CHAPTER 7

The dumb animal was impressed by his dominant display, liked that he was shielding and protecting her. She wasn"t even adverse to the idea of him squeezing Ben's throat a little tighter despite that the guy had lowered his eyes in a sign of submission. She could understand why Ben had. Gio had a certain intensity about him that made him always seem intimidating, but this was different. He was menacing, fierce, unyielding. Every word had been a command and rung with power and authority. It had Danica feeling a little flushed, if she was honest. "Cody gets here on Sunday," warned Ben. "He"ll come for you." Gio laughed. "Oh I certainly hope he does." With that, he flung Ben away from him and signalled for Chris to release Matt. He then turned his back on them, communicating his lack of fear, and snaked his arm around Danica"s waist to pull her tight against him. "Time to look mesmerised by each other while we have a little chat," he whispered in her ear. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she locked her gaze with his and fixed a smile on her face. His answering smile was devilish. "My dad"s going to shit a brick. He"ll have felt my disconnection from the pack by now." "I think he"s already on his way here. When the men first tried interfering, one of the males from your pack announced to a female that he was going to call him. Are you going to be okay watching what happens next? I don"t want to battle with your father and risk the chance of an alliance, but there"s a possibility that the confrontation will lead to a battle." He wasn"t expecting to be granted an alliance straight away, not when Carrick Hart was going to be pissed about having his daughter taken from him. "He won"t want the fight any more than you do. He"ll know you"re a more dominant wolf and that you"ll most likely defeat him – he won"t want to chance looking weak in front of his pack in case it inspired one of them to challenge his position." "You"re going to have to openly claim I"m your true mate, Danica," he reminded her gently as he breezed his thumb over his mark. "Are you going to be able to do that?" It took a good deal of effort not to let the smile drop from her face. "Yes. I know what has to be done. He brushed his lips against hers. "Good girl. How"s your wolf doing? Did she want you to fight me off when I marked you?" She shook her head. "She likes you." Gio smiled crookedly. "You say that like it makes her stupid." "She"s impressed by your level of dominance." That surprised him. "Not intimidated?" "No. She thinks you"re strong enough to take her on, she doesn"t like weaklings. It"s your scent she likes most." His wolf really liked hers. Gio inhaled deeply, taking that exotic scent into his lungs. "My wolf"s riding me hard. He wants to complete the claiming." Grinding against her, he spoke into her ear, "And I need to be inside your hot little body." It was true that the mating technically wouldn"t be complete without them consummating it, but as it wasn"t a mating in the truest sense Danica had figured that the drive to have sex wouldn"t be as strong. Instead, her wolf and her body were craving that completeness. Gio slipped his hand under her dress and boldly cupped her. "This is where I"ll be very, very soon, Danica," he promised – more like threatened. "Inside you, filling you with my cum, and making you scream." "I"ve met guys like you before. They talk the talk but, well…talking doesn"t exactly get people to orgasm, does it?" Trey smiled wickedly. "When I fuck you Danica – and make no mistake about it, baby, I will fuck you – the only talking you"ll be doing is begging me to let you cum. And don"t doubt that I"ll make you cum. Not just the once. You"ll cum over and over again, until I decide you"ve had enough. Until I decide that I"ve had enough." "Hmm. That"s all very fascinating, but you"re forgetting one very important thing." "And what"s that?" You want my submission, you"re going to have to battle for it." And he sure as shit liked the thought of Danica, his mate, submitting to him. The idea of having to fight for and earn the right to her submission… Fuck. "I"ll look forward to the upcoming battle." "And just so you know in advance, big boy, I never beg." All alphas had a big thing for begging, especially when it came to their mates, and Danica needed him to know that it wouldn"t be happening. "Don"t take that as a challenge, because It"s just something I never do." Gio didn"t have to ask to understand why. It was because that would mean she had completely surrendered, given her complete submission, and Danica wasn"t prepared to do that for anyone. Gio found that he respected Danica Hart, and that wasn"t something he could say for a lot of people. Danica, do you think we could just talk alone for a second?" Danica guessed that Suza thought she might think more clearly if she was away from Gio. She had been about to respond when Marcus tapped Suza on the shoulder. "Getting in between mates isn"t a good idea," he told Suza. "Especially when they"ve only just claimed each other." "But they can"t be" She stopped mid-sentence and Danica knew why. Her dad had arrived. As soon as Carrick Hart saw her from far away he walked hurriedly with a furious look towards her, clenching his fists. His eyes darted from her to Gio. "What the hell is this?" Then he saw the mark on her neck and his eyes bulged. "I"ve found my mate," she declared in a steady voice. "Your mate?" he repeated tonelessly. "What the hell are you talking about, girl?" "You"re not happy for me, Sweet Daddy? Why am I not surprised?" Carrick fixed his glare on Gio Wright. "Let go of my daughter." There was a slight tremor to his voice that betrayed his nervousness. "That"s not going to happen." "What"s your game here? We all know she isn"t your mate. What would you want with her, with a latent?" "Careful," said Gio in a deceptively patient voice, not liking the derogatory way he had spoken of Danica. "What the hell happened?'' It looked like true mates finding each other." Relief washed over Danica as she saw many of the wolves around them nodding their agreement with Marcus. "No!" insisted Mr Carrick Hart. He pointed hard at her. "You"re doing this just to annoy me, you little bitch!" "Hey," snapped Gio as he advanced a step toward Carrick. "Be very, very careful. Paper thin fucking ice." Danica almost shivered. The words had been delivered in such a lethal, authoritative tone that her dad had actually resisted the urge to snap back at him. "The decision was taken out of anyone"s hands by nature itself, Dad." "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 Cody. We both know that Zan was your true mate." "I thought so too, but as unbelievable as it might seem, I was wrong." God, it hurt to say that. "No. I remember the way you were when he died. You wouldn"t talk, barely ate, never left the house. You were like that for over six months." "That was probably a lot to do with me having lost my mom in the very same accident." He went to take a step toward her but Gio"s growl halted his advance. He snarled at Gio. "Even if the kid wasn"t her true mate it makes no difference, she"s already mated! She"s mated to Cody Coleman." "As I said to your men, if that had been true, I wouldn"t have been able to claim her." "Well I think you"ll find Cody will disagree with you on that. And so do I. She"s coming home with me." He signalled to Ben and Matt to grab her. "Try it," bit out Gio, his face like thunder and his eyes flashing with anger. "I can guarantee you won"t like what happens." Wisely, the men didn"t try it. "What are you waiting for?" Carrick growled at Ben and Matt. Matt shrugged. "It"s like Marcus said. We saw what happened, it sure looked like true mates - Carrick shook his head. "There"s something I"m missing here." Danica used 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, a wolf wouldn"t want a latent for a mate unless he had no choice in the matter." "That"s true," said Carrick with a snicker. "I don"t even know why Cody wants you, why anyone would." Since he"d marked Danica Hart, his wolf regarded her as his. His to protect, to comfort, to shelter, to possess. And Gio agreed. "She"s my daughter " "And she"s my mate. She"s mine. No one keeps her from me. No one insults her. And no one and I mean no one talks to her the way you just did, understand me?" "Just tell me what it is you really want," said Carrick in a loud tone. "You just that desperate for a pack healer that you"d tie yourself to a latent?" He"s using you, Danica. When you realize that for yourself, don"t think you"ll be welcome back in my pack." She gave him a sad smile. "I stopped being welcome the day you realized I was latent. But then, you always were an ass, weren"t you." "Is that what this is? Revenge? You know how bad I want that alliance." She released a bored sigh. "Gio, just leave him." after he held Carrick by his neck and pinning him to the wall. But Gio didn"t. He seemed to be having too much fun watching her dad struggle to breathe. "Come on, he"s a waste of skin and fur." After a deep, calming breath, Gio ever so slowly released him and stepped back. "This is what the situation is, Mr. Carrick Hart, Danica is my mate, she is now part of my pack, and Cody Coleman will not touch her ever again. If he has any kind of issue with that, he is free to come to my territory. He held his hand out to Danica. "Come on, baby." Shooting her dad a withering look, Danica took Gio's hand and he pulled her against him. His warmth seeped into her body and calmed her wolf even despite the tension. As she looked at her best friends Suza and Rick and saw the concern and horror on their faces she felt a stab of guilt. It"s this or being Cody's little sex slave! a voice in her head reminded her. Mouthing ‘bye" at Suza and Rick, she allowed Gio to lead her out of the club