They stayed a week, as the Alphas met. Not that Thea saw her mate in that time, not even for dinners, though she was invited. Her father thought it best if she were not present, to keep the Alpha from using her as leverage in their negotiations. It wasn't until he explained that it was entirely possible for an enraged male wolf to interpret negotiations as an attempt to steal his mate, and she'd bring that primal part of him forward with her mere presence. Her being set apart would give them a better term of agreement.

        By the last day, the signatures were placed on the contract—if she had been human, she'd have to sign it, as she was over 18, but were society ran differently. Her father and her Alpha both signing held far more weight than a woman's mere consent. That part caused Thea's lip to curl, barely keeping her snarl to herself when her father placed a copy of the papers in her hand. She squinted as she scanned the lines in front of her—not from a lack of sight, but from the dense wording that prevented the text from being an easy read. "What are the basics?"

         "You two are to pursue a mating, having a year to settle things between you. Officially, you are Luna Intendant, Alpha Heir Apparent, and remain my heir, as well." 

         "He has no successors?"

        "A cousin, 3 generations removed. He's not close enough to outrank the chosen Alpha Female."

        "So I can kill him and inherit?"

       A Saturnine smirk crossed the Gamma's visage. "As much as a son can kill his father and inherit. This went beyond the strictures of my grandfather's curse, the moment he showed interest in claiming you as his mate."

        She quickly started flipping through the pages, trying to note how many addendums the damn thing had. "All the standard sub-clauses?"

         "Yes."

         "So I can kill him if he sticks his dick in another whore?"

        "By the letter of the law, yes. But it will reflect badly on both of us if you do not use extreme forbearance on this matter. You would face other Alphas in council, and they are as bad." The distaste on his features was almost unholy. Many years he spent explaining to his daughter why she never gained a stepmother, why he never took on lovers. It was not a love for his mate, although he did claim to love her. His own mother had been placed in Pandora's...and now his daughter's position, leaving him enraged enough to want to kill her lovers, and too young to follow his inclination. She had been an Alpha's daughter—a disgraced Alpha's daughter, and after her father's execution, she had been stripped of rank. Goddess only knew who the Gamma's dad was—it could be any male in the pack over the age of 80, and most of them were dead in various battles, leaving behind bitter shells of their mates, of the few that survived. If any of the women were a betrayed mate, they weren't inclined to claim their mate's son—not even if it could give them a tenuous hold on increasing their own rank.

         Now that Thea thought about it, her father was very unlikely to leave Pandora to the fate she quietly endured. Her father's very nature wouldn't allow it to continue, even if he had to dismantle their pack to do so...which means that she couldn't dawdle in settling into some sort of results with her own mate. Just because there was a contract, that didn't guarantee there would be a pack to back it, if she needed it.

        Unfortunately, that would require waiting until her mate made his move.  

~~~~~

        Packing was simple. Most of her clothing would come along with her, except her more ragged work clothing—things she kept around so she could putter around as if she were an omega, herself. A daughter inheriting could get away with that where a mate unmarked couldn't. If she chose to work with the omegas in her future pack, it would be dressed to position, even if it meant she had to replace designer articles. Likely, the position would prevent her from shifting enough to keep her weight down, as it was, so might as well ruin the clothing before she couldn't fit it any longer. The thought angered her, some, but she understood that the protectiveness of Alphas had consequences—unhealthy ones, in this case.

        The mental image of storing fat like a chipmunk because she stopped shifting almost pulled laughter out of her. Not that Thea would know what that much fat would look like on her. She was tall—a leggy blonde of 5'11", kept extremely lean by daily shifting. She wasn't willowy—the muscle she did have kept her proportionate—but her trim features left room for plenty of fat storage before it became noticeable to anyone other than a mate. Someone who would have their hands all over her could potentially keep track of every ounce. She had heard rumors of males who wouldn't let a girl shift, then beat them for the resulting weight gain, spiraling weight management out of control. No surprise, that. Go against their very nature and expect a miracle.
It was the last turn around her room with Pandora that almost had her think of running away, like her great-uncle. Going rogue over being mated to a whore of a man? It wasn't the whoring part that bothered her, nor the pain—she was strong enough to handle both—but mates were supposed to be sacred, and she had hoped to never endure what she watched her maid go through, in all these years. The urge to mark the Omega was equally as enticing, be damned the consequences. Anything but endure what was coming her way.

         "You remembered to pack your toys?" Pandora's voice startled her from her thoughts, the older woman's hand gently pressed against her arm, giving a reassuring squeeze.

         "I've no choice in that. I'm following in your footsteps, Pan." Her voice was raw, low, even bitter.

         "Just remember to avoid climaxing before he finishes with whatever Tart he's poking. It lessens the bruising." The maid's smile was self-depreciating.

          "I never did ask you how you figured out that being without caused the cheating to hurt more."

        "It wasn't intentional. I was trying to find a release after a day of his teasing me, and he started in on whatever woman he was bedding that day in the middle of it. Still hurt, but I was so mad I treated it like a competition. Between that and you? It's been bearable—barely."

        "Why can't he feel us together?" Thea pinched the bridge of her nose, the thought had bothered her all their years together.

         "I don't know that he can't—he's always sniffing around me after we do anything. But I think he's not all that bright. I think he's been looking for a male this whole time." The mischievous glint in the maid's eyes made Thea smirk, in spite of herself.

         "So why have you never told him about us?"

         " I want children. Flaunting you would have lead to a fight between both of you, and honestly? I think you'd win, for all that he's stronger. Just not enough fight in that dog." Pandora said it with little edge to her voice—marking it a long-aged concession to her bitterness and acceptance of her mate's deficiencies. But calling him a dog? Although the adage was common to dog breeders, it still rang of insult to any shifter out there, and placing James as the loser would be doubly the insult.

         But it was an admission, one that tore at Thea. If she had been born a man, Pandora would have left an unfaithful mate for her.

         This wouldn't be the only time the perspective Luna cursed her sex.