“Go in, help yourselves.” Sonia invited, giving Jed (or Jake) a playful cuff on the head and Jake (or Jed) a teasing shove on the shoulder as they walked toward the dining room table.
Then she seemed to be moving away from him, which Callum didn’t like so he hooked an arm around her waist and curled her front to front. Her eyes lifted to his and he knew she was pissed.
He grinned.
Callum even liked it when she was angry. He was pleased his queen had spirit and fire. Immensely pleased.
Her gaze narrowed on his grin and when her eyes came back to his she irately commanded, “Would you stop telling that story?”
“No,” he calmly replied.
She growled low in her throat.
Callum chuckled low in his.
Then she suddenly asked, “Who’s Calvin?”
He felt the pain slash through his gut, his arm tightened convulsively around her and his grin died.
“My brother,” he replied tersely.
At his instantaneous reaction, sweet Sonia’s eyes were no longer narrowed but searching.
Then, her voice much softer, she enquired, “Brother?”
“Died. In battle. Years ago.” His words were short and curt and he didn’t try to gentle them because this effort would be impossible.
Her body jerked lightly in his arm then it, too, went soft and settled against his.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
He was too, more than he could say.
Callum didn’t reply.
“I shouldn’t have asked but I was surprised. You’d never mentioned him,” she told him.
“He was the youngest of us, we didn’t protect him. It’s not a subject we discuss.”
He felt her heave a fluttering, little sigh and she lifted a hand and curled her fingers around his neck, murmuring, “Callum.”
He wished he’d had her years ago when Calvin fell. That sweet sigh, the touch at his neck, the feel of her yielding body pressed to his, the murmur of his name would have gone far in soothing the grief. He knew this because it was something it did now.
He gave her waist a squeeze and informed her, “It was years ago.”
“It’s still fresh,” she said softly.
“It’ll always be fresh,” Callum replied, his voice no longer clipped but quiet. “He was my brother.”
She slowly closed her eyes.
Then she wrapped her arms around him, pressed her cheek to his chest and held him close.
He closed his eyes and marked the crown of her head with his temple, pulling her even closer.
His sweet, sweet Sonia.
He opened his eyes and saw they had a mixed human and wolf audience, all of whom were watching either avidly (the wolves) or covertly (the humans) and the fact made him exceedingly pleased.