Chapter 23: Twenty-three.

"Change back now!" Sammy bellowed, her sudden anger filling the room.

Daniel found himself doing as she requested, his festive outfit falling in pieces at his feet as he did so, torn at more than just the velcro fastenings.

"What the hell are you playing at?" Sammy demanded of him, fuming with so much anger she didn't even register his nudity.

"What?" Daniel scoffed, "You want to treat me like a damn pet, but are going to get pissed off if I act like one?" Daniel threw back sarcastically, smirking at her, as he removed a piece of shoe from his mouth and flicked it to the ground.

"You think it's my choice to keep you as pet? Please, you're the one who tricked me into keeping you around by acting like a damn lap dog, Daniel." Sammy snapped, pushing past him to inspect the damage done to her footwear.

Daniel growled at her comment, before grabbing her by the upper arm, and stopping her in her tracks. "Well maybe if you would stop fighting us at every opportunity, and accept the truth then I would have had to resort to tricking you. You are my mate!"

Sammy scoffed, ripping her arm from him, "That's rich, the liar accusing me of not accepting the truth. Real ironic, dont you think?"

"I have never lied to you," Daniel spat, insulted.

"A lie by omission is still a lie, Daniel." Sammy growled out.

"I couldn't yell you, it was against our laws, the council would have killed us, What choice did I have?" Daniel stated, flabbergasted by her statement.

"But, you could have called. You didn't have to just disappear. Yeah, I gather Shane sent you away. But. You. Could. Have. Called, Daniel!" Sammy argued straight back. "Then you could have kept your distance, respected my request and revealed your secret later. But, no. You had to trick me into spending time with you! And I have no idea why it had to be me anyway, seemingly you will roll over for any woman to rub your belly, why not choose one of them as your mate!"

"Ha, see! You're jealous, and you cant even admit it! You humiliated me today, and I went with it, Sammy, for you. Do you have any idea how thorough those women are?! I feel borderline violated, and you're upset about a non existent belly rub! Oh, and while we are at it, Why the fuck was I being called Omie?"

Sammy smirked, "It was the name I gave for you, every pet has one right. So, I chose Omie. Short for *Omega*." Then Sammy frowned, adding "Wait, what do you mean a 'non-existent belly rub'?"

"Omega! Omega! What the fuck is wrong with you? Sammy, why would you insult me like that?"Daniel vented, flapping his arms in the air, before answering her other question, "And, no one touched my stomach, other than to clean it, Jess is mated to Johnathan, he volunteers with you. They helped me to try and trigger your possessive side. I had hoped it would make you realise I meant something to you. But no, that's an impossible task it seems." Daniel spat out in anger, "I wonder why though? Please do tell me, I am just dying to know why it's so damn impossible for you to just accept I want to love you? What made you so damn damaged?" Daniel asked venomously.

Sammy recoiled from him at his words. It felt like she had been slapped, and tears sprung to her eyes before she could stop them. Spilling over the edges of her eyes as Daniel attacked her vulnerability without even realising it.

"So you lied, again then. Trying to trick me. Again." She stated coldly, refusing to acknowledged her own tears, because to do so would have been to show a weakness in her mind, and she couldn't do.

Before, Daniel could respond though, Sammy walked to her closet and began pulling clothes out.

His clothes.

"Get dressed," she ordered.

"Wait, I thought they weren't here?" Daniel asked confused and feeling himself fill with guilt.

He made his mate cry.

"I collected them earlier, after I replaced my ruined bed sheets, that is," Sammy answered still removing Daniel's clothes. "Now, get dressed, and get the fuck out of my apartment."

"What?" Daniel asked dumbfounded, "No, I'm not leaving."

"Daniel, you have said quite enough, I'm done. Get out." Sammy said picking up his clothes and throwing them to him. "Take them all, I do not want to see you, ever again!"

Daniel refused to take them from her, allowing them to fall to a heap on the floor. He was finally seeing her fear, this was a complete fight or flight reaction, she was fighting him, and when she stayed in Portland she was running from him. Sammy was afraid of letting him close and he just hurt her, so now she was trying to push him away even more because of it.

Taking a deep breath, he walked towards her, and spoke softly but firmly.

"No, I'm not leaving you Sammy. You are my soulmate, and I'm not going anywhere," he wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her close. "I'm sorry. You're not damaged, that was a cruel thing of me to say."

Sammy wasn't fully listening though, she was too busy still trying to push Daniel away.

But with each struggle Daniel held her tighter. He refused to allow her to beat him back, he refused to step away, despite Sammy's best efforts at gaining some space between them.

Sammy fought till she had no fight left, and the tears began to turn into sobs.

Still, Daniel did not let her go.

All he would repeat over and over were the words, "I'm here."

By the time she stopped fighting him, Sammy felt completely raw and exposed.

Still Daniel held her, now supporting more of her weight as she leant onto him and wept. It wasn't long till Daniel scooped her up and sat down on the bed with her, stroking her hair as she pressed herself against to his bare chest.

"Who did this to you?" He whispered, praying she would finally answer, "Please, tell me so I can understand who left you, my love?"

Sammy was silent for a long time, Daniel had almost given up hope that she would answer him, when she finally did answer, he realised just how deep rooted her pain must be.

"My father, my father left." Sammy admitted.

It was her biggest insecurity, because in Sammy's mind, her father should have been the one man to always have her back, the one to love her no matter what, and if he couldn't, then who else would want to.

It was made worse by the fact that for the first eleven years of her life Sammy was a complete Daddy's girl. It was as if Martin Gray had hung the very sun in the sky. He doted on her completely, and she idolised him in return.

Then, he disappeared, turned his back as if Sammy had meant nothing to him and drove away. Not even a goodbye.

Her brain failed to comprehend it all, her emotions even less so.

Then here was Daniel, her apparent soul mate, desperate to love her, and she didn't understand how. Not just how to let him without the risk of being hurt, but why he would want to when she was never enough for anyone else.

"Sammy, I'm a werewolf," Daniel began hesitantly, hoping he was doing the right thing. "We exist with a different focus to humans, a different moral compass, in some cases. We live for our mates, our children and our packs. They, are our purpose, they are what drives us. We do not settle down lightly, and we only do so with our soul mates for that very reason." He sighed, "I recognised you as mine, the moment your scent hit me in the house. Then I smelled your fear and was prepared to take out Shane, or at least to try and take out Shane to protect you." He spoke softly, "I slept that night beneath your trailer, wanting more than anything to soothe the nightmares you were having."

Sammy finally pulled her head back, her puffy red eyes looking at Daniel as if she were seeing him for the first time.

"You followed me?" She asked.

"Of course," he smiled at her. "I will never leave you. It killed me when you drove away to Portland, in my frustration I forgot all about your Thanksgiving plans, and even if I had remembered, you were away longer than planned." He sighed, "I spent the entire time in my wolf form hunting, eating and pining. Up until Daisy, seen you were back and mindlinked me."

"She what now?" Sammy asked confused.

"Mindlinking. Werewolves of the same pack share the ability to communicate with telepathy. It's how we talk in wolf form, and comes in handy when keeping certain things private," he explained, watching her eyes widen. "Those of higher ranks can open or close their links to unwanted communication. A bit like taking an old fashioned phone off the hook, though we still feel a nudge if someoneis trying to get in touch."

Sammy nodded, taking it all in, before snuggling back against Daniel's slightly damp chest hair with a sigh.

"Daniel, tell me about the mate bond?" She asked quietly.

"What would you like to know?" Daniel asked, relieved to see her curious and not as upset.

"What is it?" Sammy asked.

Daniel smiled, pulling her closer and inhaling her scent. Despite the undertones of her sadness and fear, her scent brought him comfort.

He moved them both into bed, and pulled her against himself again, relieved when she came willingly.

"The mate bond is the name of the connection between soul mates. In werewolves it is an almost tangible thing. I can feel my connection to you. I want to be with you, protect you, love you, if I'm being totally honest I also want to impregnate you, but most importantly I am driven to mark you as my own, to deter any other from trying to steal you from me." Daniel stated with possibly too much honesty.

Sammy stiffened, "Impregnate?"

Daniel laughed, "Yes, I want to see you swollen with my children. It is however a want I will not push until you want it too. If you want it. I'm being honest, Sammy, I'm not making demands, or discussing expectations, I'm just being honest."

Sammy relaxed again, "Okay." She said wanting to move on swiftly, "What's marking?"

"Okay so in layman's terms I want to bite you during sex..." Daniel paused, "with a half shifted version of my mouth."

Sammy pulled back to look at him with what can only be described as a: Are you fucking out of your God damn mind, look.

"It sounds worse than it is, and I promise it only hurts for a second," Daniel attempted to justify himself.

"You want to maul me, and it only sounds worse than it is?" Sammy asked, "Oh God, where?" Came her next horrified thought, as she tried to imagine which area of her body would be best to be bitten by a wolf, and came up empty.

Daniel smiled at the mild look of worry on his mate's face. He smiled purely because, she was talking to him. Sammy was asking questions, and listening to the answers without running away.

"Somewhere around here," he stated, lightly tracing her shoulder, close to her neck with his index finger, and smiling as shivered at his touch.

"Oh goody, beside my throat, not like there are any important arteries or anything in that area." Sammy stated with a roll of her eyes, ignoring the way her body responded to him.

Daniel barked a laugh at her sarcasm, dropping a kiss on her head.

"I won't do anything until you ask me to, okay? Marking you is my desire, but consenting to it, that's your choice. But, at least now, if I feel the need to tear your pillow apart with my teeth you will know why." Daniel only half joked.

"What do you mean?" She asked, catching a hidden undertone he wasn't completely concealing.

Daniel sighed, before squeezing Sammy closer, "Well that's the reason, Shane, sent me away. My inner wolf was becoming desperate to mark you, and I was struggling to control myself. As alpha, he told me to go, so I would be forced to take a break, and calm down."

"You were going to bite me?" Sammy checked.

"No. Well, maybe. I was simply struggling to control my wolf. I don't actually know if I'd have lost it altogether," Daniel responded.

"So, what makes now, any different, Daniel?" Sammy asked, not unkindly but simply from curiosity.

Daniel sighed, "Because I lost you Sammy, and neither I or my wolf can risk losing you again."

Sammy seemed content with his answer. She didn't push the conversation further and instead snuggled down against him once more.

It was a few minutes later Daniel spoke up again, "I'll replace your shoes."

The comment made her smile, and Daniel could feel it against his chest.

"Don't worry, I know you will." She said, before stretching out of his reach. "I'm going to go wash my face, and make some food. Are you hungry?"

"That sounds great," Daniel smiled, "I'll tidy up in here."

As she left the room he sighed, mentally cursing her father, as he opened up his pack link again. Shane had been trying to nudge in for at least half an hour, so as he got dressed and tidied up, he answered the call.

*"Shane? What's going on?"* He asked his Alpha, wincing at the remains of a pair of black high heels; it was a stupid choice, Sammy's legs would have looked mouth wateringly good in these.

*"Daniel, where are you? What the hell is going on?"* Shane began, *"And please tell me there is a reasonable explanation for why you were in a dog grooming parlour, getting a fucking wash and blow dry?"*

Daniel grimaced, but laughed it off, *"Yeah, you should try it, it was Sammy's idea, fur has never felt so... clean."*

*"That better be a joke."* Shane answered flatly.

*"Of course it is."* Daniel responded rolling his eyes. *"And to answer your other question, I'm at Sammy's apartment, I think we just took a huge step forward."*

*"Well that's good news,"* Shane responded, genuinely happy for his friend, *"Because, the council have arrived to meet her."*

*"Wait what?"* Daniel asked dumbfounded, *"How?"*

*"Because, I had to call them. You know the rules when a human mate is introduced to our world. Any delay would have been suspicious. You both need to come to the pack house, now. There will be a getting to know you dinner, instead of a formal interview, I'm not sure why they have come so quickly."* Shane responded.

*"Right, shit. Damn it, Shane."* Daniel sighed, *"As my alpha I will do as you ask, as my friend, I'm going to tell you this is really shit timing. I dont know if Sammy is ready for this."*