it took me. What she can do is unusual for a human but she's amongst those who'll accept her now. It's fine. She's fine. Let it go."
At that, Ryon uncharacteristically lost patience and clipped, "Just let me do my f**king job, all right?"
Callum studied his cousin. He'd known him a long time and Ryon's instincts were as sharp as Callum's.
And what would it hurt?
Therefore, he gave in, "All right, Ry, if you feel so strongly about it, do your job."
It was then, both their heads cocked as they sensed Sonia's approach.
Ryon's eyes locked on Callum and he whispered in a voice so low Sonia wouldn't hear but also that strangely sounded like a warning, "She's in love with you, you know. She has been for years."
Callum simply smiled because he knew and that was exactly why Sonia Arlington-McDonagh was absolutely, f**king perfect.
Therefore, he replied with contented, kingly arrogance, "I know."
Ryon regarded him closely, communicating something Callum didn't understand.
He also didn't care.
His mind, again, turned to his mate.
There was a short, soft knock on the door before she stuck her head in.
"Am I interrupting anything?"
"Come in, baby doll," Callum called and she came through the door still wearing nothing but her robe and socks, her hair back in that pretty, pink band.
He wondered as he watched her walk gracefully toward him, what she had on under the robe.
He hoped it was just his chain.
He turned his chair to her, she sat in his lap and as he twisted to the desk, she looked to Ryon.
"Hey cuz," she greeted on a smile.
"Hey cuz," Ryon smiled back, either over it or hiding his earlier intensity.
Then she turned to Callum and announced with mock irritation, "I've just been treated to a thirty minute interrogation about my claiming in the kitchen. Mara and Callie are screamingly nosy. My excuse of lsquo;being human' isn't working anymore."
Callum grinned at her and advised, "So tell them."
Her eyes grew wide and she cried, "No way! That's between you and me." Then she gasped on some sudden thought, her head twisted sharply toward Ryon and then back to Callum where her eyes narrowed. "You haven't ndash;"
"No," he cut her off and her body relaxed against his. "At least not yet," he went on and her body got rock-solid. He was chuckling when he finished on a tease, "I just haven't had the time."
"Youhellip;!" she cried shortly, clearly too incensed to go on.
At the same time, Ryon noted roguishly, "I'll look forward to that."
She twisted her head to look at Ryon before twisting it again to Callum. He lifted his hand to cup and therefore control the moments of her neck so she didn't give herself whiplash.
"Don't you dare!" she snapped at him and he smiled yet again but this was a different smile.
"Will it piss you off if I do?"
"Yes," she returned instantly.
Callum replied just as swiftly, "I like you pissed off, baby doll. Haven't had that in a while." He nuzzled her stiff neck and flicked her ear with his nose before saying there, "I miss it."
She growled in her throat.
Callum chuckled in his.
Then they both went still and all three of the inhabitants of the room looked to the window. A car or, by the sounds of it, a truck or SUV was approaching.
Then again, there were hundreds of wolves in his hills, some of them with mates, others with family members, most with both. The town and its vicinity, as Mara noted, were heaving.
However, his wolves wouldn't approach. Not without an invitation or a reason. This was not only the standard but also because he'd newly claimed his mate. They'd need a good excuse to interrupt him during this time even if a celebration was commencing tomorrow.
Which meant this could be bad tidings.
He got out of his chair, lifting Sonia to her feet as he did so, mumbling, "I need to see who's at the door."
His mind finally off his mate and on whatever was coming, Callum didn't notice at first that Sonia fell in step beside him.
When he did, he stopped, looked down at her and ordered, "You stay here."
She gazed up at him. "Buthellip; someone's at the door."
"Yes," he agreed. "And I'm going to see who it is."
Her expression changed. For some Sonia reason it became stubborn and she retorted, "And I'm going with you."
Callum sought patience and replied, "Baby doll, you're in a robe."
"So?" she returned instantly. "It covers me doesn't it?"
It did.
However, considering her sweet little body and her pretty face, it didn't leave much to the imagination even if you didn't have much of an imagination. And most wolves had excellent imaginations.
"You're staying here or getting dressed," Callum commanded.
"I'm going to the door," she rejoined.
"Sonia ndash;"
Her head tilted. "Is this my house?"
"Sonia ndash;"
"Is it my door?"
Still seeking patience, Callum looked to Ryon who was grinning at them and obviously not about to assist, then he muttered, "Bloody hell."
"I'm going to the door," Sonia finished and commenced striding out of the room.
He sighed his defeat. Ryon chuckled. Callum glared at him and he moved out of his study, leaving Ryon behind. He caught her up, took her hand and together they went to the door.
He smelled vampire as he hit the large, stone entryway.
A vampire with a female human.
More precisely, Lucien, likely with his mate.
Relief hit him at the same time as curiosity and Callum maneuvered Sonia partially behind him but still beside him as he opened the door.
A shiny, black Porsche Cayenne was glinting in the sun at the foot of the steps.
Lucien, tall, black-haired and powerfully built, wearing jeans, boots, and a black turtleneck which could be seen under his black, wool, hip-length, double-breasted coat was climbing them. Climbing beside him, her hand linked in his, was a beautiful blonde with dark blue eyes. She had a fantastic figure covered in charcoal gray cords, a stylish, fitted, black leather jacket with an eggplant-colored pashmina wrapped around her neck and she was wearing high-heeled black boots.
Pure, f**king class. Both of them.
Gazing at the female, her eyes as alive as was her expression like she couldn't hide her love of life nor did she want to, not to mention smelling her exquisite scent, Callum realized immediately Lucien's fate had also led him to the perfect match.
Pleased for the vampire, his eyes moved to Lucien's as Callum tucked his own perfect match into his side and he smiled.
"This is a surprise," he greeted as Lucien led his mate across the landing to the door.
"A pleasant one, I trust," Lucien replied, also on a smile but the vampire's black eyes were, as usual, carefully blank. Lucien never gave anything away, at least not to Callum's recollection.
"That depends on its purpose," Callum returned, shifting himself and Sonia to the side to allow Lucien and his mate entry and then he closed off the cold behind them by shutting the door.
Lucien stopped himself and his mate just inside and pulling her protectively close, he said, "I'd heard you'd finally claimed your mate. I was curious."
Lucien wasn't curious. Lucien had a reason to be there.
Callum also hid his reaction and turned to Sonia. "Honey, this is a friend of mine, Lucien." He looked to Lucien. "Lucien, this is my queen, Sonia."
She was gazing at Lucien, openly unsure of what to make of him and she held out a tentative hand which, after a glance at Callum, Lucien took.
Bending low, Lucien brushed his lips against her knuckles and all in the entryway (except, perhaps, Lucien's mate) heard Sonia's soft intake of breath.
A soft intake of breath Callum didn't like.
Nor did he like it when Lucien kept hold of her hand and pulled her closer.
Callum tensed and only partially relaxed when Lucien turned Sonia to his mate.
"Sonia, this is Leah, my bride," he said softly but Leah was smiling openly at Sonia.
"Hello," Leah said in an attractive, alto voice, her smile never wavering.
However, it was plain to see in the face of her stylish company, Sonia was having belated second thoughts about appearing at the door in her socks and robe, cashmere or not.
"Hi," Sonia replied on a shy smile and then she politely pulled her hand from Lucien's and scuttled back. She nearly ran into Callum before he caught her and folded her again into his side where she wrapped her arm around him.
"Leah, meet Callum," Lucien invited and it was Callum's turn to take Lucien's mate's hand but he didn't brush his lips against her knuckles. He just squeezed and released it.
"Coffee!" Sonia suddenly cried and looked up at Callum. "I'll order coffee and something to eat and umhellip; get dressed." She looked to Lucien and Leah. "Are you hungry?"
"Starved, but I'd kill for a cup of coffee," Leah replied, still smiling.
"Brilliant. We have coffee," Sonia announced. "Good coffee. Mara only gets the best." She turned again to Callum. "You, umhellip; take them somewhere warm. I'll be right back."
Then, with a self-conscious grin at their guests, she broke from Callum's hold and ran down the hall.
Callum watched her go.
He realized that Lucien did too when he heard the vampire mutter, "Fetching."
"I am still standing here, you know," Leah remarked, her severe tone belied by her unwavering smile.
Lucien's eyes turned to his mate before he murmured, "Mm, I know, my pet."
Callum watched, concealing his surprise as Lucien looked down at his bride with blatant warmth.
Christ, he loves her, Callum thought, examining the couple.
This shouldn't have taken him aback. She was his lifemate and to have her Lucien had put both their lives at risk and turned the vampire world upside down. Further, Callum had spent his entire existence feeling the intensity of that kind of connection between his own people.
But not from a vampire. Never from a vampire. Not that transparent adoration. Not in five hundred years.
And, for some asinine reason, Lucien's display and Leah's artless acceptance of it rattled Callum.
He was pulled from his thoughts when Mara bustled in calling, "Well, hello there! I'm Mara, housekeeper at Canis. Let me get your coats and we'll get you somewhere warm. Callista is preparing coffee and a bite to eat."
Mara took their outer gear and Callum led the way to the sitting room on the first floor. It was a circular room at the bottom of a turret with heavy, comfortable furniture and a spherical fireplace in the middle, already blazing, making the space warm.
"Please sit," Callum invited Leah and she again smiled at him.
"You have a lovely castle," she noted, looking around while sitting on a couch and crossing her legs before she tipped her face up to Lucien and asked mock petulantly, "Why don't we have a castle, darling?"
"You want a castle, sweetling, I'll get you a castle," Lucien answered casually.
Leah had been joking.
Lucien was not.
Callum watched as Leah's stunning face absorbed this fact. It softened to a look of such extreme devotion, Callum felt himself melting from the room. They were the only two there. Callum had ceased to exist.
That was when he knew what rattled him. He knew what Ryon couldn't put his finger on. He knew his cousin was correct.
Something wasn't right with Sonia.
He knew this because, since Christmas, unless he was f**king her, except for during their fight, she never called him "wolf".
Not mock petulantly.
Not at all.
He had her warmth. He had her affection. She enjoyed his attention and she was a brilliant queen in every aspect.
And she loved him.
He knew that.
But something was missing.
Christ, he had all that, and it was magnificent, but she was still holding something back.
"Callum?" Lucien called and Callum's unfocused eyes concentrated on the vampire.
"Sit," Callum grunted, uneasy with his newfound knowledge but more at what might be behind it and Lucien took a seat beside his bride as Callum did the same opposite them.
Leah instantly curled into Lucien's side as his arm slid around her shoulders, pulling her closer.
Seeing this made Callum grit his teeth.
Then Lucien announced, "We need to talk before Sonia returns."
Callum's attention sharpened and his instincts made him brace.
"Then do it quickly," Callum invited. He wanted this to be over, needed to have a word with his wife, his gaze shifting briefly to Leah, deciding she likely had full knowledge of Lucien's abilities, he went on, "But if you sense Sonia anywhere near, stop speaking."
Lucien's brows went up. He'd smell her before Callum did while he was in human form. If he were a wolf, his senses would have been slightly more acute than the vampire's but, at that moment, he was not a wolf.
"Would you like to explain that?" Lucien suggested.
"Not right now," Callum replied, giving Lucien the correct implication that he might not later either. It depended on how this conversation progressed.
Lucien nodded, let it go and continued without preamble, "I've spoken to Gregor."
Callum didn't respond.
"He's explained things," Lucien went on.
"And what did he explain?" Callum asked.
Lucien's arm tightened protectively around Leah before he said, "He's shared The Prophesies."
Leah's body tensed and her happy face grew serious as she gazed at Callum.
She knew as well and her fear was palpable.
As it would be.
Lucien was watching him closely and he queried, "You know of them?"
"Some of them, yes," Callum answered.
"I was told you didn't know," Lucien murmured and Callum didn't respond. Therefore Lucien continued, "They're vague as prophesies tend to be but they appear to be coming true. You and Sonia were obvious. Leah and myselfhellip;" He hesitated. "Not so much."
"There is another," Callum informed him.
Lucien's chin went up before he noted, "Yes, but they'll be found soon."
"They don't have to be."
Lucien gazed at him a moment before saying quietly, "Yes, Callum, they do."
Callum knew what he meant and he felt the muscle jump in his jaw.
The third lifemates needed to be found, the female claimed and bound before The Prophesies could come true.
Leah, being mate to a vampire, would have eternal life.
Sonia, being mate to a werewolf, would always be mortal.
The third lifemate would need to be found before Sonia died which meant soon, in the life of an immortal.
Callum decided to change the subject. "Do you have any idea if it will be wolf or vampire who claims the third mate?"
Lucien held his eyes and replied, "A hybrid." Callum felt his brows go up and Lucien nodded. "Werewolf, vampire hybrid. The first of his kind."
This was news.
Lucien kept speaking. "It's important we form an alliance and, when they're discovered, we ally with them."
Callum thought no truer words were spoken.
"Absolutely," he agreed.
"Therefore, you should know about Leah." Callum's eyes moved to Lucien's bride but Lucien kept speaking, explaining simply, "She dreams."
Callum's gaze sliced back to the vampire as his body grew taut.
"Dreams?" he used that word to persuade the vampire to go on.
"I dream," Leah put in. "They're better now but, wellhellip;" she trailed off and looked up at her mate.
"She dreams the future," Lucien continued for her. "Vividly. So vividly the dream can take hold in real life to the point that what's happening in her subconscious can happen to her physically."
"Curious," Callum muttered and watched Lucien's mouth tighten in irritation.
"She dreamed of The Sentence," he declared and at that it was Callum's mouth that grew tight.
The Sentence was what, centuries ago, vampires carried out against their own who had human mates who they refused to denounce. A ruthless verdict which included the vampire tied to a stake and set alight in front of the human so she could see her mate's imminent death. Then the human was hung in front of the vampire so he could watch his mate swing before his own life was extinguished.
At the thought of Lucien's stunning mate dreaming that into reality, Callum bit out, "Christ."
At that, Lucien shared, "She nearly strangled by hanging while doing nothing but lying in bed."
Callum looked to Leah and murmured, with feeling, "I'm truly sorry."
"It's okay," she whispered.
But it wasn't.
He could see the memory of her fear hadn't faded and Lucien was no longer blanking his reactions. This had shaken him and he showed it visibly.
Another surprise for Callum and an indication of trust from Lucien.
It was Lucien's turn to change the subject. "She has other abilities."
Callum almost couldn't control his reaction to another trait Lucien's mate shared with his but he did it.
"And those are?"
"The most important one, considering The Prophesies," Lucien answered, "She can sense danger."
Interesting, Callum thought.
But he asked, "Heightened senses? Hearing, smell, sight?"
"Not quite," Lucien answered, watching him closely. Correctly, Callum knew, assuming from Callum's earlier warning that Sonia had these gifts. "She simply can sense a threat in enough time to prepare should a situation be uncertain."
"That's fortunate," Callum remarked.
"It's more than fortunate," Lucien returned. "And it would help matters greatly if all the prophesied lifemates shared these abilities."
Callum decided to ease both their minds and disclosed, "Sonia dreams. She's done it all her life. She dreamed of me repeatedly years before she met me." He glanced at Leah and then to Lucien. "Leah knows of my people?"
Lucien nodded. "She knows."
This was surprising as well.
Werewolves, unlike most of the other immortals, shared their secrets with humans. However only with those they trusted implicitly, for instance, if their mate was human or they'd formed a friendship bond with someone they could trust. They were far more careful of sharing about other immortal cultures. In fact it was rare if they did because all of them guarded their own secrets, as well as the knowledge of other immortal beings, obsessively.
Vampires also interacted with humans, for obvious reasons, but did so under tight strictures until recently. As with other immortals, however, if a vampire shared the knowledge of other immortal races, the vampire and the human would be hunted and put to death.
Simple as that.
Cold-blooded.
And, to Callum's thinking, totally f**king insane.
Callum jerked his chin at Leah before he continued, "Sonia met me as wolf when she was a child. She dreams of me as wolf too."
"Has she dreamed of danger?" Leah asked softly and Callum could thankfully shake his head.
"No," he replied.
Leah leaned slightly toward him. "I think, and Lucien agrees, as he mentioned before that these dreams tell the future. They don't tell what it is. They tell what it could be. For me, it was a warning which thankfully we were able to avoid. Now," her smile grew partly fond but mostly intimate, "I dream of something else. For Sonia," her smile changed, the intimacy left it and it became friendly, "well, obviously, she was dreaming of her future but," Leah's smile faded, "now that has occurred, they might become something else."
Callum's teeth clenched as Lucien took up the conversation. "You should know, shortly after Leah and I connected, I started to have her dreams."
"Fucking hell," Callum muttered but it wasn't with displeasure.
He'd f**king love to know what Sonia was dreaming when she dreamed of him.
Lucien carried on, "It was vivid. It told a version of the future but it wasn't connected to me in a physical way where it could harm me like Leah. It was just a further warning."
"This is good," Callum declared.
"It is," Lucien concurred on a small smile. "But, we'll need to monitor and share these dreams, obviously."
"Obviously," Callum agreed.
Leah turned to look at her mate and observed, "Sonia seems pretty settled here and it's safe for her. Perhaps she's had no need to exhibit abilities to sense danger."
"She has abilities," Callum announced and both Leah and Lucien turned to him. "Not like yours," he told Leah but carried on, "she has the sensory capabilities of wolf as human."
Callum heard Lucien pull in a breath.
Leah just stared at him blankly so Callum explained, "Heightened hearing, sight and smell. She can also sense danger and, unfortunately, has had the opportunity to do so. But for Sonia, it's more. As it's nearly wolf, she has instincts. She can sense menace but she can also sense anything even if a presence is close but not a threat."
"Fucking excellent," Lucien murmured for tactically it would be should The Prophesies unfold.
"I'm not done." The thread of pride veined his voice when Callum continued by telling them what he'd learned on the several hikes he'd taken with his queen. "Sonia has an affinity with wildlife. She thinks it's just animals but its more. She's at her most comfortable in natural surroundings. The animals sense her but find her no threat. Some even move to get closer to her. I reckon, if she developed this, she could call them to her, maybe even communicate with them."
"How cool," Leah breathed.
"Again, lupine," Lucien remarked thoughtfully.
"Not exactly," Callum replied. "We call to canis, wolves, jackals, dogs. Any other creature would sense us as predator. Sonia is not sensed as predator. She's sensed as one with any species be they wolf or bird or bear."
"How cool!" Leah exclaimed and Lucien smiled, likely to Leah's exuberance but also to this fortunate news. Leah turned to her mate and said excitedly, "I hope I get something like that."
"You have it, sweetheart," Lucien replied and in doing so, revealed.
"That would be?" Callum cut into their short conversation and Lucien's eyes came to him.
Forthright, he informed Callum, "She can mark me, communicate with me nonverbally and fight mesmerization for brief periods of time."
Callum didn't bother to hide his surprise. He whistled low.
If vampires had kings, Lucien would be theirs. He was more than an epic warrior, stronger than the lot. He had added abilities, some of which other vampires had, none of which they had with the strength and control Lucien did. He could read and control minds. He could also mark humans or immortals which meant he could manipulate their heart rates and anticipate their actions.
If Leah even had a hint of these abilities, including fighting mesmerization, if developed, they could be powerful.
This was all f**king excellent news.
"It seems the fates have provided weapons for the vulnerable," Callum noted softly, realizing finally and with a sense of relief, why his Sonia was gifted.
"Indeed," Lucien replied just as softly.
"We girlie girls might be able to help you big strong boys kick ass," Leah declared proudly and both Lucien and Callum grinned at her.
And after Lucien grinned at her, he turned her face to his for a brief kiss which left Leah with that fond, intimate look when he was done.
Then he looked back to Callum. "I wanted to speak of this without Sonia because Gregor suggested you hadn't told her about immortals and you didn't know about The Prophesies."
"This first is true," Callum disclosed.
"She thinks you're human?" Leah breathed in horror and Callum looked at her.
"No."
Leah let out a sigh of relief and said, "She knows you're a werewolf."
"No," Callum repeated, this time curtly.
Leah's brows drew together and she looked toward the door before she turned back to Callum and asked, "How long have you been together?"
"Six weeks."
Leah's eyes got wide and she mumbled, "Uh-oh."
Bloody hell.
There it was, just as he suspected. A female human's reaction indicating his protection would be considered a deceit.
"She's not like you, Leah. She's not grown up knowing her place in his culture," Lucien told his bride. "If I was in his position and I understood what was at stake with my mate, I would do the exact same thing."
Callum felt slightly better.
"Then you'd be in serious trouble too," Leah stated firmly.
Callum stifled a growl.
Lucien looked at Callum and said with the experience of an immortal male who lived with a female human, "It'll be fine, Callum."
Leah looked at Callum and said with the experience that simply was female human, "It will be but only after she makes you put your tail between your legs ermhellip; no offense intended."
"Perhaps we can stop talking about this," Callum suggested in a way that stated clearly the wording was a courtesy, the words were a command.
Leah bit her lip.
Lucien's mouth twitched.
Callum stifled another growl.
"Your housekeeper's coming," Lucien finally noted and Callum would have kissed Mara for her timing if he didn't know Drogan would challenge him for doing so.
"Coffee!" Leah declared delightedly. Lucien chuckled and Callum smelled that Callista had, as usual, made him a gracious host because there was far more than coffee heading their way.
Mara arrived with a tray of coffee, platters of homemade cakes and biscuits and admonishments of, "Callista is preparing a huge spread for lunch, don't fill up."
Sonia arrived while Leah was pouring her second cup and it was clear to see why her appearance was delayed.
She'd showered, put on light makeup and her hair shown, falling in sleek waves over her shoulders and down her back but the front was pulled back at her crown with a tortoiseshell oval threaded with a matching stick. She was wearing dusty pink cords and she put on a belted, cream-colored cardigan that fell to her h*ps and had a shawl collar. The soft fall of material was heavy enough to open the front wide, exposing a skin-tight army green camisole underneath.
As she had when she met their guests in her robe at the door, but probably didn't realize, Sonia looked, from top-to-toe, the queen of a werewolf's castle.
They all stood when she arrived. Sonia moved toward Callum with a smile at their guests and he saw her claiming chain was hidden behind the material of her cardigan but her wedding rings shown more brightly than usual as if she'd cleaned them.
Callum's gaze turned to Leah's finger to see she too was wearing Lucien's symbols. Hers were black diamonds set in platinum, the engagement diamond was cut in an emerald shape rather than Sonia's solitaire. Although the diamond was smaller, the engagement ring was layered between two bands. One embedded with smaller, baguette diamonds at the bottom, the other embedded with lustrous black onyx at the top.
At the sight, Callum instantly decided to send his mother out to get an accompanying band for Sonia. Something set with tiger's eye.
Sonia's fingers found his and threaded through when Leah noted, "You were right, Sonia, your coffee is good."
Sonia's smile deepened and he noticed she'd lost her earlier discomfiture now that she was groomed for company and her innate sociability was clearly in evidence. "It isn't mine. Mine's average. Callista is an artiste. Wait until you taste her cooking. You'll think you've died and gone to heaven."
At her innocent words, Callum's eyes caught Lucien's and he knew they both had gone tense.
For The Prophesies were known but they were far from clear. Therefore their mates' fates were unknown and, as humans, both could easily perish and, as immortals, both Lucien and Callum faced a desolate eternity if they did.
Unfortunately, Callum faced it anyway, sooner or later.
"Have you asked them to stay?" Sonia enquired of Callum, taking his mind from his dismal thoughts.
"No," Callum forced his smile. "But you just did."
"We couldn't," Leah cut in.
"You are," Sonia replied, firm but friendly. She let go of Callum's hand and moved to Leah. "Let me take you on a tour. You can pick a bedroom. There are twelve in total but eight of them are at the top of a turret. Five are taken but, trust me, the other three are fantastic."
Sonia guided Leah out of the room, tossing a seemingly carefree smile over her shoulder at Callum.
Leah walked with Sonia out of the room, tossing a genuinely carefree smile over her shoulder at Lucien.
The difference was miniscule but it bloody well existed.
"Callum," Lucien called softly as Callum glared at the door and he turned his head to the vampire.
Lucien didn't speak for several long moments, waiting until the women were well away and when he finally did, it was low.
"I hesitate telling you but I feel you should know so you can prepare."
Callum remained silent when Lucien paused.
Then Lucien shared, "Gregor is hiding something from you."
Callum's gaze narrowed on the vampire. "Sorry?"
"He's hiding something about Sonia." Callum tensed and Lucien went on, "When he was explaining things, I sensed it. I didn't like it. After I read The Prophesies, I asked him about it and he told me neither you nor Sonia knew anything about The Prophesies. Later, I pressed him about it and he shared with me."
Callum didn't respond.
He knew about The Prophesies. He'd been told by Mac though for reasons he didn't entirely understand and he didn't f**king like, he'd never been allowed actually to see them.
Before he could react to the knowledge Lucien had, Lucien got closer and his voice dipped lower.
Then he said with unconcealed emotion, "I'm sorry, my friend."
Callum felt that feeling, the one he reckoned was fear but this time it was piercing.
"Sorry for what?"
Lucien lifted a hand to grip Callum's bicep as if in an effort at containment. "Sorry to tell you that The Prophesies state your mortal's life will be a short one."
Callum's body jolted before it locked as this statement seared straight through his system.
Lucien went on quickly and quietly, his fingers holding fast. "The Prophesies are vague, simply stating her human life will be fleeting. I haven't told Leah and I suggest you do the same with Sonia."
"You lie," Callum whispered.
"I don't and why would I?" Lucien replied gently.
He wouldn't. There was no reason. They were in this together.
He yanked his arm from Lucien's grip and took a step back, recognizing that feeling was fear.
Definitely fear.
And alongside it ran a new, agonizing thread of pain.
"We'll fight it," Lucien vowed. It was a vow, no mistaking it from the vein of steel in the words. "I'd offer my services but Leah would hate it so I suggest you find a vampire to feed from her ndash;"
"You've got to be joking," Callum growled at the very idea of a vampire feeding from his queen.
First, she was his f**king queen.
Second, she was his and no male would touch her for any reason.
Third, she was Sonia, not a meal.
And last, humans reportedly found the feeding of vampires a sensual experience. A highly sensual experience. A sensual experience his sexually responsive mate was not going to have.
Ever.
"We can ask a female vampire," Lucien proposed, reading Callum's thoughts or perhaps understanding them for they'd be his own.
"It takes years of constant feeding for vampire saliva to work its magic," Callum noted dismissively. "And you suggested we don't f**king have that."
"She'll survive until the war begins, Callum," Lucien returned. "We have time."
"Not enough," Callum bit out.
Not enough.
There had never been enough but now, evidently, there was even f**king less.
His senses sought her in his castle. Opening up and reaching out, he found her somewhere on the second floor. Her discourse indistinct but there was laughter in her tone and it cut through him like a blade.
"Callum," Lucien murmured.
"You'll excuse me," Callum returned and didn't wait for a response. He was already exiting the room.
"This is troubling news but we'll fight it, Callum," Lucien called after him and made his vow official. "I vow it."
This didn't make Callum feel better.
"Tell Sonia I had something to attend to," he ordered. "I'll be gone awhile and I don't want her worried."
Again, he didn't wait for a response.
His skin was prickling and his blood was heating and he was finding it difficult to fight the urge to howl.
He walked out of the room into the entryway, down the hall to the backdoor. Tucking his wedding band into his pocket, at the backdoor he leapt to wolf and ran through the snow and into the wood, the only way he could soothe his ravaged thoughts.
Then he ran as wolf for hours in a failed effort to assuage the fear that had settled like a weight in his gut and the ache that tore at his heart.
When that didn't work and night had fallen, he sat in the snow at the rise at the side of his castle, his eyes on the light that came from the windows of the room he shared with his mate and he howled his inconsolable fury at the moon.
Chapter Eighteen
Dreams
Callum walked as wolf into the room he shared with Sonia.
The fire was ebbing but it still danced light throughout the room.
Her eyes fluttered then opened, she spied him and whispered, "Hello Puppy."
He sat by the bed watching her.
She grinned at him.
He continued watching her.
"Is my handsome wolf coming tonight?" she asked.
Callum growled, knowing he would be coming and she would be coming too, as hard as he could force her to do so.
Sonia blinked, slowly, dreamily knowing herself that his thoughts would come true.
Her eyes drifted closed but her hand fell out as if reaching toward him.
He moved forward, slid his muzzle along her fingers and in her sleep she smoothed her hand against him lovingly.
Tired of this type of affection and wanting a different kind, Callum turned from her and leapt to man.
As he approached the bed, her eyes fluttered open and focused on him.
Without a word, he slid the covers from her beautiful, na**d body and without hesitation, he covered that body with his own.
He pulled the hides back over them.
"Hi," she breathed.
Callum stared at her.
God, he loved her.
And he loved the fact that she loved him too.
And he loved the fact that she could express the enormity of that love in one, two letter word.
Therefore, he smiled.
Her arm wrapped around him as her other hand went up to touch his face. Her fingertips in his hair, her thumb glided along his brow then down over this cheekbone then down again along his bottom lip.
She watched her thumb and she did this as if fascinated.
Callum waited as she did this, also loving the feel of her memorizing his features like she did every time he came to her after he roamed.
However, he thought, as she did it, he should be memorizing hers for she would be gone from this earth long before he would.
She lifted her head from the pillow and placed her mouth against his, taking him from his thoughts. "Where have you been, my handsome wolf?"
Instead of answering, he glided his tongue along her lower lip.
Sonia shivered and opened her legs so his h*ps could fall through.
An invitation.
As ever, his greedy, little queen wanted his cock.
Then she wrapped him lovingly, protectively, in her limbs. As ever, her movements were an eloquent indication of her adoration of more than his cock, of all that was him.
At the reminder of this, Callum growled against her mouth.
She shivered again underneath him.
Then, his deep voice rough with approval, he said, "Always in heat, my little one."
"Only for you," she whispered, her breath catching, her heart racing, her skin warming, all without anything but his presence.
"What do you want?" he asked low, his h*ps pressing into hers, knowing, when he buried himself inside her, she'd be wet, slick, ready for him.
"You, inside me," she answered.
"Just like that?" he teased.
"You've been gone a while," she told him and arched her back. "I missed you."
He felt his face gentle.
He knew she missed it when he was gone even if it was a minute but especially when it was hours while he roamed.
He knew it because he missed her just the same.
He knew he shouldn't do it. He had so little time with her and he'd wish this time back when she was gone.
But he was wolf, he needed to roam.
Understanding her yearning for him in a way he was glad she'd never know just as he detested the fact that he carried that same yearning every moment and would hold onto it for eternity, he murmured softly, "Baby doll."
She was done talking. He knew this too as she pressed her lips against his, tightened her limbs around his body, lifted her h*ps into his, dug her nails into the muscles of his back, and begged, "Please, my handsome wolf, f**k ndash;"
He didn't let her finish. He was done talking too.
His h*ps reared back, he heard her breath catch and he prepared to invade.
* * * * *
Sonia lay with her head on his shoulder, her fingers sifting lazily through the hair on his chest.
He loved it when she did that.
"You okay, little one?" His voice was still gruff from his orgasm and from other things besides.
He asked because he'd taken her hard, as usual, and she'd loved it, as usual.
But he didn't want her to ache.
"Mm," she murmured, her fingers tensing to drag her nails along his chest and her legs shifted against his, tangling with them, her body pressing closer, entwining with his.
Callum smiled.
She was okay.
She did this now, entwining her body with his, getting closer.
She did it often, now that she understood.
Now that she understood everything.
He thought he'd miss her before when she was gone.
Now these times were exquisite torture.
"Cal," she called, her voice sounding like she sensed the turn of his thoughts.
"Yes, baby doll?"
Her hand flattened against his chest as if his skin could absorb it.
Or she could absorb something integral from his skin. Something she needed. Something she couldn't exist without.
Then she whispered, "You know I love you, right?"
He closed his eyes before his arm about her tightened and his other hand came across his chest to slide into the soft, golden hair at the side of her head.
How could he ever not have fancied blondes?
Because, he knew, they were never her.
"I know, honey."
"You'll never forget?" she was still whispering.
His neck arched slightly but he forced his body to relax.
"I'll never forget."
She cuddled close and her hand slid across his chest to wrap around him tight. "I want you to promise to be happy but I don't want you ever to forget."
"I won't forget."
"Promise to be happy?"
Impossible.
"I promise."
"Thank you," she whispered.
"I love you, baby doll."
"I know," she said on a fluttering sigh and his chest got so tight, Callum found it hard to breathe.
* * * * *
They were running, roaming, as wolves, he and his mate.
Not Sonia.
A wolf.
She was fast and kept up with him, close to his right flank, where she always ran.
Callum took them deeper into the trees. They'd been running for hours. He could hear her pants. He knew he was pushing her. He knew what she wanted.
He kept pushing her, knowing the anticipation would be worth it.
How could he ever have imagined he'd feel content with a human queen?
Then again, he had no idea he was missing this.
Finally, he turned, headed for home and he sensed her instant excitement.
He felt it too.
* * * * *
She was beneath him, on her belly, her long, thick, mahogany hair spread across her back, obscuring her face, tangled with pine needles. Her sweet, musky wolf scent assaulted him, coming from her hair, her skin, between her legs.
But there was something familiar about it. Something beautiful. Something nostalgic. Something he f**king adored.
He was up on his hands, giving his h*ps leverage to thrust into her wetness with savage brutality.
Her moans weren't filled with pain but each one a temptation to take her harder.
So he did.
"Spread your legs wider," he ordered.
She did as she was told.
"Tilt your ass, take all of me," he commanded.
Again, she did as she was told and he drove inside her then ground his h*ps between her spread-eagled legs and her moan was so deep, he could feel it vibrating against the tip of his cock.
That felt so f**king good, Callum ground into her deeper and he knew he couldn't take much more.
"Let go," he demanded but she defied him, clenching her sex around his shaft in an effort to hold off her cl**ax. He shifted his weight to one arm and twisted her dark hair around his fist, yanking it back, arching her neck and driving her further down on his cock. "Let go, wolf."
He got off on calling her "wolf" as Sonia had done to him. He f**king loved it.
Her legs spread even wider. Her ass tilted further. He dropped his head and saw its perfection. Not an ass marred with pinpricks, a constant, hideous reminder of his old mate's vulnerability and he felt a feeling of triumph so complete, the sight set him thrusting into her again.
Which was what she wanted.
"Harder, Cal," she breathed her demand, her voice barely a whisper, even he could hardly make out the words. "Fuck me harder."
He was losing control, his orgasm was coming and he knew it would be staggering.
With her, it always was.
The best he'd ever had.
"Goddamn it, let go!" he roared the instant her sex convulsed around his cock.
She lifted up on her own arms, propelling herself onto his shaft so intensely he feared he'd split her in two.
But she threw back her dark head, her hair flying over his hand still fisted in it, over his forearm, down her back and she howled her release.
He pulled out and surged back in, burying himself to the root one last time and then howled his own.
* * * * *
Callum woke with a start, still wolf, lying on his side in the snow under a pine tree.
The dream was still vivid. His skin under his fur heated not from his coat but from f**king the faceless, dark-headed, she-wolf.
Fucking hell, he thought, coming to his paws, his mind troubled.
The parts of his dream were not syncing. So contradictory to each other, to his feelings for Sonia now, the deeper ones he had in his dream, the heartbreakingly deeper ones he felt from her. His instinct as wolf to be faithful to his mate abrading against the episode with the she-wolf, an episode so lucid, so f**king real it was like it happened.
Like he'd actually been disloyal to Sonia.
The thought was so vile he felt his gut roil and he started to run.
But he ran toward home.
Toward Sonia.
He leapt to man outside the backdoor which was always open in case he or his family needed to roam which was often.
He opened the door and mindlessly pulled on the clothes he left there when he transformed earlier.
He slid on his wedding band and was shrugging on a shirt while moving into the house when he noticed his mother there.
She was wearing a robe, her hair disheveled, her face as troubled as his thoughts.
Atypically, Callum had no time for his mother's troubled thoughts.
"Not now, Regan."
"Cal ndash;"
Impatient to get to Sonia, he stopped and leaned into her. "Nothellip; now."
Without another word or processing the look of distress on his mother's face, Callum took the stairs three at a time to get to his wife.
She was lying on her side, the fire ebbing but still dancing in the room. So like his dream it sliced trough him.
But, unlike the dream, she was facing away from the door.
And she wasn't asleep.
He went immediately to the bed.
He sat next to her and put a hand to her hip over the hides.
"Baby doll," he whispered, cursing himself mentally for giving in selfishly to his instinct to roam. "Your injection ndash;"
"I took it," she replied in a voice strangely flat. "Don't worry, Callum. I made sure Regan was in the room when I did."
He'd just run for hours, for miles, slept rough and run for miles again and still his gut was tight. His thoughts a torment. Feelings of guilt and fear and grief all snaking insidiously through his brain.
He needed her.
"Sonia ndash;"
She cut him off and her voice was still flat, so flat it sounded almost dead.
"Listen, Callum, I'm really tired, okay?"
"Baby doll ndash;"
He stopped speaking when her body visibly tensed at his words and then he watched in grim fascination as she forced it to relax.
She rolled to look at him and Callum caught himself before he flinched.
Her eyes were as flat and dead as her voice.
What the f**k?
"I've been trying to get to sleep for a while and I can't do it. I nearly drifted off before you came in so, would you mindhellip;?"
Worry was added to those snaking thoughts tormenting him.
He cupped her jaw with his hand. Her jaw tensed under his touch but her eyes never left his.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
"Nothing," she answered immediately. "Like I said, I'm just really tired."
She was lying.
He pulled her from under the hides into his arms and sat in the bed, back to the headboard, Sonia in his lap.
This felt better, tremendously better. Sonia in his lap, her body against his, her scent all around.
"Right," he said when his mind had finally settled. "Now, the truth this time. Tell me what's the matter."
She was looking at him but her eyes stayed flat, emotionless. Not blank, like they were when he told her she had to take her injection but lifeless.
"Sonia ndash;" he started, that fear edging back in but she interrupted him.
"Do you really want to know?" she asked as if she doubted that he really would.
"Of course I f**king want to know," he replied, beginning to lose patience.
"All right, Callum, I'll tell you," she stated. "I miss them all the time but sometimes, I miss them more and tonight, I miss them loads. That's what's the matter. That's why I can't sleep."
She was talking about her parents and he wasn't surprised her manner was listless. It was a defense mechanism, like her eyes going blank before getting the injection.
Missing her parents had to be worse, even than that f**king injection.
He slid a hand in her hair and pressed her cheek to his chest saying, "Honey."
"You should know, this happens a lot," she told his chest matter-of-factly.
"That's okay."
"If I have trouble sleeping, I'll find another room so I won't disturb you."
His fingers gripped her head and he said, "That's not okay."
"I like this room but really I don't mind."
He pulled her head away from his chest and maneuvered it so they were face-to-face before he growled, "I do mind."
He didn't know what he minded more, the thought that she would move somewhere else to sleep or the thought that she didn't mind not sleeping with him.
Something was f**king wrong and it was more than just thoughts of her dead parents. She liked to talk and she couldn't sleep and he'd never f**king get to sleep after what Lucien told him and that goddamned dream.
So they were going to talk.
"I need you to explain something to me," he announced and her eyes slightly narrowed in confusion.
"Callum, it's the middle of the night."
"You're awake. I'm awake. We're talking," he told her and she sighed.
Not a fluttering, sweet sigh. An annoyed, I'm-putting-up-with-Callum sigh.
"All right, Callum, what do you want me to explain?" she asked, a sarcastic emphasis on "me" which made his already tight gut tighten sharply.
He ignored it.
"When we had our discussion after Regan returned my wedding bandhellip;" he began and felt her body get stiff against his but he ignored that too and carried on. "You said, when you gave me my ring, you didn't know if it meant something to you. Then you said it did. I'd like you to explain that."
"Would you like me to explain that, in, say, I have a choice as to whether I do or not? Or are you telling me to explain that, in, say, I have no choice as to whether I do or not?"
Her questions were a quagmire in which he knew, if he gave the wrong answer, he'd find it very difficult to extricate himself.
Therefore, he answered carefully, "I'm asking you to explain it, Sonia."
She stared at him.
He waited.
She pulled in breath and said in a voice that was no longer flat but defiant, "All right, I will. You can be very kingly," she told him absurdly for he was bloody well a king. "I've realized now, with time, that this is you but back then it worried me because when you get kingly, you forget I exist. This bothered me and I suspected you didn't care anything for me but only your duty to me as your queen."
Callum's jaw tightened before he clipped, "Tell me you're f**king joking."
"I'm not," she replied instantly. "I'd never been around a king so of course I didn't get it. But even after you claimed me, which in my people's world is a pretty significant thing and, as I've been told time and again by your people is an even more significant thing, you forced me into a shower. Then into a car. And then you didn't speak to me for hours. I melted from your world." She stared at him calmly and finished, "I think it was five, ten minutes after you'd made me yours when you forgot I existed except as your duty to put me in the truck and take me down the mountain." She continued to stare at him a moment before aiming dead on target and hitting a bulls-eye. "That, Callum, didn't feel very good."
He could imagine it didn't and he did do that to her.
Exactly as she said.
Except for the fact that she ceased to exist.
"Sonia ndash;"
"No," she interrupted him, still calm. "I get it now. You don't have to worry. I get it. You had a lot on your mind, more than I knew or understood. Now I understand. I was being selfish."
No longer angry, he explained gently, "You weren't being selfish. You didn't understand what was going on."
"Well, yes, true but now I do so it's not a big deal, okay?"
He slid his fingers through her hair while he said softly, "Baby doll."
Her body tensed and she asked, without a flat voice, without calm, sounding impatient and annoyed. Not adorably impatient and annoyed but something different. Edgier, angrier but almost desperate, "Now that I've explained that, can I try to get some sleep?"
Something was still wrong. Something she wasn't giving him. Something she was holding back.
Knowing that, suddenly he asked, "Do you love me?"
She instantly sucked in breath and tried to pull away.
His arms got tight.
She started struggling.
He registered his surprise at her actions and his gut registered worry when she just as suddenly stopped.
She'd been pushing against his chest with both hands but she bent her elbows, bowed her back and dropped her forehead to rest on them.
"Yes," she whispered to his chest, uttering that one word in a way that sounded like it was torn from her. But the chest she muttered into felt like iron bands, bands that had been clamped tightly around it for centuries, were finally released so Callum could, for the first time in his life, actually breathe. "Yes," she repeated in a whisper to his chest as he looked down at her hair shining in the firelight. "I fell in love with you during my first dream when I was seventeen. And I fell in love with you all over again Christmas Eve when you wiped the tears from my face during the general's scene in White Christmas."
Without willing them to do so, his arms crushed her to him, forcing her body flat against his, her arms caught between them, her face coming up to rest against his neck.
All of his torment was lost in his current sense of triumph.
And he could tell her now he was wolf.
"Sonia, baby doll ndash;"
She pressed her face against his neck and her body against his, "Please, Callum, please. Can I please just go to sleep? Please."
He lifted a hand and trailed his fingers along her hairline, curling them in at her jaw to pull her hair away from her neck.
"Has it been bad tonight, missing your parents?" he asked quietly.
She pressed deeper into him and her fingers, like in his dream, tensed in his chest hair, her nails dragging through it. This caught at his memory, pulling up his guilt at f**king the she-wolf, glorying in her faultless ass, calling her by Sonia's pet name for him as he ground into her, betraying his own mate even if it was only in his unconscious mind.
And he'd been gone, leaving her to face her sorrow alone while he selfishly, no, as she put it, kingly, focused on his own thoughts instead of protecting his mate.
"I'm sorry, little one. Of course you can go to sleep."
She pressed even closer and said with feeling, "Thank you."
He exited the bed, taking her with him and placing her under the hides. Then he took off his clothes and joined her there. He pulled her into his arms and she acted as if she'd resist at first before she relaxed then melted into him.
Then, surprisingly, considering she said she'd had so much trouble getting to sleep, she drifted off quickly.
And, with Sonia close, Callum could set his thoughts in order.
No, with Sonia close, his queen, his mate, who loved him, had loved him for decades but who he'd made fall in love with him on Christmas Eve (which would, forever, be his favorite f**king holiday), Callum could finally set his thoughts in order.
He had a victory celebration tomorrow.
Then he'd tell his wife he was wolf.
Then he'd give her a Mating and a f**king wedding because she was human and she deserved it but also because she loved him and he'd tie himself in knots to give her everything she desired for as long as she was breathing on this earth.
Then he'd talk with Lucien and Gregor in an effort to create a strategy on how to beat The Prophesy that said her life would be shortened.
In the meantime, he'd make every f**king moment count.
And the dreamhellip;
At first he thought it was Sonia's dream, as Lucien said he had Leah's and he could see how she fell in love with him if that was how she dreamed of them together. For, if he'd had that dream without knowing her, he'd have fallen in love with her too.
It was better than what they had an hour ago even if you told him that he wouldn't have believed it.
It was what, he determined, they would have starting from now.
It was everything.
But it couldn't be her dream, obviously.
So, it was just a dream.
Not foreshadowing of the future.
Sonia turned in his arms.
He followed her, tucking the back of her body into the front of his and wrapping his arms around her.
Unconsciously in her sleep, like she did after her injection, her hands slid along his forearms but this time the fingers of both laced with his.
His fingers tightened in hers and he smiled into her hair.
So deep in thought, he didn't notice her left hand was bare.
He also hadn't noticed her wedding rings sitting on her nightstand.
It took some time but finally Callum, with his queen wrapped safe in his arms, followed her to sleep.
* * * * *
"Wake up, honey, we have company and we've got a celebration to attend," Callum whispered in her ear.
Sonia's eyes fluttered. They focused hazily on him and he saw the hunger flow into them before she blinked, her body jerked and she got up on an arm, pulling the hides to her chest.
"Good goodness," she breathed. "Leah and Lucien, I shouldhellip;"
She trailed off and looked around the room as Callum stared at her, stunned by her behavior.
She always wanted play in the morning, even if she was sleepy.
"Sonia," he called and she blinked again and looked at him sitting on the edge of the bed, "Are you okay?"
"Yes, fine, umhellip; yes," she stammered and then twisted so her back was to him, threw the hides aside and swung her legs off the bed.
She was heading to the bathroom when his eyes narrowed and his temper frayed.
"Sonia," he repeated and she stopped and turned to him, clearly distracted.
"Yes?"
"Come here," he ordered.
She stilled then asked, "What? Now?"
Callum's temper frayed a little more.
This wasn't, exactly, what he thought their lives would be like after she'd admitted she loved him.
And this wasn't, at all, what he'd determined they'd be like which was what they were like in his dream.
"Yes," he said evenly. "Now."
She pulled breath into her nostrils and walked to him.
The minute she was within arm's reach, he hooked an arm around her h*ps and pulled her into his lap.
When she settled, he looked down at her and clipped, "Before you start your day, would you at least like to give your king a f**king good morning kiss?"
She stared at him in shock, like she'd never kissed a man before and the very idea was repugnant to her and she'd f**king kneeled between his legs and took his c**k into her mouth not a week ago.
His temper disintegrated and he hissed, "What in the f**k?"
She looked into his eyes, her face paled and she declared loudly, "Callum, I'm freaking out!"
It was his turn to blink and he did it slowly.
"Sorry?"
"Today, I'm going tohellip; there are going to be lots of yourhellip;" She swallowed then, her voice filled with panic, she cried, "What if I do something wrong?"
He stared at her a moment before he burst out laughing, pulling her close in his arms as he did so.
"This isn't funny!" she wailed through his laughter. "I'm representing you and Regan and Caleb and Calder and you and Ryon and even your Dad!"
His fingers slid into her hair and he pulled her head back and brushed her mouth with his.
It was like he'd not moved when she stated, "I need a shower."
"Honey, calm down."
"Calmhellip;" She shook her head as if clearing it. "No, really, Callum, I need a shower. I need to be alone, get my thoughts straight, sort my head out. I'll be fine. I just need a long, hot shower."
Callum grinned and informed her, "You can have your shower, little one, you just have to earn it."
She went stiff in his arms and her face again paled. "Earn it?"
His grin deepened. "Yes. Earn it."
"How do Ihellip;?" She paused, tested his arms by pushing against them. They tightened so she gave up and he tried not to laugh as she finished, "Earn it?"
"You can choose two of three things," he stated.
"Two of three ndash;"
"First," he cut her off and dipped his head to mark her hair with his temple before he said at her ear, "You can tell me you love me again."
He ignored it and went on, lifting his head to look at her. "Second, you can describe one of your dreams about me."
She stared at him in horror.
He grinned and ignored that too.
"Third, you can kiss me." He rested his forehead to hers and concluded, "Now, pick two."
"Can I do one now and one ndash;?"
He lifted his head then shook it. "Two."
She glared at him.
Then she snapped, "Dream."
When she said no more, he gave her a squeeze, bit back his smile and encouraged, "Go on."
"Well, the last one I had," she hesitated and revised, "the last real one went like this." She sat up straighter in his lap and turned fully to him. "I was sleeping and my puppy, umhellip; that would be my wolf. You know, the one I told you I met when I was a child?" She waited for him to nod. He did, his amusement diminishing and his mouth tightening about the fact that he still hadn't told her he was her "puppy" as she went on, "Anyway, he always comes to me in the dreams first. So he came to me. I was sleeping. I woke up and he was beside the bed. I said hi to him and he sat down. I asked where you were and then closed my eyes. Then I opened them and my puppy was gone but you were there. I felt the covers slide down me andhellip;"
Callum's body tightened as she continued, explaining, to every last detail, the dream he'd had last night.
"Then you start tohellip; you know and I woke up," she finished.
Callum stared at her.
She stared back.
Then her brow furrowed and she whispered, "What?"
"That's your dream?"
She bit her lip, released it and continued quietly, "I told you they weren't actually sexual, as such. It probably doesn't seem like very much to you buthellip; you have to feel it."
Oh, he'd felt it.
He'd f**king felt it.
"What about after we have sex?" he demanded to know.
Her brows drew together in confusion and she repeated, "What?"
"You never dream of us having sex. But what about when you dream about us after we've had sex?"
"I've never dreamed of that."
He stared at her, trying to assess if she was lying.
She still looked confused but serious.
"Never?" he pushed.
"Never. Why do you ndash;?"
"You never dream of us lying together, telling me you love me and never to forget it?"
Her face paled again and she whispered, "No, Callum, I've never dreamed of that."
At once distracted and needing to find Lucien, completely forgetting Sonia's explanation of how it made her feel when he lost sight of taking care of his mate, Callum ordered, "Kiss me."
"Whhellip; what?"
His eyes focused irately on her. "Sonia, kiss me."
"But ndash;"
"Fucking do it."
She jerked in his arms.
Then she did it. Her hands curling around his neck, she pressed her lips against his quickly and then just as quickly, she pulled away.
"Now tell me you love me," he demanded.
"But you said only two ndash;"
"Sonia," he warned, impatient to talk to Lucien.
She stared at him and he was so preoccupied he didn't notice the life ebbing from her always lively eyes nor did he notice her flat voice when she said, as if by rote, "I love you, Callum."
He touched his lips to her forehead, stood, putting her on her feet and he strode from the room.
Therefore he wasn't there when Sonia stared at the door, her lips trembling, silent tears sliding down her cheeks.
And he wasn't there when she snatched her rings from the nightstand and she dug until she found her stuffed wolf and tore it from under the covers.
And he wasn't there when she walked by the fire Callum had stoked that morning and blindly threw the rings and the wolf into the fire.
But Sonia was so blinded by emotion that, luckily, her stuffed wolf bounced off the side and onto the floor to come to rest, unharmed, under the couch.
And her rings bounced too but fell into the fire, landing safely to glint in the firelight at its edge.
* * * * *
"Callum, I really need a moment to speak to you," Regan pleaded, following her infuriated son down the stairs.
In response, not missing an enraged step, Callum asked, "Where's Sonia?"
"Callum, hold still a second and ndash;"
Callum did as his mother told him, stilling then swinging around to face her. "I asked you, where the f**k is my f**king queen?"
Regan took one look at him and stepped up and away from him.
Then she straightened her shoulders and stated, "Callum, something's wrong. I know. I can see it. I felt it yesterday but I need to explain something to you. Something important. Something you must know right now."
Callum's hand clenched around the rings he'd found in the fire while he searched for his mate and his mind thrashed with the memories of his wife laughing, talking, joking with his people, all day. Cheering, drinking, eating, clapping, dancing, making them fall in love with her.
But she'd done all of this far away from him.
Far, far away.
She'd ridden silently in the truck beside him as he took her into town but almost the instant they arrived she melted into the crowd.
And they'd accepted her gladly. The day having the feel of two celebrations. One of victory, one at their luck that Callum's queen was so f**king perfect.
He'd heard it time and again, his people telling him of the widespread talk of her notes to the kin of the fallen. The stories that had gone far and wide of her taking their women into her home and, together, waiting out the battle as she demonstrated strength of will, instilling hope in their females' hearts. How brilliant they thought it was that she, a human, proudly displayed his chain around her h*ps as she did that day and every day. The chain flaunted boldly outside her cords, his people not knowing it was Callum's f**king idea in the first f**king place.
And Sonia's high spirits were evident every moment during the celebration. Clearly up for anything, his Sonia, drinking copious amounts of cider. Tasting every bit of food sold by the vendors. Laughing with abandon. Grabbing handfuls of huge, yellow and gold wolf head-shaped confetti. Throwing it in the air and giggling as it drifted all around her and those close to her, in her hair, their hair, floating to the pavement only for her to grab more and do it again as his wolves watched her worshipfully or joined in. Kneeling low to wrap her arms around pups and hold their wrists safely away as they twirled sparklers, all the while gleaming up at the pups' parents as they stared down at her dotingly. Linking her arm with Leah's, their blonde heads, the only blondes in the crowd, bent together as the talked low and giggled with each other. Not as if they'd known each other a day but as if they'd known each other a lifetime while the she-wolves smiled at their camaraderie but the wolves watched them with hungry eyes.
But the minute Callum would start to get near to share the day with his enthusiastic, fun-loving queen was the minute she'd move away. He kept getting caught in the revelry making it easy for her to escape.
And she was escaping. There was no doubt about it.
So much, when night had fallen, she'd eventually disappeared from town and when he searched for her, he couldn't find her. No one had seen her, of the numerous people he asked, until one of his Guard told him another had taken her, for some unknown reason, to the castle.
But when he arrived at the castle, concerned at her disappearance but more, the meaning behind it, he found she was not there.
And thorough was his search. So he found the rings he'd given her had been tossed into the fire.
Now, his mother was there and he could hear more trucks arriving. He could sense a large number of wolves, probably smashed and looking for fun because the main celebrations were over as the fireworks had gone off as planned. But they'd gone off without their king being there to witness them or their queen for no one knew where the f**k she was.
Twisted with this were the thoughts of what Lucien told him about how Leah's dreams would be events in which she participated, nearly real, but Lucien dreamed more, more events, more detail of their plight. He participated too, in his dreams. He participated in things Leah never f**king dreamed.
Like Callum dreamed last night of his betraying his queen with a wolf, the first of his kind to ever f**k around on his mate.
"No," he answered his mother. "Right now I need to find my f**king wife."
As he stalked to the entryway, he heard more trucks were arriving and there were voices on the steps. He could hear Caleb, Ryon, both sounding irate and Lucien's voice, cooler, controlled but cautiously so. And another, a voice he knew, it was familiar, but Callum didn't take a moment to process it.
Because none of the voices were Sonia.
However he smelled her there and he was going to have a word, or likely several of them, with his queen.
He threw open the door, his mother on his heels and he stopped and stared at the scene.
Ryon, Caleb and Lucien were standing shoulder-to-shoulder at the top of the steps and there were eight of Callum's guard, four flanking each of the sides.
At a quick glance from Callum, there were in the drive seventy wolves, not his wolves, not his Guard, lined at the bottom facing off, clearly on the offensive, in attack formation against them.
Automatically, Callum assessed the six to one ratio and the fact that this, for his wolves, was not a problem.
Titium, Desdemona's father, was standing three steps up wearing a face like thunder.
The distant sounds of town still locked in drunken carousing could be heard through the utter silence.
Fucking hell.
Callum noticed Sonia and Leah, both standing close together to the side of the top landing, eyes riveted to the men and Regan moved toward them.
"Nice you could join us," Ryon remarked dryly.
Callum ignored his cousin and speared Sonia with a glance. Her already pale face grew paler when she caught it and he slid his hand into the pocket of his cords, depositing his mate's wedding rings there.
Rings he never expected her to take off because first, she f**king shouldn't and knew she shouldn't and second, because of how she behaved when he did.
Rings he never expected her to throw in the fire and he couldn't bloody well imagine why she did.
It was like she'd taken off her claiming chain and thrown it in the fire.
An act which was unforgivable.
He walked between Ryon and Lucien and down three steps toward Titium.
At his bold advance, the entire assemblage tensed and several wolves started to crouch.
He heard Sonia's intake of breath.
It was only that which made him stop.
"What's the meaning of this?" he asked Titium.
"I'm challenging you," Titium replied idiotically and Callum fought back a frustrated sigh.
"Fuck me," Caleb muttered in annoyance and Titium's infuriated eyes flashed to Callum's brother.
"Look at me!" Callum's voice whipped out like a lash and the tense group tensed further and at once he sensed fear from some of Titium's wolves.
The smart ones.
However belatedly so as Callum would punish them all for their insurrection.
Titium's eyes sliced back to him.
"You sequestered my daughter," Titium accused.
"I did," Callum agreed.
"It's unthinkable," Titium snarled.
Was he mad? He had to know what the crazy bitch had done.
Further, what she hadn't.
"What's unthinkable is what her inattention caused, Titium. That's unthinkable," Callum stated. "Desdemona should have had worse and you know it, now she's getting the attention she needs."
"My daughter is not mad," Titium declared, visibly working himself up. Still spoiling his daughter and she wasn't even f**king there.
"She refused to seek her mate," Callum returned.
"She was a little busy doing her duty for her king!" Titium shot back.
"Not very well," Callum replied, Titium started to crouch and Callum warned, "You don't want to do that. She'll need you when she's out."
Titium's eyes narrowed angrily and he snorted derisively, "You think you can best anyone."
"That's because I can," Callum stated calmly.
Titium's legs bent deeper. "You ndash;"
"She's unwell," Sonia stated from behind them and Callum sensed, rather than saw, Sonia move their way.
That was when he sighed and only just stopped himself from rolling his eyes to the heavens.
After he found out what was in her head this time he was going to smack that sweet ass of hers until it was red for her latest inappropriate behavior.
For now she knew. Mara and Callista had been instructing her on royal protocol, not to mention he had told her on several occasions how she should behave. This might not be official but she knew to keep her mouth shut.
"Sonia, be quiet and stay where you are," Callum ordered.
She defied him. He heard her boots coming closer as he smelled her scent getting sharper.
Surprisingly, Titium's eyes moved to Sonia and his face gentled before he said, "My argument is not with you, little queen."
"I know," Sonia said softly, stopping wisely just out of arm's reach of her mate. "But, I saw her, sir. She is not well."
"She's crazy as a f**king loon," Caleb muttered and Sonia twisted.
"Quiet, Caleb, that isn't helping," she whispered.
"She is," Caleb returned.
Sonia sucked in breath and turned back to Titium before resuming. "Callum didn't want to do it but, you have to know, the results of herhellip; um, lack of concentration were disastrous."
"There are things you likely don't know, little queen," Titium told her.
"I know them." She was still speaking softly but now her words were pained. "Please, come into the castle. We'll sit down and talk. This doesn't need to get heated."
"It should have gotten heated centuries ago," Titium replied, Sonia tensed as did Callum.
"Centuries ndash;?" she whispered but Titium kept talking.
"He misused her," Titium announced, his face hardening and his eyes moving back to Callum and Callum, in preparation, removed his own wedding band and slid it in his pocket with Sonia's. "As he did many a she-wolf. Misused her knowing how she felt about him and he set her aside and didn't look back. Not like she was daughter to a warrior but like she was nothing but a paid tart."
"Enough," Callum ordered as he felt Sonia's tension intensify.
"Mac was a decent king, loyal to his mate, like the wolf," Titium's voice declared proudly before it turned snide. "You, with your sweet human, won't last for more than ndash;"
"Enough!" Callum thundered.
Titium started crouching and declared, "It'll never be enough. Not until you're brought low."
"Don't do this!" Sonia shouted, sensing the escalation, her panic palpable.
"I should have done it ages ago!" Titium shouted, definitely as mad as his daughter and just as adept at hiding it.
"Ry, get Sonia out of here!" Callum demanded as he watched Titium's skin darken, the change was coming.
And then it happened.
Titium crouched, Callum following and Sonia screamed, "Don't!"
Both wolves leapt as Sonia moved, faster than any human he'd seen, within a blink of an eye she was between them. Like she was when he was wolf and she was a child, throwing herself in front of him to protect him but this time stopping what would have been face-to-face.
But by the time she arrived, he was no longer there. He'd changed and, to avoid her, at the last second, he leaped over her head.
Titium's reflexes weren't as swift and he'd reached out a set of claws through the transformation in an effort at catching Callum unaware.
So by the time Callum landed on a skid at the foot of the steps and turned, Sonia was down, her body facing him. Titium was standing over her as wolf, panting and pawing the step beside her as if trying to help her.
Her head was up, her neck twisted and she was staring at Titium, mouth open in shock.
Then her head turned and Callum saw blood trickling from her temple where it had cracked against the steps and at the sight he growled.
But he didn't move because her eyes were wide as she gaped at him as wolf, face-to-face with her "puppy".
Then her expression changed. She winced in pain but Callum knew it was the pain of betrayal.
She took in a breath that sounded both surprised and ragged before she lost consciousness. In so doing, she fell forward and rolled down a step as Callum tensed to leap but he stopped when Sonia came to rest on a wide step with her back facing him, Titium's claw marks oozing blood through her jacket.
Titium's men behind him all shuffled back at the sight of their fallen, bleeding queen.
But Callum didn't notice.
He howled his fury and his muscles bunched to attack.
However Titium howled as well but Titium's howl wasn't fury.
It was the f**king tone of surrender which meant Callum couldn't bloody well attack when his mouth salivated to tear into the wolf's throat.
In the seconds that transpired, Ryon, Caleb and the Guard leaped into wolves. Ryon and Caleb were prowling, snarling and circling Sonia's prone body. Callum's guard was at the foot of the steps, snapping at Tititum's men to warn them back.
Lucien, with lightning vampire speed, ran to Sonia, carefully lifted her in his arms and again like a flash, he was up the steps, disappearing into the castle.
Callum, as wolf, bounded after him.
* * * * *
There were way too many f**king people in the room.
Sonia lay on their bed on her belly, her head to the side, her weight pressed into her forearms, cords still on but back bared as Orphenon saw to her.
Younger brother to one of his Guard, Orphenon was also simply a young wolf, being only a century and a half old. But his calling made him a human doctor currently practicing in Glasgow. He'd come to be with his brother for the celebrations, his brother was one of the eight who'd witnessed the scene and after had called Orphenon in for human medical attention.
Luckily, Orphenon had learned that anything could happen anywhere and he brought his doctor's kit with him to town.
He'd cleansed the wounds at Sonia's back and head and had injected her to numb the pain as he stitched the claw marks together when she regained consciousness while he was still stitching.
She'd panicked, fear filling her face and started to resist, causing tearing at her stitches when she did so. It took some effort before they could calm her enough for Orphenon to administer her.
However, it was only Leah who could calm her and only Leah who she'd allow to touch her.
Only the human.
His cunning little queen, she could smell the difference in them now.
The rest of them, all of them, including Callum and every last one of his family was in the f**king room, she stared at with wary, silent fear that didn't even begin to mask the pain she felt at their treachery.
As Orphenon stitched and Leah sat on the side of the bed holding her hand, Callum saw his mate's mouth get tight. Then he saw Leah start to wince repeatedly as Sonia's hand squeezed hers with each insertion of the needle.
But she still remained silent.
"She's feeling it," Callum growled to the wolf.
Orphenon stopped and leaned closer to Sonia's ear. "Sonia, do you feel what I'm doing?"
She didn't speak, simply closed her eyes tight.
Orphenon noted this, his eyes slid to Callum and he muttered, "I'll administer another dose."
Callum watched the doctor inject another dose of the anesthetic and Sonia flinch when he did but he spoke to his mother as it was happening.