Sonia gazed at her new friend then her eyes went blank, she nodded and released Leah’s hand.
Leah bit her lip as she tucked Sonia’s hair behind her ear. Then she sighed, stood and walked to Callum. She touched his hand briefly while giving him another small smile then she walked through the room and closed the door behind her.
Once he heard the click of the door in the latch, Callum moved to the bed.
Sonia lay motionless, all but her eyes which watched him.
He put a knee to the bed and settled carefully on his side, up on a forearm, close to her immobile body and cautiously he reached out and laid a hand flat against the small of her back above her cords.
She turned her face away.
“Baby doll, look at me,” he ordered gently.
Sonia didn’t move.
Callum decided not to push it even though he disliked her resting her head on its injured side.
He slid down the bed so his head was in his hand, his elbow in the pillow, his body nearly brushing hers as he leaned forward and way too late whispered his secret in her ear.
“I’m a werewolf. My people are werewolves. As you know, I’m their king, as my father was before me, his father before him.”
Her body tensed tighter and tighter with each word he spoke but other than that she didn’t move.
His hand slid along her skin to curl his fingers around the side of her waist and he continued, “I’m immortal. I’m three hundred and eighty-three years old. I was there that night thirty-one years ago when your parents died. I was there on instinct, to protect you because you were alone. I’d got shot because I’d gotten cocky and you ended up protecting me.”
No movement, no sound.
Callum pulled in breath.
Then he kept going, “Werewolves are not what you think we are, not what you’ve seen in movies. We don’t change only during a full moon, we can change whenever we want and change back just the same. You can shoot us with silver bullets and our flesh will just eject it and heal. We live our lives in wolf settlements, like the town, or amongst humans. Like humans, we try to do no harm and we mean no ill-will to anyone. As you’ve seen, my people are kind and friendly, different than yours in many ways, but none of them bad.”
No response.
Callum kept going, belatedly sharing with his queen information he should have told her weeks before. “We’re born wolves. We have no capacity to make humans into wolves with a bite. No one understands truly how we came about, though there’s a great deal of research that’s been done. We do know we’ve evolved from wolves, unlike vampires, which you’ve learned also exist, who evolved from humans. There’s no magic, nothing supernatural, nothing sinister, we’re of nature, just like you. A she-wolf gives birth and a pup grows, slower than a human child, five years for wolf to every one for a human. Then we lock in our development somewhere in our late thirties and we never show any signs of further aging.”
Still, no reaction.
“Honey, please look at me.”
Her head turned on the pillow again and when her eyes caught his, hers were blazing with hatred.
His gut wrenched and his face dipped to hers.
“This, what you’re feeling, how you’re looking at me, is exactly what I wanted to avoid by not telling you,” he explained, his voice thick with emotion.
Finally, she spoke.
Her voice trembling with loathing, she whispered, “Obviously, you failed.”
“Little one –”
“Go away, Callum.”
“No,” he replied and she closed her eyes.
When she opened them, she asked, “Why would I ever think you’d give a gosh darn about what I wanted?”
Then without hesitation she again turned her face away.
Briefly Callum weighed the virtues of giving her what she wanted and asking Leah to stay the night with her. Then he decided she’d not benefit from his absence because she could think she could get used to it.
Which she could not.
Carefully, he moved from the bed. He felt his jaw harden when she didn’t fight nor did she move at all when he pulled off her boots, lifted her ass gently at the h*ps to unbutton and unzip her pants and he pulled them down her legs, leaving her panties. Then he disrobed, turned out the lights and joined her in bed, sliding again along her side, pulling up the hides and, slowly and cautiously, forcing her body to her side, facing him.
She had to turn her head again when he did this and she glared at his throat.
“Does it hurt to lie on your side?” he asked softly.
She gritted her teeth then bit out, “I don’t feel anything.”
“Good,” he murmured. “I don’t want you lying on that wound at your temple.”
She made no response, simply continued to glare at his throat.
He pulled in a deep breath and let it out just as deeply.
Finally, he admitted on a whisper, “I f**ked up, baby doll. I wanted to tell you time and again but I just couldn’t find the right moment.” She remained silent so he continued, “I didn’t expect that to happen. I didn’t expect that to be how you’d find out. I wanted to control it, protect you, manage your reaction. I knew it would be a shock and I wanted to cushion the blow.” She didn’t speak so Callum lost patience and demanded, “Baby doll, f**k, give me something.”
Her eyes lifted to his and she asked with acid curiosity, “How can I give you something, Callum, when you’ve already taken everything I have to give?”
Callum froze at her words.
With a hand in the wall of his frozen chest, she pushed away and resumed her place on her belly with her head turned from him.
Callum came unstuck, his temper flared and his arm snaked out, hooking her at the waist and, with a carefully controlled movement, he slid her toward his body so that her side was tucked in his front.
Then he leaned down to her ear. “I understand you being pissed, little one, you’ve a right. Especially considering you were injured in the fray but, I’ll point out only this once because we’re never f**king speaking of it again, that was your own damned fault.” Her body got tight in his arm but he ignored it and carried on, “I’ll give you time. But you’ve never experienced anything from a single one of my people to continue having this reaction to them after the shock wears off. As for me, I’m willing to pay my penance but I’ve explained I was coming at this from a good place with your best interests at heart. If you don’t come to terms with that, and soon, I’ll not be pleased.” She didn’t speak so his fingers gripped her waist, still gentle but in a way she couldn’t miss. “Now tell me I’m understood.”