"Her scent disappeared not far from here," said Dante as he reappeared at his side. "Looks like she went into the private office and she hasn't come back out yet."

"What would she be doing in the boss's private office?" If anything s.e.xual was going on, Trey would kill him. Surprised by the vehemence behind that thought, he double-blinked. The sight of his Beta and three enforcers grinning told him that they knew what he'd been thinking. They had all warned him that because his wolf was so near to the surface his possessive streak would be hard to control. Know-it-all b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.

What they couldn't know was that his body reacted to Taryn in a way that it never had to another female. He tried to think of it as a good thing; it would mean the s.e.x would be amazing. But he didn't like that she seemed to have some sort of power over his body, not to mention his wolf. Already he was feeling possessive of her for G.o.d's sake.

Intending to answer his own question of where she was, Trey began edging through the throngs of people toward the office. He was barely three feet away when the door opened and Taryn walked out looking pale and shaky. He knew that look. It was the same look his old pack healer had worn whenever she had used her gift. Concern relatively unfamiliar and unwelcome travelled through him, but then a smile split her lips at something her friend had said and a shaft of l.u.s.t shot through his system.

Seeing that she hadn't noticed him, he stayed where he was and waited for her to near him. Once she was close, he deliberately b.u.mped into her and watched in satisfaction as surprise and then l.u.s.t flashed in her eyes.

Oh G.o.d, thought Taryn as she saw the heated, determined expression on Trey's face. His enticing male scent surrounded her, blocking all else. Her wolf shot to alertness and growled her arousal. Taryn held still as he buried his nose in the crook of her neck and inhaled deeply. When his face returned to hers, his eyes had turned wolf and he was so unbelievably focused on her that they might as well have been the only two people in the club. She knew it was an act, but her body still reacted and her c.l.i.t began to throb in time with her overactive pulse.

Knowing what she was supposed to do, Taryn placed her nose at the junction of his neck and shoulder and, just like he had done to her, took in his delicious scent on a long inhale. She didn't have to fake being drunk on it. As Taryn returned her gaze to his, Trey's hands landed on her hips and he tugged her to him. Then he pretty much took her over. His mouth crushed hers as his tongue thrust forcefully into her mouth, sweeping against her own. The kiss was dominant and possessive as he took the response he wanted, demanding her submission.

One hand collared her throat possessively as his other clutched her a.s.s, branding it as his. She didn't realize she was grinding against him until he hoisted her up and curved her legs around his hips to better the friction. Helplessly she moaned her pleasure into his mouth, digging her nails into his back. If the growl that rumbled up his chest was anything to go by, he liked to be scratched.

Trey couldn't believe how responsive Taryn was. The whole claiming might be an act, but he knew that her body's reaction wasn't forced or exaggerated. She was like fire and he couldn't help but revel in it, in her taste, in her scent, in the feel of her skin, and in how her body seemed to conform perfectly to his. It shouldn't have been possible that a slender person could fit snugly against someone as broad and burly as he was, and yet she did. Those little moans she was making were driving him insane and he wanted nothing more than to flip up her dress and f.u.c.k her right there. Only his awareness that there was a nearby threat to their claiming kept him from thrusting into her.

Pulling his mouth from hers, Trey moved his hand from her throat to tangle in her hair as he kissed and nibbled his way down her throat before settling in the juncture of her neck and shoulder. He sc.r.a.ped his teeth over the spot, letting her know what was to come. When he was sure her climax was near, he bit down hard, breaking the skin and tasting blood. Instantly she shattered, groaning and shuddering. He sucked strongly on the patch of skin he had bitten, being sure to leave a distinct mark that couldn't be considered as anything other than what it was. A claiming.

As quick as that, a rush swept through Trey and he felt a sort of snap in his head similar to that which he'd felt with each of his pack members when they blooded. Then he sensed her through the pack link, not her thoughts, but her fiery, spicy, sensual presence. It was done, she was his to protect as his mate and part of his pack. His wolf growled his approval, urging Trey to sweep her away to their territory away from the threat that her dad's enforcers presented. He pulled back to admire his work and swiped his tongue over the mark, liking the look of it on Taryn's skin and how she trembled in response.

Taryn knew her face was a mask of surprise and she knew everyone would mistake it for her shock at supposedly finding her mate. Her surprise, however, was genuine. She hadn't expected Trey to be able to pull that kind of response from her body, even with the effect he seemed to have on her. She had practically melted for him and he hadn't even really touched her. And when his teeth had sunk into her skin...it was as though an electric current had travelled through her, sparking her release to hit her. Not like when Roscoe had bitten her against her will; that had left her feeling violated and enraged.

Her ever-present connection with her dad as Alpha had now disappeared and was replaced with this new connection. Lance's presence in her mind had always felt invasive because of his aversion to her; he was all ice and arrogance and deviousness. But Trey was so different; he was strength and danger and raw s.e.xuality. His presence inside her was like an anchor to her wolf who was a little smug right now, since she was a big fan of psycho boy.

"Trey," he said gruffly as he slid her down his body, as if introducing himself. It was pretty common that two wolves could mark each other before exchanging names, swept away by the urge to claim.

She smiled. "Taryn."

Trey almost rolled his eyes when Dante said, "Hey, congratulations, Alpha."

"Oh. My. G.o.d," said Shaya, gazing at them wide-eyed.

And so it begins, grumbled Taryn inwardly, turning to see that many of her pack had observed the claiming and were staring. Every face was the picture of shock. Even Oscar and Perry, who looked as though they had been trying to get pa.s.sed Tao and Dante, were shock-still and gaping.

"Hand Taryn over," demanded Perry. The unsteadiness of his voice suggested he was aware of who Trey was. "As her father's enforcers, we are responsible for her."

Trey gripped her hip possessively and growled at him. "Not anymore you're not."

Their eyes were dancing continually from him to Taryn. They didn't look so determined to try to get to her now, she noticed. That could have had a lot to do with the scowl on Trey's face and the death threat in his eyes. Unless they were dumb, a shifter didn't dare attempt to separate mates, and as unbelievable as it may have seemed, that was indeed what she and Trey looked to be. Still Perry's and Oscar's dedication to her dad meant that they couldn't just let her go on her merry way, especially since they all believed she would be mating Roscoe.

Oscar straightened to his full height. "Release Taryn or we will be forced to contact her Alpha."

"He's no longer her Alpha, you know that."

"There doesn't have to be any trouble. Just let her go."

Instead Trey locked his arm around her waist and released a deep, rumbly, 'f.u.c.k off' growl that had everyone around them tensing. "She's mine."

"Taryn," said Shaya in a pleasant voice, "why don't you come over here and -" Trey's growl cut her off.

"She's not yours," stated Caleb through gritted teeth before fixing his gaze on Taryn. "You know he's not your mate, Taryn. You're confused or something but you -"

Abruptly Perry reached out to grab her arm and she gasped. Before she knew what was happening she was behind Trey whose hand was tightly wrapped around Perry's throat. Tao was restraining Oscar to prevent him from interfering while Trey's enforcers, Smiley (he wasn't smiling now) and Burly, were on either side of her in protective stances.

"Don't. Touch. My. Mate." Trey bit out each word.

"She's already mated," Perry somehow managed to wheeze out. "She's mated to Roscoe Weston."

"If she'd been mated, I couldn't have claimed her you know that. And you just watched me claim her."

"Her dad won't allow it."

Trey smiled. "It's already done. Now, here's what you're going to do. You're going to start by getting the f.u.c.k away from me and my mate. Then you're going to call your Alpha and tell him to inform Roscoe Weston that he won't be touching her ever again. If your Alpha has a problem with any of that I'll be right here. But he should know in advance that she won't be leaving here with anyone but me."

The steel in his voice had Taryn's wolf growling her approval. The dumb animal was impressed by his dominant display, liked that he was shielding and protecting her. She wasn't even adverse to the idea of him squeezing Perry's throat a little tighter despite that the guy had lowered his eyes in a sign of submission. She could understand why Perry had. Trey had a certain intensity about him that made him always seem intimidating, but this was different. He was menacing, fierce, unyielding. Every word had been a command and rung with power and authority. It had Taryn feeling a little flushed, if she was honest.

"Roscoe gets here on Sunday," warned Perry. "He'll come for you."

Trey laughed. "Oh I certainly hope he does." With that, he flung Perry away from him and signalled for Tao to release Oscar. He then turned his back on them, communicating his lack of fear, and snaked his arm around Taryn's waist to pull her tight against him. "Time to look mesmerised by each other while we have a little chat," he whispered in her ear.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she locked her gaze with his and fixed a smile on her face. His answering smile was devilish. "My dad's going to s.h.i.t a brick. He'll have felt my disconnection from the pack by now."

"I think he's already on his way here. When the enforcers first tried interfering, one of the males from your pack announced to a female that he was going to call him. Are you going to be okay watching what happens next? I don't want to battle with your father and risk the chance of an alliance, but there's a possibility that the confrontation will lead to a battle." He wasn't expecting to be granted an alliance straight away, not when Warner was going to be p.i.s.sed about having his daughter taken from him.

"He won't want the fight any more than you do. He'll know you're a more dominant wolf and that you'll most likely defeat him he won't want to chance looking weak in front of his pack in case it inspired one of them to challenge his position."

"You're going to have to openly claim I'm your true mate, Taryn," he reminded her gently as he breezed his thumb over his mark. "Are you going to be able to do that?"

It took a good deal of effort not to let the smile drop from her face. "Yes. I know what has to be done."

He brushed his lips against hers. "Good girl. How's your wolf doing? Did she want you to fight me off when I marked you?"

She shook her head. "She likes you."

Trey smiled crookedly. "You say that like it makes her stupid."

"She's impressed by your level of dominance."

That surprised him. "Not intimidated?"

"No. She thinks you're strong enough to take her on, she doesn't like weaklings. It's your scent she likes most."

His wolf really liked hers. Trey inhaled deeply, taking that exotic scent into his lungs. "My wolf's riding me hard. He wants to complete the claiming." Grinding against her, he spoke into her ear, "And I need to be inside your hot little body."

It was true that the mating technically wouldn't be complete without them consummating it, but as it wasn't a mating in the truest sense Taryn had figured that the drive to have s.e.x wouldn't be as strong. Instead, her wolf and her body were craving that completeness.

Trey slipped his hand under her dress and boldly cupped her. "This is where I'll be very, very soon, Taryn," he promised more like threatened. "Inside you, filling you with my c.u.m, and making you scream."

"I've met guys like you before. They talk the talk but, well...talking doesn't exactly get people to o.r.g.a.s.m, does it?"

Trey smiled wickedly. "When I f.u.c.k you Taryn and make no mistake about it, baby, I will f.u.c.k you the only talking you'll be doing is begging me to let you come. And don't doubt that I'll make you come. Not just the once. You'll come over and over again, until I decide you've had enough. Until I decide that I've had enough."

"Hmm. That's all very fascinating, but you're forgetting one very important thing."

"And what's that?"

"My guess, Tarzan, is that you're very used to Janes; you don't just want total obedience, you expect it. I'm not sure you'd know what to do with a woman who would bite you, scratch you, and curse you to h.e.l.l and back if she wasn't getting her own way. You want my submission, you're going to have to battle for it."

He hadn't thought he could get any harder. She was right in her a.s.sumption that he was only used to submissive women; females were too cautious around him to fight him for dominance. He didn't crave submission, but he liked it. And he sure as s.h.i.t liked the thought of Taryn, his mate, submitting to him. The idea of having to fight for and earn the right to her submission...f.u.c.k. "I'll look forward to the upcoming battle."

"And just so you know in advance, big boy, I never beg." All alphas had a big thing for begging, especially when it came to their mates, and Taryn needed him to know that it wouldn't be happening. "Don't take that as a challenge, because it's genuinely not meant as one. It's just something I never do."

Trey didn't have to ask to understand why. It was because that would mean she had completely surrendered, given her complete submission, and Taryn wasn't prepared to do that for anyone. He understood that need to not be totally vulnerable to another person. "Now that we've cleared that up" he curled both arms around her, resting his hands on her a.s.s "I'll ask...do you think we're fooling anybody?"

"I think most of them are having a little trouble accepting that I'd been wrong about Joey, but they can't deny to themselves what they've just seen." Or what they thought they saw. She realized now that if they hadn't done things this way, no one would have bought it. "I don't think any of them believe this is some kind of prearranged thing. More like they're wondering if it's out-of-control-l.u.s.t or something."

He nodded. "They might be able to think of a reason why you would lie about being mated, but they won't be able to come up with a reason why I would."

As his head tipped to the side and his eyes turned wolf, Taryn gasped. His gaze was glued to her shoulder and she knew exactly what it was that had his wolf fighting to surface. She had to refrain from flinching as he released a menacing growl. If she, the female his wolf saw as his, showed any fear of him it would offend and aggravate him. He was already very much on edge right now.

Knowing what the animal wanted and needed, she said, "Go on." He didn't hesitate. Just bent his head and bit down hard over Roscoe's mark, sucking and licking the skin to replace it with his own mark. When he lifted his head again it was Trey looking back at her. Apparently his wolf was satisfied enough that he was willing to retreat.

Trey wasn't surprised by his wolf's jealous reaction to the sight of the fading bite from the other wolf's teeth on Taryn's flesh, but he was surprised that she had accommodated his wolf's basic need to replace the mark with his own. By abruptly more or less chomping on her shoulder, he had done what Roscoe had.

"You didn't struggle," he said, knowing he sounded a little mystified. He wouldn't have expected for Taryn, a latent wolf, to understand how difficult it could be to reign in the animal's instinct when the beast lived so close to the surface as Trey's did.

She sighed. "You and I aren't really all that different when it comes to our wolves. My wolf constantly reaches for the surface, because she has no understanding of why she's trapped. Being trapped frustrates her and all that frustration fuels her spirit, making her brash and testing. And that brash, testy spirit then constantly rides me, trying to force her urges or needs on me it's really her only way of surfacing. So I understand more than you might think about how it is for you to have your wolf so close. Not that I'll always placate him it's probably best you understand that now. But both she and I know when to push and when to yield."

That was something that only a true alpha could do. Trey found that he respected Taryn Warner, and that wasn't something he could say for a lot of people. "It wouldn't be much fun if you placated me or my wolf all the time." His head whipped round when one of the females spoke.

"Taryn, do you think we could just talk alone for a second?"

Taryn guessed that Shaya thought she might think more clearly if she was away from Trey. She had been about to respond when Richie tapped Shaya on the shoulder.

"Getting in between mates isn't a good idea," he told Shaya. "Especially when they've only just claimed each other."

"But they can't be -" She stopped mid-sentence and Taryn knew why. Her dad had arrived.

As soon as Lance Warner spotted her he strolled toward her, clenching his fists. His eyes darted from her to Trey. "What the h.e.l.l is this?" Then he saw the mark on her neck and his eyes bulged.

"I've found my mate," she declared in a steady voice.

"Your mate?" he repeated tonelessly. "What the h.e.l.l are you talking about, girl?"

"You're not happy for me, Daddy Dearest? Why am I not surprised?"

Lance fixed his glare on Trey. "Let go of my daughter." There was a slight tremor to his voice that betrayed his nervousness.

"That's not going to happen."

"What's your game here? We all know she isn't your mate. What would you want with her, with a latent?"

"Careful," said Trey in a deceptively patient voice, not liking the derogatory way he had spoken of Taryn.

"You want to trade her for some of my land, is that it?"

Trey laughed, and it wasn't a nice sound. "If I wanted some of your territory, I'd have challenged you Alpha to Alpha. And, believe me, I'd have won."

"Well if this isn't about territory then what the h.e.l.l is this all about?"

"Um, Alpha," began Richie, "we all just saw what happened. It looked like true mates finding each other."

Relief washed over Taryn as she saw many of the wolves around them nodding their agreement with Richie.

"No!" insisted Lance. He pointed hard at her. "You're doing this just to spite me, you little b.i.t.c.h!"

"Hey," snapped Trey as he advanced a step toward Lance. "Be very, very careful. Paper thin f.u.c.king ice."

Taryn almost shivered. The words had been delivered in such a lethal, authoritative tone that her dad had actually resisted the urge to snap back at him. "The decision was taken out of anyone's hands by nature itself, Dad."

"Nature? If you're talking about your rebellious nature, then yeah, nature is what caused this. You're doing it to get out of mating with Roscoe. We both know that Joey was your true mate."

"I thought so too, but as unbelievable as it might seem, I was wrong." G.o.d, it hurt to say that.

"No. I remember the way you were when he died. You wouldn't talk, barely ate, never left the house. You were like that for over six months."

"That was probably a lot to do with me having lost my mom in the very same accident."

He went to take a step toward her but Trey's growl halted his advance. He snarled at Trey. "Even if the kid wasn't her true mate it makes no difference, she's already mated! She's mated to Roscoe Weston."

"As I said to your enforcer, if that had been true, I wouldn't have been able to claim her."

"Well I think you'll find Roscoe will disagree with you on that. And so do I. She's coming home with me." He signalled to Perry and Oscar to grab her.

"Try it," bit out Trey, his face like thunder and his eyes flashing with anger. "I can guarantee you won't like what happens." Wisely, the enforcers didn't try it.

"What are you waiting for?" Lance growled at Perry and Oscar.

Oscar shrugged. "It's like Richie said. We saw what happened, it sure looked like true mates -"

Lance shook his head. "There's something I'm missing here."

Taryn used his own words against him. "With your view of the world, I would have thought you'd have found this easy enough to accept. According to you, a wolf wouldn't want a latent for a mate unless he had no choice in the matter."

"That's true," said Lance with a snicker. "I don't even know why Roscoe wants you, why anyone would."

A second later he was pressed against the wall with Trey's hand around his neck. "It's almost as though you want me to rip your throat out," he growled, fighting his wolf from surfacing and doing just that. He hadn't wanted there to be any violence, but Taryn had been right. Although they weren't true mates and this whole thing was to be temporary, his wolf wasn't hung up on those details, wasn't held back by them. His wolf was an elemental being who acted mostly on instinct, and since he'd marked Taryn Warner, his wolf regarded her as his. His to protect, to comfort, to shelter, to possess. And Trey agreed.