“Shit,” cursed Mousey in surprise before his hand then shot out and shackled her wrist as he tried to pull her to him.

Knowing that the weakest point of his hold was where his fingers and thumb met, Taryn twisted her wrist so the thumb-side of her forearm was at that weak point and yanked herself free. Before he made to grab her again she delivered a headbutt to his nose that had him stumbling backwards as blood poured from his nostrils.

Wanting him down on the floor with Cock-eye she quickly grabbed his testicles, squeezed, twisted them sharply, and then jerked so hard she was surprised they didn’t come off in her hand. He fell to his knees with one hand cupping his nose and the other cupping his balls.

Both peered up at her wearing looks of total astonishment which satisfied her wolf. “Yeah I see you had low expectations of me. It happens a lot.”

“You broke my nose and nearly ripped off my ballsack you crazy bitch!”

“Crazy bitch? Oh no, honey, I’m an angel, I swear. The horns are only there to hold up the halo. But, all the same, I think it’s best that you don’t come at me again until you’ve at least learned how to wipe your ass.”

Cock-eye spat what she suspected was supposed to be an insult but it was garbled – whether because of the pain from the throat strike or the groin kick, or maybe both.

“Now, let’s chat. You can thank Uncle Darryl for getting in touch and inform him that he shouldn’t expect his little plot to work. You know, I’m curious, why would you let him use you as bait?”

The wolves exchanged a confused glance that had Taryn groaning.

“I can only assume that Darryl is just as dumb as you to not only think his little plot would work, but to send two guys who’d be out of their depth in a puddle. Now, if I were you, I’d get out of here as quick as I could. I’ve no doubt that my friend called her boyfriend who will have told Trey what’s going on so he’s most likely on his way here.” They hadn’t even been smart enough to think of that. She was kind of insulted that Darryl thought these two were a match for her.

“You’re letting us go?” said Mousey.

She shrugged. “I’d be playing into Darryl’s hands if I didn’t. Besides, it would be like handing over two mentally handicapped kids to a sociopath. But before you go, you can help me out with one thing…How did you guys know where to find me? I know I wasn’t being followed, I’d have sensed you long ago.” Unless of course they were good at what they did, and Twit and Twat here certainly weren’t.

Cock-eyes’ face instantly closed down. Apparently she wasn’t getting any information from that corner. Mousey, on the other hand, shrugged like the answer was simple. “Darryl’s informant from your pack told him you’d be – Ow!” He scowled at Cock-eye, rubbing the spot on his head where Cock-eye had hit him. “Hey, what did you do that for?”

“You just don’t know when to shut up. Idiot.”

Their arguing faded into the background as the implications of what Mousey had said finally settled into her brain. Sure she’d known she wasn’t liked by everyone in the pack, and she’d known that one of them hated her enough to vandalise her property, kill her bird, and even cause her to have a bad fall. But for them to be an informant for Darryl, for them to betray Trey so completely…She was surprised by just how much it hurt.

Turning her attention back to the idiots at her feet, she gestured with her hand as she ordered, “Go, get out of here.” She watched as they hobbled away, constantly casting her suspicious glances. Her wolf growled her disappointment, wanting to rip out both their throats for daring to touch her.

Only when Taryn saw them drive off in a transit van did she get into her own car. Lydia was trembling and panting. “You okay?”

“You fought them,” said Lydia, wide-eyed. “I can’t believe you fought them. I was expecting you to trick them and get away, not to -”

“Did you call anyone?”

Lydia double-blinked, shaking her head as if to clear it. “Um. Yeah. Cam.”

“Which means Trey and some of the pack will probably be on their way here.”

“Why did you let those two guys go?”

Taryn glanced at her face in the mirror of the sun visor and cursed. As she’d suspected, there was a small cut on her forehead from when she’d butted Mousey. This was going to make Trey’s reaction so much worse. Jamming the keys in the ignition she threw the car into gear and reversed from the parking space. “Call Cam. Tell him we’re making our way back.”

Nodding, a still shaky Lydia fished her cell from her pocket. “Cam, it’s me, we’re – No she’s fine. She, well she kicked their asses. We’re just on our way back to – No they, um, got away. Taryn can explain – Really, I swear, she’s fine.” Taryn and Lydia both winced as they heard Trey yelling in the background. “Taryn, Trey wants to talk to you. I’m going to put him on speakerphone.”

“Taryn, tell me you’re okay, baby,” he demanded through his teeth.

“I’m fine, really, we’re -”

“What the hell happened? Where’re the bastards? Did they touch you, Taryn? Tell me they didn’t touch you. I swear to God I’ll -”

Knowing what he meant by ‘touch’, she quickly assured him, “No, they didn’t touch me.”

“Who the hell were they?”

“Um…we’ll talk about that when I get home.” She knew for a fact that if she mentioned Darryl, the guys would drive straight to his territory, playing into his hands. “We’re about ten minutes from Bedrock. Where are you?”

“I don’t know, five minutes away from the mall maybe.”

She had thought about asking him to turn back and she’d meet him at home, but hearing how frantic he sounded she knew that the sooner he saw her safe and unharmed the better. “Then we’ll probably come across each other soon enough. We’ll keep a look out for you.”

Approximately three minutes later the two cars were parking on the side of the road. She hadn’t even had a chance to switch off the engine before the door was quickly yanked open and she was practically snatched from her seat.

The second Trey had her in his arms with her limbs all curled around him, the constricting sensation in his chest began to ebb slightly. She was safe. She was there. She was okay.

When Cam had burst into his office and told him about Lydia’s call, Trey was pretty sure his heart had stopped for a moment. Fear for Taryn’s safety had instantly blasted through him, galvanising him into action while at the same time completely f**king up his thought processes. His wolf had howled inside his head, fought for supremacy with such strength that Trey had been wincing in pain. Had the other males of his pack not been there to keep him calm, he might have shifted right there in the car as he drove like a man possessed.