With Everything I Am (70 page)

Callum blinked as something inside him shifted, fluttered, lightened.

Hope.

But, even staring at her, he couldn’t believe it.

She pushed up to her knees, sat back on her calves, wrapped her arm around her breasts, the other around her belly, her eyes never leaving his, her glossy, magnificent dark hair framing her cherished face and she noted, “Uh… the naked thing, not so fun. And, for a while there, I thought I’d be wolf forever. It was pretty cool until it was terrifying.”

“Sonia?” Callum called, his voice low, quiet, disbelieving.

She stared up at him.

Then she smiled.

Then she whispered, “Get this, wolf. I’m a wolf.”

She was wolf.

She was alive and
she was wolf.

Callum came unfrozen and he was on her in less than a second. Hands under her arms, he hauled her up then tossed her across the room. She landed on her ass in the bed and he moved, landing on her.

Covering her body with his, his hands framed her face, his eyes caught hers, he watched the warm, dark brown filter out the green and there she was.

His wife, his mate, his bride, his queen.

His wolf.

He dropped his head and kissed her.

Sonia curved her arms tight around him, spread her legs and then wound them around him, protectively, lovingly and kissed him back.

It was just the same.
Absolutely the same.
Her taste, her kiss, his Sonia.

Just wolf.

Her human life will be fleeting.

But her wolf life could last an eternity

On that thought, Callum kissed her harder and Sonia, as ever, returned the gesture, her hands moving to the waistband of his jeans, she rounded it to the inside and he lifted his hips so she could get to his fly.

She made short work of it, pressing into him to pull his jeans down his hips.

She broke her mouth from his. “Now,” she ordered.

Callum didn’t make her ask twice. He buried his cock inside her heated wetness, straight to the hilt.

Her neck arched, her moan filled the room, her legs around him convulsed as her sex around his cock tightened.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“No,” he growled.

Her neck righted and she looked at him, perplexed, her brown eyes hungry.

“No?”

“Assume the position,” he ordered, felt his lips curve even as they muttered, “wolf.”

Her eyes went hooded and he knew she understood. He pulled out, moved minutely to give her the ability to shift and she crawled out from under him. She got to her hands and knees in front of him then looked down the length of her body at him as he turned to a hip, yanked off his jeans then lifted up to position between her spread, quivering thighs.

He guided his cock to her opening, sinking just the tip inside.

“Cal,” she breathed, pushing back but he withheld as he reached forward and wrapped a fist in her thick, lush, dark hair even as he kept his eyes to hers.

“Are you mine?” he asked and he watched her face go soft even as it grew hungrier.

“Yes,” she answered quietly. “Are you
mine
?”

“Fuck yes,” he growled and drove into her, yanking her head back by her hair but she’d already arched it, crying out her pleasure.

She reared into him as he drove into her, hard, deep, fast, rough, hot, fucking,
fucking
beautiful until he felt her sex spasming around him, her pants turned desperate and her rearing turned to bucking.

“Cal,” she breathed.

Callum pounded hard and deep, the momentum growing, his consuming orgasm nearly over him. “Give it to me, baby doll.”

She gave it to him, arching her neck again,
the
sounds of her climax piercing the air, drowned only by his roars.

As it left him and Sonia’s left her, he gentled his strokes, his hands at her hips drifting over her skin, the pinpricks of her injection, he noted with some surprise, were completely gone.

Then again, wolves healed swiftly. Gaping wounds might take hours but needle pricks would take only moments.

It occurred to him then that there were a variety of people who had some explaining to do.

But he’d demand that later.

Now it would be about him and his
bride.

He shoved his hips into hers, she knew what he wanted and came off her knees, spreading her legs wide and clutching his cock with her sex to keep their connection. He settled his body on hers but, even if she was wolf, she was still tiny and therefore he did what he always did, resting some of his weight into his forearms on either side of her.

With his chin, he nuzzled the hair at her neck.

“Good news for you. Apparently, I’m not a blonde,” Sonia muttered, he lifted his head and saw her eyes slide to the side to look at him.

They were still brown.

They were also smiling.

She was sated.

Happy.

Happy to be wolf.
Happy to be his.

Callum moved his eyes to her hair and muttered back, “I’m going to miss it.”

“Liar,” she whispered and he looked back at her.

“No,” he stated firmly, lifting one hand to pull the thick softness away from her neck, running his fingers through it as he rested it against her other shoulder. “It’s true, baby doll. It was you.”

“I could dye it,” she suggested, her lips twitching.

He stared at her, feeling her under him, her sex surrounding him, wet and silky, her scent, part Sonia, part wolf, filling his nostrils, her eyes, now green with spikes of brown in them, warm and tender and it hit him.

“We have eternity for you to try whatever color you want.”

Her mouth went soft as tears filled her eyes. Callum pulled out, rolled to his back and rolled her on top of him. She shoved her face in his neck and his arms closed tight around her.

He held her as she struggled to hold back the tears and this lasted a good while before he felt her calm.

He took one arm from around her so he could pull her hair from her face as he asked, “Do you know what happened?”

She shook her head against his neck but answered, “One second, I was sleeping really deeply, the next, I was on fire again and suddenly up and…” she paused, lifted her head, looked down at him in wonder and cried, “
Boom!
I was a wolf. It was crazy. I didn’t know what to do but my wolf body did and it took off. I know I caught your scent, even if it was only lingering, I followed it and I ran and ran and then I heard you howling and I ran right to you.”

He stared up at her trying to glory in the fact that first, and most importantly, his mate was not dead and second, and nearly as important, she was not ever going to die, instead of giving into the searing anger he felt permeating his joy.

“I think I destroyed my gown,” she muttered before biting her lip.

The searing anger dissipated because he burst out laughing, his arms closing around her, he rolled her to her back with him on top.

He lifted up and looked down at her face.

Her dark hair spread on their pillow framed it and he wondered if he’d get used to it. He had an eternity to do it so it was probable but he was surprised that he liked the idea of her dying it. Just for a while.
Just until he got used to this new Sonia.

He still needed the old.

He’d always need the old.

Then again, he had a feeling, as it all came clear, she was always this Sonia. She’d exhibited wolf traits and tendencies since the very beginning.

He should have caught it.

He didn’t.

Then again, this was unprecedented, human to wolf so he’d never consider it. He also, in those precious moments, wasn’t going to allow himself to think of the indisputable conspiracy behind it.

He didn’t share any of that.

He muttered, “You’ll learn to leap out of your clothes.”

“Well, unfortunately, I wasn’t wearing an old pair of jeans but a fabulous wedding dress when it first happened,” she replied.

“If it’s torn, we’ll have it repaired,” he told her.

“That would be good,” she murmured, he grinned, dipped his head and touched his mouth to hers.

His grin faded and he whispered, “You died in my arms.”

Her head jerked and her eyes grew wide. “I did?”

She didn’t remember.

“You don’t remember?” he asked to confirm.

“I remember collapsing in your arms.” Her nose scrunched in a way that said she found it distasteful which Callum found an enormous relief. “I remember Yuri feeding. I remember you arguing with Orphenon but then it all gets hazy and then… nothing.”

He nodded but stated, “You did, my little one. You died in my arms.”

She stared up at him, stunned. “How can that be?”

“I don’t know,” he answered.

Her head tilted to the side as her brows knitted adorably. “So you don’t know what’s going on.”

“I have an idea,” Callum replied. “What I do know,” he stated ominously, “is that someone is going to fucking explain it to the both of us.”

“This also would be good,” she whispered, her hands moving on his skin soothingly then her arms wrapped around him, her gaze on him grew assessing and she pulled him close. “I died in your arms?”

“You did, honey,” he affirmed quietly, his voice suddenly ragged at the memory.

Her hand shifted to the side of his head, her thumb coming out to smooth his brow, his cheekbone and then sweeping his lips.

He closed his eyes, memorizing that yet again even though he no longer needed to.

Her words were ragged as well when she whispered, “I don’t know what’s happening but I’m so sorry, my handsome wolf.”

He opened his eyes. “Don’t be. You’re here. You’re wolf which means you’ll
always
be here.” He pressed his chest to hers on the “always”. “We’ll soon understand why it happened and I’ll make certain that nothing this fundamental is kept from us again.”

She studied him even as she nodded.

Then she smiled a tremulous smile. “Cal, I’m wolf.”

Callum smiled back and his was not tremulous. “You
are,
baby doll.”

“I’m wolf,” she breathed.

“As I always knew, perfect for me,” Callum told her and her eyes focused on him.

“Perfect for you,” she repeated, her smile strengthening.

“As I’m perfect for you,” he declared.

“Yes,” she whispered, her hand at his head became an arm wrapped around him again and both her arms went tight. “Can I ask one thing?”

“You can ask anything.”

Love and gratitude gleamed in her eyes before she lifted her head from the pillows to touch her mouth to his.

When she set it back, she requested, “When you unleash all holy hell on whoever did all this, uh…
stuff,
can you do it fast so we can still go on our honeymoon?”

Callum stared at his
bride.

Then he burst out laughing again and he did this while rolling her and then he did it while knifing to sitting and kissing her.

With his mate straddling his lap, his hands in her mahogany hair pulling it away from her beautiful face, he answered, “Absolutely.”

Then King Callum brought his queen’s lips back to his and he kissed her again before he did other things to her.

And all of it was
perfect.

Epilogue

Eternity

“Sonia! Call your wolf off me!” Gregor ordered Sonia.

He was on his back on the floor with Callum pinning him there, his wolf nose close to Gregor’s face, his teeth bared,
a
snarl sounding low from his throat.

She glared at her vampire then looked at her mate. “Cal, honey, maybe you should let Gregor up.”

He swung his handsome wolf head her way and growled. Then he looked back down at Gregor and snapped viciously at his face with his sharp wolf teeth, purposefully missing but he was so close, Gregor’s body jerked and then he scowled.

She looked back at Gregor. “As you can see, he’s a little angry.” She leaned in, planting her hands on her hips.
“As he
should be.
”

And he should. They’d begun to tell Sonia and Callum all that had gone on and, obviously but understandably, Callum didn’t like it very much.

“Callum, Sonny, please,” Regan beseeched.
“If you’ll give us a moment to finish explaining, without bloodshed, I promise you’ll understand.”

Callum swung his head his mother’s way and snarled.

Regan went pale.

Sonia sighed, moved toward her husband and ran her hand soothingly down his fur, leaning in. “My wolf, let’s give them a chance to finish explaining… without bloodshed.”

He turned his head to her, turned it back down to Gregor, bared his teeth on another low snarl then slowly backed off Gregor’s body. As Gregor pushed to his feet, again, Callum’s eyes went to Sonia and he barked sharply. She nodded and went directly to the clothes he’d leaped out of. Gathering them up, she followed her mate as he prowled out of the room.

He leaped to man in the hall and Sonia handed him his clothes but even when he had them, he didn’t don them. Instead, he stood there naked and lifted his big hand, palm up. She instantly put his wedding band into it that he’d given her moments before transforming to wolf and he just as instantly slid it on his finger.

Only then did he tug his clothes on but he did it muttering furiously, “I cannot believe this fucking shit.”

Sonia couldn’t either.
Prophesies.
Plots.
Oracles.
Potions to suppress the wolf traits Sonia’s father gave her (her father was a werewolf!) and bring out the human ones of her mother (sadly, her father’s mate was a human, weirdly, this made their demise happening together, rather than her father enduring an eternity without his mate, something bittersweet).

Sonia had to admit (not then, of course, with Callum being so infuriated), it was a relief to understand things about herself that she hadn’t since she could remember. Her abilities and why she had them. Why she healed so quickly and didn’t scar. Why her periods came every five months instead of every month, like a human’s. This last she never imparted on anyone since it was none of their business, except her doctor who told her a lot of women had irregular cycles. This might have been true but what was truer was that he was lying through his teeth.
About a lot of things.