“Shut up, Cal,” she muttered in mock annoyance, not able to hide her relief.
But he froze.
She’d called him Cal and she’d done it more than once.
Something about that made him want to howl with victory as if he’d won an epic battle.
Instead, he gave her another careful squeeze.
Her head tilted down and she snuggled closer.
Then she shared, “All my life, that’s been my greatest fear. All my life, I feared that would happen. When I didn’t take the injection as a teen, I had to crawl to the bathroom. It seemed to take forever, it probably did. I had to stop and breathe, over and over, to get control of my limbs again. It hurt so much.”
Callum so disliked her words he wished she’d stop talking but he kept this wish to himself.
“I’d always been so scared.” Her voice hitched as if she was fighting tears and he wanted to tip her face to his and comfort her but he let her go, sensing she needed to get this out but sensing more it was something he was going to want to hear.
He wasn’t wrong.
“You want to know what I feared the most?” she whispered brokenly.
“What, baby doll?” he asked quietly.
“That it would happen when I was alone,” she turned, lifted up and tucked her face into his neck while her other arm curled around him and she pressed to him tight. “I’m so happy I wasn’t alone.” She tilted her head back until her lips were at his jaw and she whispered, “You knew what to do. Thank you, my handsome wolf, for taking care of me.”
He felt like howling his victory at that moment too.
Again, he didn’t.
Instead, he tipped his head down and he kissed her, softly and tenderly, tasting the tears on her lips.
He broke the kiss but didn’t break the connection of their lips when he muttered, “Always, my little one.”
She closed her eyes tight and nodded.
He picked her up and walked to her guest bedroom, throwing back the covers, placing her in bed, joining her there, turning her to his body and pulling the covers over them.
“Um…” she muttered. “What are you doing?”
“The bed’s drenched, the towel –”
“Oh,” she mumbled before he finished.
“Sleep, baby doll, and when you wake up, it’ll be Christmas.”
She nodded, her head sliding on his chest.
He waited until her breath evened out which took some time and he wasn’t surprised. She’d been through an ordeal. Waking from sleep in the throes of it, she wouldn’t be eager to go back regardless of the fact that she drifted off quickly every night since the claiming.
For Callum, who only needed five hours of sleep a night normally, he sacrificed a few to lay alert for another episode.
And as he did so, he allowed his mind to process the fact that she called him “Cal”.
And he replayed, again and again, her voice whispering, “my handsome wolf”.
And when he finally allowed himself to join Sonia in sleep, regardless of their recent drama, he did it with a smile.
* * * * *