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Talia would be glad if Damon can erase all evidence of his previous hookups, including her memory. If she could believe that she was his first, just how he was hers, that would be perfect. But just deleting files won't be enough. "What about Marcy?"

"Your wolf wanted me to deal with Marcy without announcing we are mates. I will do that."

"Aren't Elders working on getting Marcy to back off?", Talia asked. After Elder Samson and Elder Charlie left the packhouse, Talia didn't hear anything about them.

Damon sneered. "They are a useless bunch of cowards who only care about saving their behind. If they were any good, I wouldn't disband them as my advisors."

"You are saying that they didn't make any progress with declining Marcy's visit.", Talia summarized to what Damon confirmed with a nod.

"As I was saying, I will deal with Marcy. If your wolf is anything like mine…" Damon paused. "Is she listening?"

"I don't think so."

Damon cleared his throat awkwardly and Talia understood that Damon wanted to badmouth her wolf, and he was afraid of consequences if her wolf finds out.

Damon spoke in a low voice, "If your wolf is anything like mine, she will be a grumpy existence who looks down on others' intelligence."

Talia was surprised by this. She thought that her wolf was defending her, and that was not wrong, but under that protection was a condescending attitude as she looked at Damon like he belongs to a lower species.

"I want your wolf to approve of me.", Damon said. "I don't want you to fight with your wolf because of me and the best way to accomplish that is to indulge her. I will do what she asked and fulfill her conditions. Once she accepts me, things will be smooth."

Damon sounded magnanimous, but the truth was that he didn't have a choice. If Talia's wolf takes over again, the stubborn beast might reject Damon as her mate and then… he didn't want to think about it.

The other option was to ensure that Talia's wolf can't take over, but that would include Talia overpowering her wolf, and Damon didn't want to put that pressure on Talia. Her wolf just returned, and they need to learn how to communicate with each other, how to shift from one form to another, and how to tap voluntarily into those mysterious powers her wolf carries, but the most important part for Talia will be to build a good relationship with her wolf because her life might depend on it. Literally.

Besides, Damon is the one who messed up and he will own it.

Talia's heart swelled with warm and fuzzy emotions. Damon was willing to follow the ridiculous rules her wolf set, and he was doing all that for Talia. Of course, it was for her.

"Thank you.", Talia said.

"There is no need to thank me. I'm doing it for us.", Damon said matter-of-factly.

Damon decided to work on this as soon as possible. The sooner he starts, the sooner he will finish, and if he needs to wait for Talia's wolf to soften up her attitude before he can mark Talia, there was not a minute left to delay.

Ah, if he knew it will end up like this, he would put his mark on Talia a long time ago, and then her grumpy wolf wouldn't have a way to force him into this ridiculous game!

Damon had no idea how to deal with rejecting Marcy without introducing Talia as his mate, as he had a feeling that saying how he doesn't like Marcy won't work. He needed something more solid.

This will be a disaster! Damon was never the planning guy.

Damon told himself to take this one step at a time. He had a starting point of Marcy coming to the Dark Howlers pack, and an endpoint where she will leave with the knowledge that she won't be Damon's Luna, as for anything in-between, Damon will figure it out, eventually. Hopefully.

Talia put her hand on his cheek and her honeyed eyes smiled at him.

"Don't overthink it.", she said. "The important part is that we are together. My wolf didn't say that I can't help you."

Talia was dazzled by the smile that bloomed on his face.

"If I knew that your determination to stick to me will soar after I jumped into the waterfall, I would do that a long time ago."

Talia's brows came together. "Don't joke about it."

"I am not joking, kitten. I would do anything for you to be with me."

Talia pressed her lips into a line. "Promise you won't do it again."

"That will depend on circumstances."

Talia understood that as a, no, for the promise. "You are blackmailing me."

He didn't deny it. "I told you. I would do anything. Blackmail included."

"I'm sure you have other ways to keep me by your side."

Damon's lips lifted into a sly smile. "That… I do."

Talia's whole body shivered when she felt his hot palm gliding over her thigh higher, under her skirt. And the fact that she didn't wear any panties only made her arousal swell faster.

She wanted to say how that's not fair. He was using the sparks of their bond to muddle her head, but then he kissed the base of her neck, where his mark should be, once, twice, and then his lips latched right there and he started sucking harshly, and Talia clutched his shoulders to steady herself because the whole world was spinning with her and Damon at its center.

Damon growled when the scent of her arousal hit him, and he was quick to unbutton his pants and get on top of her.

"Mine…", Damon squeezed through his teeth while his scorching gaze bore into hers, making it impossible to break eye contact.

He was halfway in when he paused.

"Say that you are mine, kitten", he demanded.

Talia squirmed under Damon. Why did he stop moving? Ah, he wanted something… "Yours. I am yours.", she said breathily.

"Ahh…", a lustful sound escaped her lips when he was sheathed all the way in, just how she wanted him, hard and hot and deep inside her.

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In the packhouse…

Maya and Caden were in the kitchen, and Caden passed Maya a cup of tea.

"Are you sure this should calm me down?", Maya asked while looking at the steaming cup. It was her third one and based on her uneasiness, it was not working.

Caden shrugged. "Would whiskey work better?"

Maya thought that's a good idea. "Probably. Give me a glass. Fill it all the way. Or better… give me a bottle."

Caden rolled his eyes. "Let's not drink during the day. We have so much to do, and guests will be here soon. With Damon and Talia out of the packhouse, we need to be sober."

Maya puffed her cheeks in displeasure. "After the stress I went through, I need something to ease the edge."

"Don't exaggerate.", Caden said.

"Exaggerate? You were not there, Caden. I couldn't breathe."

Caden didn't know exactly what happened, but he felt Maya's emotions through the mate bond. "We already knew that Talia's aura is comparable to Damon's. It's a good thing if our Luna is a strong she-wolf."

Maya agreed with Caden but… "That was not Talia."

Caden frowned. "And who was it?"

Maya didn't have an answer to this question. "It was something… ancient. Powerful. Scary." She was not sure how to explain what she felt when Talia's wolf came out.

"You make her sound like she turned into a monster.", Caden said sarcastically. He was confident that Maya was blowing it out of proportion. He thought of something. "How was Damon faring against Talia's aura?"

"He was fine.", Maya responded right away. Damon didn't seem to be affected.

Caden rubbed Maya's shoulder to comfort her. "There you go. If she didn't affect him, then she can't be more powerful than he is."

With werewolves, strength is determined by sheer strength or by genetics, where the ones with powerful aura can become high-ranking members of a pack. Between the two, genetics takes precedence because a powerful aura will force others to submit, regardless of how much time they spent training.

Maya didn't know how to explain what she felt. It was not about who is stronger, but about the type of power.

When Damon releases his aura, Maya has an urge to submit and obey, but Talia's aura was suffocating, painful, like an invisible force was pressing from every side, threatening to crush her.

Before she could say anything, both Maya and Caden heard Damon's voice through the mind-link, 'Arrange for Marcy from the Red Moon pack to come here as soon as possible. Accommodate her demands as long as they are reasonable.'

'What?', Caden asked back, but his question hit a wall, indicating that Damon shut down the mind-link. He didn't want to be disturbed.

Maya and Caden exchanged confused glances. Did they hear the same thing?

The morning started great, and they completed many of their duties ahead of time so they can relax before guests arrive, but then things turned for worse unexpectedly and Damon carried Talia out of the packhouse to who-knows-where. And now, after nearly two hours of complete silence, Damon told them to prepare things for Marcy?

This day was getting weirder by the minute, and it was barely afternoon.

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