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 asshole 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 fucked 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 fucking function.” Taryn doubted he could have known how much those words meant to her, especially when she knew just how hard he found it to articulate himself like that. Even now he looked as though he wasn’t sure if what he’d said had made any sense. She could feel his need to assure himself that she was with him, safe and alive, in the most basic way – by possessing her body. He was restraining himself though because he didn’t trust that he wouldn’t hurt her while his blood was still boiling. Well then she’d provide him with that assurance that he needed if he wasn’t going to take it for himself.