Draping an arm over the back of her chair, Dominic absentmindedly traced little circles on her shoulder. Which was bold, really, considering her parents were right there. He didn’t dial down his behavior around them. He still invaded Mila’s personal space. Still touched her how and when he felt like it. Still hit her with cheesy lines, although they thankfully weren’t dirty. Not that her parents would care if they were dirty—they found him hilarious.
She should push him away, but he was right that it would be simpler to let her parents believe their little plot was working. Also, she liked it when he touched her. Liked that it eased her cat, who was currently quite relaxed, enjoying the light atmosphere. The feline liked GQ a lot too—mostly because he made Mila smile.
Putting down her cutlery, Valentina took a sip of her wine. “You have spoken much about your pack,” she said to Dominic. “But not of your family.”
Pausing in doodling patterns on Mila’s shoulder, Dominic shrugged. “My pack are my family.”
“I heard it was once part of”—Valentina clicked her fingers a few times—“the Bjorn Pack. It split at one point, yes?”
“That’s right,” confirmed Dominic.
“Did your family leave with you when it split?” asked James, forking some beef.
Dominic drummed his fingers on the table. “No. My parents were dead by then. There was only my aunt and uncle, and they chose to stay behind.”
Valentina lowered her glass, sobering. “I am sorry to hear they have passed.”
“No siblings?” James asked him.
“One,” said Dominic, his voice a little stilted. “He died before I was born.”
Mila’s eyes fell closed, stomach twisting. “Shit.”
Dominic nodded. “Yeah.”
Valentina rubbed his arm. “What happened to the boy?” Yeah, the woman was that comfortable around GQ, she felt no compunction about laying a question like that on him. But before Mila could tell him he didn’t need to answer, he began to speak.
“My mother fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a truck. She and my father survived. Tobias didn’t.”
Valentina’s face went soft with sympathy. “Did she blame herself?”
Dominic looked at Mila, and she sensed he was thinking of lying or, at the very least, only giving half an answer. Finally, he turned back to Valentina and said, “I don’t know. I haven’t seen her in a long time, although I figure she’s dead.”
James blinked. “You’re not sure?”
“She walked off when I was a teenager,” Dominic explained. “My dad turned rogue and was killed. She never came back, and I’m assuming she didn’t survive the breaking of their mating bond. But I don’t know for certain.”
Valentina once more patted his arm. “As you said, you have your pack. They are your true family.”
His mouth curved ever so slightly. “Yes, they are.”
A little while later, after they’d eaten her mother’s Prague Cake—which was made with Viennese chocolate and absolutely to die for—Mila and Dominic were ready to leave. As he and James laughed about something or other, Valentina took Mila by the shoulders and led her to the front door.
“So much sadness in that boy,” said Valentina. “He keeps it locked up tight. Buried so deep it cannot hurt him.” She gave Mila’s shoulders a little squeeze and then kissed her cheek. “My Mila will be good for him.”
She sighed. “Mom—”
“Go on now.” Valentina practically shoved her out the door. Then she was pulling Dominic into her arms, holding him like he was a long-lost son while James smiled at the sight. Mila was pretty sure her parents liked GQ more than they liked her.
Huffing to herself, she headed down the stairs to the floor below and her own apartment. There were fifteen floors, and Mila lived on the seventh.
Unlocking her front door, she was conscious that Dominic was right behind her. Really, she shouldn’t have let him in; she should have insisted he go home. Instead, she not only invited him in, she got him a beer. He just had this way of making her forget all the other shit going on in her life. She needed that.
He took a quick swig of his beer. “Tell me more about this move to Russia. Make me understand why it’s so important that you leave.”
Okay, this wasn’t making her forget the other shit going on in her life. Not at all. “I’ve put a lot of thought into this, Dominic. A lot. It’s what I want.”
“Are you certain about that?” he asked, his tone neutral. “Moving to Russia is a big step. It’s one thing to stay somewhere for a few weeks on vacation; it’s another to live there.”
“I’ve been going to Russia at least four times a year since I was a kid. I know I’ll be happy there.” She leaned against the counter. “This will be a good thing for me, Dominic. Really. It’s for the best.”
“You have a mate somewhere out there who’s waiting for you, Mila,” he said gently. “Can you so easily give up on finding him?” There was no judgment in his voice.
Mila’s hands fisted. “He’s not waiting for me.”
“And how could you know that?”
She didn’t want to answer, and it made her think of that moment in her parents’ apartment when he’d looked at her, unsure of how to respond to Valentina’s question. He could have given a half-assed answer, but he hadn’t. He’d been honest. Mila lifted her chin. “Because I already found him. He’s committed to someone else.”
Dominic stilled. “How committed?”
“He imprinted on her.”
Head tilted, Dominic took a few steps toward her. “How can you know for sure he was meant for you if he’s imprinted on someone else? His bond with his chosen mate should have blocked the frequency of the true-mate bond.”
“We met before he fully imprinted on her. I sensed we were mates; he didn’t.”
“And you didn’t tell him?”
She shook her head. “He’s happy. I don’t want to mess with that. Plus, I couldn’t take him as my mate after seeing him bonded with another. And then there’s the fact that my cat loathes him.”
Dominic’s eyes widened a little at that. “Loathes him?”
“It shouldn’t be possible to hate your true mate, should it? But she does. And I can’t blame her for that. The way she sees it, he’s the other half of her soul so he should have chosen her. She feels betrayed. Rejected.”
Pausing, Mila took a long breath. “At first, I hated him too. It wasn’t real, though. More of a self-defense mechanism—if I hated him, I wouldn’t want him. But the emotion had no real substance, so it faded over time. He hasn’t done anything wrong. Lots of shifters imprint. Hell, I’m planning on doing the same thing. The female he chose makes him happy, so he decided to bond with her—who could blame him for that?”
Dominic sighed, thinking she had a better attitude toward the situation than most would have. So much about her made sense now, and he could even see why she’d want to hurry into an arranged mating. Discovering her true mate would never be hers had to have left her feeling empty. She was looking to fill the void and, although she might not realize it, didn’t feel able to fully give herself to a real mating. “I’m sorry, baby.”