“What we had was good!” she cried desperately, leaning further forward.
“What we had was sex,” Callum returned dismissively and Sonia jerked in his arms which didn’t squeeze comfortingly this time, they tightened.
“I’m consort to a king!” Mona declared madly, moving up the steps.
Ryon shot forward, hooked an arm firm around her waist and stopped her.
Callum’s voice lowered but, even so, he knew every wolf in the room could hear.
“You were nothing but a fuck, Mona. A good one but I’d had better before,” he moved slightly his eyes never leaving Mona as he rubbed his temple against Sonia’s hair, making his message clear before he murmured, “And definitely better since.”
He heard Sonia’s breathing escalate as he saw her chest start to rise and fall with agitation but she kept her seat which satisfied him. This was an intense situation amongst a passionate people, something she wasn’t used to but she was handling herself, as he had guessed she would, brilliantly.
Mona didn’t handle herself nearly as well.
Fighting against Ryon’s hold, she snapped, “But she’s blonde. You hate blondes.”
“I’ve changed my mind,” Callum returned coolly.
To that, Mona’s arms went ramrod straight, her face grew red and she shrieked, “She is not our queen. She’s fucking human.”
Irreverence to his queen spoken aloud during an official assembly in a throne room.
Callum held back his smile.
Mona was so deep, even Titium couldn’t dig her out.
“Get her out of here, Ry,” he ordered.
“Released to find her mate?” Ryon asked, his lips twitching.
“Fuck no. Sequester her,” Callum answered.
“No!” Mona shrieked while she struggled.
“Okey doke,” Ryon muttered and a few wolves chuckled.
Sonia, he noted vaguely, had clenched her fists.
As Ryon handed Mona off to two warriors who led her struggling body out of the room, Caleb climbed the dais and stood at his right side. Then his deep voice rang out in the vast room.
“Are there those in this company who have issue with our human queen?”
No one spoke.
Caleb went on, “Are there those whose allegiance lies with Desdemona?”
More silence.
Caleb’s voice then announced loudly, “Then behold our new queen!”
Everyone looked at Sonia. Sonia blushed.
“You’re laying it on a bit thick, aren’t you, brother?” Callum muttered.
There were several chuckles, a few full-blown laughs and a room full of smiles.
“I thought the situation warranted it,” Caleb replied with a bold grin as he leaned against the side of his brother’s throne.
Callum threw him a look then turned his head, his mouth seeking Sonia’s ear and he asked softly, “Would you like to meet your warriors, baby doll?”
She twisted her neck and her green eyes searched his. She pulled in breath through her nose and, finally, nodded.
He stood up, lifting her to her feet. He slid his arm around her shoulders and tucked her into his side.
To his men in the room, he stated, his voice proclaiming proudly, “It’s time for you to meet Sonia.”
* * * * *
“Jesus, it’s brilliant finally to have something to do,” Calder announced, sitting back in his chair and grinning broadly.
Callum studied his brother from his seat behind a desk cluttered with the remains of the meal they’d eaten there while going through intelligence reports and notes on interrogations. For hours, throughout all of this, except for when Caleb had escorted her to the bathroom, Sonia had sat silently in his lap, even when they ate.
Calder, Callum knew, if he had not been of royal blood, would undoubtedly be the leader of an insurrection. All wolves had an abundance of energy, a zest for life, strength in their opinions and none of them shied away from a fight.
Calder was all that and a great deal more.
Calder, more impatient and volatile even than Callum, was a brilliant warrior, if a flawed strategist, who appeared to be at his most relaxed in the middle of a bloody battle.
His brother, Callum decided, needed to find his fucking mate.
And his brother, Callum decided, once this was finished, would go on a quest to seek her. He’d hand down the order himself.
“Though,” Calder went on, his eyes flashing to Sonia before he grinned, “it’s disappointing that we’re not going to have the mating ceremony. You’d love that, Sonia,” he told her. “Our people like a good party and A Mating is the fucking best.”
“Maybe after this is over, Callum will give Sonia a ceremony,” Ryon suggested, his eyes soft on Callum’s mate.
Callum’s eyes were anything but soft on his cousin.
Jesus, if he didn’t know better, he’d think Ryon had a thing for her.
“A Royal Mating is even better,” Caleb threw in, also grinning at Sonia. “A fucking blast.”
Sonia grinned back at Caleb and Callum’s arms gave her a squeeze to capture her attention.
This worked, her face swung to his.
“Would you like that, little one?” he asked gently.
She regarded him a moment before she shrugged.
“We’ll talk about it later,” he told her and she nodded. Callum looked at Saint. “Are our quarters prepared?”
Sonia’s body jerked in his arms but Callum’s attention was on Saint who was answering. “Yes, actually. They have been since you arrived. Mona ordered it.”
“At least she did something,” Caleb muttered and Saint laughed.
“Callum,” Ryon called and Callum’s gaze swung to his cousin and saw his eyes were still on Callum’s bride. “Since this is going to go down here, and you’ll likely be here awhile, why don’t you stay at Sonia’s?”
At Ryon’s words, Sonia instantly relaxed in Callum’s arms and he caught her throwing Ryon another very grateful smile.
“Fuck, Ryon, what are you on about? The king always stays at the mansion,” Calder put in.
“Yes, and a female of our kind would know and be prepared for that,” Ryon replied patiently. “A human, being initiated to our culture which is probably a bit overwhelming, Calder, might like the comforts of home while she gets oriented.”
Sonia pressed together her lips and sighed, clearly agreeing with his cousin.
Callum would never have considered this. Then again Callum had very little experience with female humans except, of course, fucking them.
“Would you like to go home, Sonia?” he asked, her head tipped back instantly and she nodded, this time happily, with her eyes bright on him, to which he smiled and murmured, “Then we’ll take you home.”
Which was somewhere they were going now.
It was high time for her injection and, after their play this morning, he was impatient to have her again.
Further, the idea of having her in her sweet, welcoming bedroom lit by Christmas lights was an idea he liked greatly. He just hoped the cleaners he’d commanded to be sent to her house had successfully scoured away all traces of the bloody mess he’d made of her two attackers as he’d ordered them to do.
He stood, taking Sonia with him and setting her on her feet. “Calder, you’re off tonight,” he told his brother and Calder nodded. He then looked at Saint. “We’ll meet tomorrow to discuss the turnover.” Saint lifted his chin and Callum then looked at Ryon and Caleb. “You know what to do.” They both nonverbally indicated they understood his order.
Then he took Sonia’s hand and led her from the room.
His SUV was at the bottom of the steps where he’d left it and he helped Sonia into her seat before taking his own, starting the truck and pointing them toward her farmhouse.
He’d driven several miles before the silence in the cab caught his attention and it finally occurred to him that Sonia had another full, turbulent, likely mystifying day.
&
nbsp; “You okay?” he asked.
She was silent.
“Baby doll?” he prompted, not taking his eyes from the road.
She remained silent.
He glanced at her to see her arms were crossed on her chest, the bag filled with her medication in her lap, and she was glaring through the windscreen.
“Sonia?”
“Oh, am I allowed to speak now?” she queried sarcastically.
“What?”
“Nothing,” she snapped. “Just take me home.”
Fucking hell. She was pissed about something.
“Sonia, tell me what’s bothering you,” he ordered gently.
“Nothing. I’m perfectly fine and I’ll be more fine when I’m finally home.”
Callum decided that was probably not true because it appeared they would be arguing when they arrived at her home. He wasn’t going to engage in one in the truck. Further, he had to take that time to control his temper that she obviously didn’t realize today, regardless of how delightfully it started, the rest had been unpleasant for him to say the least. Furthermore, the coming days, or weeks and (although he hoped to God not) possibly months would be busy and taxing.
Therefore she’d failed in her responsibility to provide him what he’d thought he’d explained to her during their second day at the cabin was her duty to provide. An outlet. A release. Be that in the form of a casual conversation in an SUV about his day, holding her cuddled on her sweet bed in her sweet room and talking with her about his concerns about his people or fucking her so hard that when she came she cried out his name.
The latter of which was how he definitely decided he’d like to process his day.
And that was exactly how he was going to do it.
He turned into the short drive at the side of her house, parking behind the door of her garage and he shut off the engine.
She didn’t wait for him to help her from the SUV (another issue he had with her that he decided, astutely, to bring up later). She dropped down from the truck and stormed up to her dark house.
Then she stood at her front door, arms crossed, her bag with her meds dangling from her fingers, as he took his time (to calm his temper further, an effort which failed) sauntering to her house.
“I don’t have the key,” she told him when he arrived at her side using a voice that made this clear it was an accusation.
He had her key.
Saint had given it to him the day he’d arrived. It was on the ring with his truck keys, his SUV being something else Saint had provided for him.
He used the key to let them in while she glared at his keyring like she was willing it to combust in his fingers.
When they entered, her alarm started beeping. She turned to it and punched in the code then stomped into the house.
Callum took off his coat while slowly Christmas lights, inside and out, started twinkling from everywhere.
Callum glanced around.
Ryon wasn’t wrong. Sonia seriously had a thing about Christmas.
He listened to her tramping around upstairs as he went to her clean, pristine kitchen and opened the fridge, praying she had beer.
She didn’t.
She didn’t even have a bottle of chilled white wine.
He was searching the cupboards for spirits when she stormed in, having divested herself of her vest and scarf, and her eyes narrowed on her mail neatly piled on the counter.
“I see someone’s been taking care of my house,” she announced ungraciously and walked to the mail, snatching it from the counter. Not looking at him, she shuffled through it while she demanded to know, “Did you arrange that?”
“Yes,” he replied, turning back to open another cabinet in which he saw, thankfully, she had a number of bottles of liquor and one of them, to his great fortune, contained a very good whisky.
“I shudder to think of the state of my store considering I disappeared into thin air during Christmas season.” She aimed a glare in his direction as he discovered where she kept her glasses. “My girls are probably freaked!”
“Only if they have the uncanny ability of clairvoyance,” Callum replied calmly. “Regan arranged for one of our people, a woman who has a goodly amount of retail experience considering her mate owns Harrinton’s department stores, to tell them you had an urgent situation that called you away but arranged for her to manage the store in your absence.”
This knowledge gave her a start, as it would considering there was a Harrinton’s in every exclusive mall in the country. They were highly lucrative ventures and were known as the elite shopping experience.
He ignored her reaction and the fact that she didn’t express her gratitude as she had to Ryon, three times when he’d displayed his thoughtfulness, and turned to pour his whisky.
She threw her mail on the counter and stomped from the room.
He listened to her crashing around upstairs as he turned his hips to the counter, sipped his whisky and practiced controlled breathing.
This didn’t help.
Some time later, he put his empty glass on the counter, switched off the light and followed her up the stairs.
He found her in her bedroom wearing a silvery-gray knit nightgown with a thin edge of white lace at the bodice and hem. The nightgown hugged her curves and came down to her knees. Her face was cleaned of makeup and she was throwing back the covers on the bed.
“Sonia, it’s time for your injection,” he told her.
“Yes, it was. That’s why I gave it to myself,” she retorted, climbing on the bed and seating herself with her shoulders against the headboard.
At this news Callum’s body went still as his anger escalated exponentially.
“I’m sorry?” he asked quietly.
She nabbed a tube from her nightstand. Not looking at him, she squirted lotion into her hand, bent forward and started to massage it into her foot.
“I gave it to myself,” she repeated.
The only thing from the cabin she packed was her medication. She didn’t need anything else, his people would see to the dirty laundry and food. And, as they’d be returning, hopefully soon, it would be good that she had clothes and toiletries there. In fact, he’d order her to stock what she needed so they could return there at his whim.
He came into the room and stopped at the foot of her bed.
“I thought I explained I’d be giving you your injections.”
She shifted her attention to her other foot but not to him. “You did.”
“Sonia, look at me,” he demanded.
She slammed the tube of lotion down on her nightstand and then turned to face him. Or, more accurately, glare at him.
“I’ll not tolerate another defiance like that again,” he stated.
Her head tilted to the side. “You won’t? Well then…” she leaned forward and snapped, “good. Because you won’t be defied because you won’t be around.”
He felt his muscles grow taut as his control on his temper started slipping.
“Perhaps you’d like to explain that,” he invited in a way that said, very clearly, she wouldn’t.
Recklessly, she did it anyway.
“After today, I’ve decided I don’t want to be your queen. After today, I’ve decided I don’t want anything to do with you. Not,” she stated boldly, “your people, who all seem very nice, except that crazy woman who was, sadly, though you didn’t seem to notice it, not well at all. But you. I don’t want anything to do with you.”
“Little one,” he advised softly as he moved to the side of the bed, “I’d stop talking now.”
“You would? Well, of course you would, since all day you’ve been saying a lot but not much of it good. However, since I haven’t been allowed to talk nearly all day, I’ve got a lot of words left in my stockpile.”
He stopped beside the bed and watched her nab a tub, open it and start to rub moisturizer in her face.
And he watched her do this as he sought patience.
Finally, he explained, “A
s Ryon told you, you weren’t allowed to speak in the throne room. You didn’t speak of your own accord the rest of the day. I thought you were quiet because you were letting things sink in.”
She slapped the tub down and looked up to him. “I wasn’t. I had no idea what was going on! No one told me anything. Including the fact I could speak, which, I will note, you didn’t even notice I didn’t!”
“Sonia –”
“However,” she broke in, “the fact that I can’t for any length of time is… is… medieval! And that you made me sit in your lap during that… that… whatever-it-was, was…” She paused and cried, “I don’t even know what it was!”
“What it was, was the way of my people,” he told her.
“What it was, was your way because you are king,” she shot back, grabbing another tube. “Which brings us back to my earlier point that I’m done with this queen business. Done. You can go now,” she finished, dismissing him.
Dismissing him.
Callum lost what hold he had on his patience at the same time he lost his temper.
She’d opened the tube and started to squirt it in her palm when Callum tore it from her hand and tossed it on her nightstand. It skidded through all of the other tubes, bottles and tubs sitting there, leaking lotion the entire way and she glared at the mess.
He leaned down, grabbed her ankles and hauled her down the bed.
“What are you –?”
He then entered the bed and settled his weight on top of her.
“Get off me,” she demanded, shoving at his shoulders and writhing underneath him.
“Sonia, look at me.”
“Get off!”
“Look at me, goddamn it!” he roared, she stilled and glared at him. “You want instruction, I’ll give it to you but you fucking look at me when I’m speaking to you and you better fucking pay attention.”
“You have my attention, King Callum,” she retorted sarcastically and he sucked in breath at her tone.
Then he spoke. “Do not disrespect me even in private,” he said evenly, calmly, her eyes narrowed but she snapped her mouth shut. “Good thinking,” he approved tersely and went on. “I, obviously, should have explained this more clearly earlier but I didn’t. Now I am. The queen’s duty is to support her king. You stand by my side or sit in my lap, however I want it, and you listen, you learn and then, after I perform my duties, which can often be not so much fucking fun, you’re available for me.”
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