“Oh good goodness,” Sonia repeated on a whisper and how she managed it with her throat closed was a miracle.
“She asked our opinions and we all agreed,” Mabel announced.
“As did I,” Sonia heard said from the direction of the door, her eyes shifted from the beautiful wedding gown and fabulous shoes to the door and she saw Leah standing there.
Leah had told Sonia that she and Lucien were tied up, they couldn’t come to The Mating but they’d come for visit as soon as they could.
She’d lied.
“Oh good goodness,” Sonia moaned promptly before she burst into tears.
Kerry and Mabel folded her in their arms and only stepped aside when Leah took over.
“I’ll get the makeup again,” Mara muttered on a sigh.
Sonia burst out laughing but she did it through tears.
Happy ones.
* * * * *
Sonia sat between Regan and Gregor in the Rolls Royce, the fabulous car another surprise, on their way to The Lodge.
Leah, Kerry, Mabel, Mara and Callie had all changed into their lovely, but secret, deep jade bridesmaid dresses after they’d helped Sonia dress. Regan had donned her stylish, pale yellow mother-of-the-groom dress. Before Gregor helped her fold into the Rolls, Regan had handed her a huge, stunning spray of calla lilies intermingled with fluffy tufts of lilies of the valley that not only looked regal as well as just plain stunning but smelled divine.
Her gown, shockingly, fit like a glove but then again, Regan had long ago measured her for a, “Sweater I’m going to knit for you, sweetheart.” Sonia, at the time, hadn’t thought why Regan smoothed the measuring tape from hip-to-sole and everywhere besides. She’d had too much on her mind and didn’t knit so what did she know?
Now, she knew.
Her gown, as was everything Callum, his mother and Leah (she found) put together, was perfect.
Elegant and opulent, yet somehow simple, the gown skidded over her figure perfectly, the entirety of the ivory silk covered in delicate ivory lace, including the five foot train that trailed behind her. Pearls and opalescent beads decorated the lace but not in abundance, simply catching the eye and giving the gown even more personality. The neckline was princess, the gown sleeveless, the line graceful, skimming her body to her knees then flaring out slightly in an elegant fall to a lace, scallop-edged hem and train.
She couldn’t have picked better.
Tear drop pearls suspended from diamonds, a gift from Regan, dangled from her ears.
Something new.
The ring of her mother’s Regan gave her on her pinkie.
Something old.
A single strand of pearls with a diamond and gold clasp sat on her wrist, loaned to her by Leah.
Something borrowed.
A garter made of blue satin and edged in intricate lace circled her thigh, given to her by Kerry and Mabel.
Something blue.
Her claiming chain hung from her hips, given to her by Callum.
Something wolf.
She was ready for her wedding and she looked exactly like a woman about to marry a king.
But she was feeling funny, as she had been now for weeks. Strange, like jetlag, not herself but, lately, it was accompanied by what felt like hot flashes, the skin on her entire body getting warm for sometimes seconds, sometimes whole minutes before it would cool.
She lifted the bouquet to her face, took in a breath and then let it out, but it didn’t help.
Nothing, she’d found, did.
“Are you quite all right, Sonny?” Gregor murmured and Sonia looked to her vampire.
“Yes, I’m wonderful, Gregor,” she told him and his lips tipped up but his eyes moved over her face.
“You’re a bit flushed, my dear,” he noted and she lifted a hand to fan her face.
“Just… feeling strange. Probably stress. It’s been going on for a while. I suspect, after this is over, it’ll be over,” she told him and was too focused on what was to come, she missed his eyes moving swiftly to Regan before coming back to her.
“Sonny, sweetheart, are you and Callum, um…” Regan trailed off and Sonia turned her head to her mother-in-law.
“Are we…?” she prompted.
“Uh, planning on pups sometime soon,” Regan finished and Sonia grinned.
“No, I’m on birth –” she stopped abruptly on a gasp, leaned into Regan and asked in a panic. “Do human birth control pills work with werewolves?”
Regan smiled a gentle smile, reached out and gave Sonia’s hand a squeeze before she replied, “Yes, Sonny. Usually a doctor will prescribe a certain brand as, obviously, werewolves have, uh… a different hormonal make up but it’s unusual for a she-wolf or human to become pregnant if a woman is taking any kind of oral birth control.”
Sonia sat back in her seat on a relieved sigh.
“Does Callum know you’re on birth control?” Regan asked and Sonia looked to her again.
“I, well, I think so. I mean, we’ve been together awhile. I don’t recall if I’ve ever taken it in front of him but he’s never brought it up so I assumed he knew I had it covered. I mean, we would discuss having, well,” she grinned, “pups and decide together when the time would be to start trying for a family.”
Something which, on their honeymoon (Callum told her they were going to have a honeymoon thus it was not a surprise) she’d be bringing up.
For her, the sooner the better. Mara, Callie and Regan had explained werewolf DNA always won out over human and any offspring created in a wolf/human interaction was wolf and therefore immortal.
Callum would have centuries with their children. Sonia, decades.
She wanted to start right away.
“I think, sweetie, you may want to discuss this with him at your earliest convenience,” Regan advised quietly and Sonia again grinned at her.
“Oh, I will,” she whispered, Regan’s eyes lit and they shifted to Gregor.
Sonia’s followed and she saw Gregor slightly shaking his head and frowning.
“Vampire grandpa, of sorts,” she muttered her tease, sliding into him and burrowing so he had to lift an arm and wrap it around her shoulders.
He looked down at her and muttered with distaste, “Vampire grandpa to werewolves.”
Sonia grinned.
Gregor kept frowning.
Sonia pressed closer and kept grinning.
Gregor’s eyes moved over her face, his frown faded and his eyes grew warm. “Vampire grandpa to my Sonia’s children.”
Sonia took in a quick breath and warned, “Don’t make me cry, Gregor.”
“Fine, Sonny. So deep breathe or do whatever you humans have to do to withstand enduring something like this,” he warned then he gave it to her. “You’re beautiful today. You’re beautiful always but today, you glow. I love you, my dear, I have from the moment you came to me even if that moment was a sad one. And I’m immensely proud of you.”
She deep breathed, taking those breaths in through her nose and letting them out of her mouth as she stared at him.
Then she whispered, “I love you too. I have for ages and I’ll do it forever.”
He nodded, a muscle in his cheek twitched and he turned his head to look out the window but his arm around her curled tighter.
Regan grabbed her hand and held just as tight.
Twenty minutes later, on Gregor’s arm, Sonia received all the pomp and circumstance a woman walking toward her husband the king should have.
Following Calder and Caleb escorting their mother then her string of bridesmaids who wandered the length of The Lodge to the dais where Callum, Ryon, Drogan, Magnum, joined by Calder and Caleb, stood, all looking breathtakingly handsome in tuxes, Sonia noted the entirety of the space not taken up by wolves was festooned in ivory silk rosettes, bunting and so many calla lilies, lily of the valley and white roses, Callum had to have bought every bloom, not only in Scotland, but all of Europe.
The building so big, the procession took so long, the women walke
d the space to Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”, a full symphony and chorus behind the dais filling the beautiful acoustics of the space with some of the most extraordinary notes ever put together.
And on that day, as Sonia looked around in wonder and beamed up at her mate who gave her all of this, the song was aptly named.
For she was joyous.
Surrounded by friends and family.
People who accepted for her who she was, exactly who she was.
People who loved her.
And in love with a man, well, a wolf, who she loved with everything she was, everything she was meant to be.
Therefore, Sonia Arlington-McDonagh beamed as the horns and strings played a masterpiece accompanied by a hundred voices, the air was filled with the scent of lilies and roses, thousands of wolves stood, their eyes watching her progress, their faces wreathed in smiles and she, a queen, walked to the mate the benevolent hand of fate had given her, a man she’d dreamed of most of her life, her handsome wolf, a king.
And she did so having no idea that in thirty short minutes, she was going to die.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Death
Callum stared in Sonia’s shining green eyes as he listened to her sweet, throaty words, up close and broadcast through the space via microphones, as she said, “I do.”
He smiled.
Tears filled her eyes.
“Right, uh… now, wolf,” the wolf official at their sides muttered and Callum tore his gaze from his queen and looked at the male. “Callum,” he prompted with a nod of his head Callum’s way.
Callum nodded back and looked back down at his bride.
“Are you mine?” he asked, his voice gruff.
“Yes,” she whispered immediately, her voice still husky and her eyes got brighter.
A deafening cheer tore through the crowd.
The official leaned toward Sonia. Callum, holding her hands in his, felt her start and her head turned slightly as the male whispered something in her ear. Callum’s smile grew wider as she blinked in shock, her head jerked to look back at him, her lips parted, her eyes warmed and she spoke.
“Are you mine?” she asked, this new nuance of The Mating something he came up with just that morning.
He was king.
He could do anything he wanted.
And he wanted to give to her what she gave to him.
“Yes,” he replied in a strong, carrying voice and another deafening cheer filled the space.
Sonia smiled, her hands tightening in his. Her smile was shaky but, even so, it was beautiful.
Callum let her hands go but only to push his into his trouser pocket and pull out what rested there.
A gold charm for her claiming chain, this one another wolf but with tiger’s eye for eyes to match the band he’d added to the ones he’d already given to her earlier. He opened the link with his thumbnail and closed it on her claiming chain.
When his eyes captured his bride’s and his hands again caught hers, he could see, even though her head was tipped down to stare at her new charm, she was biting her lip.
She lifted her eyes to his and they were still beaming but brighter, luminescent.
Happy.
He grinned.
“It’s my pleasure to pronounce you, King Callum, and you, Queen Sonia, husband and wife and, er, wolf and lifemate!” the official declared and both Callum and Sonia looked his way to see him smiling broadly. “I’ve always wanted to say this,” he went on then finished, “You may kiss the bride!”
Finally, Callum thought, the good part of this human ceremony.
He turned back to his bride and grinned what he didn’t know was a wolfish grin, her wet eyes dropped to his mouth and he heard her fluttering sigh.
Then he bent his head, tightening his grip on hers and he kissed his bride.
Another roar tore through the space.
Even as he heard it, tasted Sonia on his tongue, smelled her scent in his nostrils, he felt her hand rip from his and move to clutch his lapel.
He broke the kiss to look down at her and saw she was suddenly flushed, her eyes vague.
“Baby doll?” he muttered low so the microphones wouldn’t catch it.
“I’m fine,” she whispered. “Just fine,” she stated quietly but she tore her other hand from his and pressed it to her forehead even as her fingers at his lapel gripped tighter and she leaned her body to his.
“Sonia,” Callum called when her eyes drifted to his chest.
He lifted a hand to her jaw and his gut twisted when he felt how hot her skin was. He gently pressed up, forcing her eyes to his and they were beyond vague.
They were pained.
“Little one,” he murmured, dipping his head close.
“Okay,” she said softly. “I think maybe I’m not fine.”
The instant she finished her statement, her legs went out from under her and this was such a surprise, she nearly dropped to the dais before Callum caught her in his arms.
The roaring crowd stopped roaring as a hush filled the space.
Callum didn’t notice it because, even through the lace and silk of her gown he could feel his wife’s body was afire.
As he lifted her to cradled in his arms, his eyes sliced to his pale-faced mother sitting in the front row and he shouted, “Regan!” right before, with long strides, he moved to the side of the dais, down the steps and around the back, under the stands and into a short hall where there were training rooms, dressing rooms and locker rooms.
He took her to a dressing room, laid her on a couch, sat at its edge and took her hand.
Her eyes fluttered open.
“Cal, get the gown off me,” she begged in a pained voice.
“Hang on, baby doll. Regan has an injection,” he cooed, holding her hand tight as she started shifting on the couch.
“I need this gown off me,” she repeated, clutching his hand and beginning to move with agitation.
“One second, honey,” he told her and smelled Regan before he saw her rush in, Gregor on her heels, Yuri not far behind and behind him, Caleb, Ryon, Calder, Sonia’s bridesmaids and Lucien.
“A guard on the door, Ry,” he ordered, his eyes then moving to his mother, “Injection.”
She was already digging in her purse as she rushed toward them.
“Cal,” Sonia’s hand gripped his in a death hold. “Please, honey, please, get this gown off me. I’m burning up.”
“The injection’s coming,” Callum assured her.
“Sonny, my dear, did you forget your injection last night?” Gregor asked. Having moved close, he squatted down beside the couch.
“No,” she shook her head, her eyes heated and dazed, “Cal gave it to me as usual.”
Gregor looked to Callum. “Stress?” he murmured.
“Maybe,” Callum murmured back as Regan handed him the loaded syringe.
“Get a cool cloth, hurry,” he heard Yuri order someone as Callum looked down at his mate.
“Roll to your side, little one, I’m injecting through your dress,” Callum told her and she stopped shifting with agitation and rolled to her side as ordered.
Callum made swift work of injecting the medicine.
He then carefully pulled her up and into his arms. “Two minutes,” he whispered in her ear. “Two minutes, baby doll, hold on.”
She writhed in his arms, fighting him as he counted it down in her ear.
At one minute five seconds, her back arched so violently she nearly tore herself out of his arms, her head flew back and she screamed a scream filled with agony.
Callum’s blood ran cold.
“Fucking hell, what the fuck?” Yuri growled from close.
“Here’s a cold cloth,” Leah said, handing it to Gregor who immediately moved in to press it to Sonia’s forehead.
He had it there for not a second before she bucked again, letting out a primal scream that tore through the space and straight through Callum’s heart.
Sonia shot double, h
er hands forming claws, tearing at the bodice of her gown as she cried, “It’s not working. It’s not working. I need this gown off. I need his gown off!”
Callum’s head shot around and his eyes pinned Calder. “Find the wolf who’s been trained to see to this. Get me another injection,” Callum ordered.
Calder, also pale, nodded and sprinted from the room.
Sonia’s hands moved from her gown to claw at Callum. “Cal! Get this gown off!”
“We’re getting another injection,” Callum told her, trying to sound soothing but even he could hear the worry in his voice.
“I’m calling her doctor,” Gregor snapped, straightening to standing, reaching into his jacket to pull out his phone.
“Do something, for fuck’s sake. More cool cloths. Ice. Fucking something!” Yuri shouted.
Callum tried to control Sonia’s thrashing. “Hang on, Sonia. Hang on, baby doll. It’s been too much for you. We should have planned. The trial, The Mating. We should have planned.”
She stopped thrashing, her hazy eyes finding his. “This isn’t right,” she whispered, her voice panicked, anguished, terrified.
Callum felt a presence, he knew who it was before he looked up and saw Lucien standing close.
“Let me feed,” he requested gently as Leah moved in with the cool cloth to press it to Sonia’s forehead.
Distractedly, Callum noted Leah’s head jerk before it snapped up to look at her mate, her face shocked as well as pained.
“Vampire saliva has healing properties, Callum, powerful ones. You know this. Perhaps, until her medicine arrives, it will give her some relief,” Lucien suggested.
“Do it, anything,” Sonia begged. “Anything.”
Callum looked to Leah to see her face had blanked and she was pressing the cloth to Sonia’s forehead.
He knew in that instant, if Lucien fed from Sonia, it would be a betrayal to his mate and it might not be worth that large of a sacrifice because it might not work.
“You can’t,” he muttered, looking back to Lucien and he finished, “Your mate.”
“I can,” Gregor stated, stepping forward.
“She’s your daughter,” Yuri hissed, his voice repulsed.
“Yes, and I want her to survive,” Gregor fired back.
“Then I’ll do it,” Yuri announced moving toward them.
With Everything I Am Page 53
