The Mating
“UM . . . DON’T YOU think it’s a bit much, Mara?” Sonia asked hesitantly as Maraleena moved around the back of her, aiming a mirror at Sonia’s hair while Sonia held a mirror in front of her face, taking in the complicated, but artful and lovely, twists and curls that Mara had pinned in a thick wide bunch at the nape of her neck.
“No, Sonny! Absolutely not! Today’s a big day and there will be pictures of you and Cal in every wolf newspaper in the world. It has to be perfect!”
The butterflies in Sonia’s stomach, already out of control, went into overdrive.
She’d found a pretty, but simple, ivory dress online and had it delivered. It was definitely more than what Mara and Callie had described a she-wolf would wear at her Mating but far less than any self-respecting human bride (unless she was a hippie or just not that into dressing up) would wear. Sonia thought it was a happy medium, although she had to admit, if only to herself, that she would have preferred the pomp and circumstance. A dress encrusted with lace and pearls, her hair just as it was, fabulous shoes, and all the trimmings of a wedding.
Actually, a Royal Wedding.
She was queen, it had been a bumpy ride, it would have been nice if she’d had something amazing to remind her how glorious it was and would always be.
Until she was no longer.
She pulled in breath through her nose, hiding the fact she was doing it and deciding it was good she wouldn’t have pomp and circumstance.
It would always be a happy memory for her.
For Callum, once she was gone, it would be a tortuous one.
So this was good. Simple. Fast. Then a big party.
“You look lovely,” Regan whispered from close and Sonia’s eyes slid to the side to see her mother-in-law standing there, tears shimmering in her eyes, which made wet hit Sonia’s. “Or, more lovely than you usually do,” she corrected.
“Thank you, Regan,” Sonia whispered back.
“Lassiter and Cherise,” she pulled in breath, Sonia did the same, and Regan continued, her voice husky, “they would be very proud.”
“Thank you,” Sonia said softly, lowering the mirror to her lap.
Regan reached out and pulled it from her hand then she set it aside, pushed her hand into the pocket of her smart trousers and pulled out something that glinted but Sonia couldn’t see it. Regan’s hand curled around Sonia’s and she pulled it to her. Pressing out Sonia’s pinkie finger, she slid a thin, gold, antique-looking band with a small yellow diamond in it on her pinkie.
Sonia stared at the ring and her startled eyes went to Regan when she stated, “Your mother’s mother gave that to her when she was a girl. Your mother gave it to me for safekeeping to give to you today.”
Sonia drew in a shocked, painful, joyous breath as her fingers curled tight around Regan’s and tears flooded her eyes.
“Oh Sonny!” Mara cried. “Your makeup!”
“Let her cry,” Sonia heard Callie say quietly. “We’ll fix it.”
“I—” Sonia began.
“Say nothing,” Regan cut her off then finished on a whisper. “I know. What you need to know is that Cherise knew, Lassiter knew, they knew you loved them just as much as they loved you.”
Her lips quivering, she could hold them back no more and Sonia whimpered as Regan pulled her into her arms and held her close.
“I’ll get the makeup again,” Mara muttered from behind them as Sonia held on tight.
And she kept doing it for a long time.
Regan returned the favor.
Sonia stared at herself in the full-length mirror that had been brought up to her and Callum’s room.
Her hair was not right and her makeup, again fixed after crying in Regan’s arms, was also too much for her dress.
Way too much.
Way, way, way too much.
Her eyes flew to the clock on Callum’s nightstand. They had thirty minutes until she had to be in the SUV with Gregor and Regan, who were taking her to meet Callum at The Lodge.
“Um . . . maybe we should—” she began but stopped because she heard and smelled him.
She also heard something else and smelled it too, the scent familiar and her heart started beating hard as she turned and trained her eyes on the door.
Seconds later, Callum, so handsome he hurt her eyes wearing a well-cut, beautifully tailored tux, strolled through carrying an enormous white garment bag over his forearm.
Sonia stopped breathing even as her mouth dropped open.
Callum looked at her from head to toe then caught her eyes, grinned his sexy grin, and declared, “Baby doll, that’s pretty but it just won’t do.”
He then turned to the bed, threw the garment bag on it, and strolled out of the room, Kerry and Mabel streaming by him on their way in as he made his way out.
Sonia started breathing but only to hyperventilate.
“Oh my God! Can you believe this place?” Kerry shrieked, racing to Sonia and throwing her arms around her.
As usual, not to be outdone, Mabel screeched, “Scotland is awesome and Callum McDonagh is even awesomer!” and Sonia felt Mabel’s body hit her and Kerry’s embrace and they moved to fit each other in their clinch.
“I can’t cry, I can’t cry. We already did my makeup twice,” Sonia told them, holding on tight.
Kerry pulled back, held on with one arm, and lifted her other hand to fan Sonia’s face, and, as Mabel followed suit, Kerry ordered, “Don’t cry. We don’t have time. We have to get you dressed and then we have to get dressed too.”
“Yes, sweetheart, we have to get you dressed,” Regan proclaimed from beyond them.
Sonia looked to her and she lost her breath again for Regan was holding up a beautiful wedding gown encrusted with lace and pearls, and standing beside her was Callie, holding up a fabulous pair of elegant, sophisticated, stylish, stiletto-heeled, ivory slingback pumps with pearl-encrusted, pointed toes.
Cinderella shoes. Absolutely.
“Oh good goodness,” Sonia whispered.
“Callum thought you might want something special so he sent me shopping,” Regan informed her.
“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 a 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 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.
Teardrop 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 gaze 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 walked 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 her for 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.