She realized then that, on some level, she had known she was speaking the truth when she told Shaya that the awful state she had slipped into after Joey’s death had been because of the double blow of losing her mom at the very same time. Due to having spent her entire life believing Joey had been her true mate, it had never occurred to her on a more conscious level that she could have been wrong – especially when Trey had also always believed that his own true mate had been another shifter. Apparently fate liked to play jokes.
Considering how long Trey had been imprint-phobic, he would have expected to shit his pants if he somehow discovered that his true mate hadn’t died at all, that he had found her. Instead, he strangely found himself at peace. Another strange thing was that he wasn’t so shocked to find out that Summer hadn’t been his mate. Thinking back, he realized that it had been her mom who had spoken the words ‘true mates’. Trey himself had never claimed that, never felt the tugging of that bond. He had taken what she said as truth because he hadn’t known any better – he was fourteen, he knew nothing of mating bonds, and wasn’t all that familiar with ‘feelings’. As he gazed up at Taryn, he marvelled at just how…happy…he was to have been wrong about Summer.
It made sense that the bond had never clicked into place before now, he mused. Both he and Taryn had held back from each other all this time. Now that he had come to accept he couldn’t be without her and now that she had finally branded him, there had been a bridge between them that enabled the bond to exist. It wasn’t fully developed yet as it was only in its early stages, but it was enough that he could
feel
her and what she was feeling.
So this was what Dante had meant each time he spoke to him of a truth that Trey wasn’t yet ready to accept. Dante had obviously suspected for a while that they were true mates. He was going to be so smug about this. “You know this is more than imprinting, don’t you?” he said softly.
She nodded. “Are you scared?” she asked quietly, dreading the answer.
Trey shook his head. “No.” He wanted her bound to him in every possible way. “Are you?”
Not wanting to lie and thinking he would probably sense it if she did, she nodded again.
He stroked her hair gently. “Why?”
“
I don’t know if I’ve just claimed someone who doesn’t care for me.”
“
Feel what I feel.”
Closing her eyes, Taryn found their connection instantly. She didn’t feel it in her head as she had thought mates did, she felt it everywhere, felt Trey everywhere. It was much like he was a shadow – something insubstantial that was forever just behind her but that she couldn’t touch. Yet, like with her shadow, although she couldn’t touch it or even feel it, she knew it was there – close and a part of her. She
knew
that he was genuinely happy that they had bonded,
knew
that he had been serious when he said he wouldn’t have let her leave no matter what.
And beneath all that, there was something else. God, it was like he had this knot inside him that chafed and nettled – threads of protectiveness, possessiveness, adoration, respect, desire and loyalty all twisted and matted with disorientation, panic, incredulity and even fear. With all these feelings he was in totally unfamiliar territory and couldn’t make sense of anything, but he was sure that he cared about her and couldn’t be without her.
Hell, it had been a lot more than she would have ever expected to find. She would have thought that anything he felt for her would be based on a primal need for sex and the instincts that came with his wolf and their mating, but it wasn’t that at all. This was about Trey and Taryn, the man and the woman. When she opened her eyes it was to see him looking at her with confusion in his eyes.
“
You think you love me,” he practically whispered. He hated that he couldn’t say it back, knowing it would hurt her. Stroking her hair again he said, “I don’t know what that is, baby.”
Taryn’s heart literally ached for him. He was telling the truth, he didn’t know what it was. He had never had any real examples of love in his life, and he was convinced from the things he had done and was capable of doing that he wouldn’t be able to feel an emotion like that. He’d only been a child when he’d closed himself off. A child who didn’t want his dad’s words or treatment to be able to hurt him anymore. Closing himself off so early like that had stunted his development and he was, in a way, emotionally immature. It was that which was stopping him from untangling that knot.
It was like a kid with a complex math formula – too many factors and variables and unfamiliar terms for him to work out what it all meant. “Love is giving someone the power to completely destroy you, and hoping that they won’t.”
Trey framed her face with his hands, brushing his thumb over her bottom lip. “I’d never purposely hurt you. Never. I’m a man which means I’ll fuck up. Regularly. I’m not good with words, I spout crap when I’m angry, and I’m about as romantic as a pebble. But…See, I’m not good with words. All I can say is you’re important to me in a way I can’t explain or understand. More important to me than anything else.”
And Taryn could work with that because he did care for her, and that was more than she would have hoped for. “Same here.”
Gently he brought her face to his and ravished her mouth, gliding his tongue against hers and drinking her in into him. “My wolf’s feeling pretty smug about this.”
She smiled. “So is mine. Think the rest of the pack will be okay about it?”
“
Let’s go find out.” Although it had been hot at the time to tear her jeans from her body, Trey was regretting it as he walked back toward the house with a half-naked Taryn. Shifters were pretty easy about nakedness since they had to strip in front of each other a lot for shifting, but it wasn’t something they did so casually under other circumstances. When they reached the spot where he’d thrown his clothes he gave Taryn his t-shirt to wear. A smile spread over his face at the sight of her practically drowning in it.
“
Did it ever occur to you that I’m not too small and you’re just ridiculously big?”
Zipping his fly he shrugged. “You like how big I am.”
Of course, as usual, he was referring to the bulge in his jeans. She snorted. “It’s a wonder that
thing
even fits inside me.”
“
Thing?” He pulled her to him and kissed her forehead. “Of course it fits. It belongs there.” Swatting her ass, he added, “Now come on.”
Strolling through the tunnels toward the living area they passed Greta. As she took in Taryn’s appearance she huffed. “Hussy.”
“
Prude,” Taryn shot back without breaking stride as she and Trey walked hand in hand into the living area. Cam, Rhett, Grace, Lydia, Trick, Marcus and Dante all looked up, saw their clothes – or lack thereof – and grinned.
“
So you’ve kissed, bitten, and made up?” asked Dante.
“
Get the entire pack together,” ordered Trey. “We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Exactly ten minutes later both Taryn and Trey were back in the living area, washed and dressed in fresh clothes. Taryn was surprised at how nervous she was about the pack’s reaction. She knew that most of them liked her and respected her and even viewed her as their Alpha female to an extent. However, this would no longer be a temporary thing, they would now have to accept her as their true Alpha female, latency and all. She hadn’t had to care before about what they thought of her, but now it mattered.
She was certain that Kirk, Selma, Hope and Greta wouldn’t be pleased about it and she suspected that Tao might not be so happy either. Even though he was reasonably friendly, he didn’t spend time with her the way he used to and envy wafted from him whenever she and Trey were together around him. He could very well decide that he wasn’t going to stick around and watch she and Trey be mated.
Taryn was quite sure that the others would be okay with her staying. Brock she couldn’t be too sure about because he didn’t talk much, but she suspected that if Tao threatened to leave and some of the others got upset then Brock would want her gone – which wasn’t going to happen no matter what any of them thought. God, this was nerve-wracking.
Sensing – no, feeling – Taryn’s anxiety, Trey took her hand and tugged her closer to his side. “You should all know that Taryn is now officially your Alpha female.”
“
You’re staying?” asked Marcus, leaning forward in his seat, wide-eyed.
Rhett frowned at Taryn’s nod. “What about imprinting?”
Trey smiled crookedly. “We haven’t imprinted. We’ve bonded.” As he’d expected, Dante smiled smugly.
“
Are you saying you’re true mates?” asked Trick. Surprisingly, he didn’t look all that shocked. “Well that explains a lot.”
“
Oh that’s all we need,” griped Greta. “A midget with a sharp sarcastic tongue for an Alpha.”
Taryn sighed and smiled. “In a perfect world I would be taller, you would be alive, and chickens could cross the road without being the subject of a joke. Guess you’ll just have to deal.”
Tao puffed, shaking his head in disbelief. “Well that was the last thing I’d have expected. After what Trey said last night, I thought you’d have headed for the hills.” He flinched when Dante jammed his elbow into his ribs.
“
We all knew he hadn’t really meant what he said,” Dante growled at Tao.
“
Tell me this is a joke!” demanded Selma.
“
For God’s sake, Trey, she’s latent,” said Kirk, red in the face. “And a Warner.”
“
Your point being what exactly?” asked Dominic.
“
I’m not bowing down to a Warner!”
“
I’m
not bowing down to a latent!” Selma practically screeched.
“
Well I’m happy for you guys,” said Marcus, grinning.
“
Me too,” said Ryan.
Dominic winked. “And me.”
Grace did a little jump. “Oh my God, this is great!” Most of the others nodded their agreement, smiling.
“
How can you all accept her as your Alpha?” demanded Kirk, his gaze drilling into everyone.
Taryn sighed. “Kirk, if you’re going to act like an asshole then go do it somewhere else.”
“
I have the right to have an opinion!”
“
Yeah, but I still have the right to think you’re a stupid prick.”
Panting like a raging bull, Kirk shook his head. “I can’t support this.” He stalked out of the room and was followed closely by Selma and Hope – although Hope seemed to be leaving just because Selma was.
Dante sank back into the chair with his hands clasped behind his head, looking kind of smug. “I said at the start that you two would imprint. When I saw you covered in bites I made the others a bet that you’d end up staying here. Unfortunately no one bet against me so then we just made bets on how soon imprinting would start. I was closest.”
“
I was furthest,” admitted Trick. “I thought you would need to leave before Trey snapped out of his state of denial.”
“
But it didn’t take long for me to see there was more to it than that. I’ve been wondering how long it’d take for you to realize that you’re true mates.”
Trey searched all their faces. “I take it this means none of you are opposed to this. Not that it’ll make any difference, but I’d prefer it if you were all good with it.”
Dante stood and then dropped to one knee, head bowed. Marcus copied the move. Then Ryan, Trick, Dominic, Grace, Lydia, Cam, Rhett, Tao, and finally Brock.
“
No, guys, please don’t,” said Taryn. But they remained where they were like white knights and it freaked her out. “Come on, get up.” She nudged Trey. “Tell them to get up.”
“
They’re acknowledging us as their Alpha pair, offering us their loyalty.”
“
Well they can be loyal standing up.”
Trey turned to his grandmother who looked like a sulking child. “Greta?”
“
This sort of thing wouldn’t have happened in my day,” said Greta. “When I met your grandfather we were both virgins. You can’t tell me
she
was one.”
Taryn smiled. “Well of course you were. It was expected back in 1465.”
“
And it’s not natural how much…um…intimate relations you have. We might be shifters but we’re not animals. It’s disgusting.”