"Well h.e.l.lo," said Taryn brightly as she went right on past the a.s.s she had mated with and strode into Bedrock.

"What the h.e.l.l did you think you were doing leaving pack territory without telling me!" he bellowed as he followed behind her. Slowly she turned and appraised him from head to toe. Not with fear or even apprehension, but like someone would scrutinise a bug.

"Did you forget to take your pills again?"

"I've been in my office believing you're safe, and you've been in town hanging out with Tao!"

"Yes and we had a lovely time, thanks."

"If you'd have said you wanted to go somewhere I'd have taken you! Why sneak off?" When instead of answering him she just stared blankly, he persisted, "Taryn?"

"Oh sorry, I was just busy picturing a gag in your mouth."

"This is serious! The new Alpha of Roscoe's pack hasn't been here to finalise an alliance which means there's still a possibility of retaliation over his death. Then there's the fact that although your dad might not come here and challenge me, you can bet your little a.s.s he'll take you given half the chance."

"Did the UFOs tell you that when you removed your foil hat?"

"I'm not being paranoid!"

Taryn snickered. "What you're being is an overprotective a.s.shole who didn't like it that his mate didn't say 'pretty, pretty please, Master' before leaving pack territory." Fed up with him, she retreated to the living area and, sighing, plonked herself onto the reclining corner of the sectional sofa. "I am so stuffed."

"You won't want a coffee then?" said Grace with a smile.

"I'm not that stuffed."

One by one, people began to pile in. Other than Trey who stood near the door, arms folded, snarling. "I'm think I prefer him in Cujo mode," she muttered to Tao who was beside her on the sofa.

"Been out all afternoon with another male," drawled Greta. "Didn't I tell you she was a hussy, Trey?"

"Hey there, Mistress of the Dark Arts, how are you?"

"If I'd known you guys were going for pizza I'd have asked to go along," said Cam.

Taryn smiled. "Not to tease you or anything, but it was absolutely gorgeous. Deep Pan base, extra cheese, pepperoni -"

"Now that's not fair."

"You know," began Dominic, wearing that impish smile that meant he was about to deliver another of his cheesy lines, "I'm a lot like Domino's Pizza, if you don't come in thirty minutes, the next one's free." Everyone groaned, trying to hold back smiles.

"Here you go," said Grace as she handed Taryn a mug of coffee.

"Oh you're a gem." She sighed dreamily as Marcus leaned over the back of the sofa and began ma.s.saging her shoulders.

"I take it this is what everyone means about it being uncomfortable when newly made mates are separated for a while?" prodded Trick.

Taryn sighed inwardly when she saw that Trey hadn't moved from the doorway or dropped his scowl. He looked unbelievably p.i.s.sed, but he also looked a little lonely. As much as he had annoyed the h.e.l.l out of her, Taryn had the urge to soothe him. Extending her hand, she said, "Come on, Flinstone."

He looked at her hand, looked at her face and then stormed off. With a sigh, she dropped her hand and shrugged. But she wasn't as aloof about it as she appeared to be. Would it really have been that horrible to sit with her for a while, to spend a teeny weeny amount of time with her and his pack? Apparently yes it would have. And apparently she hadn't played the aloof female as well as she thought.

"How many times in your head have you killed him?" asked Grace when they were alone in the kitchen preparing dinner.

Taryn sighed. "Honestly? Too many to count. I've even dug the grave and hid the body."

"You know, I can't understand why he's acting so s.h.i.tty. I know he was never overly attentive or anything, but it was obvious he liked having you around and then all of a sudden he turned indifferent. At first I thought you guys had just had a fight or something."

"No. It was after I calmed his wolf. In fact, no, he was okay right up until I had that nap after healing him. When I woke up he was all weird and he's been that way ever since."

"Do you think maybe he just doesn't want to look weak in front of the others by being all affectionate and s.h.i.t? You know guys can be weird like that, and he's the Alpha, so there's that pressure there to look as though he has no weaknesses."

"But if it was that, he'd be okay when other people aren't around."

"You guys aren't f.u.c.king?"

Taryn shook her head. "Not since the morning before Roscoe's visit and subsequent demise. If it was just s.e.x he was being weird about, I'd have thought he might be getting it elsewhere. Selma isn't exactly shy about her eagerness to have him. But he barely speaks to me, even when we're alone, so there's a bigger issue at play here. I just don't know what it is."

"It's not that he doesn't want you," Grace insisted. "I've seen the way he looks at you. It's not just with l.u.s.t either. That's what makes this s.h.i.t all the more confusing."

"If he wanted me he wouldn't hold back. It's not in Trey's nature to hold back when he wants something."

"Don't worry, honey, we'll find out what's going on in that weird head of his eventually."

"I'll have killed and buried him for real by then." She frowned as the sudden sounds of cursing and raised voices drifted into the room. Both females immediately stopped what they were doing and headed through the tunnels to find out what the fuss was all about. Arriving at the main junction, Taryn saw many of the pack had gathered and were looking as defensive as they were confused while Marcus and Trick appeared to be interrogating them. Seeing her there, everyone fell silent and a chill ran down her spine. "What is it?"

Marcus went to speak but then swallowed hard and looked at Trick as if hoping he would answer.

"What's going on?"

"Follow us," said Marcus as he and Trick made their way out the main door and down the flights of stairs. On reaching the bottom, they led her into the concealed parking lot where she stopped dead. She couldn't see what the problem was, but she knew what Trey, Dante, Tao, Ryan and Dominic were gathered around. She shrugged her way through them and gasped. The doors and windows of her Hyundai were covered in red spray paint. Worse, the red paint very clearly said 'Go Home Warner s.l.u.t'.

"Who. Did. This?" Her voice was dead, toneless.

"We don't know," replied Trey, his own voice thick with anger. His mate's car. Someone had dared to do this to his mate's property. His wolf wanted to surface so that he could hunt them down. "Almost every pack member's scent is in this lot because everyone uses it. If we had gotten to it when the paint was still wet then maybe the culprit's scent would be heavier in the air than the rest but..."

An arm curled supportively around her and she turned her head to see Tao looking down at her wearing a sympathetic expression. "It's okay," Tao a.s.sured her. "We will find out who did it somehow. In the meantime, someone will clean it."

She shook her head. "I'll do it."

"No," they all objected at once.

"It's my car." Hers, it was her baby...and someone had vandalized it. Sure it was only a little paint, but dammit that wasn't the point. Her shifter territorial nature made it even harder for her to keep calm. Rage was coursing through her, making her grind her teeth and ball her hands into tight little fists. "I'm going to kill them."

"Get in line," said Ryan.

Tao took one of her fists and uncurled it. "Come on, come inside."

"Go," said Trey, "we'll take care of this. Go inside." He knew he'd probably sounded a little sharp with her, but he didn't like seeing another male's arm around her. In fact, he wanted to snap it off.

She sighed. "I -"

"No."

Her wolf calmed a little when he came close, but he didn't touch her just like Taryn knew he wouldn't even though she needed it, even though he would feel that she needed it. "It's my car," she repeated, knowing that it didn't really have any bearing on the matter of who cleaned it. She was simply p.i.s.sed off to think right.

"You don't need to see this. Whoever did this did it to upset you, don't give them what they want."

"Says the world's worst brooder," she couldn't help muttering through clenched teeth.

"Taryn, we'll take care of it." He raised his hand to touch her face, but then he dropped it again. More than anything he wanted to comfort and calm her with his touch, and that was exactly why he didn't. "Go," he urged softly.

Relenting, she allowed Tao to lead her inside, but she didn't go into the living area to relax the way everybody was advising her to. No, she went straight back to the kitchen and over to the onions to continue dicing them. Grace opened her mouth as though to object, but a warning look from Taryn kept her quiet. Taryn didn't want to relax, didn't want to talk, didn't want to be alone with her thoughts and her anger, she just wanted a distraction.

The entire time that she and Grace had been working on the evening meal, Marcus and Trick had been speaking to every member of the pack trying to establish each person's whereabouts over the past few hours. Cam, Rhett and Brock were the only ones who didn't have alibis for their story, Marcus informed her as they ate the evening meal. Of course everyone was straining to listen to their conversation and she got the feeling that that was the whole idea, that the guys were closely monitoring the expressions of the others as Marcus told her everything they knew. Taryn still wasn't convinced that Selma didn't have something to do with it, but apparently Kirk and Hope stated that she had been with them the whole time. She wouldn't put it past Kirk and Hope to lie for her though.

It wasn't a surprise that in spite of how Trey had to sense how much her wolf was craving comfort from her mate, he barely spoke to her through the evening meal, let alone touched her. Nor was it a surprise that she went to bed alone or that he didn't lay beside her when he finally did join her. But it still burned. Not just in a physical sense, but in an emotional sense. She hated herself for that. Her and him, in fact.

Instead of the burning easing over the next few days as she resigned herself to the way her mating with Trey was going to be, it only worsened. It wasn't just because of her wolf's hunger for contact with her mate. Taryn the woman wanted Trey the man which made absolutely no sense given that they barely interacted or touched. But when they did interact and they did touch...Ah, h.e.l.l.

None of this was good. Not a d.a.m.n thing about this mating other than her having escaped Roscoe was good, but she wouldn't back out on a deal. That wasn't who Taryn was. It wasn't like she had anywhere to go even if she did leave. Her uncle still hadn't gotten back to her, if he even intended to.

And so the burning stayed and worsened as more days and nights pa.s.sed with absolutely no change. Sure there had been moments where she had been tempted to just jump on him and be done with it, but she didn't want sc.r.a.ps and neither did her wolf.

It was extremely annoying that Trey didn't appear to be going through the same struggle but she ignored that annoyance, she ignored her urges, she ignored her wolf's pining and she continued on as usual. But then one really s.h.i.tty day came a few weeks later and she was seriously at risk of exploding with it all...the anniversary of her deceased mother's birthday.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

Trey jumped to his feet as the door to his office suddenly burst open. Thinking that there must be some sort of emergency and feeling a spike of fear that something might have happened to Taryn he walked around the desk toward where Dante, Marcus and Trick stood, scowling. His wolf had snapped to alertness and was pacing within him.

"What the h.e.l.l did you do?" demanded Marcus.

Surprised by not only the question but Marcus' insubordinate behaviour, Trey frowned. "What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?"

"Taryn. What did you do to her?"

His wolf went still. "What about Taryn?"

"You've been holed up in here all morning so you wouldn't be aware that she's got the personality of a zombie right now. We can barely get any conversation out of her. She's not even responding to Greta's taunts just looks through her like she's not even there. That's not Taryn."

No, it wasn't and he had the sudden urge to go see her and find out what was wrong. Instead, he simply shrugged. "She seemed kind of quiet earlier but other than that..."

"Yeah? Well now she's really quiet. As in mute. That's when she's not telling us to get out of her way while she cleans every room."

"Cleaning?"

"Like Mary Poppins on crack. You know the way women do that fast-forward cleaning when they're p.i.s.sed off."

"It's not just that," said Trick, looking more worried than agitated. "It's like, I don't know...like one wrong word would break her. I'm not sure if she's angry or just trying to distract herself from something."

"What did you do to her?" repeated Marcus. "What did you say to her?"

"Maybe it's what he hasn't done or said," said Dante as he folded his arms across his broad chest.

Trey glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You don't talk to her, Trey. In fact, you don't bother with her at all. You claimed her, brought her here, solidified the mating, and then handed her safety over to Tao. Look, I get that this is only supposed to be a temporary thing and so there's no need for you both to build a bond, but it's more than that Trey. You purposely avoid her. You never touch her don't try to tell me that's not driving your wolf crazy. And unless my hearing's suddenly gone to s.h.i.t, you're not sleeping with her either."

"That's none of your business," snapped Trey.

Dante held up a placating hand. "With all due respect, this is our business because you're our Alpha male and, whether it's temporary or not, she's our Alpha female. Your relationship affects the rest of the pack. And we like her, we respect her, it's in our nature to protect our females. Right now, there's something wrong with Taryn and you need to do something."

"You know, I hear you all whining but look who's not here. Taryn. If she had a problem with me, I'd know about it. If her wolf was riding her too hard she'd have come to me whether she wanted to or not."

Dante laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Is that what you think? She's not like the women you're used to, Trey. She's an alpha. Her wolf's probably going just as crazy as yours is, but neither Taryn nor her wolf will ever come to you begging for some attention. Not ever."

"Maybe this isn't about you," said Trick, "maybe it's something else eating at her, we don't know. We're worried about her and thought you might have some luck reaching her."

The urge to find her was fierce now, but again Trey shrugged. "She could be just having a rough day -"

"Christ, Trey," interrupted Dante. "She was there for you when you were in a bad state. She reached you while your wolf was feral, and you're going to ignore this?" He waved his hand dismissively at Trey and headed for the door. "Forget it. Hide some more, whatever."

Looking both disappointed and disgusted, the three males walked out of his office and left Trey alone with his thoughts, thoughts that revolved around Taryn. He had noticed that she seemed off her odd mood had unnerved his wolf and had him clawing at Trey, wanting to get to her. But, as always, Trey had acted against his wolf's wishes and his own instincts and simply shrugged off his concern.

He wanted to do the same thing again now, but one thing was stopping him; as he had reached out through the pack link to sense her emotions, he'd hit a wall. She had somehow erected a big enough barrier around her that her own mate couldn't reach her. A person didn't do that unless a strong emotion was eating at them and they were trying desperately to hold themselves together.

With a determined stride he strolled out of the office and made his way to the living area where the majority of the noise was coming from. The fact that her scent was stronger the closer he got told him that that was where she was.

He entered the room. And stopped dead in his tracks. Across the room was Taryn balancing on one of the dining chairs as she used a feather duster to tackle non-existent cobwebs. But it wasn't Taryn. Taryn was life and fire and sensuality and adorable sarcasm. She was not quiet or expressionless or withdrawn or robotic.

Most of the pack, even Greta, were gathered in the room on the sofa facing the T.V., but all eyes were fixed on Taryn. And all, even Greta, appeared concerned. So concerned that they only spared him a brief glance before turning their attention back to her.

Slowly he covered the s.p.a.ce between them until he was beside the chair she was balanced on. She didn't look at him. But she wasn't ignoring him, he quickly realized. She was simply elsewhere in her mind. "Taryn?" he said softly. "Taryn, baby...you okay?" She double-blinked as if snapping out of a daze and then peered down at him. "Everything okay?" he asked again, really not liking the vacant look on her face.

Taryn nodded. "Fine." Why, of all the times, did he want to speak to her now now when the last person she needed to be around was him? The answer instantly came to her: Because someone had sent for him if they hadn't, he wouldn't have bothered with her.

She went back to her dusting and Trey realized he had just been dismissed. "Come on, baby, come down from there." No response. "I think we can safely say there isn't a speck of dust left up there." Nothing. Not even a sarcastic comment. His wolf was pacing again, not liking that she was obviously hurting. "How about you get down and we'll go get a cup of coffee."

Taryn wanted to hit him. Why was he talking to her like she was an insane person having an episode? A better question would be why won't he just leave? And, as it happened, there was actually plenty of dust up here.

"Taryn, how -"

"Don't you have something to do in your office?"

Trey winced. He deserved that, he knew he did. "I'm not moving from this spot until you tell me what's wrong, baby," he told her gently.