She shook her head. “No, Cal, I sense he’s confused about who he is and what that means.”

She watched her husband’s brows snap together. “He has to be at least one hundred fifty years old, maybe older, Sonia. He couldn’t have existed without learning about his nature. A pup has no control over turning wolf, and a vampire feeds on blood from the time they’re weaned from their mother’s breast.”

“But there’s so much more to it,” she reminded him.

“Yes, there is, but none of it is more vital than sharing with him that he and his mate play a pivotal role in keeping humanity safe from enslavement, which includes the possibility one, the other, or both will die in the process.”

“Cal—”

He leaned deeper toward her and his voice was firm when he said, “I know this. I know as wolf. You told me the wolf is winning out in him so I know, Sonia, that the most important thing to him is to know the extent of danger his mate is in and how he can do something to stop it.”

She could not argue with this.

She still had a bad feeling.

“I’ll talk to him. Later,” Callum stated. His hand went back to moving up her thigh and his voice gentled but came thick when he said, “Now, baby doll, take off that fucking nightie and get on your belly for your wolf.”

The blue in his eyes was gone and they shone with the hunger she felt gnawing through her. A hunger that had to be assuaged. An urge she could no longer deny.

So Sonia, Queen of the Werewolves, took off her nightie, slid off her panties, and moving on trembling limbs, she got on her belly for her wolf.

Chapter Eleven

Dark Day

Abel

Abel stood at the basin, the light over it the only light that lit his space, his hands curled around the edge of the sink, his eyes to the mirror.

They were meeting the vampires and wolf that morning at nine at the restaurant.

He could not, for the life of him, sense anything other than genuineness from the human bride of the vampire and the queen of the werewolves, and his senses were keen. The women were open, honest, friendly, as well as slightly guarded, but only in a way that it was clear they wished to establish trust and not do anything that might harm that mission. They also bonded with Delilah swiftly and easily.

And he knew, being who he was and now understanding part of what he was, that it was a massive statement, their mates allowing them to come to the restaurant unprotected.

He was still worried.

That day was going to be a dark one; he knew it in his gut.

He’d left Delilah asleep in bed, but he sensed her stirring.