When she wasn’t with Lydia she was often with Grace who was helping her improve her cooking skills, or sometimes Rhett who was teaching her how to hack. Tao was of course often there, but as her friend just as much as her bodyguard. He was very easy to be around, he wasn’t complicated, he didn’t brood, and he didn’t blow hot and cold. Trey could learn a few things from him.

She also found that she got along pretty well with Marcus, which kind of surprised her because ordinarily she tired of flirtatious people. And Marcus was extremely flirtatious. When he turned the full force of his huge impish grin on you there was no holding back a blush. Maybe it was because he gave some fantastic shoulder massages that the flirtatiousness didn’t bother her…? Very possible.

She hadn’t realized that he and Trick scratched each other’s itch from time to time until she stumbled upon them having some fun at the lake. Damn that had been hot and it had taken all her self-control to leave rather than stay and watch. Apparently they had known she was there as Trick later teased her about it and still continued to do so on occasion. Trick was a tease in general. He seemed to get his kicks from making people blush or feel uncomfortable, but as he targeted Selma and Kirk a lot, Taryn was totally fine with it.

Although Ryan didn’t talk much and mostly communicated through grunts, Taryn rather liked him. Unlike everyone else, she spoke to him as though she actually expected him to respond until eventually he began to talk to her a little. She wasn’t surprised to find that Ryan was quite intelligent, even more so than Rhett. He was very big brotherly with her, as opposed to Dominic who often asked her what color her underwear was and tried to look down her shirt a lot. He was the worst perv ever and constantly hit her with dirty chat up lines which he didn’t need to use – just one look at him had females drooling. He seemed to just enjoy being a perv, and yet it was impossible not to like him. Dante was another person who was impossible to dislike, but behind his laidback ‘I don’t take life seriously attitude’ was an astute, diplomatic, extremely observant person.

Trey’s withdrawal from her, however, tainted her otherwise happy state. She knew it was a good thing that they didn’t spend much time together. She knew it was best that she didn’t find herself happy here when she had every intention of leaving. Still, it stung because she got the feeling that Trey’s withdrawal had nothing to do with that and everything to do with the simple fact that he didn’t desire her.

Seriously, who would want to be lying in the same bed each night with someone who purposely left enough room between them to fit an elephant? Worse, she couldn’t argue with the fact that she did still belong to him in a sense. Who would want to belong to someone who didn’t want them?

She was considering moving into one of the guest rooms, but she suspected that if she increased the distance between them it would only make her wolf worse. Her wolf was restless and miserable enough after going a week with only minimum contact with her mate. What Taryn was thankful for was that she and her wolf were in perfect accord on one thing – there would be no begging her mate for more no matter how bad things were.

Taryn consoled herself with the reminder that this would all be over in just over ten weeks and then, with any luck, she might be able to switch to the pack her uncle belonged to. She had been delighted when she discovered that her uncle’s pack was signed up to the USA Pack Webs. She had sent him a nice friendly message, asking how he was doing and stuff – of course not mentioning that she and Trey weren’t true mates. Only when Darryl’s challenge was over would she let the information loose. Her hope was that she might first be able to sort an alliance between Trey and her uncle’s Alpha. Not only would this benefit Trey, but it might increase her chances of the Alpha agreeing to let her join his pack at a later date.

Taryn was snapped out of her thoughts as Caleb abruptly dropped her hand and his gaze was drawn to something over her shoulder. She turned to see Trey strolling toward her looking as sexy and intimidating as always. Time for Scene Two: Looking Lovey-Dovey. She hadn’t expected that it would be so hard emotionally to fake intimacy with a person, but it felt so weird and uncomfortable because it wasn’t real. On the plus side, some physical contact with him would calm her wolf a little.

Trey grabbed the chair beside Taryn, turned it to face her and then sat before lifting her from her own seat and placing her on his lap, straddling him. He couldn’t help marvelling over how well she fit there and at the same time being annoyed about it. His c**k wasn’t annoyed, it was quickly rising to attention – especially as she was wearing those ‘bend me over and f**k me now’ knee boots. “Hey.” After skimming his nose along the crook of her neck to again take her scent deep into him, he gave her a lingering kiss. He’d missed her taste. “How’s my girl doing?”

“Fine.” She almost purred as he ran his hands up and down her back. Her wolf was lazing, content, within her. It didn’t matter to her wolf that the entire thing was an act. All that mattered was that she was having physical contact with her mate.

Unable to resist, Trey licked over his mark and smiled as she quivered. “I know you wanted some time with your friends, but I don’t like it when you’re out of my sight for too long.” It was a pain in the ass that that was the truth. Although he spent little time with her, he would still seek her out several times a day – usually every few hours – just to check on her.

“That’s okay, I missed you.” She brushed her lips against his and then gestured to her edgy looking friends. “And Shaya and Caleb don’t mind.”

He gave them a simple nod of acknowledgement which they returned with shaky smiles. His attention quickly returned to Taryn as he drank in the sight of her in a way that he usually only did when no one was watching.

“Have you noticed my surveillance team?”

Trey smiled. “I noticed. I approve.”

“I’ll bet you do,” she grumbled.

He shrugged unrepentantly as he spoke against those luscious lips. “I like knowing you’re safe.”

“And yet you haven’t thrown out your inherently evil grandmother.”

Chuckling, he shaped her waist with his hands. “I know she’s being a little difficult right now, but she’s one of those people who grow on you.”

“No, she’s one of those people who are like Slinkies.”

“Slinkies?”