Another, definitely larger, thimble of cement on the good things side of the scale was Regan. Until then, Sonia hadn’t fully realized what she was missing growing up with Gregor and Yuri and no motherly-type figure.
It was lucky she realized it when she actually had a motherly-type figure.
She smiled to herself, suddenly strangely contented. So much so her headache had disappeared. She walked into the kitchen and put her mug in the dishwasher then ran up the stairs to her office. Piling the invitations down the length of her arm, she ran back down.
Callum was in the living room, his head bent to his mother, when Sonia arrived.
Regan took one look at her and stated, “I’ll go get a bag, easier to carry those.”
“There in –” Sonia started to tell Regan where to find a bag but Regan waved her hand, rushed forward, divesting Sonia of the invitations and bustled off.
“I’ll find them,” she muttered and Sonia watched her go.
“Baby doll,” Callum called and she turned to him. He got close and grabbed her hand, mumbling, “One thing.”
His head was bent to her hand and she looked down too. He was carrying a jeweler’s box in plush, charcoal gray velvet. He flipped it open and she saw the sparkle inside just a moment before he pulled out the two rings nestled together there and tossed the box unceremoniously on a table close to them.
Then, without further ado, he slid a set of wedding rings on her left ring finger.
Sonia held her breath and stared as he slid on the thin wedding band of gold imbedded with twinkling yellow diamonds and its accompanying yellow diamond solitaire. The solitaire was huge, so gigantic it could be seen from space and it was set at the sides with more glimmering diamonds.
Regardless of the diamond’s size, it wasn’t ostentatious but extraordinary. Sonia had never seen anything like its exquisite, extortionate beauty.
Callum dropped her hand in an absent way that didn’t coincide with the fact he just slid a wedding ring on her finger and this jarred Sonia out of her rapt study of the rings.
Then his hand moved to the chain that was resting outside her slacks, his finger hooked it yet again and he gave it a gentle tug.
“This is important,” he declared in a kingly voice and she felt her body start to grow tight at his tone as he went on. “But your people don’t understand the significance so that,” he jerked his head to her hand, “will declare to your people that you’re mine.”
This wasn’t a romantic gesture, a gesture of love.
This was another kind of claiming, one that physically proclaimed the fact that Sonia was Callum’s, his possession. He owned her and the fierce, kingly look on his face cemented that fact.
The thimbles on the good side of the scale started trembling as Regan walked in carrying a bag filled with the invitations.
“Oh look!” she cried. “You’re wearing your chain outside your slacks. What a lovely idea.”
Regan approached and, woodenly, Sonia turned to her as Regan stopped close and beamed.
“I looked at hundreds of chains before I chose that one for you,” Regan commented and at her words Sonia felt like rocks were pummeling her body. “I liked the charm,” Regan went on, “such a fierce wolf.”
Callum hadn’t chosen the chain or the charm for her.
Like her wedding rings, his mother had.
Kings, apparently, didn’t bother shopping for their mates, even if it was for things as significant as claiming chains and wedding rings.
And, as another brick crashed down on the bad side of her scales, the thimbles that were added that morning slid off the good side in the tumult.
However, unfortunately, Sonia didn’t know the way of the wolves.
She didn’t know that it was millennia-old tradition that a wolf’s mother chose the chain to be bestowed on his mate and therefore, in a nod to Sonia’s humanity but still adhering to their traditions, Regan had also chosen her wedding rings as a matter of course.
Sonia didn’t even know they were wolves.
So she reacted to what she did know.
She hid the fact that her stomach had tightened and her heart had hardened as Callum brushed her lips with his absentmindedly and obviously dismissed her from his thoughts as he walked back to the dining room table. This indicating to Sonia that his show at the dining room table that morning was exactly that.