Vampires were colder, far more controlled and practically every move they made was governed.
The differences between the cultures were even evident in their clothes. Both Yuri and Gregor were wearing superbly tailored suits. Callum hadn’t even bothered to button the torn flannel shirt he wore over his jeans. He couldn’t even remember the last time he wore a suit and didn’t currently own one.
Because they were opposites, the two peoples did not get on well with each other and studiously avoided contact.
Callum had only met one vampire that he respected. His name was Lucien and Callum liked him because Lucien’s intensity reminded Callum of a wolf.
Not to mention, Lucien was an epic warrior.
Sonia broke into his thoughts with an astute one of her own.
Too astute.
“You talk like they knew they were going to die,” she accused and every male in the room, vampire and wolf, went still.
Callum watched with further surprise as Gregor’s face slightly softened at the same time he quickly covered.
“Parents, my dear, when they become parents tend to plan for such things. Death is an ugly fact of life and when someone loves another, they’ll want the one they love to be cared for if they’re not around. So, Sonny, they prepared for that time, they gave strict instructions and, when I agreed to be your guardian should that unfortunate event occur, I vowed I’d follow them and I did.”
It was a good cover because it was the truth, with only the fact not shared that Lassiter and Cherise Arlington prepared carefully for their deaths because what they were doing in their lives put them in mortal danger.
Callum gazed down at Sonia to see that Gregor’s words had affected her. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears and it cut him to the quick seeing them. He dropped her hand but curled an arm around her shoulders, tucking her front into his side.
She rested her cheek against his pectoral and wrapped her arms around his middle. Her soft body molded to his and she took in a stuttering breath.
That cut him to the quick as well and his arm around her shoulders grew tighter.
Sonia wasn’t quite done, however.
“Why would they want you to erase them?” she asked Gregor, her voice no longer flat and accusatory, it was soft and sad.
“I’ve no idea, my dear,” Gregor answered. “Lassiter, nor Cherise, shared the reasons behind their wishes. They just shared their wishes.”
She paused a moment before she continued her quiet interrogation.
“Earlier, you said you’d been keeping me safe for Callum,” she stated and enquired, “Did you know about all of this?”
The air grew heavy, this mostly coming from Callum and Yuri, but Gregor kept his cool.
“Yes,” he answered simply.
Sonia’s voice was barely audible when she asked, “Did my parents?”
Gregor came closer, his eyes flicking to Callum as if to assess the threat, as he would do considering he was approaching a wolf’s mate.
Callum lifted his chin and Gregor crept closer.
Quietly, he replied, “Yes, Sonny, they knew about your destiny. They wanted it for you. Very much so. They were…” he hesitated and said the next word as if it cost him to do so, “honored that you were to be his queen.”
Sonia pulled in a soft breath and her body grew tight for a second before she seemed to come to some conclusion, closed her eyes briefly and, when she opened them, she relaxed further into Callum.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” she asked, her voice still hushed but there was an accusatory note threading through it.
“Many reasons, my dear,” Gregor replied, coming even closer. “Because you’re human. Because there was the possibility you weren’t safe. Because you needed to mature to a time when you could take all this in, understand it, not fear it and accept your destiny.”
Sonia gazed at Gregor a moment, letting this sink in.
Then she looked up at Callum and noted, “Your family knew too.”
“We did,” Callum told her truthfully.
She looked at Gregor then Yuri then back to Callum and tried to pull away but Callum held her firm.
She gave in to his hold and remarked, “If I was eventually to live amongst you, it would have made it a lot easier for me now if your family had taken me in. I would have understood your culture. I would have grown up in it.”
She was right. And she was far too shrewd.
Callum took in breath but it was Yuri who answered.
“You’d hardly have benefited from growing up with Callum and his family,” he clipped and when he went on, his tone was bitter. “Trust me, things would be different about now if you grew up thinking of Callum as a brother.”
Sonia, far too sweet for her own good, reacted to the bitterness, her face grew soft with understanding and sorrow and she whispered, “Yuri.”