"Oh sorry," said Tao, "it's just that this episode of Friends is hilarious."

"They're all hilarious," she mumbled as she sat upright. Trick and Tao each scooted over a little so that she had room to stretch her legs out.

"How are you feeling?" asked a voice to her right as a finger trailed down her cheek.

She looked up to see Grace. "Fine, thanks." It was only then that she realized that they were all gathered around her. She understood what this meant. Not only had they been offering her comfort, they accepted her as a member of the pack. Temporary member of the pack, she reminded herself.

"You look better," said Tao.

"How long was I out?" she asked no one in particular as she stretched her arms which were a little stiff from her fetal position.

"About an hour," replied Dante.

"You should have woke me, I didn't need to sleep that long."

Tao, who was rubbing his jaw against her knee, asked, "Do you always need sleep after you use your gift?"

She shook her head. "I was just tired because Trey had so many injuries, even though they weren't fatal. Where is Flinstone anyway?"

Dante suddenly seemed a little uncomfortable. "He went to have a shower and um...he's probably making some calls or something in his office."

In other words, he hadn't reappeared to check on her. Why should he though?

"You need anything?" asked Grace. "Coffee or something?"

Taryn waved her hand. "I can get it, I'm fine."

"No," they all said in unison before Grace rushed from the room.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not an invalid."

"No," agreed Lydia, "but you're our Alpha female which means we look out for you."

"Come on, you know it's only temporary, you don't need to take things so far."

"Then let us just do it temporarily."

"Is there anything else you want?" asked Grace as she handed her a huge mug of coffee.

Taryn took the mug gratefully and sipped from it. "Actually, I was wondering if any of you have a computer I could use once I've had a shower."

"I do," said Rhett. "It's in my room."

"Then let's go." Seeing that they were all ready to object to her moving just yet, she held up her hand. "I said I'm fine. As much as I appreciate the concern, I'm going to need you all to stop fussing." Wearing petulant expressions, they gave her s.p.a.ce to rise and leave.

A shower and a change of clothes later she was in Rhett's bedroom. It was smaller than Trey's and had quite a geeky feel to it. He led her to his 'IT Corner' and introduced her to his amazingly hi tech contraption. He had almost every program she could think of, thousands of games, access to all kinds of confidential s.h.i.t and a mind that worked just as fast as that piece of technology. She didn't know whether to be impressed or freaked out. "So, in short, you're a hacker. I can just about manage e-mailing."

"Hacking's not as hard as you might think. It's pretty much like s.e.x you want to get in and out leaving little trace of you ever having been there. So, what do you need?"

"I just need access to the internet. I've probably been disconnected from my old pack web so I'll need to join yours."

"Your what?"

"You don't have a pack web?" Taryn was surprised considering he seemed to have everything else.

He shook his head. "What is it?"

"It's kind of like a social network but it's exclusive to whoever is in your pack."

"A little like Facebook and Twitter."

"Exactly, only it's not so much to encourage social interaction as it is to showcase your pack. Let me show you."

After typing in the http address, Taryn took them to the homepage of USA Pack Webs. Entering her name and pa.s.sword, she was then immediately transferred to a visual of what was termed the Onyx pack web her old pack. It was a little like looking at an image of the solar system, only instead of the sun being in the center it was a photo of the Alpha, her dad. And instead of planets being dotted around the eight surrounding circles of the sun, individual photos of each pack member were randomly dotted around the circles. Her own photo was set aside as if free floating in s.p.a.ce. Oh yeah she'd been disconnected alright.

"Because we're not part of the pack, we don't have access to this web which means we can't see the public blog and add to it, but watch this." Using the mouse, she moved the arrow to point on one of the photos and instantly the photo enlarged and a little personal information on that pack member came up; it was like looking at a baseball card, only it was referred to as an information card.

Rhett read it aloud. "Full Name: Shaya Critchley. Gender: Female. Age: Twenty-three. Status: Unmated. Rank: Subordinate. Challenges: Four. Challenges Won: Two."

"That's all you can know unless you were to gain permission from the Alpha to browse through the pack web."

He turned to look at her. "Every pack has one?"

She shook her head. "Not every pack. They're a good thing to have, because not only is it a good way for all pack members to socially interact no matter where they are, but it means that other packs can get a vague idea of how powerful yours is. Look at this." Taryn pointed the cursor at Lance and instantly a photo popped up with a small amount of personal information underneath.

Again Rhett read it aloud. "Full Name: Lance Kai Warner. Gender: Male. Age: Forty-three. Status: Mate Deceased. Rank: Pack Alpha. Challenges: Twelve. Challenges Won: Twelve. Number of Alliances: Thirty-two. Total Number of Wolves: Twenty-six." He seemed lost in thought for a moment before turning his attention back to Taryn. "So we could create our own web?"

She nodded. "Easy. You just need to sign up first to USA Pack Webs. You know, this would be a good way to form alliances. Other Alphas now have a way of getting in touch with Trey without risking turning up only to get their head chewed off."

"How could they contact him?"

"See the option on the top right of the information card, Send Message. The same option is on everybody's information card. Speaking of which, let me just check to see if I have any." She double-clicked on her own card and saw a notice that she had fifty-seven messages.

"Fifty-seven?"

"It'll just be people wanting to know if the mating's kosher and all that. All I'm interested in is whether Shaya and Caleb have been in touch." It turned out that they had both been in touch. Again they both expressed concern about her safety and tried convincing her that she was wrong about Trey being her true mate, asking to meet up with her so they could all talk. "I think that's exactly what I'm going to have to do."

"What?"

"Meet up with them. They're not buying that the mating is real. If they hear it from my mouth, if I can convince them that I'm fine and Trey doesn't intend to hurt me, then maybe they'll accept it. They're both tenacious b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, they won't let this go."

Rhett sighed. "I doubt Trey will let you leave the property."

Let her leave? Snort. She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. "Actually I was thinking that if they see me here in this setting it might be more believable for them."

"You're probably right there. Okay, you got time to help me with this before you go ask Trey?"

"Sure."

Trey looked up from an old photograph of his dead mother when he heard the knock on his office door. "Come in." As he expected, Tao strolled inside. He had also antic.i.p.ated Dante tagging along since he was a nosy b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Both wolves took the seats in front of Trey's thick oak desk. Shoving the photo underneath the slip of papers beside it, he focused his attention on Tao.

"I'm electing you as Taryn's personal bodyguard." The Head Enforcer nodded agreeably, which sort of stunned Trey. "You know what this means, don't you? I'll need to pull you away from your usual duties because your main priority will be Taryn's safety."

"Someone else will become Head Enforcer, I know," said Tao with a nod.

"I was sort of expecting a protest."

Tao shrugged. "I considered it an honor when I was made Head Enforcer and I enjoy that position, but it will be just as much an honor to be my Alpha female's bodyguard. Besides, Taryn's interesting to be around," he added with a smile.

Trey arched a brow. "I hope that's all you find her to be."

"Isn't it going to be a bad idea for you to have someone else looking out for her?" Dante asked rhetorically.

"Why would it be?"

He sighed. "Because it's your job as her mate to be her protector and it will nettle your protective instincts not to mention your wolf if you ignore that."

"I'm not ignoring it. I'm a.s.signing someone to watch over her which means I'm addressing the issue of her safety. Protective instinct covered." Trey had kept his tone aloof and cool, but the way Dante narrowed his eyes told him that he was seeing more than Trey wanted him to.

"Speaking of Taryn, you might want to come see what her and Rhett set up."

"Set up?"

"On the computer. Come see."

Minutes later many of the pack were crowded into Rhett's bedroom as he showed them their pack web and explained everything about how it worked and how it would benefit the pack. He then showed the others how to use it and introduced them to the public blog for their pack.

"Well, what do you think?" asked Rhett.

"This was your idea?" Trey asked Taryn, impressed.

"And Rhett's. It was a joint project."

"I had no idea other packs had this kind of stuff," said Dante, sounding a little awed. "How long ago did your dad set his web up?"

Taryn jiggled her head as she thought on it. "Five years ago, maybe?"

"It's good," said Trey, "really good."

Tao draped an arm over her shoulders. "Guess who's been a.s.signed to you as your bodyguard?"

"I need a bodyguard?"

"No, but most Alphas have them. In reality, bodyguards are more like hovering slaves."

"And you're happy to be a hovering slave?"

"I'm happy to be your hovering slave."

At this moment Trey was very much regretting having made Tao her bodyguard. He didn't like Tao's flirtatiousness, didn't like how easily Taryn had taken to the other male's touch. He wanted to grab Taryn and pull her to him, wanted to lick over his mark to remind her she was claimed. Claimed by Trey.

Rhett's voice broke into his thoughts. "I checked to see if Darryl had set one up, but he hasn't. Shame. We could have gotten an idea of who has what position within the pack nowadays."

"Oh by the way," began Taryn as she went to stand directly in front of Trey. "Remember the female who kept trying to get me to walk away from you while we were in the club?"

"Yeah," he replied, hiding how content he was that she was away from Tao. It was a struggle not to touch her, but he wouldn't let those instincts rule him.

"Her name's Shaya, she's my best friend. Well, her and Caleb."

"Caleb?"

Rolling her eyes at the amount of jealousy coating that one word, she continued, "I'm going to need to meet up with them. They're not buying that this mating's real, they need to hear it from me, face to face."

"Then we'll meet up with them somewhere public like -"

"No, no, no, you can't be there when we talk."

"What do you mean I can't be there?" He had meant to sound affronted but it came out petulant.

"Not the whole time anyway. They're worried about me, they think you might be hurting me or that you're forcing me to stay. It's why they're so desperate to speak to me alone. I want to see if I can get them to come here, to see that I'm alive and fine and that you and I are 'happily' mated."

He folded his arms across his chest to stop himself from reaching out to her. "Why exactly weren't they so worried when Roscoe forced his claim on you?"

"That was different. Unlike you, Roscoe wrapped his meanness up in charm and managed to fool a lot of people with it."

"You're saying I have no charm?"

She gave him a bright, mocking smile. "Why of course you have charm, you practically ooze it. Ego better now?"

He sighed. "Call them, invite them to come here sometime this week."

"The weekend would be better because they work through the week. I'm thinking Sat.u.r.day morning."

"Fine."

The way he so abruptly left the room had Taryn frowning. It was as though the guy was desperate to get away from her or something. It wasn't until later that evening when she found herself lying in bed very alone that she began to think on it a little more.

Trey had been different with her since the confrontation with Roscoe that morning. Or, more accurately, he had been indifferent. There had been no more heated looks, no more whispered promises, no more licking the marks on her neck, no more taking the odd moment to inhale her scent. But it wasn't just that. He was barely speaking to her.

And now here she was alone because he had 'things to do' in his office.

Well it seemed like the very s.e.xual male from the past two days had retreated, or had retreated from her at least. It occurred to her then that maybe it had only been his wolf's insecurity in the mating that had been behind his fevered urge to be inside her and mark her. Maybe now that the threat of Roscoe was gone and his wolf was more settled Trey would no longer have that urge. h.e.l.l, maybe without the mating urges he would never have wanted her at all. The idea of that shouldn't have sparked a dull ache in her chest and it shouldn't have made her have the sudden desire to cuddle herself. Yet it did.

But what had she expected? Trey was a big guy with a lot of pride and probably didn't have a thing for tiny females who would challenge his dominance. Her body wasn't exactly model material and then there was the fact that she was latent. He acted as though it didn't bother him, but it was likely that in truth he saw the latency as a weakness and it made her very unattractive to him.

A noise penetrated her thoughts and she realized that someone had entered the room. The scent flowed over her, stroking her senses and stirring her wolf who was anxious for some contact with her mate. But Taryn hadn't begged for sc.r.a.ps from her dad's table and she wouldn't be begging for sc.r.a.ps from Trey's table either. So she remained on her side facing the wall, faking sleep, ignoring her wolf's growling protests.

Trey took one look at Taryn's still form and sighed in relief. She was asleep. He hadn't woken her. He had been fighting his wolf h.e.l.l he'd been fighting himself for hours on the subject of going to Taryn, of getting in some physical contact, social or s.e.xual. He was literally starving for it. Had he known that mating would be this bad with all its urges, instincts, and needs, he probably wouldn't have mated at all.