Wild and Free(51)

“How bad is it?” Callum asked.

“The scale doesn’t go up to this bad,” Calder replied and Sonia watched Callum close his eyes even as she saw his face set hard before he opened them when Calder kept speaking. “Pack up your mate and bring her ass down the mountain. I’m sure you’ll find time to do her here. We got more important shit to see to.”

Callum’s eyes came to her but she stared at his shoulder angrily at the same time pretending she wasn’t hearing a thing.

“The deed’s done,” Callum announced and it took everything Sonia had not to react to his words.

Good goodness.

Now she was a “deed” to be “done”.

Well, he’d done it all right.

“Hallelujah,” Calder hooted. “I knew it wouldn’t take you long,” he noted with deep respect before finishing, “Now, let’s get to work.”

“We’ll be down by early afternoon,” Callum returned.

“We’ll have everything ready,” Calder replied. “Later.”

Sonia watched as Callum flipped his phone shut and his eyes went to her.

“I’m sorry, honey, we’ve got to cut this short and get back to the real world,” he told her and, she had to give it to him, he sounded disappointed.

But she couldn’t help but think how convenient all this was.

Callum (and his brothers) making it clear (several times) that his time in the cabin with her was something he considered a frustrating annoyance. In fact he, himself, referred to it as a “farce”.

Callum and his brother’s talk about whatever-it-was yesterday.

This morning, Callum wasted no time in seducing her, claiming her and then his brother called to say it was imperative he get back down the mountain.

Royal duty sorted, time to wage war.

“Sonia?” he called and she focused on his handsome face. “We don’t have a lot of time. We need to shower and go.”

“Right,” she whispered, her gaze drifting away while she felt something important curl up in the region of her heart.

“Baby doll,” he murmured and she looked back to him. “We’ll come back. As soon as we can. All right?”

Sonia wouldn’t hold her breath.

“All right,” she replied.

He leaned down, brushed his mouth against hers and then knifed up, taking her with him.

She started to reach for her nightgown but with his hand in hers, he tugged her around the bed (yes, naked!) heading toward the bathroom.

“Callum,” she called, trying to yank away her hand. “You shower first, I’ll start packing.”

“We leave the clothes and food up here. I’ve people that see to the cabin. And we’re showering together,” he announced and her heart skidded to a halt as he pulled her in the bathroom, let her go and twisted immediately to the shower to turn on the taps.

“Um…” she began but gulped back whatever her next words were going to be when his hands came to her hips and he hauled her to his body.

“I know this is a lot and I know it’s fast,” he stated abruptly. “But, soon, you’ll be used to me, my body, the fact that I want you naked in my bed every night and naked in my shower every morning and naked anytime you don’t have to wear clothes. So, it’s best that you start getting used to it now.”

She gawked at him.

How much worse could it get?

As suddenly as he grabbed her, he let her go and stepped into the shower, clearly having no time to waste.

She stared at him, clearly having no say in the matter.

With nothing for it because, she was learning quickly, when King Callum wanted something, King Callum got it, her hands went to the chain still hanging at her hips and she started twirling it around to find the clasp.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Callum bit out from the shower and her head jerked up.

“I’m taking this off before I shower,” she told him, her voice small in the face of his sudden anger.

He stepped right back out of the shower (getting water everywhere, incidentally), picked her up, put her in the shower and joined her, not hesitating in reaching for the shampoo.

“That’s a claiming chain, Sonia,” he informed her. “Once it’s put on, you never take it off.”

She blinked up at him as the water fell on her and asked stupidly, “What?”

He turned his attention from squirting shampoo in his big palm to her.

“It’s a claiming chain. You humans have wedding rings, my people have claiming chains.”

Her mouth dropped open.

She closed it.

His words repeated in her head and her mouth dropped open again.

Then she whispered, “You’re saying you married me this morning?”