"What the hell are you saying, Dominic?" Natalie asked, very carefully.
"I need alliances, Natalie." Natalie almost jerked at Dominic's words. "Your dad collects them like they're coupons. If I had an alliance with him, I would have a link to his alliances and then I'll have plenty of wolves to call on for this battle. Maybe it will make my brother hesitate, maybe it won't. In any case, the situation will be evened out."
Alliances, alliances, alliances. "So, you're asking me to reject a guy who wants nothing more than an alliance with my dad, all in favor of a guy with the same motive?" Natalie snickered. "You could probably arrange an alliance without using me, so why not just contact him?"
But she already knew the answer to that. Her dad was cunning and ruthless, known for sniffing out a person's weakness and leaping on it. He would see how much Dominic needed him and would exploit it. Probably by demanding some of his territories or by insisting he owed him a 'favor'. Being indebted to an Alpha like him was never a good thing. Alliances formed through mating, on the other hand, were more balanced.
"There's a very big difference between what it would mean to mate with me and what it would mean to mate with Mark."
"What's that?"
"With me, it doesn't have to be permanent. And I'd never hurt you, unlike Mark."
Ignoring his last remark, Natalie shook her head. "Wolves mate for life."
"Yes, but I don't want cosmic, soul-moving, etching shit in my life." Natalie felt taken aback at how confident Dominic sounded. How was he so sure he wouldn't start feeling the kind of emotions that kept a mating alive? "Of course, we have to make everyone believe this is the real deal and that we've mated for life," he continued, "but all I need is for you to remain with me as my mate until the battle is over."
"Well, then you don't necessarily need me to mate with you. You just need me to act as though I'm mated to you."
He shook his head. "That wouldn't work because I'd need to mark you. The second I do, you'll be classed as my mate. It will be a real mating, just not a forever-after one."
The big issue, though, was that Natalie was sure Raven would be accepting of his mark and wouldn't understand that this was to be a short-term thing. It still wouldn't be difficult to break the mating link because she and Dominic wouldn't etch on each other, but it would be very uncomfortable for her wolf. And that was just one of many problems. "Look, even if I wanted to take you up on your offer, I couldn't. My dad and Mark have already signed contracts and my dad's elated at the idea of having an alliance with Mark. He won't stop it."
"Unless you make him believe that we're true mates."
Natalie's tone turned flat as she mumbled. "I told you, my mate is dead. And although not everyone in the pack knows I lost her, my dad knows."
"Many times werewolves have mistaken a close childhood friend as their future mate. You'll just need your father to believe that was the case with you. As for everyone else, they would be the catalyst used in convincing him."
She shook her head. "I couldn't do that to Ava, I couldn't shit on her memory like that. I won't shit on her memory period."
*****
Dominic was taken aback by Natalie's response, and although he was very good at hiding his reactions, he couldn't help the slight frown that flashed through his eyes. "She?" he couldn't help but ask.
Natalie glared at him like she was expecting him to elaborate, so he did. "Are you gay?"
A hot look flashed through her light blue orbs as she responded. "Bi. I dabble in both."
Dominic relaxed a little. It would have been a shame if all this had been in vain. Knowing he needed to tread carefully in his questioning, he kept his tone gentle. "Does your father know?"
A look of sadness passed through her features as she answered. "What do you think?"
Anger. Hot and bright sliced into him with the need to break her father's neck. The man didn't even consider what his only daughter wanted. Only what he needed. Dominic knew he needed to focus on the issue at hand, which was convincing Natalie to betray her dead mate. So he schooled his tone into a gentle tune and rasped, "Do you think Ava would prefer for you to be stuck in a mating you don't want? Do you think she'd want that for you? Would you have wanted it for her?"
"It still doesn't seem right," Natalie rasped, her voice raw with emotion.
He was impressed by her loyalty. "It's not like we can make it look as though we met, fell head over heels, and then decided to mate. We don't have the time, and given my reputation, it wouldn't look realistic. It would also give your dad room to argue your choice of mate. If it's believed that we're true mates, he can't oppose that – it's beyond his control."
"What about your pack? Won't they know it's bullshit?"
Not wanting to go into the specifics, he kept his reply vague. "It's a shitty story, but let's just say my pack is aware of my inability to find a true mate." Everyone knew about his curse, they just didn't know everything and he would like to keep it that way. "I informed my pack a few weeks ago of my plan to mate and they are down with it. They will play along that we're true mates if it helps us keep our territory and stops my brother from taking over the pack." Unfortunately, not all of them were supportive of a West being in their pack but telling her that wouldn't be a wise move.
*****
A part of Natalie wondered what she was hesitating for. She wanted to get away from Mark, didn't she? Well here was her chance. But it wasn't as simple as that, was it? No, because her chance came in the form of another big bad Alpha who had a price for his help. Hell, two wolves suddenly wanted to mate her – two alpha wolves – yet neither cared even a tiny bit about her. She was a means to an end. Not exactly flattering and it certainly stung.
Natalie was surprised by just how much it stung considering that she hadn't envisioned ever wanting to take a mate; it would have felt like she was betraying Ava. Yeah, that might not make a lot of sense given that they were just teenagers when she died, but Ava had been the one person in the world created for her, just for her. Created to care for her, to accept her, to love her.
And because of that, just as Dominic had pointed out, Ava wouldn't have wanted her to be trapped in a mating she didn't want. Ava would have wanted, no, expected, her to do whatever it took to escape that fate. This particular avenue, however, might be a bit too complicated.
"Even if I did agree to this deal, I don't see how we could fake a mating bond. It's an extremely intimate thing. Mates are all touchy-feely, they don't spend a minute apart, they smell each other, they wear each other's marks and they have some kind of link that helps them sense each other's mood. How in the hell could we ever fake a metaphysical connection like that?"
"We'll only need to fake it when anyone outside my pack is around and that won't be often. Knowing that your freedom from Mark depends on this should help you dramatically with your acting skills."
Well Damn! He had it all figured out, didn't he?