His substitute mate.

chapter five

'Wow' was Sheena's first thought at the sight of the wolf mansion. It was a grand and highly sophisticated edifice built to near perfection in the the shape of a massive cross standing on one leg. It stood very tall, it's north point extending upwards to what Sheena thought must be as high as 300ft. She wondered how the East and West wings were hanging at close to a 150ft above ground level without any pillars or support, considering how long they extended. The entire building was made of one-way-window glasses, making it impossible to see inside from the outside. Covering the entire mid point of the building was a huge intricately structured sculpture of a wolf head painted white. Sheena visibly shuddered at the thought of getting lost in such a huge structure as this.

She took a minute to look around her surroundings, to see a vast and thick forest of Hyperion trees that appeared taller than the building, surrounding them. She wondered why anyone would build such an exquisite structure in the middle of nowhere, hiding it from the outside world.

Her gaze went back to the front of the house to meet many unsmiling faces waiting to welcome the new couple. She did a quick head count and arrived at 16 people - 6 male and 9 female- all dressed elegantly in black suits and gowns, and standing at the middle of the group were the older man and much more older woman from the church earlier - they still had the air of authority over them.

Dom took a step forward, nudging her on the way - a signal for her to walk with him. While they both walked side by side towards the group, one could tell there was tension between them.

"Hi, I'm Jake ravens, Dom's father. Welcome to your new home and family" the older man spoke first, offering a smile which Sheena thought was weird and scary.

"Thank you, sir" Sheena replied tamely.

"Meet my mother, Dom's grandmother, Mrs Ravens." He added, pointing towards the lady beside him.

She turned to meet the older woman staring her up and down before giving an approving nod.

"Your gown is absolutely beautiful. You chose a lovely fabric." She said while touching the helm of the silk material.

Sheena thanked the woman, smiling wryly at the irony of it all. She had indeed picked the gown herself at the behest of Elena. While she chose to wear what other people considered to be weird clothing, she had a good eye for fashion which Elena was well aware of. Elena had pleaded with her to help her pick a gown for the wedding. Little did she know she was chosing a gown for herself.

The other members of the welcoming party all introduced themselves to her one by one and soon she was face to face with the blond lady at the church whose stares unsettled her then. She suddenly felt a new pang of uneasiness. She was about to say hi to her, but before she could open her mouth to speak, the Blondie pushed past her and went straight to hug Dom whom Sheena hadn't noticed was stood quietly behind her the entire time. Dom hugged her back tightly. After they disengaged, she whispered something into his ear, while pointing towards Sheena which made Dom let out a chuckle. It sounded sweet and manly to her ears. She wondered what the blond had said and if they were both mocking her.

The voice of the older man brought her attention away from the pair who still stood unusually close to each other.

"Dom, take your wife inside and come see me later in the study. You both will be using the entire East wing. And if you need anything when Dom isn't around, talk to Annabelle, she'll help you out" he said while pointing towards the Blondie before turning to head into the house with more than half the group including the older woman, Dom's grandmother, going in with him.

"Where's Damian?" Dominic asked the blond. "I saw him at the church. Why isn't he here yet?"

" He had to take care of the assignment dad gave him. He said he'll back soon." She answered.

" Ok. Do tell him to come meet me in my room as soon he gets back."

" Sure, I will."

" You." He said, addressing Sheena. "Come with me."

Sheena let out another audible 'wow' as soon as they entered into the building. She was in awe at the intricate design and decor of the entrance hall. At the middle of the room was a long staircase going upwards like it was unending.

"Come this way. You'll have enough time for sightseeing and 'wowing' later" Dom muttered, ushering her into the elevator and tapping 150 on the elevator pad.

Sheena stood quietly beside Dom in the small space of the elevator. They were so close to each other that she could smell his cologne and after shave. She took in a deep inaudible breath, he smelled sweet and pleasant like rosewood. It made her heart quicken and she raised her head to steal a glance at him. He had on his usual serious, grim, and unnerving countenance.

"Are you going to make this staring bit a habit?" He asked, turning to look down at her.

She quickly turned her glance away from him. The chumming of the elevator signalling they had reached their floor, saved her from replying.

They walked out of the elevator, with him in front, into a wide entrance hall before going through a long passage way to the left which she assumed led to the East wing. They continued walking for a while, passing different rooms, till he stopped at a room at the end of the hall. He opened it and ushered her in while he stood at the entrance.

"This is my room, but it will be yours now. The bathroom is by the left, right through there." He said, pointing to a door.

"Freshen up and wait here, I'll be back. I have to go meet my dad." He added before turning to leave, right before Sheena could object.

She contemplated calling out to him for a second, but chose not to. She was going to ask him for help with unzipping her gown before he stormed off. It had taken four people to get her into the dress and she was damn well sure she wouldn't be getting out of it alone.

Sighing dejectedly, she slumped onto the couch in the center of the unusually large room, deciding to wait till whenever Dom got back.

' He wouldn't take too long now would he?' she thought.

It wasn't up to 30mins when she heard the door open. Without turning to look, she stood and turned to back the person coming in through the door.

"Please,....." She paused, unsure of how to address him. 'Husband', ' babe', 'my love'. She couldn't decide. After a brief while, she settled for Dominic.

"... Dominic, can you help me unzip my gown please." She pleaded, shifting her hair to the side to give him easy access.

She felt him move towards her, fumbling with the zipper a little before rather too slowly unzipping the gown. She felt him move even closer. He smelt like a mixture or sandalwood and vanilla. She frose.

'This isn't Dom.' she thought, spinning quickly to look at the man who entered into the room.

She stood shocked at the smiling face of the man who had smiled and winked at her back at the church.

She was about to utter something when just then, the front door was pushed open, ushering Dom into the room. He paused, with his hand still on the door knob, at the sight of his wife standing very close to another man, with her gown hanging loosely over her shoulders.