However, he was having more than a little difficulty with humans, female and male, touching his mate. The wolf’s protective instinct of their mate was naturally strong. Callum’s protective instinct for his queen was stronger. Callum’s protective instinct for Sonia was immeasurable. You didn’t approach a wolf’s mate without permission, certainly not if you were a stranger to that wolf and you definitely didn’t touch her.
Even so, tonight amongst Sonia’s people, he couldn’t give in to the instinct. If he had, her beautifully clinical living room would be littered with unconscious bodies.
“My God!” Jo cried. “Your ring is gorgeous!”
“Oh Lord,” Jay told the ceiling as his eyes had rolled there. “Here we go.”
Jo examined Sonia’s ring closer, not taking her eyes from it but still managed to bicker. “Well it is, Jay,” she yanked Sonia’s hand toward her husband, “look at it.”
Jay didn’t look at Sonia’s ring.
He turned aggrieved eyes to Callum, seeking male camaraderie. “She’s always on me to buy her a bigger ring.”
He didn’t find his camaraderie as Callum replied abruptly, “So do it.”
It was Jay’s turn to blink, Sonia’s turn to stiffen but Jo burst out laughing.
“I like him,” she said to Sonia, releasing Sonia’s hand and jerking her head at Callum. “If I didn’t like all that was him,” she boldly gestured to Callum from top-to-toe, “then I’d like his accent. If I didn’t like that then I’d still like him.”
Sonia relaxed and smiled at Jo, as did Callum, deciding that he also liked Jo.
“If you want to make nice with the men in the neighborhood,” Jay advised with forced joviality, “you might want to take a little care.”
“It’s highly unlikely Sonia and I will be settling here,” Callum announced.
Sonia went rock-solid at his side and Jed and Jake, who were rushing up to them with their unwrapped presents in their hands, skidded to a halt and the cheerful expressions on their faces melted.
“Sonny’s moving?” Jed, or Jake, Callum didn’t know which was which, whispered.
“We haven’t decided yet,” Sonia said swiftly with a radiant smile at the boy and quickly changed subjects. “So, what do you think? Do you like them?”
The boys, as children do, human or wolf, immediately remembered their presents. Their faces lit and Jake (or Jed), shouted, “They’re awesome!”
Then both boys ran forward and gave her awkward yet genuine hugs which forced Callum to release her.
This he didn’t mind. Children were no threat.
Further, he liked watching Sonia’s relaxed, innate affection for the boys. Something which he hoped, very soon, he’d be witnessing between her and their own children.
“I’m hungry,” Jay announced and then made another try at friendly discourse with Callum. “Sonia always puts on the best spread.”
This, to Callum’s way of thinking, wasn’t true. Although there was a good deal of food and every bite-sized item he had tasted was appetizing, there wasn’t enough meat, there wasn’t enough cheese and there wasn’t a single thing that required a knife and fork. Most people took a small, white, china plate and a napkin and saw them through.
The minute Callum had seen the caterers laying out the fare, he’d been alarmed. Although no one but the other wolves in attendance had his reaction.
Wolves did not do finger food.
“You’ll undoubtedly not be disappointed this year,” Callum told Jay with truthfulness.
“Go in, help yourselves.” Sonia invited, giving Jed (or Jake) a playful cuff on the head and Jake (or Jed) a teasing shove on the shoulder as they walked toward the dining room table.
Then she seemed to be moving away from him, which Callum didn’t like so he hooked an arm around her waist and curled her front to front. Her eyes lifted to his and he knew she was pissed.
He grinned.
Callum even liked it when she was angry. He was pleased his queen had spirit and fire. Immensely pleased.
Her gaze narrowed on his grin and when her eyes came back to his she irately commanded, “Would you stop telling that story?”
“No,” he calmly replied.
She growled low in her throat.
Callum chuckled low in his.
Then she suddenly asked, “Who’s Calvin?”
He felt the pain slash through his gut, his arm tightened convulsively around her and his grin died.
“My brother,” he replied tersely.
At his instantaneous reaction, sweet Sonia’s eyes were no longer narrowed but searching.
Then, her voice much softer, she enquired, “Brother?”
“Died. In battle. Years ago.” His words were short and curt and he didn’t try to gentle them because this effort would be impossible.
Her body jerked lightly in his arm then it, too, went soft and settled against his.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
He was too, more than he could say.
Callum didn’t reply.
“I shouldn’t have asked but I was surprised. You’d never mentioned him,” she told him.
“He was the youngest of us, we didn’t protect him. It’s not a subject we discuss.”
He felt her heave a fluttering, little sigh and she lifted a hand and curled her fingers around his neck, murmuring, “Callum.”
He wished he’d had her years ago when Calvin fell. That sweet sigh, the touch at his neck, the feel of her yielding body pressed to his, the murmur of his name would have gone far in soothing the grief. He knew this because it was something it did now.
He gave her waist a squeeze and informed her, “It was years ago.”
“It’s still fresh,” she said softly.
“It’ll always be fresh,” Callum replied, his voice no longer clipped but quiet. “He was my brother.”
She slowly closed her eyes.
Then she wrapped her arms around him, pressed her cheek to his chest and held him close.
He closed his eyes and marked the crown of her head with his temple, pulling her even closer.
His sweet, sweet Sonia.
He opened his eyes and saw they had a mixed human and wolf audience, all of whom were watching either avidly (the wolves) or covertly (the humans) and the fact made him exceedingly pleased.
One of her shop girls, he was thinking Kerry (or Mabel, he was too focused on Sonia calling him husband for the first time to pay much attention when they were introduced) approached.
“Um…” she began tentatively. “Sonny? The caterer wants to talk to you. Something about salmon in puff pastry? She sounded like it was urgent.” The girl’s mischievous eyes went to Callum and Sonia turned in his arms to face the newcomer as she remarked, “Though, urgent and puff pastry to me don’t go together.”
He couldn’t agree more with her statement and Callum decided he liked this girl. You could see it in the light of her eyes, the fullness of her smile, the depth of her laughter and the loving way she gazed at Sonia – she fed on life, like a wolf.
Sonia detached from Callum and mumbled, “Thanks, Kerry. I better go see what that’s about.” She walked away with a distracted smile in his and Kerry’s direction, muttering, “I didn’t even order salmon in puff pastry.”
Kerry’s eyes tipped up to him and she grinned.
Then her grin grew hard and she said, “I know you’re a big guy and you could probably break me in two.” This, Callum thought, though she couldn’t know, was exactly true. “But make her happy, will you? I don’t know why, though considering your story she was probably waiting for you to stop dicking around,” she informed him baldly (and courageously). “But she’s been alone a long time. She deserves to be happy. In fact, I don’t know if I know anyone who deserves it more.”
She gave him a look that clearly said she would not be happy if he didn’t do as she asked, even though she knew her displeasure would be lost on him.
Yes, Callum decided, he liked her a
great deal.
She tilted her head to the side, the seriousness going out of her eyes, the hardness going away from her mouth, and announced, “One thing I can say for you, you convinced Sonny to have beer. Always wine and champagne and cocktails. A girl needs a beer. Which I’m getting right now. You need one?”
Callum shook his head but grinned at her.
Then, with another bright smile, she wandered off while Callum thought that he didn’t like her a great deal. He seriously fucking liked her.
He noticed Sonia rounding the dining room table and decided for perhaps the fiftieth time that night he liked what she was wearing. A skintight, winter white turtleneck that had opalescent beading around the shoulders and down the chest which gave the impression of sparkling snow. She’d paired this with a matching, slim skirt that came to her knees and cupped her ass so perfectly, it had to be made for her. She was wearing outrageously sexy, high, stiletto-heeled, gray snakeskin pumps. She had her hair loose in a sleek fall past her shoulders and down her back but a pretty, wide, velvet ribbon was threaded through it, holding the thick locks away from her face.
She looked like a sophisticated snow angel.
His claiming chain hung outside her skirt (she always wore it visible, at his command) and her wedding rings sparkled on her finger. Both of which, even the rings, being his, Callum felt a fierce pride that she, Sonia, his mate, his queen, dressed in that fucking sexy outfit, was displaying for all her friends and his family to see.
The minute he saw her emerge down the stairs earlier that evening, he’d decided to try to find some way to fuck her with that skirt on.
If that failed, he was definitely fucking her while she was wearing those boots.
He knew every man in this room would envy him that opportunity.
And he fucking loved that.
She stopped at the outer end of the table and was talking with one of the women who came to cater her party. The woman was gesticulating wildly and Sonia was looking at the table in charming bafflement as Caleb slid up beside him.
“Stop flirting with Sonia’s shop girls, brother,” Caleb muttered jokingly and Callum watched, his eyes instantly narrowing and his body immediately alert, as Sonia’s shoulders shrugged slightly up.
It was a fleeting, sparse movement but it was there and further, her head had slanted with a nearly imperceptible jerk, moving her ear to point toward where Callum and Caleb were standing.
“Cal?” Caleb called.
“Quiet,” Callum ordered, his enjoyment of the evening eroding.
Sonia had these kind of reactions and often. Callum started noticing it the day after their first full day and night in this house. A human might not notice but Callum definitely did.
Callum and Caleb were standing across the expanse of the wide living room, well away from the dining room table. Even without the distance, there was soft Christmas music playing, numerous people in the room creating a loud buzz of conversation and Caleb had muttered his joke under his breath.
But Callum would bet his immortal life she could fucking hear it.
And now, with her ear pointed toward them, she was listening.
It wasn’t just her heightened sense of hearing, it was more.
For instance, when they played, it didn’t happen often, but she’d run her nose along the skin of his neck or the whiskers on his jaw. Once he’d even heard and felt her taking in the scent of his hair.
Female humans didn’t do that, not any that he’d met.
She-wolves, however, like wolves, did it all the time, during play or just affectionately with their mate. Your mate or partner’s scent was a massive aphrodisiac but it was another way your senses recognized a loved one. It was one of the reasons their mingled essence between her legs was so important. It was part of the claiming ritual for the male to coat the female with it, spreading their intermingled scent, a physical representation of their connection, to mark his territory after the claiming.
Further, he’d also noticed on more than one occasion Sonia tilting her head or making a face when she’d smelled something pleasant or unpleasant. Something Callum also smelled but not something any human would sense.
She had exceptional eyesight as well, something he noticed when she was sitting beside him while he was driving and she drew in a sharp, barely audible breath when a car skidded on a patch of ice in front of them. The car, however, was far ahead. A wolf could see it, but a human? Not in his experience.
And there was the way that she liked to play. She certainly responded to him when he was gentle with her but she came alive when he was rough. He’d never, not once in his experience, knew a human to get off the way Sonia did with Callum. He was careful to make certain all his partners enjoyed his play but the depth of her craving, the intensity of her participation and her climaxes were unreal for a human, if not a wolf.
He’d put that down to their connection but now, he was questioning it.
Because she was still human.
Lastly, the way they fell asleep most nights, from the first night after the claiming.
It was common practice for wolves, especially wolf mates, to sleep while their bodies were connected. The male on top, the female on top, spooned or the way Sonia liked to be connected to Callum, with Callum over her and Sonia on her belly.
It was just the wolves’ way.
The first time he’d done it, he’d been so lost in the experience they’d shared, he hadn’t thought of it. It was natural to him as wolf but he would never have done it with a human. Not only because his other human partners were not his mate but because they wouldn’t find it comfortable and might even find it painful.
Later that night when he awoke still connected to her, his weight bearing her little body into the bed, he’d cursed himself. He’d drawn away and pulled her close. Since that first time, he always woke shortly after and, without the cursing, rolled to his back and pulled her to his side.
The next day after the first time, from their talk in the morning, and especially that night, he was surprised and delighted to find she liked it. They didn’t sleep that way every night but, if he ended their play fucking her on her hands and knees, they always did and it was always Sonia that lured Callum to her.
One night, she’d even demanded it. Hands flying back to grasp his hips, her sex convulsing tight to trap his cock, she’d slid her knees down and drew him with her between her spreading legs.
It had been the most arousing thing a female had ever done and he’d instantly had an overwhelming urge to take her again. So he did, up on his hands, his hips pistoning into her, her belly to the bed, her legs spread wide, her ass tipped up just enough so she could take all of him and her moans and cries muffled by the pillow.
It had been, as it always was with Sonia, fucking magnificent.
What it hadn’t been was anything near to anything he’d ever had with a female human.
And none of it made any sense.
Callum, being proudly wolf and being royal, did not spend a great deal of time with humans. He didn’t avoid them but his duties, the consistent skirmishes and simply because he preferred the company of his brethren, meant he’d spent the vast majority of his life with wolves. Even though, if he caught the scent or liked the look of a female human he wouldn’t hesitate in taking her, until Sonia, he preferred she-wolves and they made up the bulk of his bed partners.
Perhaps this was something human he just didn’t know.
And what Callum didn’t know, he didn’t like.
Especially when it came to Sonia.
“Callum?” Caleb called, catching his attention as Callum kept his eyes on Sonia and he saw her force herself to relax.
She was hiding it. His instincts screamed it.
So perhaps it wasn’t just something he didn’t know. Perhaps it was something else entirely.
“Five minutes ago, you were wrapped in your queen’s arms,” Ryon noted, smiling as he approached the brothers. “Now you’re scowling. What??
?s up?”
Callum looked at his cousin.
Ryon.
His cousin, on the other hand, preferred female humans to she-wolves though he didn’t shy away from wolves. He also enjoyed spending time in the human world.
If it was something Callum didn’t know, Ryon might be able to tell him.
He started to open his mouth but thought better of it when a memory pierced his consciousness and his eyes slashed across the room to the vampire.
Gregor was standing by the Christmas tree talking with one of Sonia’s neighbors who Callum had met and who Callum had not bothered to remember their name.
Two and a half weeks ago, Yuri had interrupted their post-play cuddle and, when Callum finally sensed him, his head jerked to the door at the same time as Sonia’s. He hadn’t been paying attention for obvious reasons but looking back, she’d appeared deeply surprised that Yuri was there.
Not only because it was surprising, and tremendously rude, that Yuri would interrupt them but also because she’d not sensed him until the last second which was something, just as it was for Callum, that was unusual for her to miss.
And later Gregor had wanted a private word with Callum that Sonia couldn’t overhear and didn’t take him to another room.
He took him for a walk and didn’t speak for a block and a half.
Gregor didn’t speak because he needed the distance so Sonia couldn’t hear.
Callum sliced his eyes to Ryon and said, “I need to walk.”
Ryon’s head jerked and his gaze narrowed.
“Walk?” Caleb asked and Callum looked to his brother. “What are you on about? We’re at Sonny’s party. You can’t leave. This is important to her.”
It annoyed him that Caleb called Sonia “Sonny” when he wasn’t calling her “sis”. It annoyed him more that Ryon did it (without the “sis”). The only one who’d taken to doing this that didn’t annoy him was Regan.
There was no reason why this annoyed him outside of the fact it was a familiarity that was greeted with radiant warmth from his mate and she returned it, having fallen into the habit of affectionately (and adorably) calling Caleb “bro” and Ryon “cuz”.