Callan gritted his teeth as Mathias stitched his side, the pain worsening each time the needle went through him. He could either wait for his wolf to heal it or go through this, the most painful of the options, but the gash was too wide, too deep for his wolf to heal his injury as fast as he would like—he had his mating ceremony to attend.
He was aware of the worry he had garnered with his injury and how everyone was gathered around him, waiting for him to talk about what had happened, but Callan felt too exhausted too. For now, his mind and body were simply fixated on getting through this ceremony successfully, and he was beginning to genuinely doubt that would be possible.
His thoughts went back to the werewolves that had attacked him. They hadn't been rogues as they’d tried to pretend to be, soaking themselves in slime in a bid to give off the stench of that which they seek to masquerade as. It was comical sometimes how much the werewolves in lower ranks underestimated Alphas.
Escaping them though hadn't come easy, but here he was, whoever had set up the attack had once more failed, and now he knew what remained to stop his mating ceremony was an attack during it. His eyes wandered to Sophia, who was seated at the foot of the bed, curled into herself, the worry and pain in her eyes made her seem even younger than she was.
He attempted to flash her a smile, but it came out shaky. Usually, for stitching like this, he would have required to be put in an unconscious state, but Callan couldn't risk it, and besides, his pain threshold was stronger compared to others.
Sophia’s eyes were on him in a way that made his chest tighten. Her light yellow eyes sheened with the unshed tears that pooled in them.
“Come here,” he said, gesturing for her.
She wiped her eyes and let out a soft breath before doing as he’d said, shuffling on the bed to reach his side. When she did, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed her closer to him.
“If you keep looking at me with such pity and love, it'll only serve to worsen the pain,” he whispered to her.
“But you are hurt!” she cried.
This time, his smile was genuine. “Trust me, I know.”
“Don’t be so lighthearted about this, Callan,” Isla scolded. “This could have been so much worse, and we would have no idea what happened to you.”
He buried his nose into Sophia’s hair and shut his eyes. The smell of his mate infused much more calmness into him than he could ever hope for, his nearness to her granting him a soothing sensation; both man and wolf, his wolf in more need of it after his kills from earlier.
He lifted his head to flash Isla another smile. “I'm here now, Isla, and I am fine.”
She nodded, and he saw her wipe her eyes with the back of her hand. She, too, had been crying.
“C’mon, Isla, don't go soft on me too.”
She shook her head. “I don't know what I’d have done if I’d lost you.”
He sighed. “That won't be happening anytime soon. I promise.”
It was a promise he was going to try his best to uphold.
He turned to Sophia. “Did you like your surprise?”
And when she grinned at him like that, it made everything worth it, and he would go through so much more, endure the worst of pain just to preserve the happiness on her face. It granted him more satisfaction than anything to slowly see how much she had changed from the woman she had been when he’d first met her - the servant whose eyes had held such profound sadness, battered and beaten to submission.
It stunned him how he had ever been able to delude himself into thinking he could live without her, mate with another and watch his true mate go on to live a life without him. In his own way, he had allowed his father to hold such control of him, allowing his need for tactfulness to control even his own desires.
She nodded her head. “Yes, Callan. You have no idea how much it means to me. I never…” She swallowed. “I could never in my wildest dream conjure up scenes of me reuniting with my sisters, but you somehow made that possible.”
He tucked her hair behind her ear and planted a small kiss on her nose, watching her redden at the blatant intimacy they shared in front of everyone. “I love you.”
“All done,” Mathias announced, taking a step back. “You would be fine through today as long as you don't exert yourself enough to tear the stitching.”
And Callan’s thoughts slid back to his concerns about an attack during the mating ceremony, but he said nothing. He was not a weak Alpha, he would be able to protect his mate even if the consequences would be tearing his stitches or, worse, losing his life. He was prepared for the consequences regardless of how direful they would be.
“Thank you, Mathias,” he let out, resting his head on the pillows propped behind him.
“Are you certain we can go through the ceremony today?” Isla asked. “You don't look too well.”
“I'll be fine, don't worry about me, and go get dressed. I need you to look incredible tonight.”
This at least elicited a small smile from her. “Fine, but you have to promise not to exert yourself, alright?”
He nodded, and she approached him and pulled him into a hug before kissing the top of his head, reminding him of when she used to do that when he was younger, holding him in her arms in an attempt to fill in the void his mother’s death left.
“Don’t embarrass me further, Isla. I'm seated next to my mate.”
She rolled her eyes playfully at him. “You would forever remain a little boy to me, and Sophia doesn't mind.”
Sophia let out a small, musical laugh that did things to his insides. “I don't mind, I'm happy he has you. I'm happy we all do.”
“And I am happy to also have you all in my life. Everything will be fine. Eventually, you'll see,” Isla reassured, stroking Sophia’s cheeks, and with those words, she gave them one final smile before exiting the room and leaving Callan and Sophia alone.
“Can you go through with this?” she asked.
His answer was to wrap his arm around her waist and lift her to settle her on top of himself.
“Callan!” she shrieked. “What are you doing? You’d hurt yourself.”
His hand caressed her stomach, an impish smile on his face. “It would be worth it.”
She gave him a shy smile before letting out a small smile. “I guess I should quit being so worried about you. Who knows? You might be pretending you're injured just to get me closer to you.”
His hand slipped in through her clothes, sliding up her back to massage the base of her spine. “Is it working?” he asked, one of his brows raised teasingly.
Her breath came out slower now. “Yes, unfortunately,” she whispered.
He inched nearer to her until they were just a breath apart, his eyes on her soft-parted lips. “Is this any closer?”
“A little more.”
Callan fought to rein his desires, but he’d be damned if it wasn't one of the hardest things he’d ever done.
He swore under his breath before closing the gap between them, taking her mouth in his with all of the passionate hunger he struggled with, and when a soft moan escaped her, it was all he could do not to go mad with the desire to do all of the things he’d dreamt about.
He had never wanted a woman like this - not with this maddening craze that engulfed him now. One of his palms rested on the soft swell of her breast, the other on the hollowness of her waist as he kissed her, his mouth trailing down from hers to leave trails of his kisses from the base of her throat down to her collarbone.
She gripped his shoulder for stability, her head thrown back, and her eyes closed.
“You have to stop me now,” he murmured, his voice hollow and thick with desires.
“What if I don't want you to stop?”
He chuckled against her. “Then we just have to improvise in a way that doesn't ruin us both.”
He flipped her so that she lay on her back on the bed, and he was on top of her.
“Let's start with getting rid of this.” He began to peel off her clothing, unsure if he could do it fast enough before losing himself completely, but this was Sophia, his mate, and they had all the time in the world - he hoped.