Chapter Four

Atlas

I should be focused on everything that is happening around me, but I couldn’t care less. Not about the guests, the pack elder about to chain me to a stranger for the rest of my life, or my father—my Alpha—glaring at me from his seat in the front row. I almost flip him the bird, but I know there will be hell to pay if I do something that stupid in front of this massive gathering.

All the members from both packs are here to witness this momentous mating. The thing that will bind and strengthen both packs. From today forward, we will have the strongest alliance in Northern America.

I should be worried about where Jana is and what she is doing, but that isn’t a priority for me either. The last part should make me feel like a horrible person, but I can’t find it in me.

No. My head is still reeling from last night. The woman who danced for me. Ballerina . Damn, I wish I knew her real name. I wish quite a few things were different about last night.

She has consumed my every waking thought since I left Dark Side of the Moon. Hell, she even haunted my dreams last night. Unblemished skin, perky tits, swaying hips, and an ass I wanted to take a bite out of. Not to mention her dark green eyes that seemed to look right into my soul.

What the fuck is wrong with me? I’ve never been the type of man to fall into lust. Why now? Why her? Is this an effect of what my father is doing? Or am I only now realizing that the mate I do not want will be the second, and last woman I ever sleep with?

It was my first time visiting the burlesque club everyone in the area has been raving about this past year. And I can honestly say I wasn’t disappointed. I only wish I had decided to go sooner.

She was stunning. Her confidence. Her sexuality. All of it folded into each other to create the most beautifully sexual being I have ever laid eyes on. And the way she danced? Goddess, she was stunning.

I would have loved to spend more time with her, perhaps to fold her over the black leather couch in that back room and fuck her until she screamed my name, but I couldn’t. I already had enough on my plate, and I didn’t feel like dealing with any extra bullshit. So, I left the club after a few hours, horny and somewhat pissed off even though I wasn’t quite sure why except that I didn’t want to leave her there. I did leave a ridiculous tip for Ballerina and vowed to forget about the strange woman whose real name I didn’t even know.

I need to focus on being the son my father wants. I am going to be the Alpha of this pack someday and as such I need to learn to fall in line and follow orders. Even those I don’t want to.

Which is how I ended up here. I am standing in a clearing in the middle of the forest, darkness creeping in as the stars twinkle in the night sky, ready to be mated before both our packs to a woman I have never laid eyes on. Hopefully, she will be as disinterested in this mating as I am, and we can go on with our own lives even if we must live together.

I know I won’t be able to ignore her completely, as we will be expected to procreate, but I don’t have any interest in getting to know her beyond the bare minimum.

A hush falls over the crowd. Lifting my head I clear my thoughts and look down the aisle to see a woman with long, wavy, dark brown hair, standing in a white knee-length sundress. Her father, the Alpha of the Clover pack, takes her arm in a grip that is clearly firmer than it should be and all but drags her toward me.

She is tall with long, tan legs peeking out beneath the lace. Her curves are on display in the dress she chose, accentuating her breasts. In her hands she holds a bouquet of wildflowers and my lips twitch slightly. I can’t think that either of our fathers would be happy with such a simple thing. Looks like my future mate at least has a mind of her own. If I have to spend any amount of time with her, at least she won’t be a complete idiot.

A short veil covers the front of her face so I take in what I can see. She has beautiful alabaster skin that will mark beautifully. Maybe being mated to her won’t be so much of an inconvenience after all. Fucking her definitely won’t be a chore. Where the hell did that thought come from? My heart belongs to Jana. I shouldn’t be thinking of losing myself in another woman no matter how fuckable she looks.

“Behave,” her father hisses in her ear.

She nods silently. Her father presses her hand into mine before taking a seat beside my father. I hope he knows he won’t be talking to her that way in the future. Strange, protective feelings for this unknown woman well up inside me, and I want to pummel her father when I see the red handprint on her arm. The only marks she should ever wear are mine. My mind is swirling with thoughts that make absolutely no fucking sense to me. I have never felt the urge to mark a woman before tonight, and now I want her to wear my bite marks all over her perfect skin for the world to see, like a brand of ownership.

I shake my head to clear the thoughts and hopefully bring my rampant erection under control before anyone can notice.

Clearing his throat, the pack elder beside us makes sure he has our attention before he starts to drone on about the importance of the pack and the community we have built. How a bonded, mated couple is the lifeblood of our entire way of being.

“Atlas, will you take care of this woman? Will you cherish her and her animal unlike any other? Will you put her life, safety, and happiness before your own?” the pack elder asks.

“Yes.” My reply is loud and clear, carrying through the clearing.

“Cathy, will you take…”

But the woman before me cuts off the pack elder, not needing to hear the rest.

“Yes.”

I stare at her covered face wishing she would remove the damn thing already. Her husky voice sounded familiar, niggling at my brain. I try to figure out where I would know her from, but I can’t grab hold of the memory.

Chuckles erupt around us at her hurried reply, people assuming we simply want the mating ceremony over so we can move on to more important business, like the actual mating.

Very few people are aware that we don’t know each other, much less that we are being forced to do this. My father wants this to seem like a perfect little love story, even though that couldn’t be further from the truth. But appearances and all that shit, you know.

“Well then,” the pack elder says with a chuckle of his own. “To seal this mating before your pack, friends, and family, you may now kiss your mate.”

Slowly, she lifts the veil to reveal her face for the first time. Shock courses through me as I take in every inch of her features, seeing a face I never thought I would see again.

The Ballerina.

“Kiss me, you idiot,” she hisses, grabbing me behind my head and sealing our lips and our fates together.