“
It’s just a drug to make you sleep. I slipped it in that weird juice. I’ve no idea how you can drink that stuff Grace makes.”
Another retch. Still no vomit.
“
I’m not sure why it’s making you sick.” Not that he sounded concerned.
“
Why, Brock? Why help Darryl?”
“
I couldn’t care less about him. Trey, however…now that’s a different matter.” The degree of anger and loathing in his voice was unsettling.
“
If you were unhappy here, you could’ve left.”
“
No, I couldn’t have. Not without Kirk, and he’ll never leave. I know you don’t think much of my son, but he’s a good man. He is. A lot of people look down on him because his mom was human and he’s not as strong an alpha as the others – a little like they did with Darryl. But he has good principles, has honor, he’s a loyal wolf. That’s why he wanted to leave with Trey when he was banished.”
“
You could have stayed behind.”
He shook his head. “No. And not just because of Kirk, no. I couldn’t have let her go alone.”
“
Who? Greta?”
He looked at her like she was insane. “Louisa.”
The name tickled her memory. “Trey’s mom?”
“
You must’ve heard how I found my true mate but she was already in love with another man. Oh yes, Trey’s mom. By the time I met her, she and Rick had imprinted on one-another. I hadn’t told anyone because I knew Rick would have exiled me to keep me away from her. I hated seeing them together,
hated
it, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave her life. So I became good friends with her and let that be enough. I know she felt the pull between us. She never even came close to acting on it though. She was a loyal woman. Then Trey was banished and, for once, she stood up to that bastard Rick and she left him. There was my chance. My chance to have her as I should have done. And I would’ve done...but Trey killed her.”
“
She turned rogue,” she reminded him.
“
If I’d have been there when she slipped into that state I could’ve pulled her back from it. I could’ve.” No he couldn’t have – a wolf gone rogue was beyond all help. “But he executed her. Snapped her neck like she was a twig. I wanted to kill him, but just like Rick and Darryl, I knew I couldn’t take him.”
Her head swam again but she fought the pull of sleep. “Why stay?”
“
So one day I could make sure he knew the pain that I went through. The pain of losing a mate.”
Oh fuck.
It suddenly hit her just how dangerous her situation was. She’d thought that maybe Darryl wanted to use her as collateral – a kind of ‘give me what I want, Trey, and your mate goes free’ scenario. But this…
well hell
.
“
It made the whole thing even better when I realized you were true mates. You should thank Darryl, really. If it wasn’t for him telling me to hold off, I would have killed you at some point. The car and the raven…that was just for fun, just something to keep me going.”
What a weird, sick bastard. “That day on the stairs?”
“
I’d made an arrangement with Darryl. His goons were waiting not far out of pack territory. The plan was for me to hand you over to them so they could give you a beating as a warning. And, well, that plan went to shit. As did the one for you to be attacked while you were in town with Lydia. Unfortunately for you, your luck has run out, little one. It’s really nothing personal, Taryn. I like you. You’re strong, you have a good heart, but this is the way it has to be.”
“
You think Louisa would want this? Trey’s her son. Darryl will kill him.”
“
Very true. Greta was right – all Darryl wants is for everyone to see him overpower Trey. He knows he can’t do it. Trey’s too strong. But there’s one thing that will weaken him – the death of his mate. At the very moment your bond is severed he’ll lose all strength. It won’t last more than a minute, but it will be long enough for Darryl to have this chance and end this once and for all. So you see, Darryl gets what he wants, and I get what I want.”
Hoping he might have a conscience she could appeal to, she asked, “You’re happy to hand over a pregnant female to be murdered?”
Nothing. Not an ounce of guilt or regret to be seen in his expression. “It’s just the way it has to be,” he said for the third time.
“
You could take me back,” she slurred, desperate now. “I promise you won’t be punished. Don’t punish this baby for something Trey did.” Not that she blamed Trey at all, but if it made the psycho release her she’d say whatever he wanted to hear.
He chuckled but it was humorless. “Honey, Trey will tear me apart and you know it. Even if you could guarantee me that protection, my answer would be no. You have a mate, Taryn. Let me ask you…if someone killed him, took him from you, could you ever forgive them? Ever forget it? I’ve waited too long for this. He took my mate from me, and now I’m going to take his from him.”
He might have said more, she wasn’t sure, because at that moment she lost the strength to stay conscious any longer, and the blackness swamped her.
The grey wolf was just finishing a kill when the awareness struck him and penetrated the fog in his mind.
Mate
. She was close. She shouldn’t be close. The same instinct that told him she was nearby was also able to guide him to where she was. Quickly he galloped through the trees, intent on reaching her. He skidded to a halt when he saw her. She smelled like him and sickness and drugs and anxiety. Mixed in with all that was the scent of the male that held her – ‘uncle’.
The grey wolf threw back his head and howled, garnering the attention of every wolf around him. No other male should touch her. No one was allowed to hurt her. She was his. She belonged to him. The life in her womb belonged to him. They were both his to protect, to care for, to shelter. The only thing stopping the wolf from acting on his raging anger and going for the uncle’s throat was that his claws were pressed threateningly against her stomach – the grey wolf understood the threat, understood cause and effect. Although the man’s words made no sense, he also understood what he wanted. He wanted Trey. So the wolf drew back, though he remained closer to the surface than ever before.
Trey rose to his feet, panting and raging. The sight of Taryn, pale and flaccid, held with her back against Darryl’s chest had his blood boiling and something in his chest tightening. She was unconscious, had clearly been drugged. Seeing Darryl’s claws placed threateningly against the place where his baby was growing made it even more difficult for Trey to remain where he was. Every cell in his body urged him to pounce on Darryl. “Release her.” The words were barely distinguishable.
Darryl gave him a callous smile. “Now that’s not going to happen, my dear nephew. How strange it is to see something finally pull emotions from you. Rick would be devastated he’d missed this. Not as devastated as you’ll be when you watch her die, but still.”
A part of Trey’s brain registered that all had gone quiet and that his pack was gathering close. Another part of his brain noted that many of Darryl’s supporters had been slain and that Trey’s side was winning the battle, but his only care was for the limp woman in Darryl’s arms. “Release. Her.” The bastard didn’t. “If you want me, I’m right here. I won’t even fight you.”
Darryl laughed. “It’s tempting. After all, the only thing I really want is for the others to see me take you down. But, well, I’m afraid I don’t believe you would truly allow that. Plus, to let her live would be to break my half of the bargain with our cousin, Brock.” The very male then stepped out of the trees on Darryl’s left. His expression was cold, cruel.
“
Dad?” Kirk choked out. “Dad, what’re you doing?”
“
He has to know what it’s like, son.”
“
What’re you talking about?”
“
He has to know how it felt for me when he killed Louisa. What it was like to lose her.”
The truth hit Trey like a slap. “She was your mate?”
“
And you took her from me.”
Kirk shook his head, his eyes dancing from Brock to Taryn. “Dad, tell me you didn’t hand her over to Darryl.”
“
Like I said,
he has to know what it’s like
.”
“
How could you do this?”
“
He doesn’t deserve your loyalty, son, he never has. Darryl has agreed to make you one of his enforcers when this is over.”
Pale, wide-eyed, and clearly devastated, Kirk shook his head again and stumbled backwards. “I…I can’t believe you’ve done this.”
“
Son -”
“
No,” snapped Kirk. “I’m no longer your son.”
Trey honestly couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Although he’d never been able to work out what kind of motivation one of his pack could have had to betray him, he never would have expected this. Any of this. It didn’t matter what the motivation was though, it never had. The result would always have been the same. “You’re dead,” he told Brock.
“
No, Trey, that would be your mate,” said Darryl with a smile. “Oh, and your unborn child.”
His mate, his child. He had thought that if any of them would die today, it would be Trey. He had comforted himself with the knowledge that at least Taryn and his child would live. Dante would have ensured that. But now Trey saw that he didn’t have the luxury of knowing that they would survive his death, because Darryl intended to kill them first. He wanted Trey to watch them die, to feel his bond with Taryn die, to see the life drain out of the only person he had ever loved. A jolt went through him at the realization he just had. He loved her.
Of course he fucking loved her!
And not just because she was his mate, but because of the person she was. Her inner strength, her spirit, her sensuality, her big heart, her loyalty, her tenaciousness, her bravery, hell, even her damn sarcastic streak – it all came together to make a package that called to him and made it impossible for him to feel anything
but
love for her. The realization didn’t even scare him as it once would have done. So now that the thread of fear had been removed from the knot of emotions inside him, the rest of the knot unraveled and fell away. And those mental walls went right along with them.
Abruptly there was a bang in his chest and a strange sensation in his head as though his brain had hiccupped or something. Then he could feel Taryn’s heartbeat as if it was his own, feel her inside of him like she was burrowed under his skin. But she was, wasn’t she? Because she was the other half of his soul. He understood immediately what had happened. Their bond had snapped fully into being. He
felt
as her pulse rate improved and she struggled to a conscious state. He realized then that his strength was bolstering her own through their bond.
He also realized that Darryl was still talking, totally unaware of what was happening. Funny that – how such a significant, life-changing occurrence could happen yet go unnoticed by every person around them. It was a very good thing in this case.
“…
and I bet you’ve never felt so helpless before in your entire life, have you, Trey?”
No, he hadn’t. And Darryl was going to die for that. Die for daring to touch her at all. Trey’s heart practically jumped when he watched Taryn’s eyes flutter open. A few seconds later they widened and – quick as fucking lightening – she had one of the hands that were pinned behind her back positioned at Darryl’s crotch with her claws placed threateningly around his balls. Obviously having felt the prick of claws on his naked skin, Darryl froze instantly. Trey shot him a falsely sympathetic look. Clearly his uncle had forgotten that latent shifters who were alphas could partially shift, lengthening their claws and canines.
“
Let go of me, fucker, or I’ll dig my claws into your crown jewels and rip them off – I don’t give a shit.”
Taryn meant every word.
The threat to the life of her unborn child had rage pumping through her body, a rage that was beyond the scales of normal – her insides burned, her heart was working overtime, her skin felt too tight for her body, her fangs had lengthened, and her entire being itched to hurt him. The primitive urge to protect had adrenalin coursing through her, preparing for anything, preparing her to
do
anything.