Then she whispered wistfully, “I’ve never really been a ‘sis’.”
“You are now.”
Then Caleb received a bright smile from Callum’s bride.
Callum felt his temper rising and because of this when he said, “Sonia,” her name lashed through the room sharp and annoyed.
She started and turned to him, her eyes confused, her face growing pale.
“Come here,” Callum ordered and she hesitated briefly but moved to his side.
Both Ryon and Caleb looked at him. Ryon with annoyance. Caleb, Callum was surprised to see, with barely concealed anger.
He ignored their expressions, looked down at Sonia and instructed, “The queen belongs at the king’s side.”
“I was three feet away,” she replied quietly, her face growing even paler.
“The queen belongs at the king’s side,” he repeated, watched her swallow and felt the air around them growing thick, this coming from his family.
His gaze sliced through his brethren, nonverbally making his displeasure known, and he looked back down at the papers.
He read the three page report and the words erased Sonia, Ryon and Caleb from his mind.
He flipped the folder shut and looked at Ryon.
“Bloody hell, Mona’s an idiot,” he remarked.
“Always was,” Ryon returned.
“Mac f**ked up, installing her as Governor of this Territory,” Callum noted with frustration, handing the file back to Caleb.
Mac had left him with a rebellion which, in a year with studied brutality, he’d quashed, forcing their signature on a treaty they vowed never to sign and, four short years later, they broke.
Other than that, and the occasional insurrection which was normal amongst intense, temperamental and often quarrelling wolves, Mac’s realm was peaceful and ordered.
There was no mess.
Except Mona.
“He thought it was a diplomatic move,” Ryon replied, his eyes sliding to Sonia. “Titium was displeased with what went on.” Ryon looked back at Callum. “And he’d make a formidable enemy.”
Callum knew this.
During their brief fling ages ago, something which Callum engaged in regularly, a fact he thought Mona understood as every she-wolf did, she’d become infatuated with him. Because of her obsession, scraping her off had been unpleasant and eventually diplomatically sensitive.
Titium, Governor of Europe and a highly respected warrior, had spoiled his daughter. What she wanted, Titium gave her. Unfortunately, Mona was ambitious as well as obsessive. In order for her to leave his son alone, Mac had installed her as Governor of the then sparsely populated Western Territories of America.
They’d all been surprised when she’d been passably skilled at handling her province over the years, even as it was emerged and populated.
They’d also all been surprised when the years passed and she never found her lifemate, something which his father knew would turn her attention away from Callum.
However, apparently, since Mac’s death, she’d lost focus on her responsibilities.
This, too, Callum understood and it irritated him.
Callum was now king and the spoiled, ambitious Mona would want his attention even more than before. And she’d want it so desperately, it wouldn’t matter what form that attention would take.
She’d want it enough to f**k up and draw him to her territories. Something which, unless there was an insurrection, Callum, and Mac before him, rarely had to do as his other Governors ruled their provinces efficiently. In fact, it was something the Governors took pains in not doing because Callum’s attention, unless it was for an official ceremony or a social visit, wasn’t something they’d seek.