“Father told me never to tell anyone,” she whispered and watched his brows unknit and lift.
“Why the f**k not?” he asked irately.
She shook her head and answered, “Humans don’t have my gifts. He said I should be proud of them but I had to hide them from everyone. Everyone. I could never tell a living soul. And I didn’t. Even Gregor and Yuri don’t know.”
His mouth got tight at that but he didn’t speak.
“If they knew, Callum, they’d think I was a freak,” she went on to explain. “They might even fear me.” She pressed closer and her voice dropped back to a whisper. “They might even harm me. My senses are that good. They could think I was a mutant. They could want to study me.”
As her lifelong, perhaps hysterical fears were verbalized, Callum gave her a shake. “Baby doll, no one is going to hurt you.”
“Not now,” she agreed. “I have you to protect me. But before, who knows?” she cried. “It’s not just that, it’s more,” she added. Now that she’d let it go, after so, so long, she couldn’t stop the information flowing. “Animals don’t fear me. And I’m not just talking dogs and cats, I’m talking all animals. Birds and the wild animals Papa and I would see when we were out in the woods. And even more, I can feel eyes on me, smell people from far away but I know if they’re good or they’re bad. I’d been sensing your people watching me for years and I knew I had nothing to fear. I also knew those men who attacked me that night before they came into my house. I knew them because I’d been sensing them for weeks.”
It was Callum’s turn to try to cut in. “Sonia –”
But it was Sonia’s turn to be on a roll.
“And I dreamed of you. I dreamed of you for ages and you were real. I dreamed of you and I in this room and I didn’t know you or this castle existed. No one does that! I’m a freak!”
His arms grew so tight, for a second it cut off her breath and she stopped ranting and stared at him.
“Baby doll, calm down. You aren’t a freak. Me and every one of my own have the same abilities.”
Her eyes grew wide at this revelation and she breathed, “Did you dream about me?”
His gaze grew soft and he rolled to his back, rolling her on top of him at the same time. Then his hand came up and his fingers tucked her hair behind her ear.
“No, unfortunately, I never dreamed of you,” he whispered. “That, honey, is a gift all your own.” She drew in breath to speak but he kept talking. “But your father was right, it’s a gift. All of it and you shouldn’t hide it. You should be proud.” His thumb swept her lower lip and she trembled against him, hearing those words again, words her father said time and again but this time from Callum, spoken in his fierce whisper, his eyes never leaving hers. “You don’t have to hide it here, not amongst my people who are now your people. Baby doll, with me, you don’t have to hide anything. You can be all you.”
A relief so extreme, a relief that she never thought she’d know, hit Sonia and it was so immense, her body sagged with it. Melting against his, she dropped her cheek to his chest, clutched his shirt in her fists and burst into sobs.
“I never thought… it’s been so… so ha… hard…” she stammered as his fingers sifted soothingly through her hair. She was focusing on his hand’s movements, trying to come to terms with everything (an impossible task) when something occurred to her, Sonia’s head jerked up, the tears ceased and she asked, “Do you think I’m one of you?”
Callum shook his head. “No, baby doll. We don’t have any blondes among us.” His hand came to her face, he swiped at her tears and said softly, “But you know you aren’t. If you take a minute, you can smell the difference.”
She took in a breath and she knew what he was saying. She’d never given herself the time to make the connection before but his people’s scents were different than hers. They were deeper, muskier almost wild and animal but not in the least unpleasant.
In fact, she liked their smell better than humans.
“I like your smell,” she blurted, meaning his people’s smell (though she liked his too, immensely) but it didn’t come out that way.
He grinned before he rolled into her saying huskily, “I like yours too.”
The tawny was spiking through his irises and Sonia knew all too well what that meant.
And she suddenly felt vulnerable.
Exposed.
She’d never been with him knowing him the way she did then, understanding both their duties, their abilities, their connection on a level that hadn’t, until that moment, penetrated.
“Callum –” she whispered but he was mostly on top of her and his face disappeared in her neck.
Then his tongue slid up its length before he said, “Regan wants you and she’ll be back from her walk soon, we have to be fast.”
“Callum –” Sonia whispered again but his mouth moved over her jaw, took hers in a hungry kiss and she was instantly lost.
They were fast, or, she should say, Callum was fast.