Her eyes didn’t go wide this time. They nearly popped out of her head.
“What’s that?” Sonia uttered on a choked cry.
He set it in her lap and reached for his own mug which he’d placed on the nightstand, saying, “Telling you, I think, would break about fifteen Christmas commandments.”
She watched him sip from his mug like she’d never seen him before.
When she seemed unwilling to move, he prompted, “Open it.”
She hesitated a moment, as if she’d never had a present bestowed on her and had no idea what to do, then set aside her mug and opened the box.
She pulled out a wisp of dove gray satin, shook it out along the bed and stared at it.
It was a full-length nightgown with thin straps that criss-crossed at the back and a full skirt that settled on the bed luxuriously.
“It’s… it’s –” she stammered.
Callum cut her off, informing her, “Every Christmas morning, when we were pups, Mac and Regan left pillowcases stuffed full at the end of our beds.” Her mesmerized gaze slowly swung to him as he kept talking. “We were allowed to tear into them immediately. In them was candy, toys, all sorts, but always a new pair of pajamas that we had to put on before going downstairs to unwrap the presents under the tree.” He gently pulled the soft fabric from her fingers and ordered, “Lift your arms, baby doll.”
Almost dreamily, she lifted her arms and he slid the nightgown over her head then put his hands under her arms and lifted her free of the bed, placing her on her feet in front of him. The nightgown glided down her body to swirl elegantly to her ankles.
A perfect fit.
His mother could definitely shop.
He allowed his hands to slide across the cool material that covered her warm, soft body then he bent down and picked up another box wrapped in the same extravagant manner, bigger than the first.
He gave it to her murmuring, “Now this.”
She gazed at him looking baffled a moment before she took the box, placed it on the bed and tore off the wrapping. She pulled it open and gasped. Her fingers fisted in the material in the box and she lifted the winter white cashmere robe to her face. She was holding it in both hands against her nose and mouth so, when she turned to him, all he could see was the amazement shining in her green eyes.
He couldn’t stop his chuckle as he pulled her into his arms, looked down at her and teased, “Honey, are you going to eat it or wear it?”
She pulled the robe from her mouth and muttered worshipfully, “Wear it. Definitely wear it.”
Still chuckling at the tone of her voice, he touched his forehead to hers and released her so she could don her robe.
Clutching the lapels across her chest, she raised bright eyes to his, “I… this is so… I… I don’t know what to say, Callum.”
He felt disappointment nag at him when she used his full name. She’d called him Cal last night.
He beat the feeling back, hoping, in time, it would come again.
He curled a hand at her neck, using his thumb to stroke the underside of her jaw and prompted, “Do you like them?”
She nodded enthusiastically.
He grinned and finished, “That’s all you need to say.”
She moved forward the step that separated them and slid her arms around him, her cheek at his chest, her arms going tight.
His hand at her jaw shifted into her hair and held her face against him.
“Now this is definitely better than a nod,” he told her, his voice gruff.
She emitted a short, happy giggle, keeping his body tight in her arms and tipped back her head to look at him. “I’m being very rude. I should say thank you.”
“I don’t know. This doesn’t feel rude,” he teased and she giggled quietly again.
“Can I give you your gifts now?” she asked and his eyebrows went up.
“Do you think that’s all you’re going to get?”
She blinked again, adorably, and then breathed, “There’s more?”
Callum used her hair to tip her head back, bent his own and against her lips he murmured, “Yes, baby doll, there’s more.”
Then he gave her a Good Morning Merry Christmas kiss.
She was blinking again when he lifted his lips form hers.
He was chuckling again when he let her go, reached beyond her to nab her coffee cup and he handed it to her. Then he grabbed her hand and guided her into their bedroom.
Callum had been up awhile. Long enough not only to make coffee but also to deal with the mess the soggy towel made of their bed and collect the presents his mother had stashed in the garage yesterday while they were sledding and place them under the tree.
When they arrived in the room, Sonia stared at the tree like a thirty-seven year old girl who just learned there was a Santa Claus.
Sonia’s shining eyes came to his and she smiled, “I’m guessing this means you like Christmas too?”
He slid an arm around her shoulders and grinned down at her. “All my people enjoy any occasion that gives them an excuse to celebrate. But this,” he gestured to the tree, “is because you like Christmas so much.”
Her expression changed and she was gazing at him like she did last night, like she was trying to read him, understand him, assess the validity of his words.
And, just as she did last night, she must have liked what she saw for she melted into him.
“Let’s have Christmas,” she suggested in a soft voice with soft eyes looking up at him.
“Let’s have Christmas,” he agreed on a murmur, bending his head to touch his mouth to hers.
He went to the bed, threw all her pillows on the floor by the tree and they sat on them, Sonia declaring excitedly that this year she got to “play Santa Claus”.
“You can do it next year,” she assured him as she started organizing packages with what appeared to be unbridled joy.
Watching her, Callum decided that next year, and every year, since she obviously had so much fun doing it, Sonia would play Santa Claus.
Callum found, to his delighted surprise, that she was far more generous with him than any of her friends and neighbors. Callum also found that she liked clothes a great deal more than he suspected seeing as she hadn’t worn the same outfit twice in the three weeks they’d been together. He had new cords, shirts, belts, jeans, sweaters and even a new, stylish, brown leather jacket with a thick, insulating layer which would be perfect when they got back to Scotland. Clearly, these gifts were what were in the copious deliveries that she rushed to the door to confiscate from whichever of his wolves had accepted it before she ran upstairs with the packages but came back down empty-handed.
His mother had followed the same bent, buying Sonia a variety of new clothing except, unlike her normal gear, all of this was more durable and meant to be layered for easier use going in and outside in cold temperatures. Regan also bought her bath salts, lotions and things to wear in her hair.
Sitting amongst the discarded paper, ribbon, bows and boxes with piles of stash by both of them, Callum looked around and muttered, “We’re going to need another year to use all this stuff.”
Sonia, sitting with her ass to her calves, leaned forward and beamed, “I know! Isn’t it great?”
What was great, Callum thought, looking in his queen’s shining, happy eyes, was that they were done unwrapping and now they could move onto an even more enjoyable part of the morning.
Therefore, he reached for her and pulled her off her calves, into his arms and buried his face in her neck.
His lips trailing up to her ear, he heard her say, “You’re not quite done.”
He lifted his head and looked at her only to see she suddenly appeared apprehensive.
“What is it?” he asked cautiously, not happy that the shining light had died in her eyes and anxiety had replaced it.
“You have one more present,” she whispered like she didn’t want to say the words.
She took a deep breath, pulled out of his arms, stood up and sta
rted digging in the branches of the tree. She found what she was looking for and gracefully dropped to her knees. She held out a small wrapped box topped with a large bow that engulfed it.
He took it and unwrapped it while she spoke uncertainly, “I didn’t know, you know, if I should but I thought…” She hesitated. “Well, then I thought I should. But now, I’m thinking…” She paused again as he pulled the jeweler’s box out of the wrapping, allowing the paper to fall unheeded to the floor and flipped the box open with his thumb “You don’t have to wear it!” she finished on a strangled cry.
In the box was a wide, simple, gold, human man’s wedding band.
Staring at the often neglected symbol of another culture’s connection between male and female, Callum felt something shift in him so huge it was as if the entire room moved. His chest tightened as did his gut but his mind blanked of everything but that fucking ring.
His eyes moved to Sonia.
“You don’t have to wear it,” she repeated on a whisper.
He used his forefinger to lift the ring from its satin bed, dropped the box but pointed his finger at Sonia.
“Put it on me,” he ordered, his voice so thick it was almost harsh.
She studied him uneasily for a moment before scooting forward on her knees, taking the ring from his forefinger and grasping his left hand. Then she slid the ring on his ring finger.
He stared at the gold gleaming against his skin.
“It fits,” she said softly and his eyes moved to hers “Um…” she mumbled, “Merry Christmas.”
Before his brain told his body to do it, Callum surged up, his arms going around her, taking her with him as he propelled them to the floor, twisting so he landed on his back and Sonia on him.
Then he wrapped his hand in her hair and crushed her mouth down on his in a bruising, possessive kiss as he rolled his weight onto hers, pillows cushioning them, wrapping paper crinkling all around.
Then he took his wife on the floor amongst discarded Christmas paper and boxes and he did that in a bruising, possessive way that she could not misread or misunderstand.
Even so, when it was over, their breathing had steadied, her limbs were wrapped around him and he was still seated inside her but up with his forearm in the pillow he’d tucked under her head. He was running the tips of his fingers across the features of her face, she still asked tentatively, “I take it you like the ring.”
His eyes captured hers and he growled, “Yes, I fucking like it.”
The doubt clouding her eyes disappeared, a hint of a smile touched her mouth and she whispered, “I’m glad you like it.”
He was bending his head to kiss her again, her head was tilting to let him when the doorbell rang.
Callum stopped his descent.
Sonia blinked up at him. “Who could that be?”
He knew who it was.
“Our family,” he replied and when her eyes grew wide he explained simply, “It’s Christmas.”
The doorbell rang again and when it did Callum regretted his decision to give her the exact opposite of her lonesome Christmases past.
That was until he felt her hand at the side of his head, her thumb sweeping along his cheekbone and he heard her soft voice say, “No, it’s the best Christmas I’ve had in years.”
Callum gazed at the tender gratitude gleaming in his mate’s eyes only a second before he slanted his head and did what he’d intended to do moments before.
The doorbell rang three more times before the door was opened.
* * * * *
“Fucking hell, Cal, is that a wedding band?” Calder practically shouted at him from across the dining room table.
His family, and hers, had arrived bearing shopping bags stuffed full of even more presents. Everyone got a cup of coffee while Callum started a fire in the fireplace in the living room, Ryon started one in the dining room and Sonia turned on Christmas music. Then they had Christmas around Sonia’s downstairs tree before Sonia and Callum went upstairs and dressed in all new clothes. After that, Regan and Sonia made breakfast. It was Sonia’s recipe. Crepes filled with cream cheese sweetened and flavored with almonds and citrus, drenched in a sweet, slightly alcoholic citrus syrup and sprinkled with roasted almonds. His wife, he was pleased to note, when she had a mind to do it, could cook. It was fucking glorious.
Calder’s exclamation came after breakfast while everyone was still seated at the table.
Sonia was walking back into the room with full mugs of coffee for the both of them and she stopped dead at Calder’s words as everyone at the table, which was littered with their breakfast dishes, turned to look at Callum’s left hand.
“Yes,” Callum replied calmly, pushed his chair back and reached forward, snagging Sonia with an arm around her hips and pulling her to him at the same time he divested her of his mug of coffee.
“Our males don’t wear wedding bands,” Caleb declared, his eyes looking at the ring as if it was a rotting sinew wound around his finger.
“One of them does,” Callum returned firmly, carefully seating Sonia’s stiff body in his lap under the studiously remote gaze of Gregor and the openly annoyed gaze of Yuri as well as everyone else.
“For God’s sake, why?” Calder demanded to know.
“Because, this morning, for Christmas, Sonia gave it to me,” Callum answered.
“It’s not our way,” Caleb announced dismissively.
“Maybe not, but it’s our way,” Callum stated forcefully, making his point by drawing Sonia nearer and beginning to lose his patience as Sonia’s body didn’t lose its rigidity. “My mate is human. This is their symbol. It means something to Sonia therefore it means something to me.”
“But, what happens when –” Caleb started but Callum cut his brother off, knowing what he was going to say. Their males didn’t ever wear rings because they’d lose them if they needed to transform or the rings might do harm during the change to wolf.
“Caleb, let it go,” Callum ordered.
“But –” Caleb began again.
“Let it go,” Callum bit out.
Caleb snapped his mouth shut.
“You don’t have to wear it,” Sonia said quietly and Callum’s head twisted to look at her.
“Did you buy it to sit in a box?” Callum asked.
“Well…” she started hesitantly. “No.”
“You bought it because you wanted me to wear it,” he stated and she pulled in breath then nodded. “So I’m going to fucking wear it.” His gaze sliced through his brothers and he warned, “Not another word.”
Caleb and Calder both looked away.
Regan and Ryon both stared at Callum and Sonia and they were grinning broadly.
Gregor’s lips were twitching.
Yuri looked like he’d just drunk a mouthful of sour milk.
It was Yuri’s look that dissipated Callum’s temper and once he relaxed, Sonia relaxed against him.
“What’s going to be funny is,” Regan began, still smiling but now at Caleb and Calder, “when you two find your lifemates and you two find out what’s important and what’s not. Then we get to give you a hard time by reminding you of your behavior right about now.”
“Regan,” Callum cautioned, “the subject is closed.”
“I just want to declare the right to say ‘I told you so’ at a later date,” Regan shot back and Sonia emitted a soft, stifled laugh.
Callum decided that since the festive mood had been put on hold for a while, he might as well go with it and get what he had to do over with.
He looked at Ryon and informed him, “Sonia had a turn last night.”
Sonia got stiff in his arms again and murmured, “Callum.”
But Ryon was no longer smiling as he queried, “A turn?”
He said these two words at the same time Gregor said them and Yuri’s body grew visibly tight.
“That’s what her doctor called it,” Callum told them. “A turn.”
“Really, it isn’t necessary to alarm t
hem. It wasn’t that bad,” Sonia put in and, at that, Callum’s head twisted to look at her again.
“It wasn’t that bad?” Callum asked in a dangerous voice.
“Well…” she drew out the word as her eyes grew wider upon looking at his face.
Then, astutely, she shut her mouth.
“What happened?” Gregor queried on a barely there snap.
“Her blood heated and she was in extreme pain. She couldn’t even endure touch,” Callum informed the vampire and Gregor’s eyes went to Sonia.
In an openly paternal voice denoting barely controlled patience, he said, “As I’ve explained time and again, my dear, you must not miss an injection.”
“I didn’t,” Sonia replied, Gregor’s eyes narrowed and Callum watched him closely.
“That’s impossible,” Gregor noted. “The doctor assured me that, as long as you take the injection, you’ll feel no physical manifestation of the disease.”
“It’s not impossible because it happened last night,” Callum put in and Gregor’s mouth got hard.
“I’ll be having a word with Dr. Mortenson then. This won’t do,” Gregor snapped. Definitely snapped, his patience was strained beyond his capacity to control it and his anger was palpable.
Both of which, coming from Gregor, were surprising responses.
He either cared about Sonia, Callum thought, and cared a great deal or he was angry that whatever he was injecting her with wasn’t working or side effects had developed that would make Sonia, and Callum, question the treatment.
“The doctor has ordered blood work which Sonia and I are going to the hospital to see to shortly,” Callum announced and then he turned to Ryon. “From this point on, anyone who’s assigned to Sonia will have advanced medical training. We won’t tell them why but they’ll need to be able to administer an injection.” His eyes moved around the table and he went on, “And everyone at this table will learn how to do it.” He looked at Sonia. “And you’ll carry your medication with you at all times and, if you need it, you’ll tell whoever is with you where to find it and that they should give it to you.” She opened her mouth to speak but Callum looked to Ryon and finished, “And I want a supply available everywhere we might possibly go.”
With Everything I Am Page 29