"Callum, sweetheart, we're worried and Sonia needs her family close," Regan demurred and she was right.
In times of trouble for wolf, family would always be there.
"She's not wolf. She's uncomfortable with this. Get them out," Callum ordered.
"Cal ndash;"
Finally, he turned to his mother and barked, "Out!"
Sonia jumped at his tone, the fear in her eyes escalating and Callum gritted his teeth.
"The vampire should remain," Orphenon noted. "He could be useful. He can monitor her heartbeat."
At that, Sonia's eyes widened and she moved, skittering on her forearms up the bed, fleeing and protecting her nudity at the same time she cringed and her eyes flew about the room in a panic trying to source the vampire.
"I can report her heartbeat is erratic, now she knows I'm vampire," Lucien drawled with irritated dryness.
"Whoops," Orephenon mumbled. "Didn't know."
"Calm, Sonny," Leah cooed, scooting urgently up the bed with her. "It's okay. Lucien's okay. He's good people. They're all good people and they're worried about you. Just calm down and let the doctor see to you."
Sonia's eyes moved to Leah. She took in a breath and held it before she let it out and nodded, settling again.
"Regan ndash;" Callum warned.
"All right," his mother snapped, approached the bed, Sonia's terrified eyes watched her as she did so and his mate's body tensed, preparing to flee.
Regan saw it, felt it and her face gentled even as tears filled her eyes. She leaned toward the bed and stopped moving closer.
"Sonny, sweetie, I'm just downstairs if you need anything," his mother told his mate.
Sonia didn't reply.
Regan made a sound that was half whimper, half sob. Her wet eyes moved to Callum and then she left.
Callum's glance sliced to his brethren, his order nonverbal but understood all the same.
Caleb approached the bed next only for Sonia to have the exact same reaction so he stopped.
"Hey sis," he called in a tender tone and Callum was surprised for he had no idea Caleb even had a tender tone.
However, his words and tone had opposite to the desired effect on Sonia as her expression filled with a different kind of pain and she shut her eyes.
Not deterred, Caleb went on, "It's doesn't look bad, darlin', probably feels it though. You'll be sparring with Callum again in no time."
Sonia made no response and kept her eyes closed.
Caleb, too, looked at Callum, jaw clenched and exited the room.
Ryon didn't approach as Sonia kept her eyes closed.
But he spoke to Callum, "I couldn't have had any idea she'd learn like that."
Callum turned cool eyes to his cousin. "Shit always happens, Ryon." When Ryon's face grew hard, Callum went on, "But it wasn't you who didn't tell her. It was me. You bear no responsibility and you know I'll sort it. You go down and see how Magnum is handling Titium and his wolves."
Ryon nodded and with one last glance at Sonia he too left.
When Callum looked back at her, Sonia's eyes were open and her expression clearly stated she'd heard him and it was doubtful his job of sorting his mistake would be quick and easy.
Callum sighed.
Lucien moved to leave, Orphenon's head came up and his mouth opened to speak.
Lucien got there before him. "She's frightened. I'm doing more harm than good being here."
Orphenon nodded and went back to work. Lucien cut a reassuring look to Callum then a gentle one to his bride then he left as well.
Callum stood at the side of the bed, arms crossed, legs planted wide and watched, impatient as Sonia's wounds were closed.
Finally, Orphenon clipped the last thread, smoothed some medicine on the wounds and bandaged her back loosely. Throughout this, he spoke in low, comforting doctor's tones to Sonia even as he cleaned his mess and packed his bag.
The whole time Sonia stared blankly at the pillow or her eyes sought Leah's for support.
Packed up and ready to go, Orphenon got close to Callum.
"The wounds on her back are deep but still superficial. As you can see, he didn't even score her with his fourth claw which means the swipe was light." Callum, who listened to this without looking from Sonia, nodded once. "I'm more concerned about that bump she had to her noggin," Orphenon announced, clearly a different kind of doctor than Sonia's specialist for his wording was meant to be humorous and reassuring. "She was out for a while. You'll need to wake her frequently in the night. She'll have a headache which is expected. The pain shouldn't be extreme and if she experiences dizziness, lethargy, double-vision, I'll want to know immediately. Yes?"
Sonia watched the doctor the entire time he spoke, her face registering nothing.
"Yes," Callum agreed tersely.
The doctor went on, "I'll leave some pain pills with Regan. Once the anesthetic wears off, she'll experience some discomfort." Callum felt a muscle jerk in his jaw before Orphenon finished encouragingly, "In a few weeks she'll be good as new and your queen will dance at your Mating."
Sonia's eyes closed again, this time tightly.
"Thank you," Callum bit out but the words were unintentionally ungracious.
"My pleasure to be of service to my king and my queen," Orphenon mumbled, took one last look at Sonia and exited the room.
Leah glanced at him and tilted her head, giving him a small smile before she turned and leaned into Sonia.
"I'm going now, Sonny," she said and Sonia's eyes flew open.
Sonia looked at Leah then Callum then Leah and she shook her head frantically, clutching tight to Leah's hand.
Leah brought their hands to her chest and leaned further toward his mate.
"It's okay. You're okay. You just need to rest, get some sleep if you can, be with your mate," Leah told her but Sonia kept shaking her head and Leah's voice dropped when she continued. "Tomorrow, after you've had some rest, we'll talk. I'll explain a few things." Leah grinned at her. "I'll tell you my story. It's a good one," she confided as if sharing an exciting morsel of gossip before she concluded, "But you'll understand a whole lot more once you've heard it."
Sonia gazed at her new friend then her eyes went blank, she nodded and released Leah's hand.
Leah bit her lip as she tucked Sonia's hair behind her ear. Then she sighed, stood and walked to Callum. She touched his hand briefly while giving him another small smile then she walked through the room and closed the door behind her.
Once he heard the click of the door in the latch, Callum moved to the bed.
Sonia lay motionless, all but her eyes which watched him.
He put a knee to the bed and settled carefully on his side, up on a forearm, close to her immobile body and cautiously he reached out and laid a hand flat against the small of her back above her cords.
She turned her face away.
"Baby doll, look at me," he ordered gently.
Sonia didn't move.
Callum decided not to push it even though he disliked her resting her head on its injured side.
He slid down the bed so his head was in his hand, his elbow in the pillow, his body nearly brushing hers as he leaned forward and way too late whispered his secret in her ear.
"I'm a werewolf. My people are werewolves. As you know, I'm their king, as my father was before me, his father before him."
Her body tensed tighter and tighter with each word he spoke but other than that she didn't move.
His hand slid along her skin to curl his fingers around the side of her waist and he continued, "I'm immortal. I'm three hundred and eighty-three years old. I was there that night thirty-one years ago when your parents died. I was there on instinct, to protect you because you were alone. I'd got shot because I'd gotten cocky and you ended up protecting me."
No movement, no sound.
Callum pulled in breath.
Then he kept going, "Werewolves are not what you think we are, not what you've seen in movies. We don't change only during a full moon, we can change whenever we want and change back just the same. You can shoot us with silver bullets and our flesh will just eject it and heal. We live our lives in wolf settlements, like the town, or amongst humans. Like humans, we try to do no harm and we mean no ill-will to anyone. As you've seen, my people are kind and friendly, different than yours in many ways, but none of them bad."
No response.
Callum kept going, belatedly sharing with his queen information he should have told her weeks before. "We're born wolves. We have no capacity to make humans into wolves with a bite. No one understands truly how we came about, though there's a great deal of research that's been done. We do know we've evolved from wolves, unlike vampires, which you've learned also exist, who evolved from humans. There's no magic, nothing supernatural, nothing sinister, we're of nature, just like you. A she-wolf gives birth and a pup grows, slower than a human child, five years for wolf to every one for a human. Then we lock in our development somewhere in our late thirties and we never show any signs of further aging."
Still, no reaction.
"Honey, please look at me."
Her head turned on the pillow again and when her eyes caught his, hers were blazing with hatred.
His gut wrenched and his face dipped to hers.
"This, what you're feeling, how you're looking at me, is exactly what I wanted to avoid by not telling you," he explained, his voice thick with emotion.
Finally, she spoke.
Her voice trembling with loathing, she whispered, "Obviously, you failed."
"Little one ndash;"
"Go away, Callum."
"No," he replied and she closed her eyes.
When she opened them, she asked, "Why would I ever think you'd give a gosh darn about what I wanted?"
Then without hesitation she again turned her face away.
Briefly Callum weighed the virtues of giving her what she wanted and asking Leah to stay the night with her. Then he decided she'd not benefit from his absence because she could think she could get used to it.
Which she could not.
Carefully, he moved from the bed. He felt his jaw harden when she didn't fight nor did she move at all when he pulled off her boots, lifted her ass gently at the h*ps to unbutton and unzip her pants and he pulled them down her legs, leaving her panties. Then he disrobed, turned out the lights and joined her in bed, sliding again along her side, pulling up the hides and, slowly and cautiously, forcing her body to her side, facing him.
She had to turn her head again when he did this and she glared at his throat.
"Does it hurt to lie on your side?" he asked softly.
She gritted her teeth then bit out, "I don't feel anything."
"Good," he murmured. "I don't want you lying on that wound at your temple."
She made no response, simply continued to glare at his throat.
He pulled in a deep breath and let it out just as deeply.
Finally, he admitted on a whisper, "I f**ked up, baby doll. I wanted to tell you time and again but I just couldn't find the right moment." She remained silent so he continued, "I didn't expect that to happen. I didn't expect that to be how you'd find out. I wanted to control it, protect you, manage your reaction. I knew it would be a shock and I wanted to cushion the blow." She didn't speak so Callum lost patience and demanded, "Baby doll, f**k, give me something."
Her eyes lifted to his and she asked with acid curiosity, "How can I give you something, Callum, when you've already taken everything I have to give?"
Callum froze at her words.
With a hand in the wall of his frozen chest, she pushed away and resumed her place on her belly with her head turned from him.
Callum came unstuck, his temper flared and his arm snaked out, hooking her at the waist and, with a carefully controlled movement, he slid her toward his body so that her side was tucked in his front.
Then he leaned down to her ear. "I understand you being pissed, little one, you've a right. Especially considering you were injured in the fray but, I'll point out only this once because we're never f**king speaking of it again, that was your own damned fault." Her body got tight in his arm but he ignored it and carried on, "I'll give you time. But you've never experienced anything from a single one of my people to continue having this reaction to them after the shock wears off. As for me, I'm willing to pay my penance but I've explained I was coming at this from a good place with your best interests at heart. If you don't come to terms with that, and soon, I'll not be pleased." She didn't speak so his fingers gripped her waist, still gentle but in a way she couldn't miss. "Now tell me I'm understood."
Instantly, still facing away, she replied bitterly, "Oh, you're understood, your grace."
Callum growled low.
Sonia didn't make another noise.
Callum scowled at her hair.
Then his hand moved and his thumb encountered bandage. His anger evaporated, his eyes closed and visions of her little, prone, bleeding body lying on the steps to their home filled his brain. To dispel the images, his eyes shot open.
That night was not the night for her to die.
But, for one unbearable second, when his eyes took in her wounds, he felt that sinister sliver of fear score through him.
Callum leaned into her cautiously and shoved his face in her hair.
"No one can piss me off like you do, honey," he whispered there. "But I'm sure as f**k relieved you're all right."
Her body tensed at his first words and stayed tight for long moments after he finished speaking.
Then, slowly, it relaxed.
And, with it, so did Callum's.
* * * * *
Callum woke several times in the night to check his mate and stoke the fire.
It wasn't until a muted, gray dawn started slowly to sweep the sky that he woke her one last time.
Sonia mumbled sleepily that she was all right as she'd been doing all night.
But this time, she turned into him. Still on her belly, she pressed her soft body into the side of his hard one, rested her cheek on his pectoral and her arm stole across his stomach.
Her weight settled heavily into his and he knew she was asleep.
Callum also knew it would be all right.
For actions, especially when they were instinctive, for both humans and wolves, said a great deal more than words.
His hand gathered her hair in one fist, he twisted it until it was a long rope and then he coiled it around his palm and, he too, finally fell asleep.
For all of ten minutes because, soon, he'd learn, they were coming.
* * * * *
"Regan, the plan was agreed."
Regan stared out the window at the dawn's very early light, in fact, there was almost none and snapped into her mobile, "Well, I didn't agree."
"Yes," Gregor returned calmly. "But Mac, Lassiter and I did." He saved his winning point for last. "And so did Cherise."
Regan knew that.
She knew it.
She shut her eyes tight.
"Gregor, they're suffering," she whispered. "Especially Sonny."
She heard Gregor's pained sigh before he replied softly, "They're meant to, Regan. You know this has to be the way."
"Why does it have to be them?" Regan cried.
"I don't know, it just does," Gregor answered in a way that stated eloquently he liked it about as much as Regan did then he finished, "Regan, you know, this isn't just the way it has to be, it's the only way."
Regan was silent.
This silence, they both knew, was her agreement.
"Describe her wounds again," Gregor demanded and Regan did as she was asked even though it was the third time she did then Gregor went on. "Tell me what Callum's done to Titium."
"Ordered Ryon and Caleb to incarcerate him and his men. They'll all stand trial."
"He has too much of Mac in him," Gregor grunted and, despite her escalating sense of despair, Regan smiled.
Only Gregor, a vampire, would think Callum had too much Mac in him. By the wolf's standard, Regan's son was ruthless.
Though, not as ruthless as a vampire.
"As I told you," Regan reminded Gregor, "Titium howled surrender before Callum could attack."
"Too much Mac," Gregor repeated.
Regan changed the subject. "You'll need to come to her."
"Yes," Gregor agreed. "Earlier than expected."
Regan held her breath a moment before saying, "You're going to ndash;"
Gregor interrupted her, "There's no reason to delay."
Regan sagged against the windowsill in relief.
Soon it would be over, for her son and for Sonia.
Thank God.
Then she blinked into the slowly rising dawn.
Not because it was bright.
But because the cars had started coming.
She stared.
"Regan?"
"I've got to go," Regan said distractedly.
"What is it?" Gregor asked as Regan saw the shadows forming on the hills, coming from tents, moving slowly, making their way to the castle.
She felt a thrill slide up her spine as tears filled her eyes.
And softly, but with immense pride, she whispered, "My people are attending their queen."
Chapter Nineteen
Werewolves
Sonia felt like she'd just fallen asleep when Callum moved, sliding gently away from her but holding her body still. Only when he'd disengaged did he settle her carefully on the mattress, a pillow under her cheek where his chest had been.
She felt his heat leave the bed but the hides came up to her neck and then they were tucked softly around her.
She drifted but on the edge of her consciousness she heard a door open and close.
Then she drifted again until she heard hazily from somewhere far away Callum muttering, "Bloody hell."
She smiled into the pillow and then let out a soft, fluttering sigh. She loved it when he got annoyed, she thought it was cute.
Though she'd never tell him that.
On that fuzzy thought, she fell asleep.
For about thirty seconds.
"Baby doll," his big hand was curled around the side of her head, "you need to wake up."
Her eyes fluttered open and she tilted her head to look up at him.
Then a nagging ache struck her temple and a dull pain which hinted at something more piercing dragged her back and she remembered.
She closed her eyes and twisted her neck on a half wince. She heard him curse and her eyes opened again.
His mouth was hard when she looked at him.
"Does it hurt?"
Did it hurt?
Her head and back, sure. She'd banged her head on a stone step and had a freaking werewolf claw through her jacket.
But she hurt other places worse and for reasons that she knew down to the depths of her mortal soul, those wounds would never heal.
She decided to answer his question. "Just a little bit."
His handsome face softened and she wanted to scratch it with her nails. She wanted to lean into it and scream. And she wanted to tilt her head and kiss him. She couldn't do any of those things and she hated him for it.
"I'm sorry but I need you to come with me, honey, just for a little bit. Then we'll get you back into bed and you can sleep," he told her and then before she could blink he was gone.
She stared at the place where he'd been, suddenly uncertain that he'd even been there.
Then he was back, the hides were pulled away and he put his large hands under her arms and tenderly lifted her from the bed.
When she was on her feet, she tipped her head back to look up at him and started, "Callum ndash;"
"Lift your arms for me, little one," he murmured, his hands up, holding a stretchy, pink cotton nightgown.
Since she was na**d (mostly) and a nightgown would be good, she did as she was told.
She winced when, at her movement, the dull pain became piercing.
"Fuck," he hissed low at her wince, making fast work of pulling the nightgown over her head and then he commanded, "Arms down."
Gratefully she lowered her arms as he carefully pulled the nightgown down her body, rounding to her side to yank it out before he tugged it down her back and it fell over her h*ps to her knees. She registered this vaguely as a novel experience, considering Callum was putting a nightgown on her rather than taking it off as, he'd stated repeatedly, he preferred her na**d in their bed and usually did something about it.
He sat her down the edge of the bed and she stared, this time in out and out shock, as he knelt in front of her and put thick, woolen gray socks on her feet.
King Callum kneeling at her feet.
He'd only knelt for her once but that was to put his mouth between her legs.
Now he was putting socks on her feet to ward away a chill.
Before she could cope with this, he took her hand and cautiously tugged her up from the bed and then leaned into her, reaching to the side as she reared back (trying not to look as if she did) and he brought up her cashmere robe.
"Now this," he stated. "Turn around."
She did as she was told, mainly so she wouldn't glare at the robe which, if she had been thinking, should also have gone in the fire with her rings and her wolf. She was doubly glad she threw the wolf in the fire now that she knew he was her puppy and he hadn't told her that, not for weeks. Not, apparently, for years (though, she wasn't actually doubly glad, she'd miss her stuffed wolf like crazy).
He pulled her robe up her arms and, hands at her shoulders, turned her around and gently tied it closed.
When he was done, his hands came to her neck and with thumbs at the undersides of her jaw he tilted her head back to look at him.
"You can walk okay?" he asked quietly.
"I'm fine," she lied. "Where are we going?"
"You'll see," he replied, his eyes soft. He took her hand in his and guided her out the door.
They were down two flights when she tugged on his hand. "Callum, really, where are we going?"
She didn't want to see anyone. She didn't want to talk to anyone. She didn't want to eat, drink or, possibly, breathe.
Since not breathing would be bad, she decided she'd breathe but she wanted to do it somewhere alone so she could get her thoughts in order and sort out her crazy, unbelievable life. A life which was already pretty unbelievable, say, because it included kings of secret sects of society and enchanted castles in tiny, unknown, independent countries in the depths of Scotland. But now she was forced to come to terms with the fact that she had to share that life with an arrogant, self-absorbed, philandering werewolf.
"It'll only take a minute, baby doll, and then back to bed," he told her, not pausing in leading her down the steps.
If whatever it was would only take a minute, which seeing someone, talking to them or eating and drinking the way Callum's people did would take longer than that, she followed without protest.
At the front door, he stopped her and turned her to him.
"One last thing," he muttered and his hand went into the pocket of his jeans.
She watched, her breath catching, as he pulled out her wedding rings.
How?
What?
Again, how?
What, did he have backups or something?
He lifted her limp hand and slid them on her finger.
Then he lifted her hand further and bent his head to it where his lips touched her rings and brushed her finger.
Her stomach clenched, her heart leaped and her sinuses tingled with unshed tears.
That was how you put wedding rings on a woman's finger.
Then just his eyes came to her, his lips remained at her hand and he said quietly, but very, very firmly, "Never take these off again, little one. Hear me?"
She was too stunned. She could do nothing but silently nod.
He lifted his head, squeezed her hand and then pulled her a bit back from the door. He opened it and, hand still in hers, he guided her numb body outside.
She almost stumbled at what she saw.
Across the clearing at the foot of the steps, around the fountain, even up the hill, not to mention tall warriors flanking the sides of the steps, stood Callum's people.
Even Regan, Ryon, Caleb, Lucien and Leah were standing along the top of the landing.
All of them silent, some of them carrying candles, others holding bunches of flowers or tins.
All of them looking at the castle, looking at her.
In her robe!
Callum led her to the edge of the top landing where he stopped and pulled her into his side with his arm carefully wound around her shoulders.
Nearly the minute they stopped and nearly at once, every last wolf dropped to their knee, hand to the snow or stone, head bowed (though Lucien and Leah didn't, of course, not being wolves and all).
Sonia quit breathing and learned that, even not breathing, you could still cry.
When she started breathing again, she whispered, "Oh my God."
"They need to see you're all right," Callum murmured.
"Make them rise," Sonia was still whispering.
Callum ignored her and carried on, "They heard you moved to protect me."
"Callum," she whispered, not able to tear her eyes from the bent multitudes, "let them rise."
"Though," he continued to ignore her, "they would have come all the same."
"Please," she breathed.
His arm came across his chest to her chin where his fingers grasped her and he tipped her face back to his.
Then he kissed her lightly, a brush on the lips.
His head lifting nary an inch, his sky blue eyes looked into hers and he said quietly, "These are my people. These are your people. These men and women bowing to you are werewolves."
With that, he released her chin, turned to his people and in a clear, carrying, deep voice, he commanded, "Rise!"
As the warriors at the steps stood sentry, flowers, tins and lit candles were placed on the steps as wolves came forward giving Callum a nod and Sonia a smile before giving their gifts.
This all happened silently before they turned to their cars or to make their way back up the hill to their tents.
It took longer than a minute and she was chilled through to the bone by the time the last wolf dipped his head to Sonia's mate and sent a smile Sonia's way.
But Sonia barely felt the cold or the biting pain that had begun to torment her back.
As any queen would, she stood for her people, injuries and all.
When it was done, without a word, Callum guided her back to their room, slid the robe from her shoulders and carefully pushed her into bed.
He kissed her injured temple at the bottom of the torn skin.
Then he slid his temple along her hair and in her ear, he whispered, "Sleep now, baby doll."
He pulled the hides higher and he was gone.
Sonia didn't think she could sleep. Not after that.
But it didn't take long before she did.
Chapter Twenty
Reckoning
Today was the day of reckoning.
Sonia knew it.
She could feel it.
Callum was angry.
He'd been patient.
For a while.
That wore off and he'd been patiently impatient.
For another while.
Now he was mad.
And she didn't care (or, that's what she told herself).
It had been three weeks since the incident where she'd learned his true nature (all of it) and those three weeks were the longest of her life.
* * * * *
Sonia had forgiven Regan, Ryon and Caleb for their duplicity the very next day.
She'd done this because she knew they'd lied to her because King Callum ordered it, or, if she was being fair, just kept things from her. Things that would seriously freak her out but that was almost like lying even if those things were things that would seriously freak her out.
But she'd also done it because she cared about them.
* * * * *
Regan had come up with a late breakfast tray and the moment she looked at Sonia, Regan's obvious hesitancy instantly tore at Sonia's heart.
Sonia, who'd been awake for a while and had been lying in bed, feeling sorry for herself and lamenting her fate at the same time contradictorily feeling both honored by the remarkable and touching display the wolves made for her that morning, sat up carefully when she saw Regan's shaky smile.
Then she reached her hand out to her mother-in-law.
Regan all but dropped the tray on the nightstand, sat on the bed and, taking care with Sonia's wounds, gave her a gentle hug.
"It was a shock but I still was awful," Sonia whispered in her ear, able to hug Regan back far more tightly.
"We shouldn't have waited. Callum wanted ndash;" Regan started but Sonia gave her a squeeze.
She didn't want to hear about anything that Callum wanted.
"It doesn't matter now," she assured Regan.
Regan pulled back and framed Sonia's face in her hands. "I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry about all of this."
"That's the last time you apologize for being who you are," Sonia said firmly curling her fingers around Regan's, pulling them down and holding their hands between them. "It was a shock. It's over. It's all good now," she finished on a lie and her own shaky smile.
Regan's eyes searched Sonia's and hers remained troubled. "So, you're not angry with Callum?"
No, she wasn't angry with him.
Not anymore.
She'd never be anything with him anymore.
Not because he was a gosh darn werewolf and didn't tell her (or not only because of that).
Not because all of his people were werewolves and he didn't tell her (or, also, not only because of that).
Not to mention the existence of vampires which, she realized, feeling immensely stupid (and she blamed Callum for that too), Gregor and Yuri were too by their smell which was like Lucien's which, like wolves, wasn't like humans (but, in her defense, how could Sonia know werewolves and vampires existed!).
And not because he was not only her handsome wolf but also her beloved puppy and he'd torn both of them away from her (or, again, not only because of those).
But because he'd disappeared for a day and most of a night, doing God knew what with God knew who and then returned to their bed, proving her fevered suspicions true by smelling how he smelled after they had sex and pretended to be caring and kind and thoughtful but doing it an arrogant bastard type of way.
Naturally, she knew he'd find someone else eventually.
She just didn't know how much it'd hurt and when she'd thoroughly processed it, lying and crying in their bed, how dead she felt and how surprised she was that feeling dead hurt worse.
She also didn't know the depths of that pain and her torture were not even close to being plumbed until he made her admit she loved him.
God, it was too humiliating to even contemplate.
She admitted she loved him!
Which, because evidently she was weak, weak, weak, was all she could contemplate while lying in bed that morning.
"I'm sure Callum and I will be fine," she lied again to Regan who gave her a look like she knew Sonia was lying but she let it go.
She stayed while Sonia ate and then gave Sonia pain pills because the stitches at her back were, by then, killing her and the pills made Sonia drowsy.
Therefore, Sonia slept.
She woke in Callum's arms.
Or, more precisely, with her head and hand resting on his stomach, his shoulders were against the headboard, his long legs stretched out straight in front of him and his arm was around her shoulders with his fingers drawing lazy circles on her skin.
"You awake, honey?" he asked.
She clenched her jaw at the empty endearment.
"Yes," she answered.
"How are you feeling?"
Like garbage, through and through, she thought but did not say out loud.
"It hurts." And that wasn't a lie. It was just an understatement.
"Poor baby," he murmured and he was lucky she was wounded or she'd have attacked even though he could rip her to shreds with his claws and his teeth.
"Regan said you had a nice visit," he told her.
"We did," Sonia affirmed.
His hand squeezed her shoulder with approval.
She again fought the urge to tear her stitches out of her back by attacking him.
"Do you feel like moving around?" he asked. "I'll help you in the bath."
"Are you telling me I stink?" she snapped irately.
He chuckled before he said (false) fondly, "You never stink, my little one."
She'd had enough and therefore started to pull away from him saying, "I should move around. I don't want to get stiff."
She didn't get very far before his hands went under her arms and he pulled her gently up to rest on his chest with their faces close.
She put her hands on his chest and pushed back but his arm slid around her lower waist and he held her still.
When she stopped moving, his other hand went behind her head, grasping her hair in one big fist, pulling it over her shoulder and twisting it again and again until it formed a long twine. Then he wrapped it around his palm at the side of her neck.
He watched his hand doing this as if enthralled.
"Callum," she called and reminded him, "I was going to move around."
His eyes came to hers and he announced, "You're still pissed."
Oh, he was right about that.
Apparently she could be something with Callum but "pissed" was all she was ever going to be.
"Can I have a day to get used to the fact my mate is a werewolf?" she asked caustically and then went on, "Or is that asking too much?"
He grinned at her (the arrogant bastard!).
Then he used her hair to pull her face to his and he touched his lips to hers.
Looking into her eyes, still grinning, he granted, "You can have a day."
Now, that was when she would have attacked if she could have attacked.
But he simply marked her hair at her good temple with his (that particular business finally explained by him being half-wolf), let her go, moved away and left the room.
She washed as best she could, dressed and decided to hang out in their room because she couldn't face anyone.
Leah came up with a tray of food in the late afternoon.
At that moment Sonia was grateful for Leah. It was good to be around her kind, for one, even if that made her a bad person for thinking it. For another, she liked Leah. Leah was funny and sweet and a little bit crazy and Sonia could be herself around her because, obviously, Leah was used to a life filled with vampires and such.
While Sonia ate, Leah talked, telling her wild stories of vampire concubines and captivating stories of places called Feasts and terrifying stories of something called The Sentence. All of this sharing how she'd fallen in love with Lucien.
The story had taken over an hour to tell and Sonia, long since having cleaned her plate, stared at her new friend when she was done talking.
"As you can see," Leah concluded, "I'm safe, healthy and happy and Lucien ishellip;" she smiled a sweet, eloquent smile before finishing, "happy too."
"And I'm happy for you," Sonia replied softly, meaning every word.
Leah grinned at her. "If you embrace it, Sonny, you'll be happy too and, I promise, it'll be beyond your wildest dreams."
That was doubtful.
Sonia had had her "wildest dreams". She knew how good it could be and it was not that.
"I don't have much choice but to embrace it," Sonia told her. "It's destiny."
"I know. Mine was too and destiny is my best friend," Leah declared on a giggle.
Sonia laughed softly, not agreeing in the slightest but also not wanting to break Leah's happy mood.
Ryon came up shortly after and she let him off the hook by smiling at him the minute he walked through the door.
Caleb came up not long after and she visited with them while Leah returned her tray but she came back with Lucien.
Lucien regarded her carefully as he walked in but even though he freaked her out more than werewolves, she'd lived with vampires all her life (apparently) so she knew better than to fear him (hysterically rather than generally because Lucien, the individual, was still kind of scary).
Regan arrived a few minutes later with a board game and they all started playing. Even Lucien who didn't strike Sonia as a board game type ofhellip; being. Then again, she was getting the sense cold, aloof Lucien would do just about anything to make his bride happy, including playing a board game.
Therefore, hours later, Sonia was lying on her belly on the curvy couch by the fire. Regan and Lucien were in chairs pulled around to the side of the fireplace by the couch. Leah was sitting cross-legged on the floor at Lucien's feet. And both Ryon and Caleb's long bodies were spread across the floor as they lay on their sides with pillows under their elbows, heads in their hands when Callum walked in.
He stood at the couch by Sonia's feet and stared down at them from his colossal werewolf height.
"We're almost done with this game. You can sit in the next one," Caleb announced.
"There won't be a next one," Callum declared meaningfully (and, incidentally, kingfully), walking down the couch and pulling Sonia up cautiously before sitting down, stretching his long legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles and setting her down with her upper torso on his thigh.
She wanted to pull away but she couldn't mainly because her back had begun to really hurt and she hadn't wanted to mention it and worry anyone but also because they were all watching her with Callum.
So she just settled in like she didn't care (when she did).
They finished the game, folded it up and said their goodnights and Sonia decided now was the time for pain pills because she didn't mind Callum worrying.
She started to push up from the couch (he'd followed everyone to the door and closed it behind them) but, quick as a flash, he was crouched at her side with a big palm in the small of her back.
"Just stay there, I'll bring your injection out here," he told her and then moved to the bathroom.
Holy cow.
She'd forgotten about her injection. How could she forget about that? And how could she take it with her back already on fire?
"Callum," she called. "I need my pain pills."
"After the injection," he replied, walking in with the syringe already loaded.
She stared at it like it was a living thing which existed only to do her harm.
Callum saw her look, crouched at the head of the couch and his hand cupped the side of her face. "Two minutes, baby doll," he said gently. "Then it'll be over and that whole time I'll be right here."
Boy, she hated the fact that she loved him, that there were so many things to love and that all of them were lies.
He moved to her side and murmured, "Can you get your jeans down for me?"
It hurt but she did.
He injected her.
The burn was ten times worse and seared through her back like wildfire.
She was panting when it was done but felt Callum's warm hand cupped at the back of her neck which she told herself didn't feel good (when it did).
Then, when she fully recovered, Callum did something strange.
He usually righted her clothes before she recovered but her jeans were still low on her h*ps and his palms went to her bottom, fingers spanning her h*ps and his thumbs slid over the pinpricks exposed by her jeans. He was sitting by her thighs and he started talking as if to himself.
"I hate these," he said softly. "Fucking hate them."
She got tense (or, she should say, more tense) but he wasn't done.
"But I should love them because they're a part of you."
Sonia pressed her lips together and closed her eyes tight.
She gave it a moment before she asked, "Can I get up and get my pain pills? My back is beginning to hurt."
His fingers curled into the waistband of her jeans and he pulled them up before he offered, "I'll get them, baby doll."
He gave her the pills, helped her dress for bed (another nightgown, a miracle!) and he held her close when they were under the hides, acting like the devoted king to his injured queen.
They were in the same position as she woke up early that afternoon when he asked, "Would you like me to tell you more about my kind?"
She'd get Regan, Mara, Callista, Ryon and Caleb to do that.
She wanted nothing from him.
"The pills make me drowsy and they work pretty fast." That wasn't a lie. "I don't want to miss anything." That was a lie.
"All right, honey," he murmured and went on to comment warmly, "You know, you're taking this a lot better than I expected."
She could have laughed.
She didn't.
"You don't know me very well," she told him the truth for once.
His fingers slid into her hair and cupped the back of her head. "True, but everything I learn, I like."
Liar, liar, liar, she thought but she just let out a fluttery, stupid sigh.
His fingers tensed against her scalp.
She prayed the pills would work their magic and, luckily, shortly after, they did.
* * * * *
The next week, Callum was patient mainly because Sonia was still feeling goodly amounts of pain which he took great care in assessing by often asking the soft, sweet, "How're you doing, baby doll?". He also demanded that he be the only one to clean, put ointment on and re-bandage her wounds. And, surprisingly, other than that, he gave her space to rest and heal.
Also, Callum gave her space because Gregor turned up since Regan told him Sonia had been injured.
Gregor gave her the whole, "Callum's a big boy and doesn't need you to protect him so you've no business throwing yourself in front of an angry werewolf even if you didn't have any idea he was an angry werewolf," lecture (although it didn't go quite like that). Then Sonia gave him her, "So, you and your son are vampires?" interrogation (and that was exactly how she started it). Then it was done and Gregor settled in like he was going to stay a while. This was evidenced by him having a lot of luggage not Sonia being overly perceptive. This also made Callum's patience slip a little bit but, for some reason, made Regan seem really happy.
Lucien and Leah left several days after the My Mate, The Werewolf Incident which Sonia found distressing as she'd grown fond of Leah very quickly and she liked being around them. There was something beautiful about the two of them. The way they looked at each other, acted toward each other. The quiet but obvious way they were just in love.
Normally, considering Sonia's circumstances, this would be added torture but Sonia cared about Leah and she also started to like Lucien. He seemed the sort of man who deserved to be happy and he acted like the kind of man who'd waited a very long time to be so and appreciated it deeply now that he had it. Considering Leah told her that Lucien was older than Callum by four entire centuries, a long time for him was, literally, a long time.
Regan, Mara and Callista shared with both Sonia and Leah a good deal about werewolf nature, history, lore and just about anything else they could share because Mara, as ever, liked to talk. It was a fascinating culture with a rich history and they were proud of it (as they should be).
There was only one hiccup in the first week and that was close to the end of it.
Sonia was in bed reading and hadn't switched out the light and settled in long before Callum came up. This was what she'd made a habit of doing, saying she was going to bed early because of pain and needing to rest, and, considering Callum didn't know an awful lot about humans, he didn't know any better. But Gregor gave her knowing looks and Regan gave her increasingly penetrating ones.
By the time she sensed him walking up, she couldn't feign sleep as he'd know since the door was open and he'd see the light go out not to mention, he probably would hear her moving.
Luckily, he smiled at her when he walked in but went directly to the bathroom. She had time to turn out her light, turn on his, put her book aside and get in a sleeping position before he walked out, na**d and heading to bed.
She told herself he didn't hear her sucking in her breath at the beauty of his na**d body (but she didn't believe herself) and this was proved false anyway when he grinned at her knowingly.
Once in bed, he immediately, and adeptly (totally ignoring her painstakingly crafted sleeping position), slid her closer to him, rolled her to her belly then to her side, avoiding her back and pulled her to him, face-to-face.
Then his hands started roaming.
She tucked her face in his throat and bit her lip because his hands on her felt way too nice and she missed them.
Way too much.
"Sonia, baby doll, do you want to play?" he asked softly.
She shook her head.
"I'll be gentle, little one."
She loved it when he was gentle almost as much as she loved it when he was rough.
"I'm in a little pain. The pills aren't working as well as they used to," she lied for she felt okay. The pain was mostly a twinge by then and the wounds had started itching, indicating they were healing.
"All right, honey," he murmured but his hands still roamed, though they'd slowed and the caresses felt soothing rather than exciting.
"About what?" she asked back and her voice sounded higher than normal.
His hand slid up her arm, his fingers curled in at her neck then her jaw and they tipped up her chin so she was forced to look at him.
"About anything," he replied.
"Not really," she told him.
His brows drew together and he commented, "A good deal has happened to you. With me, my family, my people, moving, finding out about Gregor and Yuri, meeting Lucien and Leah. Are you okay with all of that?"
God, he'd be sweet if he wasn't such a jerk.
"I'm coping," she told him and when he looked like he didn't believe her, she went on. "I mean, it's so much, you get used to your world rocking under your feet every few days. If Frankenstein walked through that door right now and asked if we wanted to go to a barbeque at his house tomorrow, I probably wouldn't even blink."
He burst out laughing and wrapped his arms around her, low at her waist to avoid her injury, falling to his back and taking her with him so she was on top.
She planted her forearms in his massive chest and lifted up to watch him laugh.
She told herself it was clinically (when it was not) that she noted he was unbelievably handsome when he laughed and therefore, since she was like a scientist observing nature, she could watch him do it.
When he got control of himself, he informed her, "There is no such thing as Frankenstein."
"I trust you." And that wasn't a total lie.
She didn't trust him, trust him but she trusted, with his statement, he was telling the truth and he, of all people, would know.
"Would you go?" he asked.
"What?" she asked back.
He grinned. "To a barbeque at Frankenstein's house."
"I don't know," she answered. "What do Frankensteins serve at barbeques?"
He roared with laughter again and, with a hand cupping the back of her head, he forced her down so her arms had to slide out and around him and he pressed her face into his neck.
Then he took her hair in his big fist and wrapped it into a rope again, coiling it around his palm.
"I f**king love your hair," he murmured and she forced her body to stay relaxed.
Because that was a lie. He hated blondes.
That was, supposedly, until recently.
"I was thinking of cutting it," she lied yet again just to be mean.
His fist tightened in her hair and he decreed, "I'll not allow that."
She bit back a, "Yes, your grace," and stayed silent.
He used her own hair to rub against her jaw when he whispered, "Are you happy, little one?"
It was an odd, endearing and unbelievably poignant question and, furthermore, he sounded like he cared about her answer.
She felt the sting of tears in her sinuses again but with effort, she controlled them.
Then she sighed and stated, "Well, I guess a girl could do better than a fairytale castle in a beautiful wood with a handsome wolf as her husband who happens to be king, making her queen of a kind and loving people who think good things about herhellip; but I don't know how."
Except, of course, having that king love his queen beyond anything in the whole world, like Lucien loved Leah and like Regan loved Mac and like Mara loved Drogan.
Or like Sonia's father loved her mother.
Or even a little of what they had.
Not knowing her thoughts, at her words, he released her hair and his arms wound around her. For the first time since she was injured, they did this powerfully, crushing her to him and making that twinge of pain in her back magnify.
"I'm glad," he said and his voice sounded strangely hoarse.
"Callum, my back," she whispered.
His hold loosened and he slid her off his side but kept her close with an arm about her waist. He reached and turned out the light, settled her with her cheek on his shoulder and he pulled her arm around his stomach.
"Sleep," he murmured.
"Okay," she murmured back.
He gave her a squeeze.
Her sinuses started stinging again because it hurt so much, more than she thought she could endure, wanting him to be real and knowing he was not.
But, somehow, she fell asleep.
Much later, she woke sensing him gone. She laid awake until he returned and he slid into bed at her side, his skin cold when he tucked her into him but he, again, smelled of sex.
And her broken heart broke just that little bit more.
* * * * *
The next two weeks Callum's patience waned considerably, more and more each day.
First, he wasn't Gregor's biggest fan and Gregor had made it a habit to monopolize any time not taken by Regan, Ryon, Caleb, Mara, Callista and wolves from town who had, at Regan, Mara and Callista's invitations, begun to drop by to meet and get to know Sonia.
Therefore, Sonia didn't spend hardly any time in Callum's lap in his study or with Callum anywhere. Practically the minute she sat there, Gregor was at the door asking if she wanted to go into town, if she wanted to go for a walk, telling her Yuri was on the phone and wanted to speak to her and the like.
Second, Callum wasn't buying the "I'm in pain" excuse anymore considering she was going into town and taking walks but also he was seeing firsthand that her wounds were healing well. Even if he hadn't seen it, Orphenon popping by to have a look deep into week three and announcing they were healing surprisingly rapidly gave it away. Sonia had always been a quick healer and she had the freakish capacity never to scar and she wondered if this was part of her gifts but she never mentioned it to anyone and didn't, for obvious reasons, then either. In fact, Orphenon had clipped away the stitches which kind of hurt and left her feeling a bit raw which Callum, upon examining her face closely, believed because she was for once telling the truth.
Third, because Callum was beginning to get frustrated that Sonia was finding the willpower to fight back the urge.
Deep into the second week he made it obvious he wanted "to play". But why he wanted to play when two or three times a week he disappeared from their bed in the middle of the night and came back obviously having been outside and smelling of that intense and beautiful musk he always smelled like after they'd finished, she would never know.
Sonia had put him off both morning and night and some afternoons besides with a variety of excuses which were wearing thin.
He started to get suspicious then he started to get dubious and this melted straight into extremely annoyed.
Luckily Calder turned up the third week and Callum lost interest in her as he holed himself up with the boys in his study. But this still left the nights for Sonia to find ways to fend off his hands, his mouth and his quiet, gentle, sweet bedtime interrogations (but getting less gentle and less quiet and definitely less sweet).
Just last night, quiet, gentle and sweet went out the window.
Sonia was in bed reading (again) when Callum hit the room.
He didn't smile at her when he walked in.
Considering it was 8:30, he stopped two feet in, crossed his arms on his chest, frowned ominously and stared at her in bed.
"It's 8:30," he informed her.
Sonia tensed and decided not to look at him anymore because he was freaking her out. Therefore, she looked back at her book.
"This is a really good book," she told him (though it wasn't). "I've been waiting all day for an excuse to get back to it." (Though she hadn't).
Suddenly her book was pulled from her hands and her eyes automatically and irritably shot back to him.
"There's the small matter of your injection," he clipped and she closed her eyes and looked away.
She hated those injections always but told herself they were a necessary evil.
Now, they were pure torture with Callum giving them to her and Sonia emerging from the burn always wrapped lovingly (but insincerely) in his arms.
She opened her eyes when she felt the bed depress with his weight, his fingers sliding into the side of her hair and she saw him sitting beside her on the bed.
His anger was gone, the gentle look was back and he murmured, "Two minutes, baby doll, then it's done."
"I hate those injections," she whispered and his fingers flexed in her hair.
"I do too," he agreed.
He gave her the injection, led her back to bed and threw the hides back. She started climbing in but he stopped her, turned her to face him and then his hands bunched the material of her nightgown at her h*ps and, whoosh, it was gone.
"Hey!" she cried, shocked at his actions.
"Now your pants," he ordered.
Sonia was covering her br**sts with her arms and she looked in confusion, as she was not keeping up, down at her underwear.
Then she looked up at him. "You mean my undies?"
"Off," he demanded, leaning in and hooking his thumbs in the waistband.
"Callum!" she shrieked but her panties were already at her ankles and he was lifting her up so she repeated, "Callum!"
Like she didn't utter a word (or, in this case, shriek his name twice) he placed her in bed and pulled the hides over her.
Sonia got up on an elbow and Callum sat on the edge, leaning into the hand that he'd planted in the bed behind her.
"I thought I told you I wanted you na**d when you don't have to wear clothes," he declared calmly.
She glared at him. "I'm not comfortable sleeping naked."
His brows drew together. "It didn't seem to bother you before you found out I was wolf."
This was true but only because, by the time he let her sleep, she was already naked, exhausted and slept the sleep of abandoned contentment.
Now they weren't having sex, were never going to have sex again, so she wanted to wear a nightgown.
As she didn't feel like getting into that particular subject at that time, she just glared at him.
He absorbed her glare for a while then reached out, grabbed her book and handed it to her.
"I'll be back soon," he muttered, leaned down, kissed her temple and then walked from the room.
Without him to glare at, Sonia glared at the door instead.
Then she got up, put her undies and nightgown back on and got back into bed.
Callum could do a lot of things, considering he was king.
But he could not tell her what to wear to bed.
She was dead asleep when she felt her body move and she didn't tell it to do so.
Then she felt her nightgown sliding up, up and, whoosh, it was gone.
Her eyes opened and she stared groggily at Callum who was in the process of pulling her panties down her legs. Then, whoosh, they were gone too.
"Whathellip;?" she whispered but wasn't awake enough to get her brain functioning.
He lay on his back, pulling the hides over them and yanking her roughly in his arms.
"Did youhellip; did you just do that?" she asked his chest, her mind still fuzzy with sleep.
"I did," he answered calmly.
"Ihellip; I can't believe you just did that," she whispered.
"Believe it," he replied.
"Why did you just do that?" she queried.
"Tomorrow," was his strange response.
"Tomorrow?"
He rolled into her so they were face-to-face.
"I'm too f**king pissed right now to have this conversation, Sonia," he informed her, sounding pissed. Sounding downright mad. "But tomorrow morning, after breakfast, we're f**king talking," he finished.
In the face of his anger, Sonia thought it was prudent not to say anything further.
So she didn't.
He rolled to his back again, taking her with him so her head was on his shoulder. Then he hauled her arm around him so it was resting across his stomach and his arm, curled at her waist, tightened so she was pressed into him close.
When he settled, it occurred to her that he had nothing to be pissed about.
She wasn't sneaking off at night for liaisons with whoever (or multiple whoevers).
She wasn't pretending to be his devoted queen when she wasn't attracted to him.
She was just doing the best she could in a really bad situation.
However, she didn't feel like getting into these subjects at that particular juncture either.
Or, ever, really.
So she forced her body to relax and she listened to his deep breathing, smelled his heady scent and wished she could go back to a time when she could, at least, pretend this was real.
But she could not.
* * * * *
It was the morning after and Sonia was curled in the little oval alcove trying to concentrate on her book but she couldn't because she knew that day was the day of reckoning.
She'd woken alone, showered, dressed, had a quick breakfast and ran back upstairs before anyone could catch her.
She had no idea why she woke up alone because Callum always woke her if he was leaving her even if just to give her a kiss and tell her he was going.
She didn't take that as a good sign.
When she heard him approaching, she didn't take hearing that he alighted the stairs at least two at a time as a good sign either.
When he hit the room and slammed the door so hard that the sound it made seemed to undulate through the room like a shockwave, she didn't take that as a good sign either.
The instant she saw the look on his face she realized that today was not the day of reckoning.
Today was the day of the apocalypse.
Without hesitating, he walked right up to her, jerked the book out of her frozen-with-fear hands and tossed it across the room with such force, the sound it made when it hit the doors of the wardrobe all the way across the room was like a gunshot.
She stared at her book on the floor for a second, lips parted in shock then she looked back at him. What she saw terrified her to such an extreme, the only thing she could think to do was flee.
So she tried.
She shot out of the alcove and ran past him as fast as her feet would carry her, her heart beating a mile a minute and her mind totally blank.
She wasn't fast enough.
He hooked an arm across her waist and lifted her up, her back to his chest, her legs kicking out and her hands pushing at his arm.
"Let me go!" she squealed but he just turned, took three long strides and tossed her on the bed.
She instantly rolled and kept rolling until she rolled over the other side, got to her feet and glared at him standing opposite the bed to her. His chest was heaving and he was visibly having difficulty controlling his anger.
Sonia was panting with fear but that fear was replaced by fury on the spot.
"What's the matter with you?" she shrieked.
"You didn't come to the study after breakfast," he replied, his deep voice even but far from calm.
He was enraged. His voice said it. His face said it. Every line of his big, tall body said it.
But Sonia didn't care.
"You just slammed the door, accosted my book and tossed me across the room because I didn't come to the study?" she shouted.
"I didn't toss you across the room but I did tell you we were talking this morning and you didn't come to my goddamned study!" he shouted back.
"Don't you yell at me, King Callum," she yelled.
He put his hands to his h*ps and leaned forward, yelling back, "I'll yell until I find out what in the f**k is wrong with you, Queen Sonia!"
"There's nothing wrong!" she screamed her lie, leaning toward him too.
"There isn't?" He leaned back. "Then my wife is denying me her affections becausehellip;?"
He let the last hang but Sonia didn't.
She lied again, "I'm not denying you my affections!"
"Really?" he asked mockingly. "Have you been f**king me in the night and I haven't felt it?"
Her hands clenched into fists, so angry she couldn't have stopped herself even if she'd tried.
Which she didn't, she'd been holding onto this long enough.
So she just let loose.
"Well, I figured, since you're out f**king whoever at night, you wouldn't need me!"
His body jerked but he scowled at her through the movement, muttering angrily, "What the f**k?"
"You're cheating on me, Callum. I know it. Remember? I have gifts! I can smell it! You go off in the middle of the night, come home and you reek of it!" she screamed.
He stared at her looking both stunned and furious and shouted, "Fucking hell, are you mad?"
"No!" she shouted back. "I'm not mad!" She shook her head and threw out an arm, looking away and talking mostly to herself but still doing it heatedly. "I shouldn't care. I keep telling myself I shouldn't care. Why do I care?"
"You shouldn't care?" Callum muttered, low and dangerous, his tone making Sonia's eyes go back to him and if she thought he was angry before, she was wrong.
Now he was incensed.
But she was too far gone.
"No, I shouldn't care," she hurled at him.
"You shouldn't care that you think I'm f**king around on you?" he asked, still in that low tone.
"No!" she shouted.
"Why?" he shot back. "Because you want me to get it elsewhere now that you know I'm wolf and you don't want that sweet little body of yours defiled by an animal?"
Sonia gasped in outrage at his words and screeched, "How dare you! I love wolves!"
"Yes, honey," he said cuttingly, "and three weeks ago you told me you loved me. The next day I find my f**king rings in the fire and you f**king avoid me all day and then you find out I'm wolf and do everything you can to avoid me for the next three f**king weeks! Is that what love is to you?"
"No, Callum. I did all that because you made me tell you I loved you while making me sit in your lap after you'd come home from f**king someone else and still reeking of it!"
"I'm not f**king anyone else!" he roared, losing what little hold he had on his temper.
But something broke inside Sonia. It had broken before, time and again, and it still hurt so much it was a miracle she didn't fall to her knees.
Instead, her anger and heartbreak keept her breathing, standing and fighting.
She turned and rounded the bed, her eyes locked on her mate, her hand lifted with finger jabbing the air at him all the while screaming back, "You are so full of it! You don't want me. You never wanted me! I'm just your duty. Another in a long line of duties." She was still screaming as she made it to him and she used both hands to shove his chest, rocking him back on a foot as he stared down at her looking shocked. "You said in the beginning we were a farce! Your brother said you wanted to get the claiming over with, that you felt forced to be at the cabin with me and that I'd have to understand your need to f**k around with your own kind." She shoved him again and kept screaming. "Your other brother called being up at the cabin with me lsquo;dicking around'. That crazy Desdemona woman said you hated blondes and I'm blonde! And everyone, but everyone, Calder, Yuri, even Titium, talks about your legendary prowess with women."
He caught her wrists and hauled her up to his chest, muttering, "Sonia ndash;"
"No!" she screeched in his face. "I've got good news. This is over for you, Callum! Over. You don't have to pretend anymore. You don't have to playact. I promise, I'll do my duty as queen and you can just go off and dohellip; whatever it is you have to do and somehow I'll deal with it. I'll cope. I'll find a way to be happy even though I'm with you but I'm still, like I've always been, alone."
Then she tore her hands from his wrists and started to run but he caught her around the waist and tugged her straight back, front-to-front.
"Baby doll ndash;" he started.
The tears hit her eyes at those two words and she shrieked, "Stop calling me that!" She pushed at his chest with her hands and struggled in his arms. "Stop calling me that when I'm not that to you. I've never been that to you. I'm only that in my stupid, stupid dreams!"
He barely controlled her struggles while whispering, "Honey, settle down and listen to me."
Working hard to hold back the tears, Sonia stammered, "Nhellip; no!" and kept right on fighting.
But Callum kept right on controlling her thrashing so she had to do it harder.
She had to get away, far away. Far enough to get her head together and piece her heart together and find some way to get on with her hideous destiny.
She managed to break away but he caught her again and pushed her on the bed.
She rolled and almost got to her knees but his fingers wrapped around her ankles, twisted her back, yanking her down the bed and his big body landed on hers.
In a panic because this was not where she wanted to be (even though it was), she bucked and pushed at his shoulders, shouting, "Just let me get away. I need to get away!"
"Baby doll, you need to calm down," he murmured softly.
Something in his tone struck her.
Her body stilled and her mind cleared but her hands still pushed at his shoulders as she looked away from him and stared at the side of the bed.
She took in a ragged breath.
Then she took in another one.
Then she realized what she'd said and what she'd done and how much it betrayed about how very much she felt about him.
Then, deflated and crushingly humiliated, she made an attempt to salvage a very bad situation, whispering, "You're right."
His hand rounded her jaw and he said softly, "Look at me, honey."
She closed her eyes tight and resisted but finally, taking in a breath, she looked at him.
God, he was beautiful, watching her with tenderness etched in every feature.
Seeing him looking at her that way, she realized she was so caught up in the hurt, she forgot that he was dealing with a hideous destiny too.
"I'm sorry," she was still whispering. "You don't need this. You have a kingdom to worry about. I should havehellip; I shouldhellip; I should have just learned to deal on my own."
He stared at her a moment then his eyes went over her head and she could almost hear him counting to ten in his.
Then his gaze came back to hers and he stated, "I'm not f**king around on you, Sonia."
A hated sob welled up in her chest and she swallowed it down on the word, "Don't."
"Baby doll, I'm running at night."
She blinked at him, sudden confusion swept through her at his words then she asked, "Running?"
"Transforming to wolf and running. I did it at the cabin too. I have to do it, compelled to by the wolf in me," he told her and she stared because no one had told her that. "I couldn't do it when we were in the city but I do it here all the time. You always slept through it, me leaving and returning." He paused and then finished, "Until lately."
She kept staring, trying to wrap her mind around this strangely logical fact.
"Do youhellip; do you," she shouldn't ask, she really shouldn't ask but, on a barely there whisper, she asked, "run with someone else?"
His lips twitched and he said, "No, little one, I'm a lone wolf."
"But you smell like ndash;" she started.
He cut her off. "I smell like wolf."
"But, I'd never smelled it before except when ndash;"
"The scent wears off quickly, definitely by morning."
"But it smells like after we ndash;"
He grinned. "Yes, honey, that's exactly what it smells like."
She thought that was kind of neat, and definitely sexy, and she felt her body getting soft under his. "So you're not meeting someone?"
His face grew serious when he replied, "I'd never f**k around on you, Sonia," then his face dipped closer when he finished on a growl, "never."
Relief started sliding through her but she couldn't let go. "Buthellip;why? You don't want me. You saidhellip; and Caleb and Yuri ndash;"
"Forget what Caleb and Yuri said."
She was back to staring at him and getting annoyed so she snapped, "Forget?"
"I've lived for nearly four hundred years and you know I like to play," he calmly explained.
Yes, she was definitely getting annoyed. "Right, so ndash;"
"No, baby doll," he cut her off firmly. "You said what you had to say. It's my turn to talk."
She clamped her mouth shut and glared at him.
He watched her as if waiting for her to defy him and then he went on, "I've had a lot of lovers but I've never had a mate."
She opened her mouth and shot back, "A mate you don't want."
Now Callum looked like he was getting annoyed when he informed her, "Sonia, you're talking."
"Yes, I am," she retorted. "There's no reason to do this. I get it. I understand my place. You know I understand it, so it's over."
"But you don't understand your place," he bit out.
And yes, he was definitely getting annoyed too.
"I ndash;"
"Sonia, shut up," he clipped.
Sonia glared.
Callum scowled.
This lasted a while.
Sonia finally lost patience. "You wanted to talkhellip; talk."
"Christ, you're a pain in the ass," he told her.
"Thanks," she snapped.
His eyes narrowed and he lost control of his temper. "All right, baby doll," he gritted out through his teeth, "I never thought this was the way I'd tell you but here it is. You're perfect."
Sonia stopped glaring and her mouth dropped open.
Callum kept talking, "You have to know, I didn't think I would feel that way at first but every f**king second I was with you I realized it more and more. Every day, I would wake up and think you were perfect and every night I'd go to sleep thinking, somehow, during the day, you got even more perfect. If I could have wished what I thought was my perfect mate on the wind and had her come back to me in a storm, I could never have come up with anything as exquisite as you."
She had never, in her whole life, heard anything so beautiful.
Not said about her (even if it was said with clipped irritation).
Not ever.
She felt the tears welling in her eyes as she whispered, "Callum ndash;"
But he talked over her. "I don't know what you heard when you were listening and no one knew you were eavesdropping or what was said to you flat out but whatever it was, they didn't know what the f**k they were talking about. The minute you woke up in my bed in the cabin, I wanted you. I questioned it, that first day wasn't great but I questioned it for about an hour before you started to get interesting. Then more interesting. And when we lay on the couch that first night I thought our lives together would be sweethellip;" His hand slid in her hair as she stared at him in loving shock. "And I knew by the night of your claiming when I fell asleep connected to you that our lives would be beautiful and I've never thought anything since except, every day, it seemed to grow impossibly more beautiful."
"Callum ndash;"
Then he concluded, "Until the last three weeks."
She closed her eyes and everything that was him danced across her eyelids.
Callum holding her in his lap and telling her she had family.
Callum holding her close in his arms while the Christmas lights twinkled, telling her she was home.
Callum fiddling with her charm on her chain, wanting her to wear it outside her clothes so he could see it, his people's symbol, like her wedding bands, telling everyone that she was his.
Callum taking her sledding, playing board games and watching Christmas movies then, later, taking away the pain when her blood started to boil.
Callum bending over backward to give her the best Christmas she'd had in thirty-one years.
Callum coming direct to her after a bloody, eight day battle and sleeping his exhaustion away with her held close and later trusting her to bury the hideous memories by taking her, again and again.
Callum's gentleness when she discovered Waring had died.
Callum letting her be who she was, the first person since her Momma and Papa died.
Just who she was, without hiding anything.
He'd been right those weeks and weeks ago.
And she'd been there for weeks and weeks.
She was there at that very moment.
She was home.
"I love you, baby doll," he said, his voice no longer annoyed. It was filled with tenderness and her eyes flew open to see his face was filled with the same thing. "I loved you before you took your first breath on this earth because that was my fate but you made me love you because you're justhellip; fuckinghellip; you."
Her heart fluttered, her belly melted and, of its own accord, her hand lifted to the side of his face. Her fingers slid in his hair and she watched as her thumb smoothed his eyebrow then along the beautiful angle of his cheekbone then across the fullness of his bottom lip.
When her eyes went to his, they were closed and he looked, for some reason, as if he was experiencing a weirdly painful ecstasy.
"Cal?" she called. His eyes opened instantly, they were golden, she loved that so much she felt her heart swell and she whispered, "You love me?"
He answered without hesitation. "With everything I am, baby doll, and everything I'm meant to be."
She felt the sob move up her chest. She lifted her head to shove her face in his neck and her breath hitched from the effort of holding it back.
Callum heard it, rolled to his back, pulling her on top of him and he held her close, one arm at her waist, the other cocked along her spine with his fingers in her hair while she pressed her face into his skin, battling the tears.
Then a thought occurred to her. It was so huge, her body jerked with it and her head snapped up.
"You're real!" she cried with joy as if she'd made some fabulous discovery that was going to light the world on fire.
He grinned at her and said, "I'm right here, baby doll."
She stared at him, her dream man, her handsome wolf. She was in his arms in their bed in their room in their castle.
"You're real," she whispered.
His arms got tighter and he whispered back, "I'm real."
"Andhellip; and," she gulped as the enormity hit her, blocking her throat, "you're my puppy too."
His grin turned to a smile as he moved a hand around to caress her cheek tenderly with his thumb. "I'm thinking me being your lsquo;puppy' should stay between you and me, little one. Not likely to strike fear in the hearts of my enemies, being known as The Puppy."
She giggled, shoving her face back into his neck and his arms wrapped tight around her and she felt him there. Right there. Not a dream. None of it a dream.
All of it real.
"Cal?" she called into his neck.
"Yes, honey?"
"You remember you asked me if I was happy?"
"Yes."
"I lied."
His arms tensed.
She lifted her head and looked at his wary eyes a moment before she put her mouth to his and whispered, "Nowhellip; I'm happy."
His hand slid back into her hair as his head slanted, crushing her mouth to his at the same time he rolled and he kissed her.
And his kiss was hot, sweet, wet, deep, long and, best of all, perfect.
* * * * *
Sonia woke in the middle of the night held close in Callum's arms.
They'd spent the entire day in bed making up for lost time with Callum leaving her only to go down and order food to be brought up.
All day, she'd been what she told him she was.
Happy.
Ecstatically so (as well as hot and bothered, but that was ecstatic too, as only Callum could do).
But things happened to your mind when you woke in the middle of the night and they happened to Sonia.
Taking in a quiet breath, she slid carefully out of his arms, out of the bed and walked to her robe. Pulling it on and tying it tight, she went to the window and stared out at the night, the cloudless sky allowing the moon to shine bright on the snow making the forested hills a winter wonderland.
For a moment, she wished with everything that she was out in it, like Callum could do, turning to wolf and running though the snow in the night.
Or, at least, like she'd do with her Papa, walking, seeing, listening, hearing, smelling, experiencing.
But then these pleasant thoughts melted away and Sonia realized that the cosmos wasn't quite done with its joke.
She felt her mouth quirk into a smile because he was really so gosh darned bossy.
She didn't, however, hesitate and she walked to the foot of the bed and then crawled up it on all fours, his body between her moving limbs.
When she got face-to-face with him, his arms came around her and pulled her down on his powerful frame.
His hand slid into the side of her hair and tucked her face in his neck when he asked, "What were you thinking?"
Again, without hesitating, she answered, "I was wondering how old you were when you locked in your development."
"Around one hundred and ninety-five."
Her head came up and she stared at him.
"You don't look one hundred and ninety-five," she told him and he grinned.
His hand came around to the back of her neck and he gathered her hair in his palm and twisted it into a rope, explaining, "In human years, around thirty-nine."
He was coiling her hair around his fist when she noted, "So, you're still older than me."
His face softened with understanding when he replied, "I'll always be older than you, Sonia."
She dropped her head down to tuck her face in his neck again, knowing this wasn't true.
It was the cosmos's last, big, huge, ugly joke.
He rubbed her hair at her jaw and called, "Baby doll?"
"Mm?" she answered, not wanting to talk anymore that night or any night if it was on this subject.
"You can think about it tonight, worry about it, be sad about it but then get it out of your head," he offered on a command.
She felt the tears collecting behind her eyes when she whispered, "You'll always be beautiful."
He released her hair and rolled into her so she was on her back, he was mostly on her and he lifted up on an elbow to loom over her.
Then he announced, "Wolves mate for life."
"What?" she asked.
"We mate for life. We never cheat. We're never unfaithful. We never leave. We mate for life. Our instinct, everything that makes us, everything that is us centers around our mate, our pack, our family. It's the only thing that matters. Not beauty, not youth."
"Easy for you to say," she mumbled, her eyes sliding away, "you'll be forever young."
Her eyes came back to him when he stated, "Right now I feel about as old as I am."
Surprised at this, she queried, "Why?"
He looked at her a moment, shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter."
Then he bent his neck to touch his mouth to hers before he rolled again to his back, taking her with him.
But it was her turn to get up on an elbow and look down on him.
"Why do you feel that?"
"Sonia, let's just ndash;"
"Is it because you know you'll have to watch me get old?"
"Baby doll ndash;"
She cut him off. "No, really, Cal. Tell me."
"I shouldn't have mentioned it."
"But you did," she pushed.
"Yes, I did and it was a mistake." His arm came around his chest and he tried to pull her into his embrace but she resisted and he, unusually, relented.
She planted a hand in his chest, beginning to feel funny. The happiness was sliding away and the despair was returning at the thought that he'd watch her get wrinkled and gray and weak and stooped while he stayed forever beautiful, tall and strong and, therefore, she demanded, "Cal, talk to me."
"It isn't because I have to watch you get old."
"Then what is it?" she pressed.
His brows drew together as his patience started to ebb, "Just let it go."
She put pressure on his chest and insisted hotly, "No, tell me what it is!"
"It's because I have to watch you die."
She sucked in breath and stared at him. That heinous thought hadn't occurred to her and she didn't know what to say.
"All these weeks we've been together, you've been thinking that I didn't want you. Do you know what I've been thinking, little one?" he asked softly and she didn't want to know, she really didn't but she nodded anyway and he went on even softer. "I've been wondering how I'm going to carry on for centuries without you after you're gone."
Sonia felt her breath hitch painfully and, unable to hold herself up any longer, she dropped down, rested her forehead against his collarbone and slid her arm around his chest.
Then she murmured into his chest, "You can't love me. I'm so self-absorbed. All this time, all I've been thinking about was me. How on earth could you love me?"
His hand slid into her hair and pressed her cheek to his chest as he said quietly, "Unfortunately, baby doll, we don't have enough time for me to explain all the ways I love you. That, in itself, would take centuries."
She laughed but it was without humor, pushing closer to his body, holding him tighter and tangling her legs with his. His fingers slid through her hair then again and again until, some time later, when his hard warmth and his soothing fingers quieted her rampaging thoughts, she took a fluttering breath.
"So now you know," he said gently. "Our time is precious. So we won't waste it talking of this again. Agreed?"
She lifted a hand and sifted her fingers lazily through the hair on his chest.
God, she loved his chest.
On that thought, her fingers curled and she dragged her nails through the hair there as she whispered, "Agreed."
She went back to toying with his chest hair and decided at that moment he needed to know something very, very important.
"Cal?"
"Yes, baby doll."
God, she loved it when he called her "baby doll".
She took in a breath and asked, "You remember when you asked me if I loved you?"
His body grew still under hers and he answered, "Yes."
Quietly, she said, "That time, I didn't lie." She felt his still body grow tight and she finished, "Not about any of it." Both of his arms came around her but she pushed up, pressing her body to his and she whispered her story in his ear, "The first time I met you, my first dream, I felt you slide in bed behind me. You held me in your arms and I told you I was glad you were home. You kissed my neck and I lay in your arms thinking, lsquo;This is the man I love.' It was short, just that before I woke up but I felt strangely happy." She lifted her head and stared in his now tawny eyes and concluded, "In that first dream, I never even saw your face."
Both his hands came to her head, sliding into her hair, pushing it back.
Then he stated throatily, "You love me."
Sonia rested her lips against his but with her eyes open and, staring in his, she whispered, "With everything I am, wolf, and everything I'm meant to be."
Callum's fingers tightened in her hair and he rolled Sonia yet again.
He was kissing her by the time her back hit the bed.
It took a while before they fell back to sleep.
And when they did, they were connected.
In more ways than one.
Chapter Twenty-One
Understanding
Callum was sitting in his study, going through a report on some of his investments when he sensed Sonia's approach.
She was wearing another pair of her thick socks so her footfalls were soft.
But that morning before he left her, he'd made love to her and she hadn't showered. He could smell the essence of them getting stronger as she got closer.
And he f**king loved that smell.
It had been a month since she'd finally unburdened her mind.
It was also only days before their official Mating.
And Callum couldn't f**king wait.
The hills were again filling with tents and the town was again bursting. Everyone wanted to be there, not because the king was formally binding his queen to him but because Callum was formally binding Sonia.
He'd been to many a Mating and he'd enjoyed them.
But he knew he'd like this one best for their last month together was better than the months before that.
Infinitely better.
It was beyond perfect.
It was a dream.
However, with Regan's assistance and Leah's long distance advice, he was planning a surprise to happen during their Mating. A surprise for his wife.
He was looking toward the door when Sonia rounded it and came into the room smiling.
The vision of her pretty, smiling, happy face settled pleasantly somewhere in his gut, he dropped his report, sat back in his chair and returned her smile.
She made short work of the distance, her cashmere robe parting and exposing her shapely legs as she walked. He noticed, yet again, that she'd put on weight in the last month. As he suspected it would, it had hit all the right places and he was pleased with the result. But he was more pleased that she'd given up her obsession with calories and was simply, as she should, enjoying her food.
"I told Mara and Callista my claiming story," she announced when she came around the desk and he turned his chair to face her.
His brows went up when she seated herself in his lap and then curled up, her knees bent, feet close to her ass, torso twisted to face him.
"You did?" he asked, his arms wrapping about her small body, surprised at this news.
She shrugged as if it was all the same to her and she hadn't been guarding this secret for months.
Then her mouth quirked in a smile (something she did a great deal the past month) and explained, "They were relentless." Then her body started shaking before she went on while laughing, "I think they didn't believe me though. Apparently, wolves are pretty excited during a claiming and they don't have the wherewithal to do it in multiple positions the first time." Her hand cupped his jaw and she brushed her thumb along his lower lip before finishing softly, "I think I've made you a legend, wolf."
He'd been smiling at her as she told her story but at her endearment, he growled before he bent his head and took her mouth in a hard, rough kiss that she returned instantly.
When he lifted his head, she emitted a fluttering sigh, tucked her face in the crook of his shoulder, placed her hand in the center of his chest and rested it there, something else she'd done a great deal in the past month.
His queen, he'd learned through a variety of delightful ways, was fond of his chest.
"I like how you kiss," she whispered.
"I know," he whispered back.
She shook her head in his neck and muttered, "So arrogant."
His arms gave her a squeeze.
She snuggled closer.
He loved these times when she'd come to him after breakfast.
Fuck, he loved every time he was with Sonia.
"Cal?" she called, her fingers toying with his sweater.
"Yes, baby doll?"
"I feel funny this morning." His arms tightened reflexively at this news and her head came up to look at him. "Not like that," she said quickly. "No, it's something else. I felt funny yesterday morning too and the morning before that." Her eyes went dazed and drifted over his shoulder. "I don't know how to describe it." Then she looked back at him. "It's almost like jetlag, though kind of nauseous but I don't get sick. It just like, I'm not one with my body somehow."
Callum's arms tightened again and he bit back a triumphant howl.
"We'll get you to a doctor," he told her.
She shook her head, still looking dazed, her mind preoccupied. "That's not necessary. I don't think it's that bad."
She'd be right, since she was pregnant with his pup.
She hadn't had her period since she'd been at the castle. He wasn't that familiar with humans but he did know they had their cycle monthly, rather than every five months like a she-wolf. And since she'd been there over two months, he reckoned she was at least that far gone.
If not more.
And he f**king loved that idea.
"Humor me," he ordered, her dazed eyes cleared and she looked at him.
"Bossy," she muttered but her lips quirked again.
His hands moved on her and her eyes widened in understanding before they got soft.
"Cal, the door is open," she whispered.
He didn't f**king care.
"Don't worry about it."
"Cal ndash;"
He pulled the robe open, exposing her breast.
She sucked in breath.
Bloody brilliant, she was na**d under the robe.
His head dropped and he took her nipple into his mouth and, not leading into it, sucked deep.
Her mind clearly no longer on the door, her head fell back and her fingers slid into his hair to hold him to her.
There were a myriad of ways he loved Sonia but one of them was how much he f**king loved how responsive she was.
He lifted his head, yanked the robe away from her other breast and did the same.
She shifted her soft ass against his hard cock, a low moan escaping her arched throat.
His hand went to her knee, pulled aside her robe and slid down the skin of her inner thigh, between her legs to find she was wet, already ready for him.
He touched her, her h*ps jerked immediately and she whimpered softly.
He smiled against her nipple then sucked deeper.
With his hand between her legs, Sonia arched over his other arm and, his mouth alternating between her br**sts, he took her there. He listened as she came quietly (for once). She pulled in a soft breath and held it as he felt her sex clutch the two fingers he had embedded inside her and he rolled his tongue around her nipple as his thumb pressing against her sweet spot prolonged her release.
When she relaxed against him and her hands holding his head became fingers stroking his hair. He lifted his head and stared at his pretty, little queen, her beautiful, heated body exposed to him, her face soft, eyes hooded, gazing at him contentedly and for once he could forget his future and feel at peace with his cruel fate.
His hand gently slid away from between her legs, he gathered her closer and murmured, "You know I love you, baby doll?"
She nodded as her hands slid down through his hair so she was holding his neck. "You know I love you, wolf?"
He didn't answer, he kissed her lightly.
"You're still hard," she whispered against his mouth.
"Your sweet ass is in my lap," he explained, grinning against hers.
She grinned back before asking, "Do you want me to ndash;?"
He cut her off. "Later."
He had things to do. When she put her mouth on him, he wanted her to take her time which was how she preferred it too.
"Okay," she breathed, catching his meaning and her eyes, even after just coming, were again hungry.
Fuckinghellip;
Perfect.
He heard Ryon's approach as did she and she straightened while he pulled her robe closed.
Then her eyes flew to his and she hissed softly, "God, Callum! I smell like sex."
Callum's grin changed and he said smugly, "Yes, you do."
She only had the chance to glare at him before Ryon hit the door.
When Callum looked at his cousin all thoughts, pleasant and smug, left his head.
"Hmm," Sonia mumbled, also looking at Ryon. "This appears to be my cue to go get a shower."
She turned Callum's face to her with a gentle hand at his jaw, taking his mind from his duties and bringing it back to her. Something she also made a habit of doing lately and something that he also liked.
She gave him a quick kiss and an understanding smile before scrambling out of his lap. Pulling her robe tight around her she tossed another smile at the frowning Ryon as she walked across the room and with one last look at Callum, she closed the door behind her.
Ryon stood at the front of the desk and remained silent, his ear turned partially to the door waiting for Sonia to be out of earshot.
This, Callum didn't take as a good sign and he felt his jaw go hard.
After several long moments, Ryon tossed the two file folders he was holding on Callum's clean desk. Sonia had taken to keeping it ordered which was a blessing and a curse. A curse because he never knew where anything was. A blessing because he had to find Sonia to ask when he needed something.
The files skidded and came to rest on the cleared blotter.
"Both of those came in this morning," Ryon announced in a low voice but Callum didn't touch the files. He just watched his cousin silently and Ryon continued, "The results of the analysis of Sonia's medication came in some time ago. But, in the end, I had to find one of our own to do it. I didn't understand it but what I did understand made me dig deeper. I gave it to Orphenon."
A muscle flexed in Callum's jaw but he still didn't speak.
"Orphenon called me the minute he, personally, finished a second analysis. He couldn't believe Sonia was being injected with that cocktail and I asked him to research it. I gave him her medical records and he looked into it. Then he did it more, talking to colleagues and even professors he studied under."
Finally Callum spoke. "I'm not thrilled that you shared Sonia's illness with others without asking me, Ry."
Ryon leaned forward and put his hands on Callum's desk. "And I knew you wouldn't be that's why I didn't tell you." When Callum opened his mouth to speak, Ryon got there before him. "Her illness doesn't exist, Cal."
Callum closed his mouth and his chest tightened.
"Sorry?" he asked quietly.
Ryon leaned further into his hands and hissed, "It doesn't exist."
Callum also leaned forward in his chair. "I saw it happen to her. I felt her body. She was burning up. She was f**king roasting."
"I can't explain that," Ryon replied.
"It's rare," Callum reminded him.
"It's not rare, Cal. Ithellip; doesn'thellip; exist. It isn't in any medical literature. No one's bloody heard of it."
"That's impossible," Callum returned.
"It's true," Ryon shot back and, pointing at the folders on Callum's desk, demanded, "Look at the report, top folder."
Callum did as he was asked, opening the folder and seeing on top a lab report identifying the various components in Sonia's medicine. The entire page was filled with the list and most of it made little sense but, at the top, the three items which made up the largest parts of the substance were easily identifiable.
"What the f**k?" he muttered.
"Human estrogen, werewolf estrogen and human testosterone," Ryon clipped.
"Why the bloody hell would they inject her with werewolf estrogen and human testosterone?" Callum asked tersely.
"Who f**king knows?" Ryon replied. "Orphenon can't believe her system would even take a wolf hormone. He says some of the other things on that list are toxic to humans. Long-term use would be deadly."
It took all of Callum's self-control not to come out of his chair.
Instead, his hands simply balled into fists and he fought back the instant prickling of his skin.
"That's not it," Ryon continued, watching Callum closely.
"What?" Callum barked.
Ryon didn't delay. "Calder's boys finally discovered the source of who leaked the information to the rebels that Sonia is your queen."
Callum felt a chill slide up his spine before he prompted, "And that would be?"
"Yuri."
Callum stood so fast, his chair flew back toward the grate of the fire. His fury was palpable, his blood boiling, his mind focused on two things ndash; halting the change and making someone pay.
"Bring Gregor to me," he ordered in a dangerous voice and then a sudden thought occurred to him and he went on, "And my mother."
Ryon nodded and he left at once to carry out Callum's order.
Callum took the time Ryon was gone to scan the contents of both folders. He wasn't in a better mood when Ryon guided Gregor and Regan into the room.
"Callum, what ndash;?" Regan started but took one look at her son's face and her mouth clamped shut.
Callum didn't even look at Gregor. He turned to Ryon who was standing at the door. "I want Sonia occupied far away from this study. Talk to Mara."
Ryon nodded.
Callum continued, "Yuri's arriving this afternoon?"
Ryon nodded again.
"You'll meet his plane," Callum commanded. Ryon smiled in grim satisfaction and exited the room.
Callum took in his mother and the vampire.
"Sit," he snarled.
They did as they were told. Regan visibly agitated. Gregor, the cold-hearted prick, completely composed.
Callum didn't sit, couldn't, he was hanging onto his control by a thin thread.
He stared down at them and announced, "Sonia's disease doesn't exist. The medicine she's being given is a deadly toxin and Yuri is responsible for exposing her to the rebels as my queen."
"Oh dear," Regan muttered and Callum's eyes narrowed on his mother.
"Callum, there's an explanation," Gregor replied coolly.
Callum's gaze sliced to the vampire and he demanded, "Then you better give it to me quickly or I'll rip your bloody head off but you'll die knowing I'm going to play with your son until he f**king begs me to kill him."
"Sonia's dying," Gregor stated.
Those two words ripped through Callum's fury and all he could do was stare.
Gregor took in a breath and continued softly, "She became symptomatic as an infant. Naturally, as you experienced her symptoms first hand, you'll understand that Lassiter and Cherise were frantic to find some solution. Her illness, whatever it is and even though they took her to dozens of doctors, they never discovered what it was, is unique. Like her abilities which, I presume, since she's not hiding them anymore, you also understand."
Gregor let this sink in and when Callum didn't respond, he carried on.
"When no answers were to be found, Lassiter and Cherise were forced to go on a voyage of discovery. They tried everything and, knowing of immortals, they widened their search. Wolf blood, vampire blood, vampire saliva, a cocktail of this, that, the other, anything. Some worked but only for a time and she'd display symptoms again. It took years but they finally found the solution, her current injection. But they knew, as did Mac and I, that it would only be a matter of time. We knew, because of The Prophesies, that the injection would only work for so long. We knew we weren't saving her life, we were simply prolonging it."
"It's my understanding that she inherited this illness from her father," Callum noted.
"That was a lie," Gregor replied.
Callum pulled in breath looking down and to the side. His chest had tightened again, powerfully, and the breath he'd taken did nothing to alleviate the pain.
Gregor continued, "We never told her. We wanted her to live her life free of the burden of this knowledge." Then he finished, "I'm sure you'll agree that was the right decision and keep to the pact that we three made."
Callum looked back to Gregor then to his mother and asked, "Perhaps one of you would like to tell me why I lived my life free of the burden of this knowledge?"
Regan stood and placed her hand beseechingly on the desk. "What would it have gained? You already knew she was human and struggled with that. To know her human existence on this earth was shorter stillhellip;"
Regan trailed off as her eyes slid away and she caught her lip between her teeth.
Callum stared at his mother, unwilling to process the emotions that were smoldering inside him.
Then he looked to Gregor. "And Yuri?"
"Let's just say that Mac and I disagreed as to when you should meet your mate," Gregor responded vaguely.
"Why don't you fully explain that?" Callum shot back.
Gregor exchanged a glance with Regan as she sat back down.
Then he looked back at Callum. "Mac knew you. He knew you'd want to have control of the meeting, the courtship, the claiming. He knew you'd go after her when you were ready."
When he stopped speaking, Callum prompted curtly, "And?"
"You were taking too long," Gregor immediately replied.
"I wouldn't have taken so f**king long if I knew she was dying," Callum bit out and it took him everything he had not to roar the words. "Which brings us back to the fact that you," his eyes included his mother in his words, "knew this fact and you didn't share it."
"It's forbidden for you to see The Prophesies," Regan stated quietly.
"Lucien has seen them," Callum returned.
"He did, indeed." Gregor put in steadily. "But he wasn't able to see all of them, however, only the parts we allowed him to see."
"Maybe someone can explain to me again why the major players in these Prophesies can't f**king read them?" Callum commanded through suggestion then finished with eyes narrowed on Gregor, "Or all of them."
"You've asked that question before, Callum ndash;" Regan began.
"And I never liked the goddamned answer," Callum cut her off.
"Do you think we like this?" Regan retorted hotly. "Do you think it's been easy for me to keep this from my son?"
Before Callum could reply, Gregor spoke.
"I understand what you're feeling, Callum," Gregor said quietly. "And trust me, it doesn't stop the pain even knowing for all these years."
Regan shot Gregor a look but Callum missed it because he sat and swiped his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.
Then he looked at Gregor and changed the subject. "So you and Yuri decided to speed things up by putting Sonia in danger?"
"She was never in any danger. Why do you think we arranged for the information to be leaked to Saint that the rebels were amassing?" Gregor replied smoothly.
Callum leaned forward and clipped, "They broke into her house in the middle of the night, put their hands on her and terrified her."
"She was thrown across the room," Callum hissed. "Hit her head and went unconscious. That is not unhurt."
Gregor held Callum's furious stare and rejoined, "We did what we had to do." When Callum opened his mouth to speak, Gregor went on quickly, "And, even as angry as you are right now, you can't have any issues with the results."
Callum sat back.
The cold-blooded bastard was right.
Callum had planned to meet Sonia at her Christmas party, weeks after he actually met her, and give her a human courtship which would have lasted months.
Now, she was in his bed and his home. She was wearing his claiming chain and wedding rings. She was striding into his study every morning after breakfast with a smile aimed at him and curling in his lap, telling him stories while laughing.
And he was in her heart.
With nothing to be angry at, Callum was left only with that constriction in his chest that was making it difficult to breathe.
Gregor read Callum's altered mood. "I'd appreciate it if you'd continue to keep this knowledge from her. Protect her from it. Show her a good human life for as long as she has it and," he paused when Callum's eyes focused on his, "call Ryon and tell him not to harm my son."
Callum stared at the vampire for a second before he nodded.
Then he took in a deep breath which didn't seem to make it to his lungs before he ordered, "Leave me."
Gregor immediately prepared to leave but Regan again stood, leaned toward him and put her hand on his desk.
"Callum ndash;" she started but when her son's gaze met hers, she stopped speaking and her pale face grew pained.
He knew what she saw and he knew it was bleak.
"Please, Regan, leave," he asked quietly.
His mother's face softened, she nodded and silently she and Gregor left, closing the door behind them.
Callum turned his chair and aimed his unseeing gaze out the windows.
He needed to run, needed it.
But he'd do it later when she was sleeping. He wasn't missing another f**king second of her life.
He stood and rounded his desk, his thoughts not on the variety of things he had to do that day. They were on finding his queen.
But he stopped suddenly and stared at a heavy glass paperweight Sonia had purchased in town and brought in his study to use to hold papers down on his desk.
He picked it up and studied it, never really having seen it before.
The glass was clear with tawny swirls in its depths, the feel of it was cool and heavy in his hand.
It was actually quite extraordinary.
In a flash, he turned and hurled it across the room and, with the force of his wolf's throw, it turned to dust the minute it struck the stone wall.
He stared at the debris thinking that didn't make his chest any less tight either.
Then he went in search of his wife.
* * * * *
That night it was Sonia's idea to go out with him while he ran.
And, to be with her, Callum agreed.
As a human, she couldn't run but even though it was night, as she always did when they were in the wood, she seemed at peace with her surroundings and the creatures in it were at peace with her there.
She wandered contentedly while he ran, coming back to circle her. To catch her eyes on him in tender awe. To move by her side for long minutes while she walked through the snow, her hand often coming to the fur on his head or his body and sliding through it lovingly.
Then he'd roam again and come back to her. And while roaming, he decided they'd do this every time he needed to run.
Eventually, he guided her home and, once she opened the backdoor and stepped inside, he crouched low and leaped, changed to man by the time his feet hit the floor.
When he straightened and turned to her, she was gazing up at him with shining eyes. She'd seen him change to wolf now three times. The first being when she was injured, the second before they'd gone out and the last just now.
Still gazing up at him, she breathed in wonder, "That is so cool."
Callum smiled at the same time he pulled her in his arms.
Then he kissed her.
Then he lifted her and walked na**d through the house, carrying her to their room, where he placed her in bed and he took her.
He wanted to go slow, take some of the little time he had with her to memorize her skin, her smell, her touch, the taste of her, the sounds she made. But Sonia was in the mood to play rough. The more Callum tried to be tender, the more demanding and hungry Sonia became.
So he gave her what she wanted.
After, 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?" he asked.
He'd taken her hard and he wanted to make certain he hadn't hurt her. His voice was still gruff from his orgasm but also the memory of their time outside and the agonizing memories of his morning that were somehow, with Sonia close, less agonizing.
"Mm," she murmured contentedly, 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 all the time and Callum loved it when she did even though it was exquisite torture for, underlying it, he always knew he'd not share nearly enough of these moments with her.
"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.
And something hit him about this gesture, something he couldn't quite put his finger on, but Sonia spoke before he could call it to mind.
Then she whispered, "You know I love you, right?"
He closed his eyes at her words, remembering the dream.
They were living part of his dream.
He and Sonia said that now, "You know I love you?" It had become their way.
He hadn't recognized it as being from the dream before.
Now he did.
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. It was thick and gleamed in the firelight and, studying it, he knew his next thoughts but he had them anyway.
His lungs burned and his neck arched slightly as the living grief tore through him 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?"
To live the perfect dream with the perfect woman what amounts to a blink in your long life only to have it swept pitilessly away and then find a way to be happy for eternity?
Impossible, Callum thought.
"I promise," Callum said.
"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.
She lifted up, pressed deeper into him and he watched as she reached out to his nightstand and grabbed the wedding band he'd taken off earlier in preparation for transforming. She settled back beside him, her fingers curled around his wrist and she unwound his arm from her body, lifting his hand toward her face.
Then she slid his ring on his finger and lifted his hand to her mouth. With her eyes soft with adoration never leaving his, she kissed the band.
She linked her fingers with his and whispered, "If you don't want to, you don't have to wear this forever."
He clenched his teeth and gripped her hand tightly.
When he could speak, he said low, "I'll always wear it."
"You don't ndash;" Sonia started.
Callum cut her off. "Always."
She closed her eyes and Callum watched a single tear trail down her cheek.
At the sight, it took everything he had not to howl with grief and fury.
She opened her eyes and repeated, again on a whisper, "Thank you."
He was pleased he'd not dreamed this part.
That was, fortunately, the only thought he had time to have. Sonia slid up and onto his body, her fingers gliding into his hair at the side of his head and she leaned in to kiss him.
He rolled her and kissed her first.
That time he had her, he went slow.
He took his time and he committed to memory his mate's skin, her smell, her touch, the taste of her and the beautiful, sexy sounds she made.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Changes
"We could try," Sonia, sitting beside Callum in the SUV, snapped.
"Baby doll, we're not talking about this," Callum replied, trying to keep hold of his temper and stay calm.
They were on their way to Titium and his men's trial, which had been the source of their first disagreement that morning. They'd had three.
Callum forbid Sonia to go.
Sonia didn't feel like being forbidden.
They had words. The words turned into a tussle. The tussle turned into play and, before Callum knew what he was doing, he was agreeing to let her attend the trial with him.
"All right, you can go," he'd gritted while fending off her hands, legs and mouth which were pushing, kicking and biting intermittently with caressing, clutching and licking. He'd had enough. He could smell her excitement, hear her panting and, at that point, he wanted nothing but to bury himself inside her and he'd say just about anything to get what he wanted.
She'd grinned, stopped her struggles instantly and lifted her head, running her tongue along his neck.
He'd taken a moment to memorize that sweet sensation before he flipped her, grasped her h*ps and pulled her up to her knees, positioned himself between them and took her. Hard. Her reward for winning which was his reward too.
Christ, but she was the most sexually voracious human he'd ever met. He'd had her twice only six hours before.
And once already that morning.
Though, he wasn't complaining.
Now, he didn't even know what she was on about. Their second argument, God help him, about which boots he was going to f**king wear (another argument he lost, this time purposefully because it was so bloody ridiculous) had segued into a third and he wasn't paying attention.
He had a number of things on his mind, chiefly the unpleasant business of the trial and further, what Sonia's reaction would be to it. Not to mention their Mating which was scheduled for the next day, his secret plans and what Sonia's reaction would be to that, something, he hoped, which would be far more pleasant for the both of them.
"Why is it that you think you can say we're not talking about something and then we're not going to talk about it?" she asked crossly and he glanced from the road to her to see her glaring out the windscreen.
"Because we can talk about it later," he replied, not even knowing what "this" was and looking back to the road. "Now, it's important I explain what's going to happen at the trial so you'll be prepared."
Callum felt the air in the cab get tense and he reached out a hand to grasp hers in a warm grip, pulling it to his thigh and stroking her fingers with his thumb.
"That bad?" she queried softly, her fingers curling strong around his.
"To you, likely," Callum told her honestly then explained. "Our way of justice is not your way, little one. Wolves have very few rules, very few laws. We live and let live. Therefore, breaking one is treated harshly so others will be deterred from doing the same."
Sonia gave herself a moment to process this before she asked, "Are there attorneys? Solicitors? Will he have a chance to have his say?"
"He'll be allowed to speak," Callum answered. "They all will."
Sonia was silent another moment, he glanced at her again before looking back to the road and saw that she was no longer angry but looked reflective.
Then she asked, "What does harsh mean?"
This was the part Callum wasn't looking forward to, making his judgment, casting his sentence and having Sonia hear it. He knew she wouldn't like it. He also knew, no matter how cunning and playful she could get, she would not be attending the executions. They were gruesome, even by a wolf's standards. A human, especially a human like Sonia, wouldn't be able to endure them.
"He committed treason, baby doll," Callum reminded her quietly and he felt the air in the cab grow tenser and her eyes turn to him.
"It's my experience that there are wolves who can be hot-headed, Cal, and he's a father. It's clear he was blinded to his daughter's illness by fatherly love and, although wrong, it's understandable. Perhaps, since it happened, he's had time to reflect."
"He challenged me and, in doing so, injured my queen," Callum pointed out then concluded. "Who is, incidentally, also his queen."
"But what if he's ndash;?" she began but he squeezed her hand and glanced at her again before turning his eyes back to the road.
"I am rarely challenged except during a rebellion or skirmish, little one," he told her gently. "One reason for that is I cannot be bested. This is not a boast. This is the truth. The other reason is, if it's done, the punishment is harsh. I do not have time for this. You've worked beside me now for weeks. You know my duties are onerous. We're having our Mating tomorrow. My attention being on this and away from other, more important matters has a ripple effect throughout the kingdom. If a statement wasn't made, anyone who was angry at a decision I'd handed down or simply drunk and acting stupid could think they could try their hand at besting the king. I could be spending all my time on the steps of Canis, engaged in challenges. This is one of the reasons why any ruler, any government, must deal with situations such as these harshly."
"Okay," she replied slowly, "so what does harsh mean?"
"What is the usual punishment for treason, baby doll?" he returned quietly and heard her pull in a swift, sharp breath.
She knew what it was.
Then she noted, "I thought wolves were immortal."
Cautiously, he explained, "If you sever our heads from our bodies, that is something we cannot survive."
To this he received another swift intake of breath.
Then she began, "Callum ndash;"
He cut her off to tell her something she had to know. "I do not relish this any more than you do, Sonia."
"I know that!" she cried, her voice suddenly rising. "But this isn't a drunken wolf, trying his hand at besting you like it was a Wild West gun slinging faceoff, may the fastest draw win and the winner gets nothing but the opportunity to brag. Family is all important to wolves, you've said that to me yourself dozens of times. He was defending his daughter. Yes, it was misguided but that doesn't negate the fact that was what he was doing and I think, somewhere deep, you understand why he did it. And loyalty has to be almost as important, which was what Titium's wolves showed to him and yet they, too, will receive this punishment? The end of their lives for doing nothing but standing there and being loyal?"
Callum felt his temper again start to rise. "I told you we would not speak of this again but it seems you've forgotten he hurt you. The fact he did it at all is unforgiveable but he did it in front of me. You were in harm's way, he knew it and he still acted and that, my queen, is indefensible." He gave her hand another squeeze. "I cannot let it stand."
"Then don't let it stand, Cal," she returned swiftly. "You're right. He did wrong and caused harm in the process. But I will point out, you were in a mood when you met him on the steps of Canis and that mood was not the mood to sit down like men with honor I, at least, know you are, and talk things out. I know I'm your mate and protecting me is serious business for you wolves but I don't want you to be upset when I say that it really is me who gets to forgive or not forgive that he hurt me and I forgive him, Cal." She paused a moment before she told him quietly. "It was an accident. He surrendered immediately after he saw he harmed me. He knew he did wrong and felt badly about it so perhaps you can think of another punishment that's lesshellip;" she paused and finished, "final."
Callum felt his temper rise further. "Are you suggesting, little one, that I was partly at fault for what happened?"
"I'm not suggesting anything," she retorted. "I'm saying that maybe then and now there's another way to go about things and perhaps, before you do something that cannot be undone, you may want to reflect on both."
Callum drew in a long breath to calm his anger before he replied firmly and with finality, "This is the wolves' custom, Sonia."
She fell silent and Callum drove, still angry and part of this had to do with the fact that Sonia riled him up prior to one of the few loathsome duties he had as king of the werewolves. By now, she should know better but apparently she did not.
Every moment of every day he was aware that his time with her was short and just as aware that she didn't know it. He very much wanted to explain yet again that in times like these, he needed her support, not a confrontation. However, it was highly likely (he hoped) that in her short life, she wouldn't need to endure another time like this so he decided to let it, and the inevitable argument it would cause, go.
He drove up the winding, ill-kept road, through the wood and turned right, driving through the thick trees. He heard another swift intake of breath when the trees suddenly cleared and there it was.
The Lodge, a huge, circular building with a large, paved car park around it and beyond it on either side, two four story parking structures. It was made of reddish, gold-brown Canis stone, had ten of his royal pennants flying from its crenelated roof and it looked like a human's sporting arena, albeit small but, with the stone and crenellations, more imposing. The inside held stands, also like a human's stadium, in a circle facing down to the pitch. Although small by human standards, it could hold ten thousand wolves.
That day, considering the vehicles parked around, he reckoned it would be half full, something else that grated on Callum's frayed nerves.
This was expected, considering the hills were full to celebrate The Royal Mating and therefore he'd planned for it, his Guard being there to keep order as well as several detachments of soldiers.
It wasn't that Callum expected anyone to disagree with his judgment. It was that wolves could be vengeful and, thus, bloodthirsty. They loved Sonia. They expected the verdict he was about to give, he had little doubt they would rejoice in it and, with wolves, that could easily get out of hand. Further, Sonia might find this at best, distasteful, at worst, repugnant.
Callum, on the other hand, did not rejoice in giving the order to bring about the end of lives. It was a weight on his soul that only Sonia had the ability to alleviate but, again, he held the bitter knowledge that his mate would not always be there to provide this succor to him.
With this heavy on his mind, he drove around the curving entrance that led to the doors closest to where the royal dais would be set inside as Sonia noted, "This place is amazing."
"The Lodge, little one," he muttered distractedly, putting the SUV in park and switching off the ignition, still muttering. "Games are played here. Official business is conducted here. As you know, our Mating will be here tomorrow. And, last, trials are held here."
"Cal," she called.
"Mm?" he murmured, his hand on the door handle, his mind on what was imminent.
"My handsome wolf, please look at me," she requested softly, her endearment slid through him like silk, he twisted his body and his eyes moved to hers.
Then his gut clenched at the gentle expression on her face, an expression filled with love and understanding.
She leaned forward and placed her hand against the side of his head, running her thumb along his eyebrow, down his cheekbone and over his lower lip as her pretty green eyes watched.
All right, so maybe she did support him just, as ever, in her way.
Her gaze moved to his.
"I have not been a good queen this morning," she admitted quietly.
"Baby doll ndash;" Callum started, leaning toward her but she leaned further into him and pressed her thumb against his lips.
"Can I finish?" she asked and he held her eyes but nodded.
She pulled in a soft breath then whispered, "Tradition is a beautiful thing."
Callum felt his jaw tighten but he said nothing.
She continued, "But, my wolf, compassion is often mistaken for weakness when the fact is, there is very little that is more powerful than the courage it takes to give it. The one thing I know that's even more powerful is the courage it takes to forge your own path, make your own mark and in doing so, make change. Leaders who follow are never remembered because they aren't actually leaders. Leaders who are trailblazers, who lead their people to better horizons, who do that with strength, wisdom and compassion are revered. You must do what you must do in there, as king to your people and as mate to me. But the reason you find it so difficult to show mercy is because it's difficult to be merciful." She leaned closer and her voice dropped softer, lower, sweeter as her eyes held his. "And the last thing I know, my handsome wolf is the strongest werewolf there is and this is not only because he is a great warrior. I saw him write letter after letter to the families of those who had fallen so I know it's also because he's compassionate. He can do anything and he can do it not just with his claws and his teeth."
After that, she leaned in, swept her thumb away so she could touch her lips to his then she sat back in her seat, her eyes on him, her smile small and gentle, and waited for him to exit the truck and open her door for her.
Callum drew in another breath as her words settled in his mind, his gut and around his heart.
Then he turned to his door, his lips twitching because his little queen had demonstrated yet again one of the myriad of ways she was absolutely, f**king perfect.
She proved this further when he helped her out of the cab and she walked silently at his side, shoulders straight, head held high, tipping her chin up and giving a small smile to Ryon, Calder and Caleb who were standing outside the door waiting for them. She held his hand fast as he tucked it to the side of his chest, keeping her close as they walked through the doors Calder and Caleb opened and into The Lodge.
Half his Guard was lined up inside. They fell into step in front of Callum and Sonia, Ry, Calder and Caleb moving in behind and Callum led his mate to the dais.
Looking around, he saw he was correct. The Lodge was half full and there was a low din of conversation. As his Guard moved and it became clear the King and Queen were in attendance, the din quieted and Callum pulled his mate closer to offer her reassurance as he felt thousands of eyes move to them.
She clutched his hand and walked at his side, their bodies brushing as he moved her up the steps. As per custom, those in their seats kept them because there wasn't enough room to take a knee in the stands but the accused and the soldiers standing at the foot of the dais all dropped into the heads bent ceremonial bow.
Callum seated himself on the throne. Sonia moved of her own accord into his lap, her face, carefully blank, was turned to the men in front of them.
Callum waited until Ryon, Calder and Caleb situated themselves to the left and right of his throne and his Guard lined the steps of the dais before he called his order in a loud, deep voice, "All but the accused, rise."
The soldiers moved to their feet, Titium and his men kept their heads bowed.
"Titium, you and your men keep your knee but face me," Callum commanded, his voice ringing out in the silent, huge space helped by microphones situated at the foot of the dais.
He watched as Titium and his men lifted up from their hand in the pitch and faced him on their knee.
"For official purposes," Callum continued, dipping his head to a small table off to the side where a she-wolf sat, her fingers moving on the keyboard of a laptop to record the proceedings, "even though what you've done has spread far, I must proclaim the charges against you."
Titium nodded and Callum moved his gaze from the warrior to look amongst the wolves in attendance, sitting in the stands and watching avidly.
Then he called, "I will remind my brothers and sisters that my mate is human and today's proceedings are not a celebration. The men standing accused are warriors who have all, over the years and, I will remind you, very recently, put their lives in danger to stand gallantly against those who rebelled. I will be displeased if you show them less than the respect they deserve. In other words, throughout the proceedings and until your queen and I leave, I expect silence."
A short-lived murmur swept the crowd before Callum got what he commanded.
His eyes moved back to Titium and he began.
"You are charged with treason, warrior. As your men stood with you when you challenged me, they face the same charge. You carried through this challenge and, in so doing, you injured your queen. I will remind you this was witnessed by a prince, a duke, the dowager queen and many of my personal Guard. I will now listen to how you plea as well as the pleas of your wolves."
"I speak for myself and my wolves, your grace," Titium replied, his voice ringing loud and strong and Callum again was reminded of how loathsome this duty was. Titium was a bad father but he was an excellent warrior, loyal to Mac, loyal to all wolves, strong, brave, confident and, until recently, noble.
"And how do you plea?" Callum prompted, feeling Sonia tense against him even as he tensed himself.
"We plead guilty, your grace," Titium called, chin up, bearing proud in the face of the dire consequences that he knew would happen not only to him but to his men after giving this plea.