Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting.

Napoleon Hill

He woke up with his mate in his arms, their bond thrumming with her amusement and arousal.

Luke spooned her, pressing hard against Daphne's back and she pressed back against him, something that resulted in a groan leaving his throat.

"You are playing a dangerous game," he told her drily, not wanting her to stop but also needing her to do that if he was supposed to have any brain cells left that morning.

"We could try it like that," Daphne suggested to him, arching back against him and offering her a grin that was equal parts lovely and scary.

There was a part of him that wanted to mount her. That wanted to have her in that way before they left their home before they saw her father again.

He brushed his fingers against the bite, the skin now deep purple. That would be unable to be missed. Daphne would smell like she had rolled around in his scent as well, but he wanted to make it even more obvious than that.

Was he a complete asshole when he wanted to make Cyril Randall see that his daughter was Luke's in every sense that he could get away from it?

Probably .

But Cyril Randall was also a complete asshole so Luke didn't feel that bad about it.

So he slipped his fingers down her body, her legs opening for him without another word and finding her wet and ready for him without even anything else he needed to do. She was drenched, a soft moan escaping her as he pressed a kiss against her claiming bite.

"Are you sure about that?" He asked her because he needed to know that before he allowed himself to even think about anything else.

"Yes, I...I feel like we need to if that makes sense," she admitted with a shiver and he hummed his agreement. He could understand that.

She rolled on her hands and knees, looking at him over her shoulder and for a moment he was overwhelmed at the submissive position she had put herself into for him.

Especially for Daphne...For Daphne, whose scars marked her back extensively, this was more of a show of trust than anything else.

He slipped behind her, sliding down her spine with one flat hand that resulted in a shiver running through him.

Luke had her shuddering underneath him before he even thought about taking her, but when he finally pushed inside Daphne, he was overwhelmed by the wet heat that gripped him tightly and was unable not to groan at the way she arched against him.

He was the one in control at the moment, Daphne didn't fight him at all, giving him an obvious display of submission and suddenly he realised why they both needed that.

They were equals in their relationship, they always were but when the times would call for it, she would need to submit to her alpha. And that was Luke.

He thrust inside her another time, shocking a harsh cry out of her that made him stop.

"Luke," she whined in protest, her voice broken. "More, please," she pleaded desperately.

That was all he needed to say. He trusted her to know how much she could take because once he did allow himself to put more strength behind his thrust, he was gone.

It was...animalistic. Far more than Luke had expected it to be and he knew he was rougher with her than he should be, but Daphne didn't tell him to stop, not even when he forced her down into the mattress, biting her a second time and she cried out sharply.

She arched against him, the one single thing she did to fight him when he made her his in every sense he could get away with.

His. She was his. His mate, his Daphne. One day he would be the one that would giver her all the future children she desired and he thrust inside her aggressively, his knot starting to swell now when his teeth were already in her neck, her body still arching against him, high whines leaving her throat.

And then he could feel the orgasm punch through him with a groan and for the one moment that he wasn't careful, he pushed his knot right inside her wet heat, her body clenching around him so tightly that it was painful.

She came around him and he knew the moment she submitted to him utterly and completely, a sigh leaving her throat as her body relaxed underneath him.

***

She submitted to him without a question, accepting his dominance over her body and she could feel her wolf recede in her mind, happy that Daphne had gotten them what they had both needed.

Namely the insurance that nobody would manage to take her from her mate.

She knew that even werewolf healing wouldn't be able to make the mark that painted the right side of her neck impossible. Quite the opposite to be honest. It would be very obvious for anybody. Even a human.

And her father had absolutely nothing in his hand against them anymore.

That pleased her far more than it should probably.

She was Lukes, completely and irrevocably and that just made her giddy with happiness.

She curled up against him again, his hands caressing her in an absentminded way. It was still early in the morning and she would be fine with resting a little while longer, letting the werewolf healing take care of the soreness their early morning tryst had resulted in. She startled when she could hear steps outside the house.

Three knocks at the door, but Luke didn't even flinch.

"Luke? Daphne?" That was Grace's voice. "I brought you some clothing but your least favourite alpha is on the way for breakfast. I don't know why we even need to feed that asshole!" Luke's sister exclaimed crossly and Daphne couldn't help but laugh, hiding her face against Luke's chest.

"We'll be there in a few minutes," Luke called back calmly and waited for the steps to go away again before he finally sat up.

So that was their morning.

She let him go down and pick up her clothes from the porch and disappear in the bathroom first, while she tried to bring her thoughts into a resemblance of order.

It didn't work and she was happy to slip into the bathroom after Luke was finished, leaning against the closed door for a moment.

Right.

She took a shower, using Luke's body wash, a part of her desperately needed to know that his scent would be a bright red neon sign to anybody that came there. When Daphne looked into the mirror to survey the damage, though to speak, she was...a bit shocked, to be honest.

The bite mark was far bigger than expected, the bruise going from just underneath her jaw down to where her neck met her shoulder, Luke's teeth marking easily to be seen.

Her lips were bee-stung and swollen and she was sore all over but at least that wasn't obvious to anybody else. At least Daphne hoped for that.

Still, she knew that she could run around with a neon sign that proclaimed her freshly mated and that was probably going to be more subtle than her appearance at this moment.

Grace had brought her one of her sweaters, a lovely purple one that was as soft as a kitten and she pulled that on, twisting her hair in a bun on top of her head, making the mark on her neck even more obvious. For a moment she thought about hiding it, but that didn't feel right.

She didn't pull on the necklace that Luke had given her, not wanting anything that would pull attention away from the purple bruise on her neck.

Instead, she left it on the bathroom vanity and left the bathroom.

Luke just took one look at her before he held out his arms for her.

She stepped into them immediately, tucking her head against his chest, taking a deep breath of his scent.

It was going to be fine.

At least she promised herself that.

That didn't really help against the rest of things that were flying around her brain and that was making her excessively uncomfortable but it was a start.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked her softly, rubbing her back.

"They are all going to know that we..." she brought out. Somehow that was the one thing throwing her. His parents and Caroline and Matthew had already known it last night that that would happen but still, showing up with the evidence on her body was just making her feel...very weird.

"Mated? Yeah, the bites are going to exclaim that quite loudly," Luke answered easily.

She lifted her head from his chest, takin gin the bruise on his neck. His was light already, Daphne hadn't quite done as much damage as Luke had managed.

"Had sex," Daphne clarified with a sigh. "I did not plan to run around with a shield around my neck that proclaimed that I lost my virginity, you know."

He chuckled at that, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Sorry, Sweetheart."

"Luke, that's not funny," she protested feebly but he shook his head.

"Daphne...we have an empathic bond making a home in our heads and you are worried that people find out that we had sex. It kinda is amusing," Luke told her drily. "But don't worry, nobody is going to say anything."

How could you be so sure about that?

"Nobody is stupid enough to piss me off today," Luke answered her unspoken question. "Other than your father...is it bad that I am hoping for that only so that I can take a bite out of him?" He asked her, cocking his head to the side and she sighed. She wanted to do the same thing but somehow doubted that that would go over well.

So she just nodded. "The only one you are allowed to bite is me," she told him drily and he laughed loudly at that.

Cyril Randall wasn't there yet at the main house so Daphne let Caroline and Cecilia fuss over her, her aunt ignoring the bite mark on her neck but still pressing a kiss to her hair.

"Everything okay?" Caroline asked her softly and she nodded. It was. Or it would be. She just needed to get over it.

Cecilia was doing what she was doing best and that was feeding people.

Daphne tried to very much ignore how both of Luke's uncles were in the room, both with their mates and how the room was a careful display of strength in numbers.

"How high is the probability that this is going to end violently?" Luke asked the question that had laid on the tip of Daphne's tongue but she hadn't actually wanted to ask.

"Cyril Randall is not a violent man by nature. Not any more than I am," Stephen answered carefully. "However...you need to know that he could very much see your actions as a challenge of him as an alpha."

"Why?" Daphne wondered. He hadn't...She hadn't.

"His daughter went against his wishes and made a decision that does not suit him," Stephen answered delicately but Luke interrupted him.

"He wanted you to come with him. You pretty much told him to go fuck himself," Luke said drily and shrugged when she stared at him.

Daphne drew her fingertips over the cold marble of the kitchen island, not looking up as she ordered her thoughts for a moment.

"Will he get violent with me?" She finally asked.

"Only if he doesn't want to leave this room alive," Luke growled. She reached out to touch her mate, hoping that her touch would soothe him. He relaxed underneath her, his muscles relaxing underneath her touch and he took her hand in his, dropping a kiss to her palm.

She would prefer Luke not to rip apart her father.

"You are his cub. He instinctually recognises you like that. Will he actually maim you for life? I very much doubt you. Could his wolf decide to physically discipline you?" Stephen explained. " Maybe ."

"If he touches her, I am not going to stand for that," Luke said tightly and his father met his eyes. They seemed to have a whole conversation with just a quirk of their eyebrow and a pursing of Stephen's mouth.

"Nobody would expect you to, Lucas," Stephen Schuyler finally said. A shiver ran down Daphne's back when she recognised that the threat would be dealt with one way or another. "He's on our territory and he wants access to your mate. You are in the right. Daphne has made her decision. Either he accepts it or he is going to regret it. I won't stand for either my heir or his mate to be questioned regarding their mating bond. Not even the bloody alpha from New York."

She could hear a car outside then, and the whole room seemed to come to attention.

"That's him," Luke said tightly.

"Luke, Daphne, on the couch," Stephen commanded sharply.

Daphne slid down from the barstool, making her way across the living room.

It was a carefully crafted tableau, the family placed around them so that all exits were covered so that they had somebody at their back and on every side. She sat next to Luke, pulling his hand in her lap and holding it with both of hers, his fingers tightened around hers nearly imperceptibly as they heard the car door close.

She leaned back into the couch, knowing that she would never be safer anywhere but there, surrounded by her pack, and schooled her features to be unreadable.

Luke's shoulders were tight, a frown on her face and she very gently nudged their bond, sending him some of that safe and warm feeling that built in her stomach whenever he huffed her.

He looked at her startled for a moment, his mouth working up and then a wave of gratitude wafted over her.

This was actually kinda cool. She wished they had had that bond beforehand. Sharing her feelings with him like that was...nice. She enjoyed it.

She listened to the steps of Cyril and Leda Randall on the front porch, his far heavier than the one from his sister and then Stephen opening the door.

"Good Morning," Luke's father greeted the other alpha stepping aside to let him in.

It took both an eternity and a heartbeat for her father to see her.

She met his gaze unflinchingly, holding Luke's hand in both of hers possessively and making it very, very clear what choice she had made.

She watched the emotions play over his face, from surprise to shock and something ugly she couldn't place before his expression locked and her own eyes concentrated on her face.

"How could you be so stupid ?" He spat out.

That were not the words Daphne had expected but she didn't flinch. She set her jaw, squared her shoulders and answered.

"You don't get to decide my life for me," she told him sharply. Not him. He didn't even know her. How could he possibly know what would make Daphne happy ?

"I am your father! And I get to make the decisions if yours are clearly not thought out at all," he snapped right back at her but she just lifted an eyebrow.

"Actually...this was quite the calculated decision. Luke and our pack or you and...a city that I don't ever want to set foot into again," she gave back drily. She had thought it through for months. She had known exactly what she was doing. And in the end, it hadn't been a decision at all anymore.

It had been as easy as breathing.

"Have you any idea what you have done?" He demanded to know, and Daphne met his eyes unapologetically.

"I bonded with my mate. I am quite happy with the outcome," she answered the question she knew was meant rhetorically.

Daphne was happy with the outcome. And that was all that counted.

"You threw away your life," her father hissed. "You threw away your life to be nothing but a broodmare for a boy . You threw away your life for this antiquated , small and pastoral town. What were you thinking ?" He demanded and she could just stare at him.

"That it is my decision," she said tightly. It was her decision. If she wanted to spend the rest of her life in Fairbury then that was her choice. And she quite liked her antiquated , small and pastoral town. "I'm not going to apologise for making a decision that suits me."

That was exactly the wrong thing to say.

"You are just like your mother," he said a sharp laugh punctured his words."She never knew what was good for her either."

Daphne had never agreed with the whole "Sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt you" mantra.

Words had a power that physical pain didn't have. Physical pain was something she was used to. Something that slowly seemed to disappear into her memory, after it had happened.

Words...words still hurt years later if she thought about them. Words hurt the same whenever she thought about it again.

And these words hurt.

They cut like a scalpel, deep and clean into a part of her that Daphne didn't like to visit anymore.

She pushed it all away, not thinking about it, not wanting it to colour her life at that moment. She didn't think her mother deserved another minute of her time, so she concentrated on a lot more pleasant things.

But she couldn't help herself at that moment, the words dragging up emotional pain that she normally kept under lock and key, that normally Daphne didn't allow to the surface. It dragged up a fury that slumbered in her chest and that Daphne knew would consume her if she would let it.

But at that moment, the fury was overwhelming.

Like a separate entity in her chest as she shot up, shrugging of Luke's hands.

He didn't reach out for her a second time.

She passed the room, getting right up into her father's face.

She didn't slap him. She wanted to. The want was there. But if she gave in to that, she would have been a bit similar to her mother than she was willing to be and she would not go down that route.

She was nothing like Michelle.

Michelle had slapped her if she said anything that didn't suit her. Daphne was not going to it.

So she glared at her father, purple eyes sparking amber in a way that would have told anybody else to back off.

"I am nothing like her," Daphne spit out. "And if you ever compare me to her again, you will regret it."

"Go away. Leave me in peace. I don't want anything from you and I am not prepared to give you anything either," she snapped sharply. She just wanted him to go . She wanted a peaceful life. Couldn't he just leave her in peace? "I made my choice. My family is here and that's all I care about."

She saw the shocked look at his face when he realised that he had made her furious and she allowed herself to feel some of the sick satisfaction that had been blubbering in her stomach. "And if I want to be nothing but Lucas' broodmare, that's still my decision," she added softly. She didn't, but she also wouldn't let her father think that only because she had children with Luke, she had nothing else to do.

Cyril opened his mouth but she cut him off before he could say another word.

"You showed up here, trying to rip me away from my mate and my pack and now you think that you get to tell me how disappointed you are in me?" She laughed quietly at that, shaking her head. "You may supplied half my DNA but that doesn't give you the right to lecture me. Not if you have no idea what you are talking about."

She turned around without a second look, trusting Luke to keep anybody else from following them and went straight outside.