She turned back to Callum and whispered, “This whole village is your people.”
He looked down at her and smiled, “You noticed that?”
She nodded.
He pulled her even closer. “This is one of the reasons we need a liaison to the British government and why we have liaisons to every government. There are small countries like this around the world.”
“Countries?”
“Yes, little one,” he replied. “Villages, towns, even some small cities. This is our land, our country. The village and miles of wood that surround it. It isn’t owned by the British government. It’s owned and ruled by us. Didn’t you wonder why you didn’t go through Customs and Immigration when we arrived?”
She hadn’t thought of it, her mind was on other things.
“No,” she told him. “I’d never flown in a private jet before. I didn’t think about it.”
“Well,” he said, “that’s why. Not because you arrived in a private jet but because we landed on an airstrip, a private airstrip, our private airstrip that no one uses. The roads leading to this village are not on any map. Essentially, to your people, this place doesn’t exist.”
Sonia didn’t respond, she just stared at him.
Callum continued, “That doesn’t mean that humans don’t find their way here on occasion and they aren’t welcome when they do. They just wouldn’t be able to find their way back unless they had excellent memories and little fear of very bad roads.” He gave her a quick grin before he took a sip of his beer and then went on, “There are those of us who prefer living amongst their own, being who we are and how we are and not having to keep anything secret. There are those who find their calling in the human world and their profession takes them there. There are those who just like living in the human world, amongst more people, having more opportunities. There are others who move back and forth, depending on their mood. And there are others who live here but also like to spend time in the human world.” Then he finished, “Ryon’s like that.”
“What are you like?” she asked quietly, more curious than was prudent as to his answer.
“I like being with my people and I rarely stray into the human world,” he answered honestly.
“Don’t you like humans?” she blurted on a whisper before she could stop the words and then wished she could kick herself because she didn’t care (though, she did).
“I do,” he grinned again, his voice went soft, his eyes grew warm and his face got closer. “One in particular.”
She pulled in breath and reminded herself that he could be like this, sweet and tender one minute and the next…
Well, the next he would not.
“So why don’t you spend time with humans?” she pushed.
He sighed and pulled away, saying, “I just don’t understand them.”
Her eyes grew wide. “What’s not to understand?”
He gazed at her a second before he threw back his head and roared with laughter.
“What’s funny?” she demanded when his laughter calmed.
“You, baby doll,” he was still chuckling when he responded. “How much of my culture makes sense to you?”
She had to admit, he had a point.
She didn’t inform him of that fact. She looked to the fire and sipped her cider which caused him to chuckle.
“I’ll make you a deal,” he said on another squeeze of her waist, capturing her attention.
She looked at him again and raised her eyebrows.
“I’ll help you understand my people and you help me understand yours.”
Before she could answer, she heard a noise outside. A noise that sounded like someone carrying bags slipped and fell to the sidewalk giving a startled cry of pain. She automatically tensed at the noise, as if she was going to rush outside to help, her eyes flashing to the door.
Then she realized it was a noise that Callum wouldn’t hear and she couldn’t help because she wasn’t supposed to hear it either.
As she had many times in her life, Sonia forced herself to relax and took another sip of her drink.
“Sonia,” he called and she hesitantly turned to look at him.
“Yes?” she answered, trying to look innocent and thinking maybe she failed for he was studying her closely.
He opened his mouth to speak but Ralph was there with two big plates on top of which sat smaller, oblong dishes of browned, fluffy mash potato-topped fish pies that were so hot they were steaming and looked delicious.
“Two fish pies, your grace?” Ralph asked.
Callum didn’t look happy to be disturbed but he nodded, moved them to a table and they ate their pies (filled with salmon, cream, carrots, herbs, onions and cheese, they were to die for and likely a million calories each).