Page 4 of Reclaiming His Lost Mate
That was the only thing the bond was capable of. Triggering a physiological reaction that brought about an illusion of the perfect love story, but I knew firsthand how much that mattered in the long run. My parents’ faces flashed in my mind; my mother’s unmoving eyes as she took her own life to escape the shackles of this freaking curse, and my father’s corpse-like state from then on till he too died.
One would have thought that my mother’s tragic demise would have been the beginning of my father’s happy life, but the glorified mate bond did not stop there. Call it a punishment for him not bending to the will of the bond, but right after Mom’s death, Dad’s depression followed, and it led him to his early grave.
A wave of anger washed over me instantly, thinking about the pain of my loss and my aversion for mate bonds!
Was I going to knowingly repeat such a tragedy?
Taking a deep-trained breath and gathering every atom of resolve Icould, I forced my raging beast to calm down within me as I spoke in a controlled voice.
“It would be unwise of me to make such an important decision just by looking at one of your daughters and feeling nothing other than a mental pull to her, Alpha Lucian, don’t you think?” I asked with a cocked eyebrow.
I doubt Lucian thought about the question, but he nodded eagerly anyway. “You’re absolutely right. They’re both amazing young women,” he praised, flashing his teeth, “but you do have to know each of them for yourself and then decide. Wha-what do you suggest?”
“I will speak with her first,” I said, tearing my eyes from Lucian to face the other sister. I painfully and carefully avoided Selina’s eyes because I knew that one look at her would be all I needed to go crazy.
“It’s Marissa,” she blurted sharply, making herself visible again. “The best way for us to do that would be on the dance floor,” she suggested with a skillful smile planted on her face.
Wordlessly, I moved to the side to let Marissa through to the large clearing at the center of the ballroom where the ball had been going on behind us.
A couple of other people were intimately moving against each other to the music, but I found my scowl deepening as Marissa stepped into my personal space, her hands wrapping around my neck and her long, scratchy nails prickling the back of my head.
I was not hers to touch, but I was doing this for Shadow Moon Pack, so I had to do it right. My hands came up to hold her by the waist, and my skin recoiled with resentment, likely because of the fated bond, but I breathed past it.
“Do you want to go first, or should I?” Marissa asked right as we began shuffling our legs to the music.
Not beating around the bush. That was good.
“You seem so willing to get married. What is your reason?” I asked.
Marissa only took a second before her answer formed.
“The pack needs an alliance, and someone has to step up for it. I am the best candidate for the job,” she nodded, self assured.
“And why do you say so? Do you know what is expected of theperson bound to me by this marriage?” I asked, a frown on my face. “Or just how much affection you would be able to get out of me?”
This time, she shrugged. “What I will expect from you is to be my Alpha, protecting the packs in the fields and behind the conference tables. I will not want you to treat me like some woman in distress or have you feel entitled to showing me any form of affection,” she said, face set in adamance. Inhaling a sharp breath, she went on. “You are also willing to marry for your pack and not for love, seeing as the idea of an arranged marriage doesn’t faze you. Am I right?”
I nodded once. “Love is not in the books for me.”
“Then you and I are so much alike,” she said with a sweet smile. “Like you, I know what needs to be done, and I’m always ready to do whatever it takes. I know the benefits that us being married will bring to our packs, and my mission is to see it through as your Luna.”
“You will need someone to love you in the long run,” I argued, expecting her perspective to shift a little, but Marissa only scoffed.
“I don’t care about love. I have never believed in it, and I never will. I will play my role as your wife without fault, ensuring the harmony between Nightwing Pack and Shadow Moon Pack, and I will not fail in whatever other duties I have to you,” she said suggestively, but her tone told me that there was something else, so I asked.
“But?”
Marissa smiled. “But I can understand if that won’t be what you want, Alexis. I will encourage you to find your own lovers if I do not interest you sexually because what I am most concerned with is the Luna title.”
In the heartbeats that followed, I pondered on the woman’s words, letting the gravity of it all wash over me.
This way, I could continue doing what I had been doing for years—putting the needs of my pack as a priority, keeping us as safe as possible in the conflict-ridden society we lived in, and this time, I was doing it by also making sure that history did not play out again.
“We can both get what we want,” I echoed at last, seeing the picture come to life—me avoiding the shackles that ruined my family and my pack staying safe.
Marissa nodded. “As long as it’s not Selina.” Her nose scrunched upas she said the words, her hate for her sister displayed on her face openly. “I do not want to share my husband with her, even with a Wolfsbane gun pointed to my head. And seeing as you two are fated mates, I will not even entertain it.”
I wondered what the relationship between Selina and her family was, and how she was treated. What could make her sister hate her and her father show little concern about how she was treated?
