Hearten (Bayou Bear Chronicles)
Page 18
“What about all the bossiness and broodiness?” Peri asked. “You yourself said it. I have been alone a very long time, doing my own thing. I don’t take orders. I won’t be caged and the word ‘submit’ is pretty much a death sentence to the one saying it.”
Alina smiled at Peri as if she was a cute little dog that had performed a trick. “For one so wise, Perizada, you can be awfully dense.”
Peri pointed a long finger at the she-wolf. “See, that is why you should all be turds.”
“Any relationship is give and take,” Alina continued as if Peri hadn’t spoken. “Sacrifices must be made by both parties. You both will have to make changes and allow the other to make mistakes. As for submitting, well, you know what pack life is like. There has to be a balance of power. There has to be an Alpha, and those beneath him must submit. But your mate will never ask you to submit to him, not unless he truly felt it was necessary and a compromise could not be met.”
“And I would just have to do it?” Peri snapped.
“I would hope that your relationship at that point would be one of deep trust and love. I would hope that if he was asking that of you, then you would trust his judgment, and trust him to take care of you. Submission was never meant to be a negative action. Submission is an act of love and service because someone must lead, and the others must follow. Your greatest act of love to your mate is when you submit and that comes in many forms. Think of it like this,” she scooted forward and laid her hands on the table between them. “For a wolf to give another his stomach is an act of ultimate submission, right? The stomach is the most tender and vulnerable place on the body and puts the wolf at the greatest risk. So what do you think it means to Vasile when I, his werewolf mate, lie in bed with him? How much trust does he see from me when I sleep on my back, vulnerable to him? Are those not forms of submission? Do they demean me in anyway?”
Peri sat speechless across from Alina. The air from her breathing seemed too loud in her ears as the words the she-wolf had just spoken ran through her mind. She had never looked at the relationship between true mates in quite that way. They were wolves, she got that. But then, she realized that she totally didn’t get it at the same time, because, once again, she was not a wolf.
“I’m going to blow your mind one more time,” Alina interrupted her epiphany moment. “Now that you realize what it means to submit and what it means to your mate, ask yourself this; how much trust and love must he feel when he gives his stomach to you? You have the greatest treasure of all, Peri. Lucian will only ever fully submit to you. He will only ever lie in your bed on his back, exposing his stomach and neck to you. He will only ever trust you with that. How great his love and trust must be for one so proud, so strong, and so dominant to yield to you.”
Peri didn’t hear Alina leave. She sat in stunned silence as she considered her words. Lucian submit to her? It was nearly laughable. But then, how did any relationship survive if not for the bending of two wills? Alina had said there was no getting around it. She was Lucian’s true mate. It was a bond that would not be denied, one that no one walked away from. After several minutes of thought she stood, straightened her shirt, and let out a deep breath.
“The way I see it, I have two choices,” she told the empty table. “I can accept that I’m going to be mated to a werewolf, or I can accept that I’m going to be mated to a werewolf.” She shook her head as she turned to leave the room. In a final huff of resignation she mumbled to herself, “Damn if I don’t like either one of those.”
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Other books by Quinn Lofits
Grey Wolves Series
Prince of Wolves
Blood Rites
Just One Drop
Out of the Dark
Beyond the Veil
Fate and Fury
Sacrifice of Love
Luna of Mine
Elfin Series
Elfin
Rapture
Gypsy Healer Series
Into the Fae
Stand Alone Works
Call Me Crazy