With Everything I Am (26 page)

Was that a beautiful life?

It was a beautiful life to him. She knew it with the way he said it, the words still echoing in her head. He’d muttered them, quiet, sated, but the way he said it was the way you’d say the sky was blue, that grass was green, the earth was round.

Like they were just plain
true
.

Then again, for him, they would be.

King Callum had a sure thing at his side at all times until the day she died. He might not want
her
but he was a man and men, it was Sonia’s experience, didn’t quibble. They’d take it as they could get it, whenever they could get it and in whatever form that took (most of the time).

And, worst of all, her
parents
wanted this for her. They were
honored
she’d be his queen.

They knew his culture. They were friends with his people. They had to understand Sonia’s sentence and they wanted her to be their queen, planned for it, even when she was a child.

Which meant, even though she was certain Callum would never allow otherwise, she had no choice. She was, indeed, sentenced to be his queen, trapped in this life, forever.

She wished, however, that she was with Desdemona on her way to be sequestered… whatever that meant.

Instead, she was lying in her bed aching in a way that didn’t feel at all bad (even though she told herself it did). She could still feel the delicious specter of Callum seated to the hilt between her legs. And she was praying that she could spend her years focusing on the good and being able to tolerate the bad without going completely mad.

But she wasn’t certain she could do it.

However, she had no choice but to try.

Fighting back the tears that threatened and the mortification that consumed her, Sonia dragged herself from under the covers. As she did she noticed belatedly that Callum, unlike any lover before him (all of whom thought her attachment to the stuffed wolf as an adult was a little bit strange), had tucked her wolf in her arms.

Strike one for the good.

Still, the scale was tilted to the bad side as if the good side had a thimble full of cotton and the bad side held a gosh darn
brick
(or two).

By the time she’d showered, made herself up and dressed, she had a pounding headache caused by stress, embarrassment and the constant futile churning of thoughts in her head trying to find some way to escape.

The headache persisted even though the hot shower eased the ache in her muscles though not entirely. And it didn’t do the first thing to alleviate the gently pulsating reminder of the feel of Callum between her legs.

She heard (and ignored) the voices all through getting ready and continued to ignore them as she made her way down the stairs, into the kitchen and straight to the coffeepot. She poured herself a mug with a splash of skim milk and went to her vitamins, taking the cocktail of supplements with the addition of two capsules of ibuprofen.

Then, because she was their queen and queens should probably not be rude, she walked around the staircase that separated and hid most of the kitchen from the dining room. She knew, from the voices she counted, that Callum, Caleb, Saint and a voice she didn’t know sat at her dining room table.

The minute she appeared in the opening between dining room and kitchen, Callum, seated at the head of the table, turned his head to look at her.

When his clear blue eyes hit her and her mind again registered his intense masculine beauty, her belly wobbled (but she told herself it wasn’t in a good way, when it was) and she felt the blood rush to her cheeks as memories of the night before (and that morning) invaded.

Ignoring the wobble and the second wobble she felt when, the moment after his eyes hit her, she watched them grow soft in a
very
sexy way, she leaned against the doorjamb.

She tore her eyes from Callum and glanced about the room, saying, “Morning guys.”

Everyone greeted her with warm smiles.

She heard the legs of Callum’s chair against the pile of her rug as he pushed it back and twisted it toward her and her gaze went back to him.

“Come here, baby doll,” he said in a rumbling, tender voice that was so intimate, so knowing, she felt the pulsing between her legs escalate.

Good goodness.

Now he only had to speak to her and her body betrayed her.

If she didn’t get herself together, she was never going to find a way out.

She took in breath to calm her system and walked to him. The minute she got close, he leaned forward and hooked her about the hips with his arm, drawing her nearer while being careful of her full coffee mug. He settled her, as ever, in his lap.

This time she wasn’t seated there because it was her duty or that was the way he liked it. This time, it was a clear, affectionate cuddle.

Sonia tried to ignore her audience as she looked into his soft, sexy eyes.

“Did you sleep well?” he asked.

She did. She slept the sleep of exhausted, abandoned contentment both after he took her last night and after he made her climax this morning.

With her thinking hindered by her headache, she decided it best just to be truthful.

For now.

“Yes,” she whispered and his eyes grew even softer and way, way,
way
sexier as the tawny slowly began to seep out of his pupils, erasing the blue and that made her belly wobble too (and her nipples get hard besides).

Even though she fought it, she didn’t win.

His head dipped down, he slid his temple along hers which was, when he wasn’t doing it to be ugly to some poor madwoman, another thing in that thimble on the good side of her scale.

At her ear he said, “Me too.”

Her body, betraying her again, caused her to feel some sort of triumph at the knowledge that he liked the way they slept last night and she shivered with delight in his arms.

Those arms tightened and, as if giving her a reward for her response, he ran his lips along the curve of her ear.

She shivered again.

She felt him smile against her ear.

“Callum,” she mumbled.

His lips still at her ear, he whispered low, “Right now, I want to carry you upstairs, take those fucking clothes off your sweet little body and fuck you on your hands and knees like last night.” Her heart stuttered to a halt, her body took over her brain completely, her legs shifted unconsciously as the pulse between them quickened and he flicked her ear with his nose before he finished, still whispering, “
Just
like last night.”

She turned her head slightly and tilted it down so her cheek was pressed to the now far thicker whiskers of his and her lips were at the hinge of his strong jaw before she breathed, “Callum.”

“Unfortunately, my little one, it’ll have to wait for later,” he told her and she found she was breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling with it.

“Okay,” she mumbled and, though she wanted it to sound noncommittal, even to her own ears it sounded disappointed.

She heard his arrogant, satisfied chuckle in her ear before he gave her another squeeze with his arms and lifted his head away.

His spell broken, Sonia realized there were other people in the room. Her face flushed with renewed embarrassment hoping that they didn’t overhear Callum’s whispers and her body tensed.

Callum felt it. He had to feel it and that must have been why he quickly changed the subject and asked her, “What are you doing today?”

His question surprised her.

She didn’t know. She didn’t know there would be a choice.

Before he lost his generous mood, she blurted, “I’d like to go to my store.”

“Perfect,” he grinned, the gold retreating, the blue taking over his irises and her mouth dropped open at his response and his grin. “Regan’s been dying to go to your store. She’s on her way here now. You can take her with you.”

Sonia liked the idea of showing Regan her store. She was proud of Clear. It was, in the only way she’d ever get, like showing her Momma her store because Regan had known her Momma for ages and they’d been close friends.

“I’d like that,” she said softly and Callum’s eyes also went soft, this time not in a sexy way, in a tender way.

“She’s also going to take you to the grocery store,” Caleb announced from across the table and Sonia’s head swung to face him. “You don’t have any beer in your house.”

Sonia glanced at the clock she could see over her sink in the kitchen and back at Caleb.

“It’s 10:30 in the morning,” she informed him.

“Your point?” Caleb shot back hilariously before he grinned.

Sonia grinned back.

“Queen Sonia, this is Magnum, he’s Sergeant of Callum’s Royal Guard,” Saint introduced the man sitting at the table that Sonia didn’t know. Though she had briefly met him, though didn’t remember his name, in the round robin introductions yesterday after they’d dealt with Desdemona.

“Magnum,” she smiled at him.

“Queen Sonia,” he replied.

She threw her hand out and said to Magnum, “Considering all this queen stuff is new and I don’t want to get a big head, you know, being suddenly royal and all, it’s probably best to lose the ‘queen’ part and just call me Sonia.” Her eyes glided to Saint to include him in her statement.

She felt Callum’s body relax under hers and hadn’t noticed it was tense. He leaned forward and grabbed his coffee mug from the table, taking her with him and bringing her attention to him. As he leaned back, his neck twisted, he looked at her and he winked.

King Callum
winked
at her.

Holy cow.

Her body went statue-still.

He took a sip of coffee, replaced the mug, sat back and his hand at her hip gave her a squeeze before he called, “Baby doll?”

“What?” she whispered, still frozen, mind blank, reacting to the wink and the fact that that one wink took the cotton out of the thimble and filled it with cement.

“You okay?” Callum asked.

She blinked. Then she swallowed.

“I just have a headache,” she replied.

One look at his face told her that was the wrong answer. His brows shot together and his hand at her hip gripped her harder.

“Do you get those often?” he enquired.

“What?”

“Headaches?” he asked, his voice not soft, not tender, not teasing but sounding impatient.

“Um…” she was uncertain of the state of affairs or, more to the point, uncertain how his mood had flipped so quickly. For goodness sakes, it was just a headache. “Not really. I mean, occasionally. When I’m under stress.”

“Did you take something for it?” he queried, she nodded and his hand relaxed as did his body. “Is that what I heard you taking this morning?”

She nodded again, saying cautiously, “That and my vitamins.”

“It sounded like you were opening a pharmacy in there. How many vitamins do you take?”

She did a quick mental calculation and told him, “Six.”

He stared at her.

“In the morning,” she went on when he didn’t speak. “I take a couple more at lunch.”

He burst out laughing.

She blinked again at his second change of mood in the last thirty seconds then she decided to look on the bright side. At least he didn’t look angry anymore.

His hand traveled up her back to cup her neck and maneuver her head toward his.
 

Mouth again at her ear, he stated quietly, “We’ll work out that stress later, baby doll.”

And, fighting the shiver his words caused, she could do nothing but nod yet again.

His other hand slid up the outside of her thigh, over her hip and under her silk knit, wide ribbed, black turtleneck, then down, digging into the waistband of her winter white wool slacks.

This time, she hadn’t forgotten their audience and she stiffened in his arms.

“Callum, what are you –?” she stopped when his long finger hooked on something under the material of her slacks and he pulled out her claiming chain. Freeing it completely, he settled it around her hips outside her slacks as she finished breathily, “Doing.”

Her mind took that moment to remind her how the chain felt dangling from her body while he drove into her last night, the delicate links a tantalizing torment against her sensitive skin. And more, after they had climaxed, when she had lowered her arms and Callum was still behind her, gently thrusting inside her, the chain had slid up her waist, her ribcage, to rest on the underside of her overly aroused breasts. The charm tweaking so close to her nipple, at the time, every inch of her body so responsive, she’d had to bite her lip not to cry out in pleasure.

That reminder, so sharp it was almost as if took her back to the actual moment, made the urge start to surface, wanton impulses flooded her brain. Things she wanted to do to Callum. Things she wanted him to do to her.

“I like to see it,” Callum muttered, his voice bringing her hooded eyes to his. His gaze lifted from the chain to her face and his body grew tight under hers then he whispered, “Fucking hell, baby doll.”

She took in a fluttering breath and tried to calm her thoughts, focusing on his hand still moving at her chain. He was fiddling with it and her head tipped down to look.

Then her mind erased as she saw for the first time (as she hadn’t had a lot of time yesterday and she hadn’t been paying much attention to anything but to her fevered thoughts this morning), the charm.

In heavy gold, beautifully rendered, it was the head of a snarling wolf with two eyes made of yellow diamonds.

“It’s a wolf,” she breathed and she was so taken by the charm, entranced by it, she missed the air in the room getting tense.

She forgot the bricks on the bad side of the scale. She forgot everything. Except the fact that Callum had put that charm on her claiming chain.

Her head snapped up and he’d moved so close, he had to rear his own back to miss being clipped on the chin.

“I love wolves!” she cried, unable to hide the delight in her voice and still not sensing the air, which had now lightened considerably. In fact, she was so touched by this gesture of Callum’s (obviously someone told him that she loved wolves), that she didn’t even notice the soft chuckles coming from the table.