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.”

That wasn’t exactly fan-freaking-tastic news. A part of her wanted to rant and rave, but what good would it do? She would only end up being confined in that damn bedroom again and that would drive her and her wolf crazy. Also, she was a believer that it was best to have your enemy in sight. “Have you called him yet?”

“He’ll be here soon,” he lied. In truth, he hadn’t contacted Roscoe and he had no intention of doing.

“Well then, can the captive get a coffee or what?” she asked no one in particular.

Aside from psycho boy, Dante and Tao, there were four other males in the room; a broad frowner with a military haircut, a gorgeous blonde with caramel skin, a tall wolf with tousled dark curls and a clown-wide smile, and a burly rugged guy with claw mark scars across one cheek. It occurred to her that she could just label them Grumpy, Blondie, Smiley and Burly.

Other than Dante – who seemed strangely fascinated with her for having managed to claw him – none of the wolves looked at all pleased about her presence. She guessed that they weren’t a fan of her dad. Not many were. Even the wolf who was wearing a huge grin looked intrigued as opposed to friendly, and she had the feeling that his smile was permanently there. Or maybe he was imagining what it would feel like to rip out her throat and hand it bow-tied to her ass**le of a father. With his arrogance, deviousness and ‘I own the world and can do whatever the hell I want’ attitude, her dad was as good at collecting enemies as he was at gathering alliances. Even those who allied themselves with him only did so because of how influential he was – it was all just politics.

In response to her question, Trey nodded to a grinning Marcus who switched on the coffee machine and retrieved a mug from the cupboard. Trey tilted his head as he considered her. “You know, you’re not what I’d expected.”

“Is that right?” she said flatly.

“Roscoe usually likes airheads and submissives.” Blonde as she was, she didn’t have that bimbo look about her. There was no missing the sharp, keen mind behind those charcoal-grey eyes. “Funny how a person’s true mate can be the opposite of what they go for.”

“He’s not my true mate.” It came out snappier than she had intended.

“If you haven’t found your true mate yet, why would you mate with someone else? It’s not like you haven’t got plenty of time to find him. You can’t be much older than twenty-four, twenty-five.”

“My mate’s dead. He died when we were kids.”

“Well then that’s something you and I have in common. I also lost my mate a long time ago before I was able to claim her.”

Taryn took in his solemn expression and felt a pang of sympathy for him. The loss of a mate wasn’t something anyone could understand unless they had experienced that kind of pain themselves. “Sorry.”

He simply shrugged a little. “Hmm, now you and Roscoe as a couple make even less sense. If you’re not true mates, then that means he’s chosen a spitfire. It really must be love.”

“Huh.” Taryn had to bite back a snort. Love? Yeah, right. The reason Roscoe was so determined to f**k her was simply because she hadn’t responded to his charm and apparently his ego couldn’t handle the blow. As for why he wanted to take her as his mate…The only thing she could figure was that he wanted an alliance with her dad.