Taryn was a silent for a moment, which was new. Then she turned perceptive eyes his way. “Do you care about her? I don’t just mean as your mate, the person who’s made for you—it’s instinctive to be fond of your mate. I mean do you care about Shaya the person?”
He looked again at the red she-wolf, watched as she bounded around with Roni. “Yes. It’s kind of hard not to.”
Taryn tilted her head, conceding that. “True. Do you know why she’s holding back?” Her tone communicated that she did. He knew Shaya confided in her a lot.
Nick sighed heavily. “She thinks I’ll suddenly decide I want a dominant female and then leave her.”
Taryn’s expression morphed into one of surprise. “She told you?”
“No. I’ve come to learn how her little mind works, realized how many insecurities she has—it isn’t surprising, given how her own mother constantly puts her down. I’ve told Shaya over and over that she’s all I want, but another thing I’ve come to realize about her is that words mean shit to her. The only way she’ll believe me is if I show her that she’s all I want.” Although Nick wasn’t sure what more he needed to do to convince her he was sticking around.
After a short pause, Taryn sighed. “I guess it’s fair to say that you’ve been pretty perseverant up to this point. But if you get what you want and she gives in, will you suddenly feel bored? That’s my question.”
Nick gestured at the snippy red she-wolf, who was now approaching him—even her walk was sassy. “How could I get bored with all that sassiness?” The wolf came to stand between his bent knees, nuzzling his hands. Taking the hint, he began to pet her. Apparently the wolf didn’t like that another female was sitting so close to her mate, because she snapped her teeth at Taryn.
The Alpha female gaped. “Hey! Not cool.”
Smiling in amusement, Nick continued to happily stroke his mate and rub his face against hers. She licked at his chin and then snuggled up against him.
“I didn’t expect her to be that possessive.” Taryn looked at them curiously for a minute before releasing a sigh of resignation. “Fine. I’ll stop being a pain. Not that I’ll stop coming around here—I want to be here for her. But I won’t poke my nose in or be a bitch. However…know that if you hurt her I’ll shove a beer bottle up your ass, use your sphincter to twist the top off, and laugh along with everyone as you scream in absolute agony.”
“People would find that amusing?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “Well, I’d be laughing.”
When the she-wolf gave his chin another lick and then trotted inside the house, followed quickly by Roni, Nick guessed his mate was going inside to shift and get dressed.
“She’ll make a good Alpha female.”
It took a few seconds for Taryn’s words to sink in. He looked at her oddly. “What?”
“Are you going to let Kent join your pack too? I heard him talking to Shaya on the phone, saying that he’d happily—”
Nick held up a hand. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What’re you talking about? I haven’t started a pack.”
Her smile was sympathetic. “You kinda have, sweetie.” She paused to nod at Derren as he came—now back in his human form—to sit at Nick’s other side. “You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if my uncle asks if he can switch from the Ryland Pack to yours. It’s safe to say your brother will definitely join.”
“There’s nothing to join.”
“Are you sure?” Taryn raised a brow. “Because if you count you, Shaya, Derren, Kathy, Roni, Amber”—said with a growl—“Jesse, Bracken, and Zander…Hmm, looks like the beginnings of a pack to me. By the time Roni and the unmated shifters have all found their true mates, your numbers will be—”
“Enough.” Beyond exasperated, Nick sighed. He didn’t have the patience for this. “Derren, you deal with her.”
Derren shrugged. “Taryn’s right. This is virtually a pack.”
“I know you think you can’t make Shaya your Alpha female without endangering her,” began Taryn, “but it truly wouldn’t make any difference if she was a dominant female.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that, yes, it will put her in physical danger, but it’s no different for me. In fact, I’d say it’s worse for me. The fact that I’m powerful makes a lot of dominant females consider challenging me—defeating me would quickly and significantly bump up people’s opinion of them. Shaya would be in similar danger if she was dominant.”
Huh. He hadn’t thought of it that way before. Nick wasn’t sure how he himself felt about being an Alpha again, but he knew that his wolf would leap at the challenge. He was born to lead; it was what he did best, and it was what he enjoyed doing. But his wolf wanted Shaya more than he wanted any position, just as Nick did. “In any case, I don’t think she’d want to be an Alpha female.”
“You won’t know unless you talk to her about it. One thing I know for sure is that she’d make a better Alpha female than many I’ve known.”
Nick could agree with that. Still…“My aim right now is to win Shaya’s total trust. If we decide to form a pack, it can be something that comes much later.” With that, he stood up and headed for the kitchen, intending to make some coffee.
With Nick out of earshot, Taryn turned to Derren. “Am I right in thinking that part of his problem is that he doesn’t want to share Shaya?”
“Yup. Plus, Nick prefers being alone.” Derren sighed. “If he had his way, the two of them would be holed up somewhere together and no one would ever bother them. But that’s never going to happen. Nick’s strength draws people to him, always has and always will. If you had seen the way he organized all the groups in juvie…Even the older ones followed him. There was only one guy, Merrick, who wouldn’t—Nick had to challenge him, and though he never meant it to go that far, he killed him. Nick never elected himself as leader, never tried to be one, but everyone made him one. And I’m going to do the same now. If he won’t take on the position, I’ll make him do it in my own subtle way.”
“He’s not going to like it,” said Taryn, but she was smiling. “How can I help?”
As her mom did her woe-is-me routine complete with degrading comments, Shaya was wishing she hadn’t answered the phone. Feeling guilty for the fact that she had completely ignored her mother’s calls for the past two weeks, she’d answered it…and now she was close to smashing her own phone. While Gabrielle Critchley was still ranting, Shaya placed her cell phone on the bed and pulled on her blue denim cutoff shorts and strappy black top. Unfortunately, her shifter-heightened hearing meant that she could hear every word clearly. Once Shaya had slipped on her black stilettos, she retrieved her phone. Time to end this quickly and cleanly.
“Mom, I know but”—she faked a static noise—“I have to”—another noise—“Something must be wrong with my”—more static—“I can’t hear”—more static—“I’ll call you tomorrow and—” Then Shaya ended the call with a sigh of relief.
She was just heading for the stairs when the bathroom door swung open and a strange female wrapped in a white towel walked out. Both of them froze, gasping. Shaya was just about to demand to know who the hell this woman was when she realized that the dusky green eyes were very familiar—eyes that were just like Nick’s. “Roni?”
She gave Shaya a wobbly smile. “Yeah. Hi.” Tucking the long, wet, ash-blonde ropes behind her ear, she cleared her throat. “Um, I sort of need clothes. I can ask Amber—”
“No, no, it’s fine.” Recovering from her brief moment of shock, Shaya pointed behind her. “Just follow me to my bedroom.” Once inside, Shaya closed the door behind them and gestured to the bed. “Take a seat.”