“Find me when you’re done here, wife,” he ordered quietly, his hand tensing on her shoulder on the word “wife”.
Her eyes flashed briefly and she nodded. He touched his mouth to hers and, with another nod to Mara and Callista, he left the room and went to his study.
Sitting at his desk, trying to focus his mind on the hundreds of matters that should be taking his attention, chiefly the victory celebration that was taking place tomorrow, he found his task impossible.
His eyes slid to the window and he saw for once the sun shining bright upon the snow.
He turned his chair to face the view and his gaze became as distracted as his mind as he looked at the over-bright vista but didn’t see it.
The last week and a half had been a revelation.
Ryon was correct. Female humans needed communication and giving it to Sonia had made the world of difference. Not knowing her hardly at all before claiming her, he’d not known how much she was holding onto in that head of hers.
And thus holding back.
Now he knew.
Fucking hell, but he knew.
She was like an all new Sonia and if he thought the old Sonia was perfect, he’d been wrong.
This Sonia, sitting in her robe with her hair pulled back in her kitchen with her new friends, having a laugh, getting him coffee, muttering jokes in her dry humor and leaning into him was f**king perfect.
And this all worked exceptionally well for Callum. In fact, he couldn’t have been f**king happier.
His mate was meant to be there for him to talk to, to work out his frustrations with and he’d found, since he’d never done it with another female, human or she-wolf, it was an extraordinary release.
Telling Sonia about Desdemona, about the letters he had to write, the order he had to give, all the while feeling her soft body against his as they lay in their bed, it was like being liberated from a mental prison. He could and did talk to Ryon and his brothers but nothing was like Sonia’s face gentling and her body melting into his as he let that shit go. Nothing. He’d never experienced anything like it. It was beautiful.
But, with Sonia, it was more.
Nearly three weeks ago, Ryon had asked how lucky he could get and Callum had thought he was lucky then with the mate destiny had chosen for him.
Now he couldn’t fathom the depths of his fortune.
* * * * *
It started the day after their fight, after she’d had her breakfast and he’d given her the injection. He took her back to his study and sat her on his lap as he bent to the task of writing more letters.
She sat quietly for a short while then she started to arrange things on his desk. Then more things. Then she slid off his lap and started tidying in earnest.
He allowed this. Mainly because his mind was on other matters but also because he’d noticed she was very organized and if she wanted to organize his desk, he’d let her.
Callum, he found out too late, should have paid attention. Though, in the end, he was glad he didn’t.
“What’s this?” she asked and he looked up to see her head tilted to the side and she’d flipped a piece of paper to face him.
Callum’s gaze dropped to the paper.
It was the report that Caleb had sent him with the list of the names of the fallen warriors, their next of kin and the kin’s address. About a third of the way down the list had tick marks, letters he’d already written.
“Those are the fallen, honey,” he explained softly.
Her brows drew together in confusion and she started, “The fall–?”
Realization dawned, her face paled and her hand pressed the list to her chest. He stood as she flipped the list around and he saw her eyes scanning it. She stepped back when he stepped forward, not raising her head to look at him when she did.
Callum stopped.
“I know him,” she whispered and flipped the list back to Callum. Peering over it, she pointed to a name then her head snapped back and her eyes caught his. “I met him at the mansion. We talked a couple of times. He was very sweet to me.”
There was more than one name of one wolf she talked to a couple of times at the mansion on that list. Which meant, from the troubled expression clear to read on her face, Callum had to get it away from her.
He held his hand out and ordered, “Baby doll, give me the list.”
She defied him and took another step back, shaking her head and she looked at the list again.
He started moving toward her but she kept moving back, her eyes scanning.
“Sonia –”
He stopped speaking and moving when she halted and gasped. Her head snapped back again, this time the movement sharper, her eyes were wide, her face ashen.
“Honey –” he began but she cut him off and when she did her voice was trembling.
“Tell me there are two of your men named Waring.”
Fuck!
He moved faster but she retreated just as fast, skittering across the room, her gaze locked to his all the while begging, “Tell me, Callum. Tell me that’s a common name for your people.”
It was rare his people’s names were common. Since wolves didn’t have last names, their parents often had to get creative. At the very least, they carried a name that no one in their town or village shared.
Callum had lived over three hundred years and he’d never met another wolf named Waring.
Except the one Sonia knew.
She ran into the wall but lifted her arm, hand out, palm up, to ward him off.
“Tell me, Callum.”
He ignored her arm and her palm hit his chest as he got close and framed her face with his hands.
Then, trying to be gentle with her, he whispered, “I can’t, little one.”
She closed her eyes tight and turned her head away.
She didn’t open her eyes when she whispered back, “He saved my life.”
He did. But Waring did more than that.
“I know,” Callum shared. “He saved mine too.”
Her eyes jerked back to his and Callum saw stark terror mixed with her grief.
“What?” she breathed.
He swiftly debated the merits of telling her the story but her hands came up to his at her face and her fingers curled tightly around them, fisting the paper in her hand as she did so.
Then she demanded loudly, “What?”
Callum sighed then quickly he explained, “I’d been targeted. I was defending myself against six attackers, maybe more. Waring drew several of them away, dispatched two but was killed by the third before I could aid him.”
“Oh my God,” she breathed in horror as her fingers tensed.
“Honey, it’s war,” he explained gently.