Anger flashed across her face and Trey tensed. “What? Tell me.”
She sighed. “Apparently…someone from our pack told Darryl where I’d be.” She winced as his face turned purple. Then he was then striding purposely toward his Toyota. No prizes for guessing where he was going. She dashed after him and then leapt onto his back, locking her arms around his neck and her legs around his middle. “Trey, no, listen to me. You can’t go after him, it’s what he wants.” He continued onwards as if she wasn’t even there, completely undeterred by her weight – though it was fair to say she didn’t weigh that much. Deserting her plan to placate him, she took on another approach. She kicked her legs madly and bit his ear. “Trey, don’t do this! For God’s sake, will you just listen!”
Trey halted abruptly and shifted her so that she was once again wrapped around his front. He held her gaze as he growled, “Don’t, Taryn. Don’t ask me to ignore this. You’re my mate and he sent two wolves after you. It doesn’t matter that you kicked their asses, he wanted you beaten – maybe even worse. To add to that, he has one of my own wolves betraying me, betraying you.”
“I know, I know it’s bad but -”
“You’ve always known who and what I am. You’ve always known what I’m capable of. Don’t ask me to ignore what he did to you, don’t ask me to be something I’m not.”
“That’s not what I’m doing. I know you want to shred the bastard into tiny pieces – you’re not alone there. All I’m asking you to do is put a pin in it. Just delay it for a while. You have to see that it’s a trap.”
“A trap?” asked Ryan.
“No shifter would dare harm another shifter’s mate unless he was hoping to die a long, painful death. He will have known that Trey would react ten times worse and most likely go feral. He’s probably getting desperate now – the twelve weeks are almost up. If he could get you to go against council protocol and attack within the next seven days…” She didn’t need to say more, knowing he would see her point.
“Makes sense,” said Tao after a minute. The other males nodded. Other than Trey.
Taryn dabbed another kiss on Trey’s lips. “He thinks he’s got you all figured out. But he hasn’t. You might be the wolf shifter version of the Black Mamba snake and have homicidal urges from time to time, but you’re also smart. Smart enough to know that if you go to him now and react like he wants, you’re giving him power over you. Smart enough to know that the important thing now is to figure out who his informant is before they feed him more information.”
Trick stepped forward. “She’s right, Trey. I say we let Darryl sweat. He’ll know he’s not going to get away with it. Leave him to sit and wonder what you’ll do and when you’re going to do it.”
Trey snickered. “And what if he goes after her again? Huh? What if I put a f**king pin in it and then he sends more wolves after her in the meantime? He’d most likely send an even larger number the next time just to be sure she got the beating he ordered.”
Growling, Taryn gripped his head and turned it sharply so that she could stare into his eyes. “You listen to me, psycho boy. You might be happy to give your uncle the satisfaction of falling into his trap but I’m not. Here’s what’s going to happen. We’re all going to calm down and drive back to Bedrock and you’re not going to give me any shit about it or so help me God I’ll beat you so bad you’ll have to put toothpaste in your ass to brush your teeth!”
There was a moment of quiet before some of the guys chuckled and others just smiled.
“I think she’s having caffeine withdrawal,” said Dante.
Trey sighed in frustration. Why did she have to be right? All he wanted was revenge. Was that really that bad? He didn’t think so. Nor did his wolf. But, as Taryn had pointed out, that was what his uncle was counting on. Well, if Trey was going to do something totally out of character and delay his revenge, then there was going to have to be a few changes round here. He pinned his little mate with a look. “No more telling me to stay behind. If you leave pack territory, I’m right there with you.”
Not liking his tone but recognising how hard it was for him to back down, Taryn nodded. “Got it.”
“And if he comes after you again don’t expect me to play the waiting game any longer.”
“Sure thing, Flinstone. Now let’s go home.” Apparently not willing to part with her just yet, he ordered Tao to drive her car home while he pulled Taryn on his lap in the backseat of the Toyota. He didn’t say a word during the entire journey, not even to contribute to the ‘We hate Darryl’ chat that Dante, Trick and Marcus began. She could tell that the guys were eager to discuss who the informant might be, but they knew their Alpha well enough to know that he needed time to calm the hell down before having any discussion.
Knowing how much he liked it, Taryn snuggled into his arms and melted against his chest, but not even that or her feather-light kisses to his neck or her soft petting to his chest was able to ease the tension from his body. His rigid body barely moved other than to run his hand gently through her hair. When they arrived home he did what he always did when things didn’t go his way – brooded. And Taryn did what she always when did he brooded – left him to get on with it alone.
After stashing Trey’s gifts in the bedroom and hanging up her new clothes, she took the groceries she’d bought to the kitchen and helped Grace with getting started on dinner – chicken curry. It wasn’t exactly a surprise when Trey didn’t appear for dinner. When he sulked, he did it good.
Greta was the last to take a seat at the table and her grim expression had Taryn smiling. “I bet you wish Darryl’s wolves had given me a good beating.”
Greta harrumphed. “There’s no such luck.” After swallowing a mouthful, she whispered – loudly and very much for Taryn’s benefit – to Cam, “Does this taste funny to you?” How he managed to keep his expression neutral, Taryn wasn’t sure.
“I’ve got no complaints,” he replied before shovelling a chunk of curried chicken in his mouth.
“Dinner seems to always have a funny taste when she helps.”
“Oh that’s just the poison, Greta,” said Taryn. The old woman made a face but, of course, continued to eat the meal – like she hadn’t eaten in a week.
“How much longer do you think the brooding will go on for?” asked Dominic.
Trick shrugged. “Maybe a day or so.”
“Give the guy a break,” chastised Dante, “he got a scare.”
“So you’re not hurt or anything?” asked Kirk, sounding awkward. “Other than the gash on your head, I mean.”
Taryn shook her head, wondering at his sudden concern. Or apparent concern.
“You should have seen the way she took those guys out,” said Lydia, still a little shaken but refusing to admit it. “It was absolutely awesome.”
“Well if she hadn’t gone out all day shopping for herself none of it would’ve happened.” Greta gave Taryn a withering look. “That would never have happened in my day. No. The women stayed at home and took care of their mate. If I did go out, my Arthur came with me.”
Taryn just smiled. “Well I suppose it was better that you didn’t venture out alone in case a T-Rex got hold of you, huh.” The muffled laughs coming from some of the pack had Greta growling.
“I’ll never know what he sees in you. Selma’s so much prettier.” More laughing from some of the pack as it was well-known that Greta disliked Selma even more than she did Taryn. Even Selma herself looked surprised. “Such beautiful long hair. Not like yours.”
“Speaking of hair, your moustache needs a trim.”
That shut Greta up and the conversation turned to lighter, general things, but although Taryn chatted away to the others, it was forever on her mind that Trey was outside somewhere, hungry, pissed, and unable to calm himself. She knew this because she could feel it through their mating link, but she could also feel that he wanted to be alone. So she didn’t do what she wanted to do and track him down and force some food down his throat. Instead she watched some T.V. with the others, hoping that Trey might turn up at some point. Unfortunately, it had been a pointless hope.
She rose from her seat on the sofa. “I’m heading to bed. Can’t stay awake any longer. Goodnight.” She had only taken two steps toward the door when Dominic called her name. She turned and raised a brow questioningly. He motioned with one finger for her to go to where he was on the end of the chaise. Rolling her eyes, she walked over and sighed.
He smiled. “I just made you come with one finger. Imagine what I could do with my whole hand.” Everyone groaned. “What? That was a good one.”
Shaking her head and chuckling, Taryn left the room and made her way through the tunnels when Tao suddenly caught up with her.
“Um, Taryn, I just wondered if we could talk for a minute. Here, alone.”
Surprised that he had gone out of his way to speak to her when usually he only did if she asked him a question, she shrugged. “Sure. What’s up?”
For a minute he didn’t say anything; just fidgeted and ran a hand through his hair and repeatedly cleared his throat. “I’m sorry,” he finally burst out. “You’ve no idea how sorry I am.”
“For what?”
“Maybe if I hadn’t been such an idiot I still would’ve been your bodyguard and then I’d have been there today and -”
“No, Tao, don’t do that. Don’t even think like that. The second I officially became the Alpha female of the pack I would have insisted on not having a bodyguard. I know some Alpha pairs have them, but Trey doesn’t and it would have made me look weak to have a bodyguard when he didn’t.”
He nodded a little. “I’m still sorry. I’ve been an ass and I know it. Look, I’d really like it if we could be friends again. I get that you’re with Trey. I look at you both now and…you make sense – if that makes sense. You suit each other. The jealousy…it isn’t there anymore. You’re my Alpha female and I respect that. And I’d really like it if we could go back to being friends.”
Pleasantly shocked, she smiled. “I’d like that. Goodnight.”
Feeling a little lighter, she made her way to her room. Once she had taken a quick shower, being sure to wash away the scents of the strange males, she threw on one of Trey’s old t-shirts and hopped into bed. She had planned to lay awake so that they could talk when he finally joined her, but she must have nodded off at some point because she abruptly woke some time later to the feel of a light touch on the tiny wound on her forehead.
Opening her eyes she saw Trey sitting beside her, his back against the headboard and his legs crossed at the ankles. “Hey there, Flinstone,” she said in a voice gone husky from sleep.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.”
If she hadn’t been able to feel it through their link, the deep crease between his eyebrows would have told her that he was still pretty pissed. “You know I was right, Trey,” she said in a low voice.
He turned his head away and sighed. “I know. It doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“And stop torturing yourself about not having been there.”
“I’m your mate, Taryn. It’s my job to protect you.”
“I was the one who insisted you didn’t come with me.”
“Something that won’t be happening again,” he reminded her.
She drew circles on his bicep with her fingertip as she asked, “Does that mean you’re done now?”
“With what?”
“Sulking.”
One brow lifted. “Sulking?”
“Yeah.” She climbed onto his lap and straddled him. “Sulking because you can’t go kill the sly wolf.”
“He ordered an attack on you, Taryn. He wanted the shit knocked out of you.” If he knew Darryl like he thought he did, then the a**hole would have ordered that she be sexually assaulted and then beaten almost to death – assurance that Trey would come for him. The drive to do just that was still hounding both him and his wolf. Moreover, he had the painful knowledge that someone within his pack had betrayed them.
She massaged his shoulders and brushed his nose with hers. “Darryl didn’t get what he wanted though. I’m fine.”
The way she had said it as though that made everything okay had Trey shaking his head incredulously. She thought that what he’d been doing all this time was pouting about not getting his revenge and torturing himself about not having protected her. If she had looked deeper she would have seen what was tormenting him most, would have known that the terror he had experienced earlier on hearing she was being attacked was still coursing through his veins.
He had envisioned all kinds of f**ked up scenarios as he had drove like a crazy person to get to her, had imagined finally arriving only to find her dead. Her strong personality always made her seem inches taller than what she was. In reality, she was just a tiny little thing. So easily breakable. He could snap her neck right now with minimal effort – and those wolves who tried to attack her could have done the same even if they hadn’t meant to.
Trey took her face in his hands, fighting to keep his touch gentle while anger and fear was still stabbing at him. “You just don’t get it, do you? You have no idea how important you are to me. I need you to be okay, Taryn. I can’t be without you, you have to be here and okay or I won’t be able to f**king function.”