It was at that, Callum fully relaxed.
“Leah, meet Callum,” Lucien invited and it was Callum’s turn to take Lucien’s mate’s hand but he didn’t brush his lips against her knuckles. He just squeezed and released it.
“Coffee!” Sonia suddenly cried and looked up at Callum. “I’ll order coffee and something to eat and um… get dressed.” She looked to Lucien and Leah. “Are you hungry?”
“Starved, but I’d kill for a cup of coffee,” Leah replied, still smiling.
“Brilliant. We have coffee,” Sonia announced. “Good coffee. Mara only gets the best.” She turned again to Callum. “You, um… take them somewhere warm. I’ll be right back.”
Then, with a self-conscious grin at their guests, she broke from Callum’s hold and ran down the hall.
Callum watched her go.
He realized that Lucien did too when he heard the vampire mutter, “Fetching.”
“I am still standing here, you know,” Leah remarked, her severe tone belied by her unwavering smile.
Lucien’s eyes turned to his mate before he murmured, “Mm, I know, my pet.”
Callum watched, concealing his surprise as Lucien looked down at his bride with blatant warmth.
Christ, he loves her, Callum thought, examining the couple.
This shouldn’t have taken him aback. She was his lifemate and to have her Lucien had put both their lives at risk and turned the vampire world upside down. Further, Callum had spent his entire existence feeling the intensity of that kind of connection between his own people.
But not from a vampire. Never from a vampire. Not that transparent adoration. Not in five hundred years.
And, for some asinine reason, Lucien’s display and Leah’s artless acceptance of it rattled Callum.
He was pulled from his thoughts when Mara bustled in calling, “Well, hello there! I’m Mara, housekeeper at Canis. Let me get your coats and we’ll get you somewhere warm. Callista is preparing coffee and a bite to eat.”
Mara took their outer gear and Callum led the way to the sitting room on the first floor. It was a circular room at the bottom of a turret with heavy, comfortable furniture and a spherical fireplace in the middle, already blazing, making the space warm.
“Please sit,” Callum invited Leah and she again smiled at him.
“You have a lovely castle,” she noted, looking around while sitting on a couch and crossing her legs before she tipped her face up to Lucien and asked mock petulantly, “Why don’t we have a castle, darling?”
“You want a castle, sweetling, I’ll get you a castle,” Lucien answered casually.
Leah had been joking.
Lucien was not.
Callum watched as Leah’s stunning face absorbed this fact. It softened to a look of such extreme devotion, Callum felt himself melting from the room. They were the only two there. Callum had ceased to exist.
That was when he knew what rattled him. He knew what Ryon couldn’t put his finger on. He knew his cousin was correct.
Something wasn’t right with Sonia.
He knew this because, since Christmas, unless he was f**king her, except for during their fight, she never called him “wolf”.
Not mock petulantly.
Not at all.
He had her warmth. He had her affection. She enjoyed his attention and she was a brilliant queen in every aspect.
And she loved him.
He knew that.
But something was missing.
Christ, he had all that, and it was magnificent, but she was still holding something back.
“Callum?” Lucien called and Callum’s unfocused eyes concentrated on the vampire.
“Sit,” Callum grunted, uneasy with his newfound knowledge but more at what might be behind it and Lucien took a seat beside his bride as Callum did the same opposite them.
Leah instantly curled into Lucien’s side as his arm slid around her shoulders, pulling her closer.
Seeing this made Callum grit his teeth.
Then Lucien announced, “We need to talk before Sonia returns.”
Callum’s attention sharpened and his instincts made him brace.
“Then do it quickly,” Callum invited. He wanted this to be over, needed to have a word with his wife, his gaze shifting briefly to Leah, deciding she likely had full knowledge of Lucien’s abilities, he went on, “But if you sense Sonia anywhere near, stop speaking.”
Lucien’s brows went up. He’d smell her before Callum did while he was in human form. If he were a wolf, his senses would have been slightly more acute than the vampire’s but, at that moment, he was not a wolf.
“Would you like to explain that?” Lucien suggested.
“Not right now,” Callum replied, giving Lucien the correct implication that he might not later either. It depended on how this conversation progressed.
Lucien nodded, let it go and continued without preamble, “I’ve spoken to Gregor.”
Callum didn’t respond.
“He’s explained things,” Lucien went on.
“And what did he explain?” Callum asked.
Lucien’s arm tightened protectively around Leah before he said, “He’s shared The Prophesies.”
Leah’s body tensed and her happy face grew serious as she gazed at Callum.
She knew as well and her fear was palpable.
As it would be.
Lucien was watching him closely and he queried, “You know of them?”
“Some of them, yes,” Callum answered.
“I was told you didn’t know,” Lucien murmured and Callum didn’t respond. Therefore Lucien continued, “They’re vague as prophesies tend to be but they appear to be coming true. You and Sonia were obvious. Leah and myself…” He hesitated. “Not so much.”
“There is another,” Callum informed him.
Lucien’s chin went up before he noted, “Yes, but they’ll be found soon.”
“They don’t have to be.”
Lucien gazed at him a moment before saying quietly, “Yes, Callum, they do.”
Callum knew what he meant and he felt the muscle jump in his jaw.
The third lifemates needed to be found, the female claimed and bound before The Prophesies could come true.
Leah, being mate to a vampire, would have eternal life.
Sonia, being mate to a werewolf, would always be mortal.
The third lifemate would need to be found before Sonia died which meant soon, in the life of an immortal.
Callum decided to change the subject. “Do you have any idea if it will be wolf or vampire who claims the third mate?”