Wild and Free(207)

“We’ll see about that,” Callum bit out as he stalked by her, grabbing her hand as he went and dragging her with him as he prowled back into his study where everyone, Regan, Gregor, Yuri, Lucien, Leah, Calder and Caleb were all waiting.

Sonia followed him but announced upon entry to the room, “By the way, wolf, I want to start having pups immediately.”

“Oh, Sonny, how exciting!” Regan cried but Callum let her hand go, whirled on her and glowered at her.

“No fucking way. I’ve got you for eternity. I’m enjoying you for at least a hundred years before we introduce more mayhem into our lives.”

“Children aren’t mayhem,” Sonia retorted.

“Yes they are. You like your shoes, baby doll, and werewolf pups like chewing.”

Oh good goodness. She hadn’t thought of that.

She bit her lip. Callum’s eyes dropped to her mouth and his scowl got even scarier.

“Stop being adorable,” he ordered.

Sonia quit biting her lip and exclaimed, “I’m not being adorable!”

“Jesus, are you two serious?” Calder asked, sounding exasperated and Callum’s eyes sliced to him.

“Stay out of it, Calder,” he commanded.

“Brother, you forget, me and everyone in this room watched your mate die in your arms and he,” Calder swung a pointed finger at Gregor, “masterminded not only that scenario but Sonia enduring a fake disease and a tortuous treatment her entire life.”

“Yes,” Callum whispered sinisterly, his gaze moving to Gregor, his mind clearly back to the matter at hand, “let’s get back to that.”

Gregor, again cool as a cucumber, surveyed Callum. “If you take a breath and think on it a moment, Callum, you’ll understand, considering The Prophesies, the necessity for all of this.”

“How about you save us time and explain it,” Callum suggested in a way everyone in the room knew it wasn’t a suggestion.

Gregor drew in a breath not hiding the fact he was seeking patience.

Then he started, “Callum,” his eyes moved to Sonia, “Sonny, my dear, of The Three destined in The Prophesies, two of the mates are human. One, you,” he dipped his head to Sonia, “are not.” He looked back to Callum. “In order to communicate solidarity with humans through supernatural beings being mated with them, Sonia had to live the triangle.”

“More,” Callum growled when Gregor stopped speaking and Gregor sighed before his gaze went back to Sonia.

“Born of werewolf and human, lived a human life, and, I’m sorry, my dear, suffer for it, and raised by vampires in order to deliver you safely to a werewolf mate. The triangle.”

To Sonia, this made sense. Considering the prophesied three sets of lifemates would save humanity from slavery (or, she hoped not, expire in their efforts), humans, who mostly didn’t know of werewolves or vampires, would need a strong statement to make them trust immortals. Not to mention, werewolves and vampires would need to trust humans as well and thus, as Gregor had explained earlier, all of the lifemates had to endure tribulations in order to prove their commitment to each other and, eventually, the cause.

“She is wolf, Callum, but your people accepted and loved her as human. They showed that when she was injured and they showed it in the short time they thought she passed yesterday by instantly shifting into widespread mourning,” Gregor explained to Callum and looked back at Sonia. His voice dipped low and there was deep, unmistakable emotion threading though it when he told her, “This was not easy. It wasn’t easy for Regan. For Mac. For your parents. For me and Yuri. We did not suffer as you did, Sonny, but we suffered. We hated it, every moment and, my dear, in comparison with our lives, yours has been short but, trust me, making you endure what you endured all of your short life felt like an eternity.”

Sonia felt her face get soft as she felt some of the anger sift out of the room but Callum wasn’t finished being livid.

“Now that you’ve explained that, can you explain why you didn’t tell me, at least, so perhaps, even if I couldn’t have talked to my mate about it, I would maybe have been able to do something, fucking anything, to make it easier on my wife?”

“It’s obvious,” Gregor returned.

“What’s obvious is, she’s my mate. I would accept her however she came to me. It’s the wolf way,” Callum fired back.

“Humans, as you know, are not wolves,” Gregor retorted.

“Please, do not try my patience further by telling me things I already know,” Callum warned, his tone deadly.

“You had to accept her as human, too, Callum,” Gregor told him. “Her frailties. The understanding of her life being short. Your love for her as human and demonstrated with such ferocity was essential. You went so far as to go against all your instincts as a werewolf and allow a vampire to feed from your mate in an effort to ease her pain. If you knew, this trial you had to best would not have been bested. Wolves, vampires, all immortals would understand you would love her however she came to you but humans needed that statement to be made and I’m sure we’ll all agree it was a compelling one.”