“You’re right,” he conceded, surprising Trey, “I wasn’t there for her. I will be from here on out though. I want her to be happy. I want her to have the kind of mating you’ve seen tonight and I’m not sure you can give her that. I don’t see how you’ll bring anything to her life other than danger and trouble.”

He was right of course and that only nettled Trey’s agitated state. “As Taryn would say, if I wanted to hear from an ass, I’d fart.”

“Trey,” said Taryn cautiously as she approached and took in the tension, “everything okay?” Slipping a slender arm between the two male bodies that were almost pressed together, she stroked Trey’s chest.

“Fine, baby,” he replied, using her closeness to calm him. “I’m just getting an idea of what it’s like for you when you have to listen to my grandmother’s shit.”

Rolling her eyes and groaning, Taryn looked at Don. “I really hope you haven’t just done the man-to-man talk when you’ve only been back in my life five minutes.”

Don sighed. “That’s pretty much what he just said. I just want you to be happy and -”

“Well I was until you put Trey in a bad mood.”

“I know you, Taryn. Beneath that hard exterior you’re not so different from your mom. You want kids and commitment and a happily ever after – he can’t give you that.”

“If I was pining for the pitter patter of tiny little feet, I’d buy a kitten and put slippers on it. And what do you know about what Trey can or can’t give me? You don’t even know him.”

“I know this mating isn’t real -”

“Watch what you say,” she snapped. Her wolf growled inside her head, just as incensed as she was by those words. A much louder growl was coming from Trey.

“You deserve better, you can have better – plenty of wolves would be happy to mate with you. Hell, there are wolves here who’d be happy to mate with you.”

Taryn wasn’t in the least bit surprised when Trey’s eyes flashed wolf and he made a move toward Don. Quickly she placed herself in front of him and wrapped both arms tightly around his waist. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” she whispered. He halted but released a chilling growl.

Don was quieter as he said in a shaky voice, “He’s not good for you.”

“If that’s how you feel then I guess we part here.”

“Taryn -”

“No. We’re leaving.” Rubbing her chin on Trey’s chest she said, “Come on, Flinstone, let’s go.” But his entire focus was on Don.

Don tried again. “Taryn, I -”

“I said no. You insulted my mate. If you were anyone else, I’d go for your throat. Now back off.”

“Let them be, Don,” ordered Nick who was walking up behind them. He nodded respectfully at Taryn and Trey.

“Thank you for inviting us, Nick,” she said quietly. Pressing her body weight against Trey, she tried urging him to move. No effect, unsurprisingly. “Come on. Let’s go home.” The word ‘home’ seemed to penetrate his ‘Must kill Don’ haze because a little of the tension left his body and he gave her a very slight nod. Mute and Terminator-stiff, he walked her to the car and had them out of Nick’s territory in seconds.

When minutes later he showed no signs of calming or becoming less robotic, she was tempted to try to talk to him. However, she somehow sensed that, for whatever reason, Trey needed to be alone with his thoughts right now. Going with that instinct, she turned her focus to the view ahead and said nothing.

Trey had thought that the further he got from that other pack the more he would calm. That just wasn’t happening. Maybe it should have been Don’s claim that Trey wasn’t good for Taryn that was agitating him. Or maybe his claim that she wanted things that Trey couldn’t give her. Or maybe even Don’s suggestion that she stay with his pack and mate with another wolf. But no. As much as all that had seriously pissed him off, it wasn’t any of that that was responsible for his mood. What had him as annoyed as f**k right now was that Taryn had defended him.

No female other than his mother or Greta had ever defended him. Not only had Taryn done that, she had basically chosen him over her uncle. It pissed him off that it meant something to him when it shouldn’t have. What annoyed him more was that he couldn’t be sure if that had been real or she had just been sticking with their true mate act. He tried telling himself that it didn’t matter. Tried telling himself that it wasn’t relevant, but it goddamn was to him.

He was sick of her doing things that touched him like that and then left him sitting there wondering if he was looking too deep into things or if she was having the same inner struggle as him.

Like the way she snapped if anyone questioned their mating as she had with Brodie and her uncle. Was it because her sense of possessiveness now ran bone deep just as his did, or was it just her wolf? Like how she held back from marking him. Was that because she was already finding it hard to remain detached, or was it only her wolf finding it hard? And like how she had repeatedly tried so hard to help him form so many alliances when he had never asked that of her. Was it because she cared for him in some way and wanted to help him, or was it that she just wanted to help the pack as a whole?

He didn’t want to be going through this weird inner struggle on his own and, as idiotic as it was, he wanted her to care about him. Mostly because he was afraid that he just might care about her.

And so his bad mood remained with him throughout the long journey home and was still there hours later while he was sat on one of the chairs by the lake soaking up the midday sun. He knew Taryn wouldn’t let him brood in peace much longer so it wasn’t a surprise when he heard footsteps. Unfortunately it turned out that those footsteps didn’t belong to Taryn.

“Hey,” called out Dante in his usual gruff voice.

“What do you want?”

“Yes I will have a seat, thank you, Alpha.”

“No one likes a smart ass.”

He took the chair opposite Trey’s and straddled it. “I take it things didn’t go well with her uncle.”

Trey sighed. “Actually, he was happy to see her. All of them were pretty hospitable.”

“Well I can understand why that might piss you off since – though you’ll never admit it – you don’t want her to leave, and nor do you seem ready to face just why that might be. But I don’t see why it would have Taryn all irritated.”