It freaked Trey out that this female knew him better than he knew himself. He wouldn’t have thought that such an experience would have appealed to him, but as he held the voucher in his hands, he felt a buzz of excitement. Leaning down, he nipped her bottom lip. It wasn’t what anyone would call a proper thank you, but her self-satisfied smile indicated that she knew he was happy with the gifts.
“Now that wasn’t so bad, was it,” she said, poking his chest.
“I don’t know why you insisted on all this,” griped Greta. “If he doesn’t want to celebrate his birthday he shouldn’t have to.” Seeing that Taryn was staring at her, she growled, “What, hussy?”
Taryn shook her head as if to clear it. “Sorry, I was just imagining you wearing a shock collar while I held the remote.”
“Oh there she goes again giving me attitude.”
“Not giving it, returning it.”
Knowing this could go on for a while if he didn’t distract them, Trey pulled Taryn against him. He whispered into her ear, “Now for a preview of the black lace babydoll…”
She shook her head, whispering, “Oh no, not ’til later. Fun time first.”
Fun, thought Trey a few hours later as he gazed up in disbelief. It was true he didn’t know much about it, but he was pretty sure now that his and Taryn’s ideas of fun were going to be very different. “I’m not going on that thing.”
Taryn gaped as she heard the nervousness in his tone. “Trey, you’ve got to be kidding me. It’s a rollercoaster.”
“It’s a deathtrap, that’s what it is.” And how she could say ‘rollercoaster’ in the same tone that someone might use for the word ‘kitten’ was beyond Trey’s understanding.
“I think we might have finally found something that can shake our Alpha up,” said Dante.
Trey scowled, running his gaze along his smirking enforcers. “I’m not scared of going on it, I’m just not convinced it’s safe.”
Marcus nodded, fighting fruitlessly to keep a straight face. “Sure.”
“There’s no way I’m letting you go on that thing either,” Trey told Taryn.
She snorted. “Just when I thought you might have realized you can’t control me, you try it again.” She took his wrist and led him a little further through the fairground entrance. “Don’t worry, Flinstone, that big bad ride’s for later. We’ll prep you first.”
“Prep me?”
“We’ll take you on some other stuff first. Once all that adrenaline’s pumping through your system you’ll be gearing to get on that ride.”
He snorted. “No amount of adrenaline will have me feeling suicidal.”
In truth, he wasn’t keen on going on any of the rides. He hadn’t even wanted to come, but she had insisted he would love it and she had been so excited that it was kind of contagious. Others from the pack had been easily infected and before long Trey found himself being pulled into the backseat of his Toyota to sit with his mate as she led him to his death, it seemed.
Trey curled his arm around her and kept her close as they walked through the crowds, passed tents, stalls and side-shows. The tantalising smells of cotton candy, popcorn, fries, hotdogs, burgers, onions and donuts drifted through the night air, making him feel suddenly hungry.
Everywhere bright colored lights were blazing, flashing and sparkling crazily. Screams, laughter, and a discordant mix of music came from every direction, irritating his wolf. There was really only one word to describe the place: eccentric. Fairgrounds were eccentric.
“You’ll like this.”
Trey followed Taryn’s gaze but couldn’t see the ride itself due to the crowds. He arched a brow at the large colorful sign above it. “What the hell are Bumper Cars?”
“You can’t figure that out by yourself?”
He smiled at how his tiny little mate was able to push passed the throngs of people like she was as big as…well, him. Then she was pointing to a roofed metal rectangular track on which several small electric cars surrounded by rubber bumpers and topped with large poles were dashing around and hurtling into each other. “You’re supposed to crash into the others…on purpose?”
Although his tone said he didn’t see the logic in the ride, Taryn could feel that he was intrigued. It was kind of cute seeing her serious, intense mate like this. Usually he was always so sure of himself and completely confident no matter his surroundings. A fairground, however, wasn’t a place where anyone could easily maintain a serious air. People were helplessly drawn into the fun, even if it was just to laugh at other people making idiots out of themselves. She had known that Trey would be a little out of his element here because this wasn’t the kind of atmosphere he was used to. “You’re a boy. Boys like to crash things. You’ll like it.”
“Taryn -”
She held a hand up to halt his argument. “See – your total lack of enthusiasm just proves you need to learn to let go a little. You would have learned to during adolescence if you hadn’t spent most of that time running a pack. Time to make up for that. Don’t you realize that you missed a crucial part of your development as a person?”
He frowned. “I turned out all right.”
“Erections don’t equal personal growth, Trey.”
Ryan’s laugh didn’t wash down well with Trey, especially since he was generally a grunter.
Not wanting to admit that it did look kind of fun, Trey simply shrugged and gave a long suffering sigh as he allowed her to drag him with her to join the queue. Bouncing like little kids, Dante and his enforcers followed behind them, deciding who they were going to pair with on the ride.
Trey shouldn’t have been surprised when Taryn took a separate car than him and shot him one of her ‘come get me’ smiles. Oh he chased after her alright, but then the sneaky little wildcat spun around and rammed right into the front of his car, laughing. And Trey found himself laughing along with her. The guys repeatedly came at him and Taryn as a group, and it amazed him how even while in a car that was no smaller in size than the others, she still found a way to wriggle out whenever she was surrounded.
“You liked it,” said Taryn smugly when the ride ended and she made her way to him.
He jiggled his head and locked his arm around her. “It was alright.”
Taryn chuckled and play-punched his chest. “Let’s see what else we can find that’s ‘alright’.”
Trey groaned and huffed, but inside he was actually a little eager to try something else. Of course his little mate had sensed that and pounced on it, dragging him on rides such as the Hurricane, the Pirate Ship, the Log Flume, the Ghost Train, the Ferris Wheel, the Orbiter, the Gravitron, and the Waltzer. Okay, the term ‘dragging him’ was a little misleading. All she had really had to do was point in the general direction of the ride and he was there. She had been right – the adrenaline rush had him prepared to ride just about anything…except for the deathtrap.
What Trey hadn’t been able to understand was how he had come to be addicted to trying to win prizes on the side stalls when it was obvious they were set up in a way that made it practically impossible to win. Most of the prizes were crap too, so logic should tell him not to waste his money or time, but he’d been drawn to them like pigs to shit.
It hadn’t been just him. The guys too had tried their luck repeatedly at ones like Coconut Shy, Hoopla, Cork Shooting, Tin Can Alley, Donkey Derby, and Ball in the Basket. Taryn had ended up with two bags full of cuddly toys in various sizes and colors, and a large soft tiger which was almost as big as her. As Marcus had found that highly amusing – or been the only one dumb enough to show that he found it highly amusing – Taryn had elected him as the one who would carry it.
“Whoa, Bucking Bronco,” announced Dominic.
All with hotdogs in hand, they each followed Dominic as he dashed over to a large tent within which there were two mechanical rodeo bulls covered in piebald blankets that had a piece of black leather for a saddle stitched into them.
“Come on, Taryn – you and me.” Dominic smirked cockily. “Don’t get me wrong, I already know I can hang on longest, I just want to watch you ride that thing.”
Trey slapped the dirty pervert over the head.
“Hey!”
“Only be serious if you’re happy to be beat by a girl,” warned Taryn. She and Shaya would play that for hours when they were kids. Still both females held records that beat anyone else’s within Lance’s pack.
Dominic grinned impishly. “I like it when the person I’m up against actually thinks they’ll win. It’s more fun that way.”
Sighing, Taryn handed her hotdog to Trey for safekeeping. “If you’re so eager to humiliate yourself, I don’t see why I shouldn’t help you out with that.”
“Oh yeah, this will be a sight to see,” drawled Marcus, laughing wickedly. Trick nodded his agreement, laughing along with him.
Knowing exactly what Marcus meant by that, Trey slapped both him and Trick over the head.
“What was that for?” complained Trick. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to.” Trey’s heart was in his throat the entire time he watched her being spun about and bounced and bucked, but he still laughed and cheered her on. And still got as horny as all hell watching the way her body moved in sync with the bull as she maintained her balance, giving him a lot of dirty ideas to add to the many he already had.