“I told you that what really matters is that you’re happy,” said Caleb. “And it seems like you are.”
“Is that your way of saying that I have your blessing?”
“I’m still having trouble getting my head around him being your true mate but…well you act like true mates and he obviously adores you. That’s enough for me. I have to admit I’m kind of jealous that everyone around us seems to have mated.”
She patted his arm. “Don’t worry, I’m sure your own true mate is somewhere just waiting for you to find her, and I’m sure she’s the next model up from the inflatable one you already have.”
“Bitch,” he said affectionately.
Shaya had her palm pressed against her forehead, looking stressed and confused. “I don’t know how anyone can not be terrified of that wolf…but his true mate wouldn’t be, mates never fear each other. And clearly you don’t so...Look, just promise me that if you suddenly think you’ve made a mistake or he ever hurts you, you call me and you get out of here.”
Taryn smiled. “Aw, Shaya, if he ever hurt me he’d be dead before I made that call.”
A grin spread across Shaya’s elfin face. “That’s my girl.”
It hadn’t been a surprise to discover that Trey had disappeared into his office before the car had even moved out of sight – acting time was over. She turned to Tao who had been waiting a few feet behind her. “Hey, fancy going out somewhere?”
“Where?” He sounded a little suspicious.
“I’ve gone twelve whole days without pizza and that’s just not right.”
He grinned. “Pizza definitely sounds good. Let me just tell Dante we’ll be out for a while.”
She hadn’t realized just how much she had missed her Hyundai until she was driving it en-route to town five minutes later. Tao, apparently not content enough with being her bodyguard, had wanted to play chauffeur too, but she easily got her way because he was smart enough to know that she wouldn’t give in.
“Did your friends buy the act?” asked Tao about fifteen minutes into the journey.
She shrugged. “They’ve accepted it, but I don’t think anything will ever completely convince them.”
“They don’t think you and Trey fit?”
“It’s not so much that. They saw how close Joey and I were, and then they watched me deal with his death pretty badly. For me to suddenly claim that Joey was nothing but my best friend…” She let the sentence trail, knowing he’d see her point. “I think if it had been anyone other than Trey, I might have had more luck with getting them to accept it.”
“Trey’s not your type?”
“I meant because he’s psychotic. Although it’s true that I’ve never been with a guy built like a highlander before, but I don’t really have a type. I either like someone or I don’t.”
“And you like Trey.”
“To an extent,” she said with a smile. “Selma made it clear that I’m not his type.”
“Trey’s always gone for, what do you females call them, hourglass figures or something like that?”
Noticing he hadn’t sounded so fond of them, she prodded, “You’re not such a fan?”
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t say no to one. Plenty of times Trey and I have shared one of his women -”
“Really?”
“- but I prefer my women to be more…athletic, I guess. And I have a thing for blondes.”
“Ooh, please don’t say that line – that was the first thing Roscoe ever said to me. Makes me shiver even now.”
His words were both consoling and sympathetic. “It has to have pissed you off that you had two guys wanting to mate with you but neither really wanted you for you.”
“Yeah, but I don’t think I’ll make a good mate anyway.”
“Why?”
“My natural reaction is to hold back from people, especially guys. It’s something I honestly can’t control. When Joey and my mom died, I had this big hole and it’s as if when I taped it up, I did it too tight. I don’t know if I could ever really make myself completely vulnerable to another person again. And when you mate with someone, really mate with someone, there can’t be protective walls.”
Tao’s smile was a little sad. “The right wolf will hammer them down.”
“It might take more than a hammer. Anyway, let’s talk about something more interesting. What’s this thing about you and Trey sharing women?” Ménages weren’t exactly unusual among shifters, but she wouldn’t have had Trey down for someone who shared.
“Before you, Trey’s never been possessive with women. Plenty of times we’ve shared. The invite was always open to Dante, but he just likes to watch with Marcus, Trick, Ryan, and Dominic.”
“They watch?” she chuckled, not finding it difficult to believe, especially since many shifters had voyeuristic tendencies.
“Oh yeah, if Trey’s feeling in a good mood he doesn’t mind. You ever participated in a ménage?”
She snorted. It was hard enough making things work out with one guy, let alone two. “Having a sex life isn’t as easy for an alpha female as you might think.”
“In what way?”
“Guys say they like a woman who’ll take charge in the bedroom but most of the time they’re talking out of their ass.” Finally they pulled up in the parking lot of the pizza place and Taryn couldn’t stop a joyous smile from taking over her face. She really had missed the taste of pepperoni pizza.
“But most alpha males would be hard at just the thought of battling an alpha female for dominance in the bedroom.”
“Yeah but that erection often disappears when the male realizes that it’s not as easy as they thought to win that battle. Most of the time they’ve originally thought that if they just chase us around and tire us out we’ll surrender or something. Then there are the males who confuse dominance with bullying. When it comes to alpha females, submission has to be earned, not taken. You’ve never been with an alpha female?”
“Not yet.” Most likely in response to her baffled expression, he said, “What’s wrong?”
She gestured to the pizza delivery guy who was exiting the restaurant with a pile of boxes. “I’ve just never worked out why they put pizza in a square box.”
Intending to seem as though he was only leaving his office to refill his coffee mug, Trey left the room and began walking toward the kitchen, wanting to discreetly check on Taryn. Two things quickly became apparent. One, it was a lot quieter than usual. Two, although Taryn’s scent was everywhere he turned, it was faint…as if it was simply what lingered in the air.
In the kitchen Dante, Greta, Marcus, Trick, Grace, Lydia, Selma and Hope sat at the table, laughing and joking. It looked as though Selma and Hope were having a separate conversation, unsurprisingly. They had made themselves pretty unpopular with their refusal to accept Taryn. After refilling his mug Trey asked, ensuring his voice was casual, “Where’s Taryn?”
“Out,” replied Dante.
“On another run with Tao?” Although she was latent, she was just as fast as any shifter.
“No, she went into town.”
Trey had to have heard wrong. “What was that?”
“She went into town.”
Dumping his mug on the counter, uncaring of the scolding hot coffee that had splashed onto his fingers, he demanded, “Where? With who?”
“She and Tao went for pizza,” said Greta, her voice full of implications.
Selma dived on that. “He’s a very attentive bodyguard, isn’t he? You have to admit, they look real cute together. Right, Hope?”
“Oh yeah, real cute.”
“Shut it,” snapped Trey, surprising most people in the room.
“She didn’t tell you she was going out?” asked Marcus.
“No, she didn’t,” Trey managed to grit out, pissed off that she had ventured out without a word and jealous that she had asked Tao to go with her rather than him. He switched his attention back to Dante. “Why didn’t you stop her from going?”
; “Why would I have stopped my Alpha female from leaving pack territory? And how exactly would you have expected me to stop Taryn from doing that or anything else?”
“When did she leave?”
“Calm down, Trey, what’s the problem?” But Dante knew exactly what the problem was – he always saw too much.
As the sound of laughing coming from outside the caves met their ears, Marcus nodded. “That’s probably them now.”
Trey stalked toward the main door, clenching his fists. Almost yanking the damn thing off, he opened it to find Taryn and Tao practically stumbling up the stairs as they laughed so hard at something they were keeled over. The sight of them looking so happy and comfortable with each other sent another surge of jealousy rushing through him.
Eventually they looked up and saw him. He could guess that his expression was thunderous because Tao immediately lowered his eyes. Taryn, on the other hand, presented him with a smile.
“Well hello,” said Taryn brightly as she went right on past the ass she had mated with and strode into Bedrock.
“What the hell did you think you were doing leaving pack territory without telling me!” he bellowed as he followed behind her. Slowly she turned and appraised him from head to toe. Not with fear or even apprehension, but like someone would scrutinise a bug.
“Did you forget to take your pills again?”
“I’ve been in my office believing you’re safe, and you’ve been in town hanging out with Tao!”
“Yes and we had a lovely time, thanks.”
“If you’d have said you wanted to go somewhere I’d have taken you! Why sneak off?” When instead of answering him she just stared blankly, he persisted, “Taryn?”
“Oh sorry, I was just busy picturing a gag in your mouth.”
“This is serious! The new Alpha of Roscoe’s pack hasn’t been here to finalise an alliance which means there’s still a possibility of retaliation over his death. Then there’s the fact that although your dad might not come here and challenge me, you can bet your little ass he’ll take you given half the chance.”
“Did the UFOs tell you that when you removed your foil hat?”
“I’m not being paranoid!”
Taryn snickered. “What you’re being is an overprotective asshole who didn’t like it that his mate didn’t say ‘pretty, pretty please, Master’ before leaving pack territory.” Fed up with him, she retreated to the living area and, sighing, plonked herself onto the reclining corner of the sectional sofa. “I am so stuffed.”
“You won’t want a coffee then?” said Grace with a smile.
“I’m not that stuffed.”
One by one, people began to pile in. Other than Trey who stood near the door, arms folded, snarling. “I’m think I prefer him in Cujo mode,” she muttered to Tao who was beside her on the sofa.
“Been out all afternoon with another male,” drawled Greta. “Didn’t I tell you she was a hussy, Trey?”
“Hey there, Mistress of the Dark Arts, how are you?”
“If I’d known you guys were going for pizza I’d have asked to go along,” said Cam.
Taryn smiled. “Not to tease you or anything, but it was absolutely gorgeous. Deep Pan base, extra cheese, pepperoni -”
“Now that’s not fair.”
“You know,” began Dominic, wearing that impish smile that meant he was about to deliver another of his cheesy lines, “I’m a lot like Domino’s Pizza, if you don’t come in thirty minutes, the next one’s free.” Everyone groaned, trying to hold back smiles.
“Here you go,” said Grace as she handed Taryn a mug of coffee.
“Oh you’re a gem.” She sighed dreamily as Marcus leaned over the back of the sofa and began massaging her shoulders.
“I take it this is what everyone means about it being uncomfortable when newly made mates are separated for a while?” prodded Trick.
Taryn sighed inwardly when she saw that Trey hadn’t moved from the doorway or dropped his scowl. He looked unbelievably pissed, but he also looked a little lonely. As much as he had annoyed the hell out of her, Taryn had the urge to soothe him. Extending her hand, she said, “Come on, Flinstone.”
He looked at her hand, looked at her face and then stormed off. With a sigh, she dropped her hand and shrugged. But she wasn’t as aloof about it as she appeared to be. Would it really have been that horrible to sit with her for a while, to spend a teeny weeny amount of time with her and his pack? Apparently yes it would have. And apparently she hadn’t played the aloof female as well as she thought.
“How many times in your head have you killed him?” asked Grace when they were alone in the kitchen preparing dinner.
Taryn sighed. “Honestly? Too many to count. I’ve even dug the grave and hid the body.”
“You know, I can’t understand why he’s acting so shitty. I know he was never overly attentive or anything, but it was obvious he liked having you around and then all of a sudden he turned indifferent. At first I thought you guys had just had a fight or something.”
“No. It was after I calmed his wolf. In fact, no, he was okay right up until I had that nap after healing him. When I woke up he was all weird and he’s been that way ever since.”
“Do you think maybe he just doesn’t want to look weak in front of the others by being all affectionate and shit? You know guys can be weird like that, and he’s the Alpha, so there’s that pressure there to look as though he has no weaknesses.”
“But if it was that, he’d be okay when other people aren’t around.”
“You guys aren’t fucking?”
Taryn shook her head. “Not since the morning before Roscoe’s visit and subsequent demise. If it was just sex he was being weird about, I’d have thought he might be getting it elsewhere. Selma isn’t exactly shy about her eagerness to have him. But he barely speaks to me, even when we’re alone, so there’s a bigger issue at play here. I just don’t know what it is.”
“It’s not that he doesn’t want you,” Grace insisted. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you. It’s not just with lust either. That’s what makes this shit all the more confusing.”
“If he wanted me he wouldn’t hold back. It’s not in Trey’s nature to hold back when he wants something.”
“Don’t worry, honey, we’ll find out what’s going on in that weird head of his eventually.”
“I’ll have killed and buried him for real by then.” She frowned as the sudden sounds of cursing and raised voices drifted into the room. Both females immediately stopped what they were doing and headed through the tunnels to find out what the fuss was all about. Arriving at the main junction, Taryn saw many of the pack had gathered and were looking as defensive as they were confused while Marcus and Trick appeared to be interrogating them. Seeing her there, everyone fell silent and a chill ran down her spine. “What is it?”
Marcus went to speak but then swallowed hard and looked at Trick as if hoping he would answer.
“What’s going on?”
“Follow us,” said Marcus as he and Trick made their way out the main door and down the flights of stairs. On reaching the bottom, they led her into the concealed parking lot where she stopped dead. She couldn’t see what the problem was, but she knew what Trey, Dante, Tao, Ryan and Dominic were gathered around. She shrugged her way through them and gasped. The doors and windows of her Hyundai were covered in red spray paint. Worse, the red paint very clearly said ‘Go Home Warner Slut’.
“Who. Did. This?” Her voice was dead, toneless.
“We don’t know,” replied Trey, his own voice thick with anger. His mate’s car. Someone had dared to do this to his mate’s property. His wolf wanted to surface so that he could hunt them down. “Almost every pack member’s scent is in this lot because everyone uses it. If we had gotten to it when the paint was still wet then maybe the culprit’s scent would be heavier in the air than the rest but…”
An arm curled supportively around her and she turned her head to see Tao looking down at her wearin
g a sympathetic expression. “It’s okay,” Tao assured her. “We will find out who did it somehow. In the meantime, someone will clean it.”
She shook her head. “I’ll do it.”
“No,” they all objected at once.
“It’s my car.” Hers, it was her baby…and someone had vandalized it. Sure it was only a little paint, but dammit that wasn’t the point. Her shifter territorial nature made it even harder for her to keep calm. Rage was coursing through her, making her grind her teeth and ball her hands into tight little fists. “I’m going to kill them.”
“Get in line,” said Ryan.
Tao took one of her fists and uncurled it. “Come on, come inside.”
“Go,” said Trey, “we’ll take care of this. Go inside.” He knew he’d probably sounded a little sharp with her, but he didn’t like seeing another male’s arm around her. In fact, he wanted to snap it off.
She sighed. “I -”
“No.”
Her wolf calmed a little when he came close, but he didn’t touch her just like Taryn knew he wouldn’t even though she needed it, even though he would feel that she needed it. “It’s my car,” she repeated, knowing that it didn’t really have any bearing on the matter of who cleaned it. She was simply pissed off to think right.
“You don’t need to see this. Whoever did this did it to upset you, don’t give them what they want.”
“Says the world’s worst brooder,” she couldn’t help muttering through clenched teeth.
“Taryn, we’ll take care of it.” He raised his hand to touch her face, but then he dropped it again. More than anything he wanted to comfort and calm her with his touch, and that was exactly why he didn’t. “Go,” he urged softly.
Relenting, she allowed Tao to lead her inside, but she didn’t go into the living area to relax the way everybody was advising her to. No, she went straight back to the kitchen and over to the onions to continue dicing them. Grace opened her mouth as though to object, but a warning look from Taryn kept her quiet. Taryn didn’t want to relax, didn’t want to talk, didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts and her anger, she just wanted a distraction.
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