Dropping his arm, Nick nodded. Shaya’s beaming smile was reward enough for him. “Don’t leave the yard unless you want our little followers to hear your conversation.” As Shaya nodded and then went to the Alpha female, he caught the blonde’s eye and held her gaze. “Try to take my mate from me, and I’ll take yours from you.”
The blonde just blinked at him, before asking Shaya, “Is he always delusional?” Nick tracked their movements as they went to stand at the bottom of the yard, satisfied when they didn’t walk any farther.
“Who are the people watching the house?”
At Trey’s question, Nick sighed. “I guess you’d better come in.”
As Nick, Derren, and the Phoenix wolves went inside the house, the rebels insisted on waiting outside. The trio stood monitoring Taryn and Shaya, and she had the feeling that they intended to ensure on Nick’s behalf that Taryn didn’t attempt to kidnap her. It was kind of touching. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”
“We saw you and Nick on the news,” said Taryn, arms folded across her chest. “We left Dante and Jaime to hold the fort while we came here. The reporter said there’s some kind of shifter war going on, but that made no sense to me—every shifter in the world is on their best behavior right now, not wanting to give the human extremists anything to work with.”
Shaya sighed. “You can thank those extremists for what happened. They did it to get a reaction from Nick. It turns out that the guy running the local extremist group was one of the prison guards when Nick was in juvie.” When Taryn showed no surprise about Nick having been in juvie, Shaya frowned in confusion. “You knew about his past?”
“Only what Dante told me: that he killed a human and injured two others while defending himself and his sister.”
Shaya inwardly sighed in relief. She was sure Nick wouldn’t like all his past to be common knowledge.
“You can’t seriously be thinking about mating with him, Shaya.”
“There was a lot I didn’t know about him.” Aware that Nick’s pride would balk at others knowing about his health issues, that Nick wouldn’t want to be viewed as having weaknesses to anyone, she didn’t elaborate. “And nobody can say he hasn’t earned a chance, Taryn. I put him through an alpha’s version of hell—rejected him, stomped on his pride, and even went on a date with another guy.”
“No way!” Taryn seemed pleased about it.
“But he’s still here. He’s apologized, he’s done sweet stuff for me, he’s bought me gifts, he’s fixed the little messes in my life, and he’s just generally been here for me. It’s like, wherever I look he’s there, just like—”
“A mate,” finished Taryn with a sigh. “Okay, I get it; he’s been a good Boy Scout. But how do you know that will last?”
“I don’t. I can only give him the chance he’s earned.”
“And if he messes it up?”
“I make a margarita with his balls.”
Taryn laughed. “I have to say I was impressed when I heard he’d given up his position for you. I’d expected him to return to his pack at some point. But he never did. He kept searching for you. What are you going to do about your living situation? You only took on the lone-wolf lifestyle to hide from Nick. Does this mean you’ll come home now?”
Shaya ran a hand through her curls. “I don’t know. Nick offered to join the Phoenix Pack.”
Taryn’s jaw almost hit the floor. “You’re shitting me. He hasn’t asked you to go back to his old pack?”
Shaya shook her head. “He knows his wolf would find it hard to obey someone less dominant than him, and he doesn’t want the position of Alpha, so he has no intention of returning. I’m just going to take things one step at a time. If things turn out badly, I’ll probably come home. But if they don’t…well, that’s a decision Nick and I would have to make together. But I couldn’t ask him to join the Phoenix Pack, Taryn. I couldn’t ask someone as powerful as him to serve and obey someone else.”
Taryn nodded in understanding. “It wouldn’t be right. Well, there’s no denying that he’s trying hard to win you over. I still don’t like him for how miserable he made you.”
“But you’ll give him a chance just like I am. You’ll wish me luck, like I did for you and Trey,” prodded Shaya.
Rolling her eyes, Taryn said, “Fine.”
Smiling, Shaya threw her arms around her best friend, who returned the hug. “I’ve missed you.” She pulled back. “And I’ve missed Kye. How is he?” Although the fact that she chatted with her pack over Skype at least once a week meant that Shaya had watched Kye grow, it wasn’t the same as being with him.
“You can find that out for yourself,” said Taryn, urging Shaya to follow her to the pack’s Toyota Highlander that was parked behind Nick’s Mercedes. “Now that I know there’s no chance of a fight breaking out and no blood will be shed, I can get him out of the SUV.” When Shaya’s face lit up, Taryn snorted. “I wouldn’t get so excited if I were you. Old Mother Hubbard, who has spent the past five hours driving me insane in the SUV, is waiting with him—she insisted on coming.” Taryn was referring to Trey’s grandmother, who was very possessive of Trey, Dante, Tao, and the enforcers and didn’t like females around them. “She hovers around him unhealthily like she does with Trey and her other ‘boys.’ It’s disturbing.”
As Taryn slid the side door open, Greta huffed at the Alpha female. “I heard that, hussy. No respect.” The arguing that went on between them happened daily.
Taryn gave Trey’s grandmother a sweet, mocking smile. “Oh, I’m sorry, was I supposed to break the habit of a lifetime and bring joy to your day?”
Cuddling a sleeping Kye to her chest, Greta huffed once more at Taryn before turning to Shaya and smiling fondly. “Shaya, sweetheart, how are you?”
“Oh, you’re nice to her because she’s not going to mate with one of your boys.” Taryn growled. “Give me my son before your old-lady breath bleaches his hair.” As Taryn took the adorable eight-month-old baby into her arms, his lids fluttered open to reveal a set of arctic-blue eyes exactly like his father’s. As Nick had once said, Kye was literally Trey with Taryn’s hair—which made him one absolutely gorgeous baby who would undoubtedly break many female hearts when he was older.
“Hey there,” whispered Shaya, playing with his hair. “Recognize me?”
“Of course he does,” said Taryn. “It’s so cute how he points to the laptop and waves—I know it means he wants to wave to you on Skype. Can you do it for Auntie Shaya again now?” Taryn waved her hand slightly, and Kye mirrored the move, flashing Shaya a huge smile. “Now that I can visit you without worrying that Nick will have people following me who will then know where you are, we can come see you whenever I want, and you can visit us whenever you want.”
A smile spread across Shaya’s face. She liked that idea. After only a minute of gentle coaxing, Kye went willingly into Shaya’s arms. “He’s such a sociable kid.”
“It’s only natural given that he’s part of a pack that spoils him rotten and treats him like he’s at the center of the entire universe,” said Taryn. “He’s used to being handled by different people.”
With Kye in her arms, Shaya led Taryn and Greta into the house. She found the guys all gathered in the dining area. Her eyes instantly went to Nick, who was sitting at the table. His smile had a hint of relief to it, and she realized just how worried he’d been that she might leave. As she entered the room, Dominic straightened from where he’d been leaning against the wall and came toward her wearing a devilish grin—yep, he had every intention of flirting with her to annoy Nick, just like he did to all the mated females to provoke their mates. Well, it wasn’t so much flirting as delivering cheesy lines, but it had the desired effect on the mated males.