“You declare this in front of your queen?” Callum asked with deceptive calm.
“Years ago, I felt the connection,” she threw out. “And, no matter what you say, Cal, you did too. I know it.”
Sonia’s body moved, those movements were slight but filled with disquiet.
He gave his mate a comforting squeeze before he said derisively, “Hardly, Desdemona.”
“What we had was good!” she cried desperately, leaning further forward.
“What we had was sex,” Callum returned dismissively and Sonia jerked in his arms which didn’t squeeze comfortingly this time, they tightened.
“I’m consort to a king!” Mona declared madly, moving up the steps.
Ryon shot forward, hooked an arm firm around her waist and stopped her.
Callum’s voice lowered but, even so, he knew every wolf in the room could hear.
“You were nothing but a f**k, Mona. A good one but I’d had better before,” he moved slightly his eyes never leaving Mona as he rubbed his temple against Sonia’s hair, making his message clear before he murmured, “And definitely better since.”
He heard Sonia’s breathing escalate as he saw her chest start to rise and fall with agitation but she kept her seat which satisfied him. This was an intense situation amongst a passionate people, something she wasn’t used to but she was handling herself, as he had guessed she would, brilliantly.
Mona didn’t handle herself nearly as well.
Fighting against Ryon’s hold, she snapped, “But she’s blonde. You hate blondes.”
“I’ve changed my mind,” Callum returned coolly.
To that, Mona’s arms went ramrod straight, her face grew red and she shrieked, “She is not our queen. She’s f**king human.”
Irreverence to his queen spoken aloud during an official assembly in a throne room.
Callum held back his smile.
Mona was so deep, even Titium couldn’t dig her out.
“Get her out of here, Ry,” he ordered.
“Released to find her mate?” Ryon asked, his lips twitching.
“Fuck no. Sequester her,” Callum answered.
“No!” Mona shrieked while she struggled.
“Okey doke,” Ryon muttered and a few wolves chuckled.
Sonia, he noted vaguely, had clenched her fists.
As Ryon handed Mona off to two warriors who led her struggling body out of the room, Caleb climbed the dais and stood at his right side. Then his deep voice rang out in the vast room.
“Are there those in this company who have issue with our human queen?”
No one spoke.
Caleb went on, “Are there those whose allegiance lies with Desdemona?”
More silence.
Caleb’s voice then announced loudly, “Then behold our new queen!”