It wasn’t until just before she was ready to head to her room that she managed to catch a moment alone with Tao in the living area. “Would you like to tell me why you won’t even look at me?”

As if she hadn’t spoken, he rose from his seat on the sofa and started to leave the room.

She jumped up and placed herself in front of him. “Oh no, there’ll be no walking away. You tell me what it is I’ve done.”

Sighing, he ran his hand through his hair. She didn’t think he was going to answer but then he abruptly snapped, “You shut me out, Taryn.” Gentling his tone, he continued. “I thought we were close. Close friends, I mean. And you totally shut me out. What’s worse is that the person you opened up to is the one person who didn’t deserve to have you confide in him like that.”

She could understand why he might feel a little hurt. They had become good friends. Her wolf wasn’t so understanding about his tone and was growling inside Taryn’s head. “Today is my deceased mom’s birthday.” His mouth dropped open. “I actually hadn’t told Trey. He found my box of memories and realized for himself.”

“But he was still the person who brought you out of that daze. Him. Or do you just like being eaten out so much?”

Hands on her hips she invaded his personal space. “Who do you think you are speaking to me that way?

He stepped back and raised his hands. “I’m sorry. I just don’t understand why you’d let him use you. All he’s done since the beginning is brush you off and now that he’s decided he’ll treat you like a mate you’re just going to give in to him just like that? You deserve better than that.”

“You’re making him sound cruel, Tao. He was trying to avoid imprinting -”

“Yeah I know but I still think you deserve better. I’d never have hurt you like that, Taryn. Never.”

As the meaning of his words registered it was her mouth that dropped open as her hands slipped down from her hips.

“Yeah, that’s right. Don’t worry, I’d never poach – that’s not who I am. Maybe once the battle’s over and you’re leaving” – he paused, shrugging – “maybe you’ll think more about me then.”

This time she didn’t try to stop him from leaving the room. She didn’t do anything, just stood there frozen with shock. Should she have known this was how Tao felt? Sure she’d noticed he was always around her a lot but he was her bodyguard, he was supposed to be. And yeah, okay, he touched her a lot, but Marcus gave her shoulders a massage every single day and there was nothing going on there.

Why did it have to mean something if a guy was friendly? Couldn’t platonic friendships between a male and a female exist anymore? This was so shit.

The sound of soft footsteps had her turning to see Dante entering the room. His expression was sympathetic. “You heard that.” He nodded. There was no surprise on his face. “You already knew.” He nodded again. “Everybody knows.” Another nod. “Even Trey?”

“I’m not sure if he knows that Tao is prepared to leave the pack with you, but he knows Tao wants you.”

“It hasn’t caused any bad feelings between them, has it?” She’d leave before she came between two close friends. Her wolf growled at the idea of her leaving, but Taryn ignored her.

“No. Like Tao said, he’d never poach and Trey knows that.” He cocked his head and pursed his lips. “Would Tao have a chance with you if you left here?”

“There’s no ‘if I left here’ about it, Dante. Trey only wants this to be short-term, you know that.”

“I’m not so sure about that. I’ve seen Trey with women. Never has he ever treated any of them the way he treats you.”

She snickered. “What, you mean totally shoving them aside?”

“As much as Trey’s tough, we’re all scared of something. And he’s terrified of imprinting, Taryn. He saw first-hand what happens when a wolf turns rogue, he had to kill that wolf. For as long as you don’t imprint on each other there’s no chance of that happening to either of you if you separate.”

She noticed he had again used the word ‘if’ but she didn’t comment.

“When he made that deal with you, he hadn’t considered that he might just come to like you in more than a physical sense. You brought out things in him that he wasn’t prepared for and it knocked him for a loop.”

She shook her head. “That’s just his wolf, Dante. Just his mating instincts. It’s not Trey.”

“He knew in advance that his wolf would be possessive, he knew his instincts would ride him hard – he’d been ready for all that. He hadn’t been ready for how it would be if he himself felt those same things.”

“You’re wrong.” The denial was automatic. Automatic because she’d come to the conclusion a long time ago that she could only ever rely on herself, that she would never have that total acceptance that came from a mate. She was defiant, sarcastic, snappy, contrary, stubborn and strong-willed – not an attractive combination for male wolves in her opinion. When she’d lost Joey she’d also lost that one chance of being cared for exactly as she was, latency and all. Besides this was Trey they were talking about for God’s sake! “There’s no danger of us imprinting.”

“I agree. There’s something a lot bigger than that going on here.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That’s something you both need to figure out on your own, but I’m not convinced either of you are ready to accept it yet.”

Not liking that smug, all-knowing look on his face, she pushed passed him and jogged to her room. In under a minute she was stripped of her clothes and stood under the soothing hot spray of the shower. There was no denying that this day had been one of the strangest of her life. On the plus side, at least it wasn’t possible that it could get any stranger. But she didn’t want to think on anything. Not her mom, not Joey, not Tao’s confession, not Dante’s dumb theory. All she wanted was to just forget about it all, just for a little while. She would decide what to do about Tao tomorrow, she really would, but right now she just needed to relax.

Finished in his office and ready to head to his room, Trey swung the office door open and frowned at the sight of Dante stood there with his hand ready to knock.

“Hey,” said his Beta, dropping his hand. “I’m just passing on a message from Rhett. The meeting with Warner is scheduled for next Saturday morning at Mo’s Diner, 10 A.M.”