Once Trey was dressed he held his hand out to Taryn and gently pulled her to her feet. He kissed her softly, letting her touch and closeness reassure his wolf. Never had his wolf liked strange wolves around his mate – hell, he’d never liked any males around her – but as their mating bond hadn’t fully clicked into place, his wolf was even worse. The fact that she had been attacked yesterday and that one of the males here had once wanted to take her from him worsened his mood.

“Okay?” she asked, combing her fingers through his hair.

He nodded and nipped at her mouth. “Just stay close.” If his wolf felt confident that Taryn was nearby, safe and protected, they might just get through this without him going for Don’s throat.

As Trey and Taryn approached the patio table, the visitors lifted their heads to reveal nervous expressions. Trey gave them a nod of greeting and took a seat opposite them, pulling Taryn onto his lap who snuggled into him the way he liked. Dante and Tao took a seat either side of him and Taryn. He knew without looking that both their gazes were on a gulping Don.

Nick broke the silence. “Thank you for granting us permission to visit. You already know Don. This” – he gestured to the stocky wolf on his right who was stroking his goatee – “is my bodyguard, Derren. I asked my Beta and my enforcers to remain in the car.” Well that had been wise of him. If Nick had arrived at the lake surrounded by a large number of strange wolves, Cujo would have pounced on them without a doubt.

Trey nodded curtly. “On my left is Tao, my Head Enforcer. On my right is Dante, my Beta. Behind us are Trick, Marcus, Dominic, and Ryan. And you’ve met my grandmother, Greta.”

Nick smiled. “Yes. She’s, um, charming. She has good reason to be unhappy to see us.”

Don cleared his throat. “Yes. I realize I was very rude at the mating ceremony. And, well, I made judgements about you based on what I’d heard from others. It’s simply that -”

“No,” interrupted Taryn. “There are no excuses. An apology we can work with. Excuses – hell, no.”

“Fair enough.”

Hearing her again defend him caused another pang in Trey’s chest. Massaging her nape, he said, “That’s not to say you weren’t right about me. I’m not a good person. If I thought someone deserved it, I’d kill them without blinking and I’d think nothing of it. I am, by my own admission, a hard, selfish, ruthless bastard. There’s only one person in this world who’s guaranteed to come to no harm from me, and that’s Taryn.”

After a moment of silence, Don nodded once.

“Dominic,” drawled Taryn in her sweetest voice. “Is there any chance you could go ask Grace to fix us all some coffees?”

With the offer of hospitality, the visitors seemed to visibly relax and Don exhaled a sigh of relief – probably relieved that he was still alive. “How’ve you been, Taryn?”

“Fine, thanks,” she practically purred. She loved it when Trey kneaded her nape, even though she knew he was mainly doing it just to take comfort in touching her. Her wolf was just as contented. “How’re the pups?”

“Still little beasts. They wanted to come and see you but well…”

But well he wasn’t sure if things would be amicable or if Nick would be scooping him from the floor with a spoon. “Next time, make sure you bring them.”

Don smiled a little as he asked, hopefully, “There’ll be a next time?”

“If you’re good.”

“She doesn’t give an inch, does she,” he said to Trey.

Trey smiled down at his mate. “I kind of like that about her.”

Greta hmphed, hands on hips. “Dante, shove over son.”

Grinning in amusement, Dante shuffled along to the next chair so that she could take his. Her posture was both regal and confrontational.

Nick folded his arms across his chest, but not in a manner that was confrontational. “Well, I hope – in spite of what happened – you enjoyed the mating ceremony.”

“It was real nice,” said Taryn. “It’s been a while since I went to one.”

“You and Trey haven’t had one?” asked Don, surprised.

Not liking this subject because she knew full well that Trey wouldn’t want one, she simply gave her uncle a bored look and a dismissive wave of the hand.

“You’re not one of those girls who dreamed about it all your life? Wow, my Ana already has hers planned and she hasn’t even found her mate yet. Not to mention she’s only seven.”

“What about you, Trey?” said Don. “Don’t you want a mating ceremony?”

Being the least romantic person alive, Trey hadn’t even thought about it before now. He’d never even wondered if Taryn would want something like that – which she did. And she didn’t. He couldn’t sense any more than that so he wasn’t sure what was behind her indecision, but it was something they would definitely be discussing in private. He just shrugged. “If Taryn wants one, we’ll have one. If she doesn’t, we won’t.”

Nick tutted. “You don’t want to be giving your mate her own way all the time.”

“Yes he does,” stated Taryn.

Greta huffed at Taryn. “In my day mates weren’t allowed to live together until after the mating ceremony.”

“In your day a guy named Noah was building an Ark.”

“And they had more self-control than to fornicate twenty three hours of every day.” She didn’t enunciate the word ‘fornicate’ properly as though she thought even talking about it was immoral and would get her sent straight to hell.

“There’s nothing depraved about sex. Of course with a little creativity, some toys and a whole lot of dirty talk, you can change that.”

Trey laughed into Taryn’s hair as he saw the horrified look on his grandmother’s face. God, he really did love his mate’s spunk. Greta looked at him expectantly, obviously wanting him to berate Taryn for talking to her about – heaven forbid – ‘intimate relations’.

Although shifters were easy about sex, Greta had always been, as his mate often called her, a prude. It was obvious, however, that the real reason she was berating Taryn was because she got a kick from it, and that was why Trey would never interfere on Greta’s behalf. Well, that and the fact that he liked sex with Taryn too much to risk angering her.

“You shouldn’t be using that word in front of your own uncle,” chastised Greta.