| Elemental Beings

Dominic wasn't surprised by his wolf's jealous reaction to the sight of the fading bite from Mark's wolf teeth on Natalie's flesh. What surprised him was the fact that she had accommodated his wolf's basic need to replace the mark with his own. He should be feeling over the moon, but that wasn't the emotion plaguing him. With one bite, he had done exactly what Mark had done. Force his mark on her due to jealousy.

"You didn't struggle," he said, knowing he sounded a little mystified. He hadn't expected Natalie's Kaged wolf to understand how difficult it was to reign in his beast's instinct when the wolf lived so close to the surface like him.  But somehow, she did. And that surprised him.

Natalie sighed and bit her lips. "You and I aren't all that different when it comes to our wolves, Dominic. My wolf constantly reaches for the surface, not because she has no understanding of why she's trapped, but because she hates that she is and always wants to test fate by pushing to the surface. She pushes her frustration, needs, and urges on me whenever she can and all I can do is take it to pacify her. So you see, I understand more than you might think about how it is for you to have your wolf so close. Not that I'll always placate him – it's probably best you understand that now. But both she and I know when to push and when to yield." 

That was something that only a true alpha could do, and Dominic's respect for Natalie went to a hundred and one percent in that instant. That wasn't something he could say for a lot of people. "It wouldn't be much fun if you placated me or my wolf all the time," he replied with a smirk, attempting to lessen the mood.

"Natalie, do you think we could just talk alone for a second?"  Dominic whipped his head around when he heard those words from one of Natalie's female pack mates.

*****

Natalie reckoned Shirley thought she wasn't thinking clearly, especially when she was around Dominic. She guessed her long-time friend was trying to take her someplace else in the hopes that she would see the light. She was about to assure Shirley that that wasn't the case when Richard tapped Shirley on the shoulder. 

"Getting in between mates isn't a smart idea, Shirley," he rasped. "Especially when they've only just claimed each other." 

"But they can't be -" She stopped mid-sentence and turned towards the entrance of the camp. Natalie felt his presence too and knew exactly why Shirley had stopped speaking. Her father was here. 

As soon as her father spotted her, he began marching toward her, clenching his fists. His eyes darted from her to Dominic and she could see the question in his heated gaze. "What the hell is going on-" Then he saw the mark on her neck and his words halted, his eyes going wide. 

"I've found my mate," Natalie declared in a steady voice. 

"Your mate?" he repeated, his voice laced with disbelief. "What the hell are you talking about, girl?" 

"I thought you'd be happy for me, daddy. Isn't this what you wanted? For me to be mated?" 

Lance's brows knotted in anger and he fixed his glare on Dominic. "Let go of my daughter." There was a slight tremor in his voice that betrayed his nervousness and Natalie couldn't help the small pleasure she felt in knowing he was scared of her mate.

"That's not going to happen," Dominic growled in response.

"What's your game here? We all know she isn't your mate. What would you want with her, with a Kaged wolf like her?" 

"Careful now," Dominic cautioned in a deceptively calm voice. Natalie could feel that he didn't like the derogatory way her father had spoken about her. 

"You want to trade her for some of my lands, is that it?" 

Dominic laughed at Lance's words, and it wasn't a happy laugh. "If I wanted some of your territories, Lance, I'd have challenged you Alpha to Alpha. And, believe me, I'd have won." 

"Well if this isn't about territory then what the hell is this all about?" 

"Um, Alpha," Richard began, "we all just saw what happened. It looked like true mates finding each other." 

Relief washed over Natalie as she saw many of the wolves around them nodding their agreement with Richard. 

"No!" Lance boomed and pointed hard at her. "You're doing this just to spite me, aren't you? You little bitch!"

"Hey," Dominic snapped and began to toward Lance. "Be very, very careful what you say next, Lance. Right about now, you on are paper thin ice." 

Natalie almost shivered at Dominic's words. They had been delivered in a lethal, authoritative tone and she couldn't help but smirk when he catch her dad grinding his jaw to stop himself from responding. "The decision was taken out of anyone's hands by nature itself, Dad," she finally spoke with a slight curve on her lips.

"Nature? If you're talking about your rebellious nature, then yeah, nature is what caused this. You're doing it to get out of mating with Mark. We both know that Ava was your true mate." 

"I thought so too, but as unbelievable as it might seem, I was wrong." Lord knew it had hurt her to say that. But she didn't have a choice. Ava was going to forgive her.

"No. I remember the way you were when she died. You wouldn't talk, barely ate, and never left the house. You were like that for over a year." 

"That was probably because mom had also died a few months before in a car accident also." 

Lance began taking a step toward her but Dominic gave out an animalistic growl and his advance halted. He snarled at Dominic. "Even if the kid wasn't her true mate it makes no difference, she's already mated! She's mated to Alpha Mark!" 

"As I said to your enforcer, if that had been true, I wouldn't have been able to claim her." 

"Well, I think you'll find Mark will disagree with you on that. And so do I. She's coming home with me," he said with finality and signaled to Pascal and Oslo to grab her. 

"If you try it," Dominic bit out, his face like thunder and his eyes flashing with anger. "I can guarantee you won't like what happens." Wisely, the enforcers remained still. 

"What are you waiting for?" Lance growled at them. 

Pascal shrugged. "It's like Richard said. We saw what happened, it sure looked like true mates-" 

Lance shook his head. "That can't be right! Can't you see they are deceiving you all? There's something you all are missing here." 

Natalie decided to use his own words against him. "With your view of the world, I would have thought you'd have found this easy enough to accept. According to you, no wolf would want a Kage for a mate unless he has no choice in the matter." 

"I don't even know why Mark wants you," Lance snickered. "Why anyone would and-"  before he could finish his sentence he was pressed against the makeshift bar with Dominic's hand wrapped around his neck.

"It's almost as though you want me to rip your throat out," Dominic growled. Natalie could see that he was seriously fighting his wolf from surfacing and doing just that. She knew he hadn't wanted there to be any violence, but he was beginning to see that she had been right, and that made her smile.

Although they weren't true mates and this whole thing was to be temporary, it seemed both their wolves weren't hung up on those details, weren't held back by them. Their wolves were elemental beings who acted mostly on instinct, and since he'd marked her, Natalie could tell that his wolf regarded her as his. His to protect, to comfort, to shelter, and to possess. And Raven was in total agreement with him.

Shit! They were both fucked.