With Everything I Am (The Three #2)(29)

“No, like I said, it’s rare. I’m lucky there’s even a treatment.”

His voice was soft when he said, “Honey, what I saw in there, that isn’t luck.”

There it was.

Too nice. Too concerned.

Way too sweet.

She tried to be nonchalant about it. “Trust me, Callum, if I don’t take the treatment, it’s that times about ten thousand,” she informed him. “I tried it once, went off the meds for two days, I thought I was boiling alive.”

“Jesus,” he muttered on a wince.

She stared.

He was feeling this.

Deeply.

Which made Sonia feel something deeply too.

Something insane.

A strong pull toward him to soothe and comfort.

Before she could stop herself, she pressed closer and assured, “Callum, it’s okay. I’m used to it.” She gave him a teasing grin. “I think it was probably good I had my teenage rebellion against the injection. I learned, quickly, it’s better than the alternative.”

His eyes bored into hers and he replied, “I’m not finding this amusing.”

Yes, he was feeling this.

And yes, it was deeply.

She didn’t know what to do with that. It made her forget he was a madman and think he might be her dream man.

Her handsome wolf.

Which had to be why she couldn’t fight that odd pull.

And this had to be why her grin faded, she pressed even closer and her voice went soft when she said, “That’s because it’s not amusing. But it’s two minutes of pain every day. At least there’s something that helps, even if it’s an awful something. It could be far worse.”

His arms around her got tight and one hand drifted up her back into her hair to tuck her face in his neck.

Then he said, “I’m giving you the injection every night.”

Sonia’s body jolted and her head jerked back. “What?”

He tipped his chin down to look at her. “You heard me.”

“Okay then, why?”

“You shouldn’t do that alone.”

“I’ve been doing it alone for twenty-six years,” she pointed out.

“Yes, and that stops now.”

“Why?” she cried.

“You didn’t see you.”

“What does that mean?”

“That means you’re not doing it alone,” he stated implacably.

“This is ridiculous!” she snapped, trying to push away only for him to pull her back, this time even closer.

“You could barely stay standing,” he told her, head still tipped down but his eyes had gone tawny.

Well, she learned something. His eyes went gold for a lot of reasons, including anger.

Good to know.

In the face of his anger, she still retorted, “I’ll repeat, I’ve been doing this for twenty-six years.”

“And I’ll repeat, you’re not doing it alone any longer. I’m giving you the f**king injection.”

Sonia glared.

Callum scowled.

His scowl, she reckoned, was a lot better than her glare.

She reckoned this because he didn’t back down, she did.

“You know,” she started tartly, “for a brief second there I thought you were nice, even sweet. You’re not. You’re a big, bossy jerk.”

His face began to soften and she saw the blue start to seep back into the gold of his irises before he started, “Sonia –”

She cut him off and shoved at his chest (to no avail) before demanding, “Can I have tea now?”

Callum sighed the sigh of a man beleaguered, which irritated her even more.

He hadn’t been kidnapped. He hadn’t been bossed around. He hadn’t been forced to receive an injection from some woman he barely knew.

Why he sounded beleaguered she’d never know!

He cut into her thoughts. “I’ll get you some tea then we’re talking about what happened earlier when Waring was here.”

She pushed up and managed to get on an elbow. “Don’t do me any favors, wolf, I’ll get my own tea and I don’t want to talk about –”

She stopped speaking because all of a sudden she wasn’t on an elbow.

She was flat on her back and most of his weight was pinning her to the couch.

And, it should be noted, the tawny had beaten back the blue in his eyes and his face was so far away from soft, it wasn’t funny.

“Callum –”

“You call me ‘wolf’ when you want me near you, when you want me to hold you and when you want me to f**k you. You don’t call me ‘wolf’ when you’re pissed at me, is that understood?”

Sonia didn’t know what came over her, she’d never felt anything like it before.

Further, it wasn’t smart. It wasn’t cautious. It wasn’t treading carefully with a kidnapping madman.

But she also didn’t care.

In the face of what appeared to be his rage, she didn’t back down. No matter that he was way bigger and way, way stronger than she. No matter that he told her he’d executed two men last night because they’d touched her.

She was just that tired of this whole situation.

“Let me see if I’ve got this right,” she snapped back. “You’ve told me what to eat. You’ve made me be somewhere I don’t want to be. Now, you’re telling me what to say?”