Feral Sins (48 page)

Seconds later the change began and Trey was sat in front of her, his gaze still drilling into her uncle. She handed him his clothes and, without a word, he stood and pulled them on. Obviously sensing the precariousness of the situation, each of the visitors had their heads lowered slightly, communicating that they had no intention of challenging him, that they were no threat.

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.

Taryn played dumb. “What? Oh you mean sex? Well I suppose there are other terms I could use. Trey likes to call it ‘Burying the Bishop’, but I prefer ‘Hiding Pedro’.”

“
Enough, enough, enough,” insisted Greta, but she was barely heard over the laughter that spread around the table.

“
So sorry, my halo slipped for a second there.”

Conversation seemed to flow a lot easier after that. However, even though the atmosphere became more relaxed, Trey still had to concentrate hard on keeping his wolf suppressed. Although Don had apologised, that didn’t matter to his wolf. Nor had he been satisfied by Don’s submissive behaviour. His wolf didn’t want his submission, he wanted Don to challenge him so he could attack and rip his throat out. Maybe he wouldn’t have been as overprotective and prickly if Taryn hadn’t been attacked only yesterday, or maybe he would always be that way where his mate was concerned.

Sensing that Trey’s wolf was far from at ease, Taryn snuggled deeper into Trey’s arms and began to softly pat his chest, scratching him lightly with her nails through his t-shirt. A growl of contentment rumbled up his chest and he curled his arm tight around her.

They sat that way for the next few hours, chatting and laughing with everyone. Don and Taryn even did a little reminiscing, talking about her mom and sharing some of the many stories that perfectly demonstrated just how dizzy the woman had actually been. Even Greta had laughed.

It was because the atmosphere was so cheery and relaxed that Taryn sensed the change the second it happened. “What is it?” she asked Trey who was speaking to Kirk – who was on guard duty – on his cell.

“
What
?” he snapped into the cell. “I’ll be right there.” Flipping his cell closed, he stood upright and then placed her on the chair. “Stay here, Taryn.”

“
What? Why?”

“
Baby, just stay here for me.”

He didn’t say
please
, but Taryn heard it in his tone. If he was so wary about a situation that he was pleading with her as opposed to barking at her, it couldn’t be good. She nodded once and he kissed her quickly before disappearing into the forest. Dante and the enforcers followed him.

“
What’s going on?” asked Greta.

“
No idea.”

Nick’s Alpha instincts kicked in and he straightened in his seat. “Maybe Don, Derren and I should go see if -”

“
No, when Trey’s wolf goes on high alert he sees anyone outside his pack as intruders – he’ll just think of your behavior as interference.”

Greta huffed. “So, what, we just sit here while there’s obviously trouble going on?”

“
I didn’t say that.” Taryn stood and pointed hard at the others. “Stay here.”

Of course they didn’t, and she wasn’t exactly in a position to preach at them. Taking the same route Trey had, she traipsed through the forest toward the front gate. As she stepped out of the trees near the security shack, two things made her halt. One, there was a group of approximately ten people – all wolf shifters, her nose told her – standing near the front gate. Two, although the gate had been opened to allow them through, Trey and the guys had formed a protective wall in front of the shack – a warning that they weren’t to move any further. Despite there only being eight of them, it was a pretty impressive and intimidating display, and it was working.

The eyes of every stranger moved to Taryn, scrutinising her intently. There was nothing confrontational in their posture or manner, but that didn’t ease her tension. “Who are these people?”

Trey replied without turning his head, not wanting to move his gaze from the wolves in front of him. He wasn’t one little bit surprised that Taryn had disobeyed his order. It wasn’t in her nature to sit around twiddling her thumbs when there was trouble, just as it wasn’t in his nature either. “These are some of the wolves from my old pack.” He felt her confusion, knew she was wondering why he wouldn’t be at least a little glad to see them. Simple: he didn’t trust anyone from his old pack around her right now.

For all Trey knew, in spite of what they said, they were in league with Darryl. Even his wolf who recognised their scents wasn’t comfortable with their presence at all. When Taryn came to stand beside him he lifted his arm to create a barrier, wanting her to remain slightly behind him. “Apparently they’re here to see you.”

Taryn frowned, both at his words and how he seemed to be shielding her. Only the fact that she could sense his distrust and apprehension kept her from stepping around his arm. It wouldn’t be a good idea to distract him if he truly had good reason to be suspicious. “Why is that?”

“
This is your mate?” asked a tall male – who Taryn thought had a slight resemblance to Ryan – in an extremely deep voice. She had to roll her eyes at the surprise in his tone. Okay, so she was small and Trey was big – it wasn’t
that
odd a match.

Trey responded with a curt nod.

“
But…I thought healers couldn’t heal themselves.”

Disliking that he wasn’t addressing her directly as though she didn’t count, Taryn answered, “They can’t.”

“
I don’t understand. You look…fine.”

“
Why wouldn’t I?”

Trey explained. “It would seem that Martin overheard Darryl talking to the wolves who attempted to attack you last night. Everyone you see here knows Darryl ordered it done. What they don’t know is that the wolves were lying their asses off when they assured Darryl that you were in a bad physical state.”