With Everything I Am (The Three #2)(86)

Ryon got closer. “Lassiter wanted his daughter raised by them instead of us and you know why. Mac agreed and made the allegiance. And Cal, you know, Mac was no fool.”

Callum looked away, lifted his hand to his neck and gave it a squeeze.

His father was anything but a fool.

Then it hit him.

Callum dropped his arm and looked at his cousin. “Do you remember the conversation I had with Gregor that I told you about?”

“The info about Lucien?” Ryon asked.

Callum’s mouth went hard at the memory and bit out, “And the rest.”

Ryon nodded. “I remember.”

“Gregor doesn’t want to lose her, thinks of her as a daughter or at least he wanted me to believe that and he was pretty f**king convincing. Perhaps this injection isn’t for a deadly blood disease. Perhaps it isn’t for some nefarious reason, doing… whatever, to Sonia, my queen, a treachery against the alliance. Perhaps it’s vampiric. Perhaps they’ve concocted something that will lengthen her life.”

“Vampire saliva is pretty powerful but it doesn’t heighten senses,” Ryon commented.

“And humans don’t react to vampire saliva the way Sonia reacts to that injection. They aren’t injecting her with that, it’s something else. Wolves don’t need medicines and I can’t say I’ve a lot of experience with witnessing humans taking treatments but I can’t imagine their medicines regularly cause those kinds of reactions,” Callum’s gaze turned intense on his cousin. “When I say it’s bad, Ryon, I mean it’s bad.”

Ryon’s eyes flashed briefly before his thoughts turned and they gentled. “Poor Sonny.”

This was said with feeling, too much of it. More than would be offered to Ryon’s queen, even a member of his family. Callum again wondered at it at the same time he didn’t like it.

However, he’d have a word with his cousin later, after all of his problems were sorted.

“The minute we deal with this f**king situation in Mona’s territory, I’m taking Sonia to Scotland,” he announced.

“Of course.”

“I want any time she spends with Gregor or Yuri or any vampire monitored,” Callum ordered.

“It’s done.”

Then Callum said what he had to say so he could let it go and not leap out of his skin, into the wolf and tear Gregor and Yuri asunder the minute he walked back into Sonia’s house. This would cause an immortal incident which could tip the scales of The Prophesies far sooner than expected.

“I find out they’ve been doing that to her then deceiving her to doing it to herself for thirty-one years, I swear, Ry –”

Ryon cut him off yet again, stating fiercely, “You’ll have my teeth at your back.”

They held each other’s gazes for several long moments, Callum trying to decide if Ryon’s loyal declaration was for his benefit or Sonia’s.

Then Callum let it go and nodded.

“Fuck, I wish I could run,” he muttered curtly, turning back toward Sonia’s house. “It’s too long I’ve spent in this goddamned city.”

“You’ll be home soon,” Ryon replied, walking beside him. “And when you go, you’ll be taking back your queen.”

At least that was something to look forward to, so much so, Callum looked to his cousin and smiled.

Ryon returned his smile and stopped walking. Callum stopped with him.

“Speaking of your queen…” Ryon started and trailed off.

Callum automatically braced.

Ryon studied him a moment before asking, “Is everything okay with you two?”

Callum relaxed and grinned before stating, “Perfect.”

And they were perfect. Not just their play, which happened as frequently as he could manage and Sonia always greeted it with eagerness, but everything that was them was perfect.

They settled in a rhythm of life that pleased Callum very much.

He allowed her to go to Clear for two or three hours a day but kept her close any other time. Mostly in his lap, liking her near, liking her scent. The sound of her steady breathing. The sight of her elegant profile if he just twisted his neck to look at it. Her sweet ass snug in his lap, his chain within reach so he could toy with the charm she loved so much and he could have the physical reminder of their bond in his fingers.

She didn’t mind this, had settled into it nicely, in fact. As her reward, he often allowed her to do things around the house or go shopping with his mother or, if they were at the mansion, to wander freely so she could talk to and get to know her wolves. This last he’d noted, as Sonia was very sociable and sweet, she’d charmed the lot of them as Callum knew she would do.

She would often stiffen and inform him of what displeased her (or not, depending) but she was Sonia. That was her way.

They did not fight as they did in the beginning. She had clearly accepted her destiny, in fact, she’d embraced it.

Ryon’s eyebrows went up, taking Callum out of his thoughts when he enquired, “You’re certain?”

Callum turned fully to Ryon and demanded, “What are you driving at?”

Ryon blew out a sigh and noted, “Regardless of her heightened abilities, she’s still human.”

“Yes, Ry, she’s still human,” Callum remarked with strained patience.