With Everything I Am(90)

“So!” Jay boomed, butting into the women’s conversation and glancing between the two of them. “This is unexpected, though we’ve seen a lot of activity at your house lately,” Jay informed them, eyes speculative, declaring openly his neighborly prying, something else humans did that mystified Callum. Wolves let other wolves be. If they wanted to share, which they usually did, they’d share. Uninvited inquisitiveness might get your throat torn out by another wolf’s teeth, a strong deterrent. “Married!” Jay continued. “That’s a big surprise. How did you two meet?”

Sonia tensed and opened her mouth to reply but, as usual that night, Callum got there before her.

“We didn’t meet. I saw her and thought she was the prettiest woman I’d ever laid eyes on. I grabbed her, carried her up to my cabin in the mountains and spent three days talking her into marrying me. She agreed, we did the deed and came back down the mountain.”

Callum liked this story.

He liked it because of the hilarious reactions of the humans.

“You… what?” Jay asked while Jo blinked at him, repeatedly and rapidly.

“He’s joking!” Sonia exclaimed, going directly into damage control, as usual that night after he told this tale, leaning into him and patting his stomach. Now her pats were much harder than they were at the beginning of the evening but they were still puny, as female human pats tended to be. Or likely male ones, for that matter, though Callum had never been patted by a male, nor would he ever be. “We’ve known each other forever,” she went on. “It almost feels like we knew each other since before we were born. I met him when I was seventeen. It’s been an off and on, long-distance relationship. I never knew it would come to this but when he surprisingly asked me, I said yes right away. We decided not to waste any more time so we eloped.”

Callum liked Sonia’s story better.

What he liked best of all was that they were both, mostly, true.

Suddenly, Jo’s eyes bugged out, she leaned forward and grasped Sonia’s hand.

Callum stiffened.

This party was not in the least like a party a wolf would throw. For one thing, no one had shown up smashed. For another thing, even though it started an hour ago, still no one was smashed. That said, he was enjoying himself immensely, mainly due to being with Sonia who was taking great pleasure in entertaining her friends and being with the people who clearly cared about her.

However, he was having more than a little difficulty with humans, female and male, touching his mate. The wolf’s protective instinct of their mate was naturally strong. Callum’s protective instinct for his queen was stronger. Callum’s protective instinct for Sonia was immeasurable. You didn’t approach a wolf’s mate without permission, certainly not if you were a stranger to that wolf and you definitely didn’t touch her.

Even so, tonight amongst Sonia’s people, he couldn’t give in to the instinct. If he had, her beautifully clinical living room would be littered with unconscious bodies.

“My God!” Jo cried. “Your ring is gorgeous!”

“Oh Lord,” Jay told the ceiling as his eyes had rolled there. “Here we go.”

Jo examined Sonia’s ring closer, not taking her eyes from it but still managed to bicker. “Well it is, Jay,” she yanked Sonia’s hand toward her husband, “look at it.”

Jay didn’t look at Sonia’s ring.

He turned aggrieved eyes to Callum, seeking male camaraderie. “She’s always on me to buy her a bigger ring.”

He didn’t find his camaraderie as Callum replied abruptly, “So do it.”

It was Jay’s turn to blink, Sonia’s turn to stiffen but Jo burst out laughing.

“I like him,” she said to Sonia, releasing Sonia’s hand and jerking her head at Callum. “If I didn’t like all that was him,” she boldly gestured to Callum from top-to-toe, “then I’d like his accent. If I didn’t like that then I’d still like him.”

Sonia relaxed and smiled at Jo, as did Callum, deciding that he also liked Jo.

“If you want to make nice with the men in the neighborhood,” Jay advised with forced joviality, “you might want to take a little care.”

“It’s highly unlikely Sonia and I will be settling here,” Callum announced.

Sonia went rock-solid at his side and Jed and Jake, who were rushing up to them with their unwrapped presents in their hands, skidded to a halt and the cheerful expressions on their faces melted.

“Sonny’s moving?” Jed, or Jake, Callum didn’t know which was which, whispered.

“We haven’t decided yet,” Sonia said swiftly with a radiant smile at the boy and quickly changed subjects. “So, what do you think? Do you like them?”