Maximus
Holy shit. I did not see this coming. Mind officially blown.
“You’re a descendant from the handmaiden?” Callie questions.
“Yes. We have stuck by and aided every Alpha Queen since then. Bridgett was tasked with the job of keeping the heir safe. Every handmaiden that has come after her has done the same thing. I was trying to do the same until your father up and left with you without saying a word. I tried so hard to find you. I failed you, and I will forever be sorry for that.”
“You didn’t fail me. My father is an unstable man. I never knew what he was going to do; I doubt you would have known either.”
Callyn’s aunt sighs. Here comes the bad news. No one makes that sound and follows it up with good news.
“There are two more things I need to tell you, and then, I will leave you and your mates to talk. Your father wasn’t really your father.” Callyn gasps.
“What do you mean? If he’s not my father, then who is?”
“Your mother meet one of her destined mates. He was in town on business, and they became close. He told her that he was pretty sure that the rest of her mates were back in his hometown. He was going to go back and get them. They were making arrangements and discussing if she should move to be with them or vice versa. On his way back, he was in a horrible accident. He didn’t make it. Your mother waited to see if one of her other mates would come for her, but she never heard a word. She packed up and moved. It wasn’t long before she met the man you would grow up thinking was your father. No sooner after she arrived, she found out she was pregnant. He told her that he would help raise you and treat you like you were his own.”
“We all know that was a fucking lie,” Graydon growled.
Ho. Ly. Shit. Callyn is a true shifter. A full-blooded shifter.
“Continue,” Lucian says.
“Yes, well, we all know how he turned out. He did start off treating you like his own daughter, but after your mother got sick,” she shakes her head, “I knew he was grieving, but I didn’t realize how far gone he was, and I’m sorry for that, Callyn.”
“He’s where he belongs now. What is the other thing?” Callie questions.
Callie is taking this news surprisingly well. I don’t buy it.
“By now you must have figured out that you can’t shift.” She has all of my attention now. Callie nods her head. “You will be able to. It’s written in the journal. In order to protect you, your mother had a witch put a suppressor spell on you. When the time came, should you have been the one the prophecy was talking about, your abilities would slowly manifest.”
“And exactly how does that work?” I ask. Don’t think that I missed the fact that she said witch. I mean that is pretty cool, that witches exist. Nothing is out of the realm of possibilities. Shifters and prophetess exist, why can’t witches and warlocks be real too.
“The closer and the stronger her bond grows with all of you, the more her abilities will transpire. The spell was made to only dissipate once you found your mates. Even if you would have only found one or two, the spell would have still broken a little. ”
“Is there any way to fast track this, because we may not have that much time,” Graydon say impatiently.
“Short of mating and claiming her, no.”
Well, butter my biscuit. No, seriously, I like butter on my biscuits. But yeah, I don’t think any of us are ready to claim her, as much as the idea appeals to my wolf. All of us fidget nervously, and Callyn picks up on it.
“Okay, why do all of you look like you’re embarrassed? What exactly does claiming and mating me entail?”
“Claiming is just a bite, but mating is sex,” her aunt says bluntly.
“S-s-sex,” Callie stutters. Oh, I’m so making her uncomfortable.
“Yeah, angel. You know the horizontal tango, knockin’ boots, bumping uglies, going to pound town, making the beast with two backs.” I would have kept going but I got smacked on the back of my head. I didn’t notice Graydon had walked up behind me.
“Shut. Up,” he says venomously.
I look at Callyn, and she is just staring at me with her mouth opening and closing like a fish. I couldn’t help it, I busted out laughing, which also earns me another smack from Graydon.
Totally worth it.
Graydon
I swear if Max doesn’t shut up I’m going to do more than smack him. Now is not the time for him to be playing games. I’m debating on if I should hold him down and shave his head as punishment when I can hear Callie stammering.
“But I… but we… we’re not… I’m not…” Damn, she can’t even form a complete sentence. I narrow my eyes at Max, ready to hit him again. “We haven’t even kissed yet.”
Well, Callie bear we can definitely change that.
“I volunteer as tribute,” Max says.
Like hell I would let him after the stunt he just pulled. I look at Callie gauging her reaction. She blushes harder than I have ever seen and that’s saying something. I can also hear the slight increase in her breathing. She is not opposed to the idea of him kissing her, but he needs to calm down. We all just literally said we loved her today. This is pushing too hard too fast. I’m usually okay with that, but not with Callie, not right now.
I roughly grab Max by the back of his neck, squeezing just enough so that he knows that I mean business. I lean down and whisper in his ear, “If you say or do one more inappropriate thing right now, I. Will. Hurt. You.”
“Okay, okay. Geez, take a chill pill. Don’t get your panties in a knot. I was just teasing her.”
“Yeah, well knock it off for now.”
“Okay, so sex is a no go right now. Is there anything else we can do to speed this up?” Callie questions.
“I’m afraid not. I’ll let you guys talk about it for minute. If you need me, I’ll be upstairs in my room.” We all watch Callie’s aunt leave.
The tension and the awkwardness in the room is stifling. No one makes a move. We sit there for a while longer just eyeing each other. This is going nowhere fast. Fuck it, I’ll be the first to talk since it looks like everyone else is too scared to.
“We need a course of action.” Everyone looks at me. “Obviously, we are not going to do anything until Callie is ready. I say we continue our training as we have been.”
“I agree with Graydon. We have been spending a lot of time together as it is, and Callie’s aunt said as our bond grows so will Callie’s abilities. Now, we have these journals to also help us. This is more than we could have hoped for since we found out who and what we are. These journals just gave us an edge we didn’t have before,” Lucian states.
“We need to know what’s in them, and once we have that information we can come up with a strategy. Until then, I vote that we all let our relationship progress naturally.”
“Agreed,” Lucian seconds.
“I agree,” Zeke says.
“You know I agree,” Callie says. We chuckle. We look at Max.
“Yeah, yeah. I agree,” he huffs.
“How are you doing with the rest of the information your aunt told you this evening about her and your father?” Lucian questions.
“I’m surprised and shocked. This is a lot of information to take in, and I’m having a little trouble processing it all right now. I think once it actually sinks in, I’ll be a mess. I’m so tired right now, and I honestly don’t want to think about it. Being in this house is hard enough.”
“You know we are all here for you if you need us. Just take it one day at a time, and now that your aunt is here, she can help you if we can’t,” Zeke says softy.
“I know. Thank you, for today and for tonight. I don’t know if I could have done any of this without you.”
“You never have to thank us for being there for you, sweetheart.” Everyone nods. Callie lets out the biggest yawn.
“Let’s revisit everything in the morning. It’s getting late, and we’re all tired.”
We all say goodnight to Callie before leaving and heading home. I did not expect to hear any of this tonight. Callie was not the only one shocked. She has been handling this extremely well. I’m proud of her. When her aunt dropped the bomb about the claiming, I was fighting my bear for control. He has wanted nothing but to claim her from the first moment he scented her. Hell, I want to, but this has to be at Callie’s pace. Though, I’m not sure how much longer I can go without kissing her. It takes everything I have not to pull her onto my lap and press my lips to hers. I’m only giving her a little bit more time before I take matters into my own hands.
I’ll make sure it’s a kiss she’ll never forget.