Okay, Taryn could concede that the homicidal nutcase was seriously hot. His harsh scowl and the sharpness in his artic blue eyes seemed to only add to it. His t-shirt didn’t hide his broad shoulders, defined upper body or washboard abs. Ripped, that was what he was. Ordinarily, Taryn didn’t much like the highlander look, but she found that she couldn’t help admire that physique. In addition, both her body and her wolf helplessly reacted to the power that was practically buzzing around him; he wore authority like a second skin. Perversely, his hard penetrating stare was heating her blood rather than affronting her. His eyes had taken on a glazed, hungry look that both thrilled and startled her. It made her wolf growl in excitement. The primal lust that gripped her was so intense it almost hurt.
Well that was just great. Maybe she was developing Stockholm Syndrome or something.
In any case, no way would her inconvenient attraction to him inspire her to react to him as her body and her wolf wanted – and as many other females often did, if his reputation as a rake had any substance. Her father was also the dark, rugged, brooding, dangerous type and he was a pain in the padded ass. Betraying nothing about her appreciation of him as a male specimen, Taryn simply returned his full-on alpha stare with one of her own. Oh her wolf may be latent, but she was still an alpha wolf.
Trey regarded the female before him curiously. He had been told that she was latent. Add in that she was a tiny little thing, away from her pack and in his company, and surely you would have yourself a flighty deer. But there was no fear in her expression, nor was it wafting from her like fumes as he would have expected. Instead, she was royally pissed. Apparently he had become so used to the scent of fear that he now found himself a little thrown.
He also found that he was becoming painfully hard as a raw basic hunger surged through him, beating at his self-control. She wasn’t beautiful in that oh so obvious in-your-face way, but in a natural, understated way. Although she was slender she had mouth-watering curves that had all sorts of fantasies playing around in his head. It was her mouth that had most of his attention though; it was plush, carnal and made a guy think impure thoughts. A mouth that was currently set into a hard line, communicating how livid she was. Still the stench of fear hadn’t permeated the air. Maybe she just didn’t recognise him. “Do you know who I am?”
Taryn rolled her eyes. “Why don’t we just skip to the part where you tell me how the hell I got here and why exactly I’m here at all, Coleman?”
Everyone around her stiffened and an uncomfortable hush fell upon the room. Obviously they were all waiting for the guy to explode. Yeah? Well she had had enough of intimidating, dominating males. Had had enough of boyfriends who seemed to think that her being latent meant she had to be submissive and meek. Had had enough of her father trying to force her to mate with a sleazy alpha for his own sly reasons. Had had enough of said sleazy alpha who was so determined to mate with her that he had cornered and bitten her without her permission, believing he had marked her as his. And now psycho boy here had obviously kidnapped her. Forgive her if she had reached her limit!
Trey smiled inwardly at her feistiness. He had been told enough times that he had an intimidating presence. All his life, even before earning his reputation, people had been weary of him and it had kind of irritated him. His grandmother blamed his seemingly permanent scowl as well as the dominant vibes that surrounded him.
This female, however, wasn’t shrinking away from him or the intensity of his gaze. And he knew it was intense. He knew that his eyes were so completely focused on her and every single line and curve of her hot little body that it should have been enough to make her look away, squirm or scowl. She didn’t even flinch under his scrutiny. Instead she met his hard stare boldly, and it occurred to him that it was very possible that he had found someone who could outstare him. This was obviously a female who was used to taking shit from people – probably as a result of being latent. Her fiery nature pleased his wolf who didn’t respect tremblers. He would bet she had a wicked temper.
Instinctively, Trey inhaled deeply to investigate the scent of the female just as he did with anyone he met for the first time. Fuck. The exotic fusion of coconut, lime and pineapple seemed to slam into his system and shoot straight to his hard cock, making it jerk. His wolf growled his arousal, wanting to further investigate this female with the mouth-watering scent. “Why don’t you sit,” he invited, gesturing to the seat opposite him. His strong attraction to her would be a good thing if she agreed to his deal.
Taryn would have refused his invitation, but to do that would give the impression that she was feeling too intimidated. She couldn’t afford to show weakness. After taking the seat, she said, “So you were going to explain what this is all about?” If she hadn’t been so in need of answers, she would have avoided talking to him at all. That rough, gravelly voice caressed her senses and almost succeeded in making her shudder.
“My Beta and my Head Enforcer brought you here a few hours ago.”
“What? Why? And how did they even get me to go with them?”
“They drugged you.”
Taryn gaped. He was too flippant and unremorseful for her liking. “They did what?”
“At the café. After you left and the drowsiness kicked in as you were walking home, Dante and Tao took you and brought you to me.”
“If it makes you feel any better,” began Mountain Man, “you still fought me and Tao like a wildcat before you went away with the fairies to dreamland.” He lifted his t-shirt to show her a set of claw marks that spanned his chest. Her marks, she realized. Although she was latent, she could partially shift. She also realized that Mountain Man was amused rather than angry.
“Wildcat is an understatement. No one ever marks our Beta,” a tall, olive-skinned wolf told her who she presumed was Tao – her other kidnapper. With his athletic build and chocolate brown hair, he was more her type. Unfortunately her wolf was growling her disagreement; she rather liked psycho boy.
“And the purpose of Operation Drug and Kidnap the Female Wolf is what exactly?” Her tone made it clear that no answer could possibly placate her.
Trey’s inward smile surfaced. She would be perfect for what he had in mind. In order to know for sure, he needed to tell some sweet little lies first and feel her out, find out if his suspicions about her supposed mating were true. “Roscoe Weston.”
Her wolf growled inside her head at the name. “What about him?”
“He has something I want. Something that he owes me.”
“Ah, and now you believe you have something he wants and that there’s going to be some sort of trade going on.” It was just her luck that she would get stuck in the middle of alpha games.
“You’re not so much insurance as you are a little reminder that he owes me and I’m not a patient man.”
And she wasn’t a patient woman. Nor was she partial to being drugged and kidnapped. But did anyone give a shit? No. It could be that she was latent or just that she was small, but people tended to judge her as being delicate, skittish and submissive. “Look, maybe in your culture it’s perfectly fine to drug and abduct a person, but it sure as shit isn’t acceptable in mine.”
“As soon as Roscoe arrives, you can leave.”