She was the mate to a man who didn’t want her.
She was the queen to a people she didn’t know.
She’d been attacked, kidnapped and traumatized.
And now…
What?
What was she supposed to do?
She tipped her head back and wailed to Callum, “Now what do I do?”
He didn’t answer likely because he wasn’t in her head and didn’t know what she was on about.
Instead, he picked her up cradled in his arms and carried her to a chair, arranging her body in his lap, her face in his neck then his arms tight around her.
“Well?” she demanded loudly into his neck.
“You cry it out, baby doll,” he answered. “Then, together, we’ll get on with it.”
Easy for him to say.
He was king. He could do whatever he wanted to do.
She was queen which meant she just followed him around while he did whatever he wanted to do. Even though he didn’t want her, he would, if what Caleb alluded was true, find someone he did want.
Deciding to forget they were in the room (though she didn’t actually forget they were in the room), she declared, “Your family’s going to think I’m a loon.”
“Since they’re all pretty nuts,” Callum replied calmly, “you’ll fit in.”
She jerked her head back, glared at him and demanded to know, “What are your people going to think of me?”
His big hand came to the side of her face and his thumb rubbed away the streaming tears.
Then his eyes went to hers and he replied, “They’re going to love you.”
How? She thought. He was never going to love her.
She decided to use the tactic that worked at hiding her thoughts earlier and buried her face in his neck.
Then she did as he suggested and cried it out.
While she did this, she heard Regan working silently in the kitchen and the men went out the back to let her have her moment.
When she smelled gingerbread man cookies baking, she took a shaky breath, got herself under control and told Callum’s neck, “I’m all right now.”
His hand sifted into her hair and twisted, using it to pull her head back gently and his blue eyes scanned her face.
Then he said something in a quiet but firm voice that made her world tilt crazily.
“You’ve got a lot to get used to, baby doll, but I asked my family to come up here to show you that you’ve got family now to help you get used to it. The people in this cabin will fight and die for you. And they would never want to see you struggle, no matter what you’re struggling with. Know that in our soul and never forget it.”
She blinked at him (what else could she do!) and blurted, “I think your culture is very intense.”
His lips tipped up in a grin and he replied in a now teasing tone, “You’re learning.”
It was time to move on and away from Callum who, when he was sweet (and intense and teasing) she could forget he was with her out of kingly duty.
“I want a gingerbread man cookie,” she announced.
His grin turned into a smile, she hated it that she loved his smile and while she was thinking that, he replied, “Me too.”
* * * * *
Sonia wandered the room in her sexy, lacy, satiny nightgown, quickly turning off lamps and blowing out the fragrant candles.
Callum was in the bathroom changing for bed. His family had left just a little while ago.
Or, she should say, he kicked his family out just a little while ago.
While she was hugging Regan good-bye, she heard Callum, who had walked with the men down the path to the SUV, speaking to his cousin.
“I see you do that again, Ry, it won’t make me happy.”
Ryon’s voice was good-humored when he replied, “Relax, Cal.”
“I’ll relax knowing I’m never again going to stand in my kitchen watching my cousin mark my mate,” Callum returned.
The good humor left his tone when Ryon retorted, “I said relax.”
“She’s your queen,” Callum clipped.
“She’s also Sonia,” Ryon bit back. “Don’t f**king forget that, brother.”
Callum had no retort then again, she was just his queen to him.
Sonia didn’t let on she was hearing anything and anyway, she didn’t know what marking meant. She reckoned it was the temple thing but she could swear Regan heard them too. Though she couldn’t, the men were muttering under their breath and definitely not close. She could swear this because Regan’s mouth got a motherly tightness which she tried to hide when she smiled her final good-bye.
Callum and Sonia barely got back through the front door before he dragged her to the bathroom to give her the injection.
So that was why he threw his family out. Not because he was desperate to be alone with his mate after she’d accepted him.
Well, she figured he wouldn’t want his destined by the oracles queen dying of a rare blood disorder. What would his people think?
She got under the covers and told herself she didn’t feel delicious anticipation that Callum was soon to be coming out bare-chested (when she did feel it).
He came into the room moments later and she watched in what she told herself wasn’t avid fascination (when it was) as he went directly to the mantel to unplug the Christmas lights.
“Don’t!” she blurted and he turned to her in question. “I like to sleep with them on. Can you sleep with them on?” she finished.
“I’ve slept in rain and snow and mud,” he told her. “I can sleep with Christmas lights on.”
Why on earth was he sleeping in rain and snow and mud?
She wanted to know but she didn’t ask.
She didn’t ask because he came directly to bed and, unlike the two nights before where he kept his distance, he curled right into her. Spooning her body with his arm around her waist, his face went into her neck.
Her body grew stiff.
Good goodness, he wanted to have sex. Mate with her so in the eyes of his people she’d be his queen and then he could stop “dicking around” up here with her.
Holy cow.
“Relax, honey,” he said into her neck, pulling her closer.
She did not think so.
“I’m really tired,” she told him.
“Then sleep,” he said back.
Did he think he could have sex with her while she was sleeping?
Oh good goodness!
“Actually,” she said quickly, “I thought maybe we could talk.”
This seemed to be perfectly all right with him because he pulled his face out of her neck, rested his head on the pillow and cuddled her closer.