| A Man She Could Lose

An overwhelming need to pee woke Natalie up the next morning. The rays of moonlight peeking through the curtains had been replaced by sunlight, showing off the beauty of the early morning. Her intention to stretch was inhibited by the tanned, muscly arm and leg belonging to the wolf behind her, both of which were draped over her as if to trap her there. She smiled at that. Then her smile widened as she recalled being woken a few times in the night. Yeah, it could be said that they had engaged in a sexual marathon. Dominic was insatiable and had impressive stamina, even for a werewolf. 

Natalie wriggled out from under his hold and went to answer the call of nature. She found herself staring longingly at the luxurious tub – a hot bath sounded fabulous… but her rumbling stomach had other ideas.

A few minutes later she was dressed and heading through the damn network of tunnels when the familiar black door that led to the kitchen suddenly opened and a tall-looking wolf stepped out, a smile covering his face. At noticing her, he gave her a curt nod and went on his way.

Natalie had known the kitchen wouldn't be too hard to find, not when she could just follow the scents of meat and eggs and hot toasted bread. She stepped into the kitchen and the chattering immediately stopped while four strange faces looked at her curiously, though they didn't seem surprised to see her. The word must have gotten out thatⁿ Dominic had finally brought her here. 

Natalie was aware that as simple as this moment was, it was also pivotal for her. From what she could deduce, her stay here wasn't going to be a pleasant one. She being Lance West's daughter was enough to make some wolves give her a hard time. She knew it didn't matter that her mating with their Alpha was mostly for their gain and might ultimately aid their cause. She was still a West and there was no way any of them would want to answer to her, even if for a short while.

Also, the fact that she was Kage meant that some people would regard her in the same way that her father did – a freak of nature, an easy target, someone who didn't even count as a werewolf. They would test her patience and strength and make her stay here difficult.

Knowing this, Natalie figured there were a few ways she could handle her first few moments in their pack. One, she could present them with a dazzling smile and introduce herself needlessly, hoping to win them over with a friendly attitude. Two, she could act aloof and distant, while ignoring any attempts to goad her. Or three, she could just be her usual ray of sarcastic fucking sunshine and tell anyone who pushed her to go eat shit.

A bigger person would have gone with option one, but, well, she was a bitch. So she decided to go with the option of being her shiny self.

They were all still staring at her when she decided to break the ice. "Look, I'm not much of a morning person because I tend to sleep through it so if you're hoping to piss me off with words or whatever you might have up your sleeve, then I advise you to proceed with extreme caution. We'll get along just fine though if you don't treat me any differently than you would the next girl."

They all stood looking at her with what looked like amusement and shock and Natalie felt a prick of pride for standing up to them and putting things straight. Satisfied with their response, she nodded at their stunned faces and hopped up onto the smooth marble countertop.

After a second, a plump brunette who had been pouring coffee for the others began to approach her. "Hi, you must be Natalie," she said, smiling. "I'm Genny. I cook, clean, and say 'shit' a lot." 

Natalie smirked. "Ah, someone who speaks my language." 

She gestured at the dining table where croissants, toasted bread, bacon, scrambled eggs, baked beans, sausages, platters of cold meat, various fruits, and cereals were all laid out. "The wolf over there with the glasses and the goatee who's the epitome of geeky, that's my mate Ryan. The guy next to him with dusty blonde hair and a baby face is Campbell. And the unfairly gorgeous female opposite him with the unfairly great legs is Cam's mate, Lynn."

"Stop mooning over my mate's legs, Genny," Campbell grunted playfully before shoveling half a croissant into his mouth. 

"You're like a little doll," his mate, Lynn, mocked while smiling at Natalie. She was the only one other than Genny who had a smile for her. "No one would ever think you had such a smart, awesome mouth." 

"But you would, baby doll," Campbell replied with a sly smirk, and Lynn blushed lightly.

"Coffee, tea, or orange juice?" Genny asked while Natalie took one of the empty plates and piled bacon, scrambled eggs, and toasted bread on it.

"Coffee," she replied before settling her ass back on the counter. At Genny's amused but questioning look, she shrugged. "I always sit on the counter. A little quirk of mine." 

Genny's gaze skimmed over her, taking in the various marks of possession that decorated her flesh. "Well, short of having 'Property of Dominic Crane' tattooed on your forehead, he couldn't have made it any clearer that he considered you his, could he?" 

Very true. In addition to those marks that Dominic had left while they consummated the claiming, there were those that he had made during the second, third and fourth rounds that followed through the night. There was a bite at the hollow of her throat, another on her inner wrist, a third one on the swell of her breast, and also claw marks on both upper arms – and they were only the ones that weren't hidden beneath her black t-shirt, navy jeans, and black leather knee boots.

And what had Dominic's response been when she told him that he may have overdone it a little with the marking? A shrug followed by a very smug grin. 

Maybe it would be fair to say that if she hadn't fought him so hard on the issue of belonging to him then she wouldn't be in this state. Yeah, but that only applied to the first time. After that, she had conceded belonging to him as his mate, although she had snarled at him with every concession. He hadn't had any need to keep it up. 

She wondered if maybe the drive behind it had been that he had sensed that her admission was only half-hearted. Once she had belonged to someone and when she had been taken from her it nearly killed her, even though they had never mated. As it was, Ava had taken a chunk of her when she died. And that was okay because that was her chunk to take. But she wouldn't give that much of herself to another person again. Her soul wouldn't survive the loss a second time as there wouldn't be enough of her left to allow her to live. She would simply exist, breathing in and out and in and out, but nothing more.

Knowing that Dominic was a male who she would lose didn't help their situation one bit. So, yeah she would belong to him on a physical level, but no more than that. 

It was best that way as it meant there was no chance whatsoever of the process of imprinting being sparked. Despite Dominic's mark-happy behavior, he didn't want that any more than she did. It was simply like the male to want to completely possess his mate inside and out. This male would just have to make do. 

"And I thought I looked badly marked up on my claiming night," Lynn muttered.

"Can I, um, ask," began Ryan "is it true that you're, um, Kage?" At her nod he added, "Do you still feel your wolf or is she buried deep?" 

Genny quickly interrupted. "You should know that Ryan is one of the most curious people to have ever walked the face of the Earth. Whereas he's great with computers and anything technical, he's not an expert with human emotion. It wouldn't occur to him that he might offend you by bringing it up." She shot him a reprimanding glare.