"So when do we do this?"
Dominic smiled at Natalie's question. "I am thinking this weekend, at the Spring Solace."
Her eyes widened. "The Spring Solace? Are you sure? Everyone is going to be there."
Dominic nodded. "All the better. That way, everyone will be there to bear witness. They might even say the moon goddess brought us together."
"Isn't that a tad bit dangerous? Mark is going to be there. What if this turns into a war and one of us gets hurt? This would have been for nothing." Dominic understood her worries, but he had already thought of that.
"Mark will not be there," he rasped and Natalie scoffed.
"How can you be so sure? My father spoke to him and confirmed -"
"He will have an urgent emergency that day," Dominic cut in. "It's already being worked out as we speak."
Dominic could see the impressment on Natalie's face and his chest tightened. He liked surprising her, and it scared the shit out of him.
"It's best not to do anything out of the norm for you," Dominic continued, taking Natalie's stunned silence as understanding. "On Saturday, you'll attend the Spring Solace just like everyone else. At some point, I'll find you and we'll 'stumble upon' each other. I think you'll find that everything will move very fast from there. Then afterward you'll come home with me. In the meantime, go about your business the way you usually do. I'll give you my number in case there's some reason you need to get in touch. Try not to use it unless you have to." He didn't like that this gave her five days to change her mind, but this was the plan with the most potential.
She nodded.
"You can't tell anyone about this, Natalie. Not even your best friend. Especially when there's a risk that someone will consider you safer with Mark."
Dominic knew about her best friend, Shirley. Trevor had given him everything he needed to know about her. Including the fact that Shirley was pretty protective of Natalie and she, along with all their other friends, seemed to find Mark completely charming. They didn't see the indifference behind his smile or the chillness in his stares. They felt he was perfect and would do everything they could to discourage Natalie from mating with any other wolf. And if that didn't work out, there was a high possibility that they would tattle.
Natalie remained silent and Dominic didn't like it. He couldn't risk their plan going to hell because she trusted a friend too much. "I mean it, Natalie, you have to keep your mouth shut about this. You don't tell a soul."
Dominic watched Natalie's face bristle at the ring of command in his voice and almost laughed out loud. "We should probably clear this up right now, Dominic. I don't have a submissive bone in my body so don't bark at me unless you're pleased with being ignored."
The word 'submissive' had his mind conjuring images of her tied up, bent over, and begging him to take her. He couldn't hold back a devilish smile, and he was sure by the way her light blue eyes narrowed that she knew just what was going through his head. "We'll see. So, can we shake on it?"
She reluctantly clasped his offered hand and Dominic's smirk came with a force. He couldn't wait to break her. This was going to be so much fun.
*****
The moment Natalie closed the front door of her pack house, a voice came booming behind her. "Where have you been, Natalie?"
Natalie wasn't surprised to see him waiting for her in the sitting room. Her father always sought her out so he could keep a leash on her and it irked her to no end. Usually, Lance West was indifferent to Natalie and could even go a whole day without talking to her. But the moment she is gone for hours on end, he begins to panic - which usually made it seem as if he truly wanted to see her. Truly wanted to bestow some attention on her. That might have worked when she was younger, but not anymore. She was pretty sure it confused him that she didn't respond to his interest by constantly striving to gain his attention and approval. Well, those times were long past and would never repeat themselves.
"What do you care?" She knew no one needed fixing in any way. She would have received a text message if that was the problem.
"It's almost time for the evening meal."
Oh right! Show off time.
"Also, Mark's going to be here soon. You have about two minutes to change and be a good girl."
Ah. No wonder. His Golden son inlaw was going to be in attendance. "I am perfect the way I am. What I want to know is why no one told me he was coming?"
Lance snickered. "Because you would have disappeared just to disgrace the both of us. As if I'm not already disgraced as it is. You know, I still don't know why you're so set against him. I never would have thought you'd have attracted an Alpha in a million years. Hell, a wolf shouldn't want to be bound to a Kage unless he had no choice. You should be grateful."
"Grateful to be mated to a worthless piece of shit? No thank you."
"To you, he may be worthless, but to the rest of the world, he is a freaking gold mine - which calls into question your sense of judgment. Anyways, you'll just have to grow to care about him. I want this alliance and you are not going to mess this up for me. Now get upstairs and change into something… I don't know…"
"Slutty?" Natalie offered and her father smirked. "You want me to look slutty." It would have been a shock if he hadn't been doing this every time an unmated male came here since she was fifteen. But it still managed to hurt each time. "Well, since you guys have already exchanged contracts, I'm sure we can all skip the seduction stage."
"While you're denying him there's still a chance he'll back out."
Natalie lifted her face to heaven. "That would be one hell of a blessing from the gods, papa. Wouldn't you love a blessing?"
"No. A blessing would be you getting the hell out of my house as soon as freaking possible. And whether you like it or not, Mark will be that way. Moreover, it'll be good for you to mate with someone who has a firm hand. You could use some discipline. Maybe he can be the one who manages to teach you the meaning of respect."
Natalie was taken aback. She had thought that her father just ignoring the rumors, blinding himself to them to escape the guilt. But that wasn't the case at all. The bastard felt nothing. He was perfectly content with the idea of handing her over to someone who would hurt her, and he wouldn't even be angry with Mark for doing it.
She took a step forward until she was invading his personal space, something that no wolf should do to their alpha, but at that moment he wasn't her alpha or her father. He was just an asshole. "You know, for the first time in my life, I'm glad Mom's not around. If she'd been here to hear this, it would have broken her heart."
He laughed. "You forget, Natalie, she died before it became clear you were Kage. If she had known, she would have wanted nothing to do with you than I do."
Natalie smiled. She knew her mother would never treat her like that. Her mom had the kindest of hearts. She was nothing like her husband. "You know, jamming your fingers into your ears might just prevent all that hot air from gushing out of your mouth."
"You disrespectful little bitch," he gritted out as he raised his hand to slap her.
She didn't cower. "Go on, do it."
"I'd rather you didn't, Lance," a voice boomed from the doorway and Natalie's blood ran cold. The bastard was here.