“Not that kind of fun,” she said a little breathlessly as he sucked and nibbled her neck. “But we’ll do lots of that, too.” And they did do lots of that. In fact, they spent the next hour doing plenty of it.

“Have I ever told you that you have an epic ass?” she said, thanking God for the creation of Levis, as she watched him walk ahead of her toward the caves.

He laughed. “The epic ass belongs to you, baby. I should know, I’ve bitten it often enough.”

She snickered. “Where on my body haven’t you bitten?”

Again he laughed. “If I think of a place, I’ll correct the oversight.”

“Maybe I’ll retaliate.”

“Oh I really hope you do.”

“Great. How about now in your office?”

“Baby, does the word ‘nympho’ mean anything to you?” At that second, the cell phone in his jeans’ pocket beeped. “It’s a text from Brock,” he told her. “Apparently Ryan’s been trying to call me from the security shack and hasn’t been able to get through.”

“Is the signal crap?”

“Doesn’t seem to be. I’ll go see Ryan, find out what he wants.” He smacked a hard kiss on her lips. “See you at dinner, if not before.”

She released a dreamy sigh at the sight of his butt as he walked away at a leisurely pace. It was odd to see him do that – usually he was always marching or running, too intense to be in any way relaxed. With his newfound sense of peace, however, that had changed. Not his personality, no, that hadn’t changed. He would always be intense and menacing, and much too serious. But she loved him anyway.

She turned toward the stairs and ran her fingers idly along the mountain wall as she took each step. It tore at her to know that his life had always been so serious. He’d had so much responsibility, so much weight on his shoulders, from such a young age. The thought of him watching as all the others got to relax and have fun, of him always feeling on the outside, made her chest ache.

She could tell through their link that he hadn’t realized how much it had actually bothered him until they had bonded and suddenly he had someone who was his. As Alpha, he had always been slightly apart from the others. Now he had an equal, someone who he could share everything with, and who was held to him by more than just pack loyalty.

Someone who was also going to ensure that he learned how to have ‘fun’, whether he liked it or not. She would bet he had never set foot in a bowling alley or a cinema. Well he would soon. And he would grumble the entire journey there, yes, she knew that. Still, she was set on him –

Shit! Abruptly she felt a sharp tug on her ankle and suddenly she lost her footing, hit the ground hard, and struck the right side of her forehead on the stone step. Motherfucker. Then it was as if she was floating as spots began to dance before her eyes and there was a deafening, high pitched ringing in her ears. Everything was suddenly so distant and foggy, and it felt as though she was falling into a dream. She might have completely fallen into it right that second if there hadn’t been a sensation of two hands grabbing her ankles from behind and beginning to drag her down the stairs.

She wanted to fight that against that unseen force, she wanted to gain some purchase with her hands, but it was as if her body was disconnected from her somehow, like her limbs weren’t there at all. Her vision had gone blurry, everything seemed to be spinning, and she felt as though she was slipping away.

Distantly she realized that there was a voice shouting something – her name? Abruptly her ankles were released and there was the sound of footsteps running away from her. There was more shouting and she recognised the voice. Trey, it was Trey. She tried calling his name but although her mouth formed the word, no sound came out at all. The shouting was nearer now, but she couldn’t focus on the words, couldn’t make out what they were – she was slipping away again. Her wolf was howling, panicky and scared, and urging Taryn to fight that dreamy state. She tried, she really, really did, but things just became foggier and foggier. Then the blackness came.

Trey reached Taryn just before her body turned limp. He’d felt it the second she’d hit her head, felt just a hint of the pain, and he’d sensed it as the dizziness rushed over her and almost took her under. Instinctively he had rocketed through the forest and took the steps three at a time to get to her. Panic had speared him as he called her name over and over but received no response.

“What happened?” asked Dante as he rushed over with the enforcers, apparently having sensed his anxiety and Taryn’s pain through the pack link.

“I don’t know. Looks like she fell, hit her head, and passed out.”

“Is she breathing?” asked Marcus.

Trey placed an ear to her lips. “Yeah, she’s breathing.”

“Nothing’s blocking her airway?”

He swept his finger into her mouth and shook his head. “No.”

“Good. Everyone move so he can take her inside.”

Dante winced. “Going by that bump on her head, she smacked the ground damn hard.”

Tao pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. “But did she pass out, hit the ground then bump her head, or did the crack to the head cause her to pass out?”

Trey shrugged. “How the hell would I know? I wasn’t here.” He’d walked off toward the security shack and left her to make her way back to the caves by herself. The rational part of his brain told him that it wouldn’t have made any difference if he had been there. If she was going to fall then she was going to fall and that was that. But all he could think was that his mate was hurt and he hadn’t been with her.

At the door of the living area was a frantic Grace. “Lay her down and use something to elevate her legs so they’re above the level of her heart. It’ll help restore blood flow to the brain.”

With Tao’s help, Trey carefully placed her on her back on the rug and then gently rested her legs on the sofa. Ignoring Dominic’s suggestion that he slap her to wake her up, Trey stroked a hand through her hair, willing her to wake. His wolf was growling and pacing, just as anxious and fretful as Trey was. If she had been anyone else he would said it was only a bump, calm the f**k down. But this was his mate, and bumps and black outs were just unacceptable where she was concerned.

Quickly Grace came into the room with a bottle of spring water. “Dab some of that onto her lips.” Then she handed him an ice pack. “And place that over that ugly bump on her head.”