Callum watched her go.
He realized that Lucien did too when he heard the vampire mutter, “Fetching.”
“I am still standing here, you know,” Leah remarked, her severe tone belied by her unwavering smile.
Lucien’s eyes turned to his mate before he murmured, “Mm, I know, my pet.”
Callum watched, concealing his surprise as Lucien looked down at his bride with blatant warmth.
Christ, he loves her, Callum thought, examining the couple.
This shouldn’t have taken him aback. She was his lifemate and to have her Lucien had put both their lives at risk and turned the vampire world upside down. Further, Callum had spent his entire existence feeling the intensity of that kind of connection between his own people.
But not from a vampire. Never from a vampire. Not that transparent adoration. Not in five hundred years.
And, for some asinine reason, Lucien’s display and Leah’s artless acceptance of it rattled Callum.
He was pulled from his thoughts when Mara bustled in calling, “Well, hello there! I’m Mara, housekeeper at Canis. Let me get your coats and we’ll get you somewhere warm. Callista is preparing coffee and a bite to eat.”
Mara took their outer gear and Callum led the way to the sitting room on the first floor. It was a circular room at the bottom of a turret with heavy, comfortable furniture and a spherical fireplace in the middle, already blazing, making the space warm.
“Please sit,” Callum invited Leah and she again smiled at him.
“You have a lovely castle,” she noted, looking around while sitting on a couch and crossing her legs before she tipped her face up to Lucien and asked mock petulantly, “Why don’t we have a castle, darling?”
“You want a castle, sweetling, I’ll get you a castle,” Lucien answered casually.
Leah had been joking.
Lucien was not.
Callum watched as Leah’s stunning face absorbed this fact. It softened to a look of such extreme devotion, Callum felt himself melting from the room. They were the only two there. Callum had ceased to exist.
That was when he knew what rattled him. He knew what Ryon couldn’t put his finger on. He knew his cousin was correct.
Something wasn’t right with Sonia.
He knew this because, since Christmas, unless he was f**king her, except for during their fight, she never called him “wolf”.
Not mock petulantly.
Not at all.
He had her warmth. He had her affection. She enjoyed his attention and she was a brilliant queen in every aspect.
And she loved him.
He knew that.
But something was missing.
Christ, he had all that, and it was magnificent, but she was still holding something back.
“Callum?” Lucien called and Callum’s unfocused eyes concentrated on the vampire.
“Sit,” Callum grunted, uneasy with his newfound knowledge but more at what might be behind it and Lucien took a seat beside his bride as Callum did the same opposite them.
Leah instantly curled into Lucien’s side as his arm slid around her shoulders, pulling her closer.