Why did it have to mean something if a guy was friendly? Couldn’t platonic friendships between a male and a female exist anymore? This was so shit.
The sound of soft footsteps had her turning to see Dante entering the room. His expression was sympathetic. “You heard that.” He nodded. There was no surprise on his face. “You already knew.” He nodded again. “Everybody knows.” Another nod. “Even Trey?”
“I’m not sure if he knows that Tao is prepared to leave the pack with you, but he knows Tao wants you.”
“It hasn’t caused any bad feelings between them, has it?” She’d leave before she came between two close friends. Her wolf growled at the idea of her leaving, but Taryn ignored her.
“No. Like Tao said, he’d never poach and Trey knows that.” He cocked his head and pursed his lips. “Would Tao have a chance with you if you left here?”
“There’s no ‘if I left here’ about it, Dante. Trey only wants this to be short-term, you know that.”
“I’m not so sure about that. I’ve seen Trey with women. Never has he ever treated any of them the way he treats you.”
She snickered. “What, you mean totally shoving them aside?”
“As much as Trey’s tough, we’re all scared of something. And he’s terrified of imprinting, Taryn. He saw first-hand what happens when a wolf turns rogue, he had to kill that wolf. For as long as you don’t imprint on each other there’s no chance of that happening to either of you if you separate.”
She noticed he had again used the word ‘if’ but she didn’t comment.
“When he made that deal with you, he hadn’t considered that he might just come to like you in more than a physical sense. You brought out things in him that he wasn’t prepared for and it knocked him for a loop.”
She shook her head. “That’s just his wolf, Dante. Just his mating instincts. It’s not Trey.”
“He knew in advance that his wolf would be possessive, he knew his instincts would ride him hard – he’d been ready for all that. He hadn’t been ready for how it would be if he himself felt those same things.”
“You’re wrong.” The denial was automatic. Automatic because she’d come to the conclusion a long time ago that she could only ever rely on herself, that she would never have that total acceptance that came from a mate. She was defiant, sarcastic, snappy, contrary, stubborn and strong-willed – not an attractive combination for male wolves in her opinion. When she’d lost Joey she’d also lost that one chance of being cared for exactly as she was, latency and all. Besides this was Trey they were talking about for God’s sake! “There’s no danger of us imprinting.”
“I agree. There’s something a lot bigger than that going on here.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That’s something you both need to figure out on your own, but I’m not convinced either of you are ready to accept it yet.”
Not liking that smug, all-knowing look on his face, she pushed passed him and jogged to her room. In under a minute she was stripped of her clothes and stood under the soothing hot spray of the shower. There was no denying that this day had been one of the strangest of her life. On the plus side, at least it wasn’t possible that it could get any stranger. But she didn’t want to think on anything. Not her mom, not Joey, not Tao’s confession, not Dante’s dumb theory. All she wanted was to just forget about it all, just for a little while. She would decide what to do about Tao tomorrow, she really would, but right now she just needed to relax.
Finished in his office and ready to head to his room, Trey swung the office door open and frowned at the sight of Dante stood there with his hand ready to knock.
“Hey,” said his Beta, dropping his hand. “I’m just passing on a message from Rhett. The meeting with Warner is scheduled for next Saturday morning at Mo’s Diner, 10 A.M.”
“Good.”
“You don’t sound all that excited.”
“I don’t?” asked Trey, hoping to sound aloof, as he stepped out of the office and closed the door behind him. In truth, the idea of making any kind of agreement with Lance Warner irritated both him and his wolf.
Dante sighed, rubbing his nape. “I don’t like it either. Taryn might say it doesn’t bother her, but it’s got to piss her off a little.”
“She’s always known I wanted the alliance, she’s never forgotten why she’s here,” said Trey a little defensively.
“Yeah. Would have been a lot easier using her like this if she was an evil heifer though.” As Trey shrugged passed him Dante added, “I wouldn’t expect her to be in a great mood when you see her.”
Trey swerved. “Why’s that?”
“Tao just dropped a bomb on her.”
He didn’t have to say anything more for Trey to understand. “I didn’t think he’d tell her. Little fucker.”
“Trey, come on, he’s just overheard her screaming from an orgasm you were giving her and he feels like you’re treating her like a toy you can pick up when you feel like.”
“A toy? She’s my mate.” He would admit he’d been an ass to her, but never had he thought of her as a toy, never had he disrespected her in his thoughts like that.
“I know that. Tao would never trespass on your territory and if you had mated with Taryn for life then I doubt he would have said a word. Not that I’m making excuses for him. I’m not. It was a totally uncool thing to do, especially on a day when she’s feeling so raw.”
“She hadn’t known, had she?”
Dante shook his head. “She seemed a little worried that it might cause trouble between you and him, but I made sure she knew that wouldn’t happen. I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep him as her bodyguard though.”
“She won’t need one. She has me.” Trey was surprised his voice sounded human considering that he was fighting his wolf from surfacing. His wolf wanted to hunt down the male who not only coveted his mate but had made it damn clear that he wanted her.
Dante grinned. “I like that answer.”
Trey gave him a small nod and turned to leave, but then he spoke again.
“There’s something else. Telling you probably isn’t a good thing, but keeping it from you would be worse – you’re my Alpha, and my friend. And I’d hate to see you throw something away without first realising how important it is to you.”
“Dante, English.”
“Well, Tao basically indicated that if she was agreeable, he’d leave the pack with her when this was over and mate with her.”
“What was that?” he growled. His wolf bucked and clawed at Trey, wanting to get out and rid the world of this male. Tao had to be having suicidal thoughts – that was all Trey could conclude from that. “I’m going to kill him.”
In a blink, Dante was directly in front of him, blocking his path. “No, no, no – Trey, man, just listen. I know Tao crossed a boundary by suggesting that to her while she’s still mated to you, but he wasn’t thinking right. He was jealous and hurt.”
None of that meant jack shit to Trey or his wolf. Shoving his Beta aside, he stalked down the hallway in pursuit of his prey.
“If you go kick Tao’s ass now, Taryn will leave.”
His wolf snapped to attention at that and Trey halted in his tracks. No other words would have gotten through to him. His wolf didn’t understand all the details around this matter, but he did understand cause and effect. If Trey acted on his anger and hurt Tao, his mate would leave.
“She won’t stick around even one hour longer if she thinks she’s coming between the two of you. I know you can’t just switch off the anger but, man, you got to choose which is more important – venting that anger, or making sure Taryn stays.”