“Oh you might want to know that your father and I have arranged the mating ceremony to take place on the next full moon, which is a week from now.”

She couldn’t help but gape. “You know, I can’t work out whether you have selective hearing or just don’t give a shit about a single word you hear. I do not want to mate with you. In fact, I would rather have a porcupine brutally shoved up into my rectum than mate with you.”

He shrugged. “I’ve already claimed you.”

“I don’t accept that claim.”

“Your father does.”

She shook her head incredulously. It occurred to her that getting angry with this wolf never helped her cause. Maybe if she tried being diplomatic? “What is all this really about? You don’t even like me, why would you want me as your mate?”

“Of course I like you.”

“If it’s an alliance with Lance you want, I’m pretty sure you could get it without mating me.”

He looked at her curiously. “You truly don’t see your own worth, do you? I wasn’t sure if it was an act at first.”

“You don’t need a pack healer, you already have one.”

He folded his arms across his chest. “I’m not talking about your worth as a pack member. I’m talking about your worth as a person, as a female. You’re a very beautiful, sensual, refreshing female. Totally without artifice. You have just as many alpha vibes emitting from you as any other female alpha, latent or not. And as for your iron will…I never thought I would meet a person more stubborn than me.”

So he recognised that she was more stubborn than him and yet they were still having this discussion? She failed to see the logic in that. “Look, you and me…we don’t sing from the same hymn sheets, we’re not even the slightest bit compatible. You need a nice submissive female who’ll say and do what you tell her to and make all the right noises at the appropriate times. Me…I’m just going to piss you off.”

“You’re right, Taryn, I do like my females submissive. And that is exactly what you will be when we mate.”

And he really believed that, she could tell. “You must seriously be smoking crack.”

He laughed. “The delusional one in this situation is you, Taryn.”

“I’ll never mate with you. Never.”

His look was sympathetic. “It’s sad that you actually think you’ll win this battle.”

“It’s sad that you even started this battle. Why would you want me when you know I don’t want you? Why would you want me when you know I’d fight you every step of the way?” The chilling smile he gave her made everything suddenly click into place. “You don’t want me in spite of those things. You want me because of those things. You get your kicks out of forcing yourself on women.”

“No, not forcing myself on them. I’m not a ra**st. But I love a challenge, and I love to be in control. Power is a heady thing for me. What greater power is there than to be able to own someone who doesn’t want you; someone whose will you can break bit by bit until they have gone from a spirited, dominant, independent individual to a person who is totally submissive to you?”

It took a few seconds for Taryn to be able to speak. “You’re sick.”

He jiggled his head. “Maybe I seem that way to you now, but just think, Taryn. A year from now you will want nothing more than to please me in every way I want to be pleased.”

“Never,” she bit out.

“I won’t need to force you. You will crave my dominance and my direction. I’m looking forward to you moving into my home. Then we can begin your training.”

“Sick, delusional and suicidal. That’s what you are.”

“Suicidal?” He sounded amused.

“I’d kill you before I let you touch me.”

“You really would try to, wouldn’t you? Even if it meant risking your own life.”

“If I mated with you I’d be practically dead anyway,” she spat. “Being some little slave for you wouldn’t be a life.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever met a female who has more resistance to the idea of submission than you.”

“My resistance is to the idea of submitting to you.”

His creepy smile widened. “And that just makes the whole thing so much sweeter.”

Oh he was so very, very, very sick. “It will never happen.”

“I’ll remind you of this conversation in a year’s time. It will be interesting to know what you make of it then.” With that, he strolled back toward the house, leaving her stood there gaping.

It was honestly like talking to someone who didn’t understand your language. Someone who also had a hard-on for the ‘Lord and Master’ lifestyle and intended to take it to the extreme. Suddenly the idea of taking her chances by just packing a bag right now and leaving the pack to do the lone wolf thing seemed worth the risk. Four more days until I meet up with Trey, she reminded herself. In four days she could be free of her father. Moreover, there would be no way that sicko could get near her.

Almost as if her father or Roscoe, or maybe even both, had suspected she was a flight risk, it was decided that evening that her whereabouts for the entire twenty-four hours of each day up until the mating ceremony would be monitored. If she was at home, one of her dad’s enforcers was to accompany her around the property. If she left pack territory for any reason, she was to be tailed by two of his other enforcers. Protection, they called it. Yeah, right.

After only one day of being spied on and followed wherever she went, Taryn was more than pissed. She was a bomb waiting to go off. She couldn’t even relax in the knowledge that she had her arrangement with Trey. There was still a chance that it could fall through and she needed a back-up plan.

The constant surveillance had made it hard for her to get into her dad’s office to hunt down her uncle’s address and contact number – even if she didn’t end up seeking refuge with her uncle she still hoped to contact him at some point. Eventually she had found the details, but the cell phone had been disconnected. Fuck it all!

If Trey’s plan fell through, she was prepared to drive all the way to that address and beg her uncle’s Alpha to give her sanctuary. Maybe if he liked her uncle a lot, he would take pity on her. It would be convincing him not to hand her over to Roscoe or her dad that would be the problem after that. Really, though, what else could she do?