His eyes came to hers and he announced, “You’re still pissed.”
Oh, he was right about that.
Apparently she could be something with Callum but “pissed” was all she was ever going to be.
“Can I have a day to get used to the fact my mate is a werewolf?” she asked caustically and then went on, “Or is that asking too much?”
He grinned at her (the arrogant bastard!).
Then he used her hair to pull her face to his and he touched his lips to hers.
Looking into her eyes, still grinning, he granted, “You can have a day.”
Now, that was when she would have attacked if she could have attacked.
But he simply marked her hair at her good temple with his (that particular business finally explained by him being half-wolf), let her go, moved away and left the room.
She washed as best she could, dressed and decided to hang out in their room because she couldn’t face anyone.
Leah came up with a tray of food in the late afternoon.
At that moment Sonia was grateful for Leah. It was good to be around her kind, for one, even if that made her a bad person for thinking it. For another, she liked Leah. Leah was funny and sweet and a little bit crazy and Sonia could be herself around her because, obviously, Leah was used to a life filled with vampires and such.
While Sonia ate, Leah talked, telling her wild stories of vampire concubines and captivating stories of places called Feasts and terrifying stories of something called The Sentence. All of this sharing how she’d fallen in love with Lucien.
The story had taken over an hour to tell and Sonia, long since having cleaned her plate, stared at her new friend when she was done talking.
“As you can see,” Leah concluded, “I’m safe, healthy and happy and Lucien is…” she smiled a sweet, eloquent smile before finishing, “happy too.”
“And I’m happy for you,” Sonia replied softly, meaning every word.
Leah grinned at her. “If you embrace it, Sonny, you’ll be happy too and, I promise, it’ll be beyond your wildest dreams.”
That was doubtful.
Sonia had had her “wildest dreams”. She knew how good it could be and it was not that.
“I don’t have much choice but to embrace it,” Sonia told her. “It’s destiny.”
“I know. Mine was too and destiny is my best friend,” Leah declared on a giggle.
Sonia laughed softly, not agreeing in the slightest but also not wanting to break Leah’s happy mood.
Ryon came up shortly after and she let him off the hook by smiling at him the minute he walked through the door.
Caleb came up not long after and she visited with them while Leah returned her tray but she came back with Lucien.
Lucien regarded her carefully as he walked in but even though he freaked her out more than werewolves, she’d lived with vampires all her life (apparently) so she knew better than to fear him (hysterically rather than generally because Lucien, the individual, was still kind of scary).
Regan arrived a few minutes later with a board game and they all started playing. Even Lucien who didn’t strike Sonia as a board game type of… being. Then again, she was getting the sense cold, aloof Lucien would do just about anything to make his bride happy, including playing a board game.
Therefore, hours later, Sonia was lying on her belly on the curvy couch by the fire. Regan and Lucien were in chairs pulled around to the side of the fireplace by the couch. Leah was sitting cross-legged on the floor at Lucien’s feet. And both Ryon and Caleb’s long bodies were spread across the floor as they lay on their sides with pillows under their elbows, heads in their hands when Callum walked in.
He stood at the couch by Sonia’s feet and stared down at them from his colossal werewolf height.
“We’re almost done with this game. You can sit in the next one,” Caleb announced.
“There won’t be a next one,” Callum declared meaningfully (and, incidentally, kingfully), walking down the couch and pulling Sonia up cautiously before sitting down, stretching his long legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles and setting her down with her upper torso on his thigh.