Feral Sins

CHAPTER ONE

What in God’s name was that smell?

It wasn’t a bad smell, mused a slowly waking Taryn whose eyelids were too heavy to lift. It sure didn’t belong in her bed though. Her sleep-fogged brain was able to tell her three things. One, the smell was actually a person’s scent – a most delicious scent; fresh pine, spring rain and cedar wood. Two, the alluring scent belonged to a male. And three, that male was a wolf shifter, just like her. Taryn Warner did not smuggle strange guys into the pack house, even if they did smell delicious.

Forcing a droopy eye open, she peeked at the space beside her and was able to confirm her suspicion that the mystery male was long gone. Swerving her head – which felt unnaturally heavy – she peered at her alarm clock. Or, at least, she would have done if it hadn’t done a disappearing act. Along with her bedside table. And these silky sheets beneath her, she suddenly realized, were not her sheets.

With a start, she sat up. And cursed. Nope, she wasn’t in her room. In fact, she wasn’t even in her home. Scanning her surroundings warily, her eyes widened in response to not only the luxury around her, but also the realisation that she was inside what looked to be a freaking cave. A cave?

It was no Stone Age cave though. Hell, no. The light cream sandstone walls were all perfectly smooth apart from the occasional niche that was being used as a mini shelf. The floors were covered with a plush beige carpet that looked invitingly soft. There was a very masculine-style triple wardrobe and large set of drawers; both a dark oak that matched the headboard of the platform bed. The bed itself was under a smooth arch that had been hewn into the cave, making it cosy despite that the bed was huge. But not cosy enough that she was enjoying this freaky little scenario.

Although her inner wolf was on the alert, she wasn’t nervous or anxious. Taryn snickered. Her dumb wolf didn’t even have the sense to worry that she was in a strange place – a cave, no less – that she had no memory of arriving in. It was probably a good thing that she was latent.

So…had she gone out with Shaya and somehow ended up going home with a guy? That didn’t ring right. For one thing, she couldn’t recall arranging a night out, let alone actually venturing out. Moreover, her position as pack healer meant she was constantly on call and so getting ridiculously drunk was something she never did. Also, she was fully clothed – casual clothing that she would never wear on a night out – and there was no smell of sex on her or the bed.

What was the last thing she remembered doing? Despite the fogginess in her brain she could recall heading to the internet café at around noon. She sure didn’t remember getting there. Of course it was worth noting that she suffered from NRS Syndrome (Never Remembers Shit), but this was different. It was like there was a gap in her memory.

Taryn heaved the air around her into her system, filtering through the various scents. There were only two individuals that she could smell beside herself and the yummy smelling wolf. Another male and a female, both of whom were also unfamiliar wolf shifters. At least she could be sure that she wasn’t in the grasp of that dick alpha, Roscoe, who didn’t give a crap that she didn’t want to be claimed by him. For that matter, her father didn’t give a crap either; he was too busy trying to build an alliance with the other pack and if that meant using his daughter to get it, he happily would.

She wished she could say that it was just because he was so desperate for an alliance. But no, her dad already had plenty of alliances with other packs. He simply didn’t have time for his only child because, as a latent, she was a blow to his pride, an aberration in his bloodline. He hated her because, as he had seen to her conception, she was his weakness. She put his ‘greatness’ into question for the rest of the pack. Or so he thought. He certainly wouldn’t bother putting her photo on a milk carton if she never got home from wherever the hell she was.

Spotting a set of beige curtains, she flicked the bedcover aside and rose from the bed. Dizziness momentarily rushed over her and she swayed. Jesus, what was with her? Staggering to the curtains with sluggish, ungraceful movements, she parted them to reveal a bay window – a window that was unfortunately locked. Rather than morning, it was more like late afternoon. Did that mean she hadn’t spent the night here and had only been here a few hours? Or did it mean she had just had one hell of a sleep?

Her eyebrows almost hit her hairline as she took in the view. Most packs had a massive luxury lodge surrounded by a number of cabins. Some even had lodges situated on cliffs. But this place wasn’t on a cliff, it was the cliff. With the arched, lighted balconies and the smooth stairways leading to different levels, it was like those ancient cave dwellings versus the town of Bedrock.

What. The. Fuck?

Below was grass. Grass. More grass. A huge forest. So, from what she could tell, she was in some kind of huge cave system in the middle of no man’s land. She had heard of caves having been hollowed out and turned into homes or even hotels, but never had she expected they could be made to have such a warm, contemporary look. Something told her she was still in California somewhere, but she had a feeling the cab ride home was going to be expensive. Good thing her kidnapper was wealthy. Especially since there didn’t seem to be any sign of her purse anywhere. If this was all a joke she so didn’t get it.

Smoothing out the bane of her existence that couldn’t seem to decide what shade of blonde it wanted to be, she headed for the door on shaky legs. She might have been cautious if she wasn’t so annoyed, woozy and confused. Besides, she figured that if these wolves had any intention of hurting her they would have done so already, and they definitely wouldn’t have left her to sleep on such a comfy bed in an extravagant room.

She tugged on the door handle but, to her horror and frustration, the door was locked. Locked? “Hey!” she called out as she knocked loudly. No response. “Helloooooooooo!” Still nothing.

So, to sum up, she was in a strange place around strange shifters and she was being confined? Well now her wolf was pissed. Being cooped up was enough to infuriate and agitate any shifter. “Hello! This is your captive speaking! Open the freaking door!”

A chuckle preceded the turning of a key and then the door slowly swung open. Taryn found herself face to face – well, face to chest – with what could only be described as a living breathing mountain. Another wolf. She arched a brow at his cocky, devilish smirk, wondering what could possibly be so amusing.

“You’re awake. Good.”

“And just which dwarf might you be?” No it wasn’t a good time to make jokes but she was a sarcastic bitch and when she was pissed off the sarcasm took on a life of its own.

His smirk widened. “The Alpha wants to speak to you.”

“And your Alpha is…?”

He winked. “Follow me.”

Rolling her eyes at his cocky swagger, Taryn followed him through a tunnel which took them deeper into the mountain. Seeing the occasional turn-off, she realized that it was actually a network of tunnels like some kind of giant ant colony. Just like in the bedroom, the light cream walls were so smooth they actually looked soft. Her wolf was going crazy at the strange, unfamiliar scents, wanting Taryn to explore the place. “Mind telling me where I am?”

“All will be revealed shortly,” he drawled.

“How about how I got here?” she asked irritably.

“The Alpha will explain everything to you.”

She couldn’t contain a growl, but it seemed to amuse him.

Soon they came to a large black door, which Mountain Man held open while she passed through. They were now in a huge open plan kitchen that was surprisingly modern and stylish with its oak cabinets, black marble countertop, and platinum appliances. In the centre of the large space was a long oak dining table around which a small number of male wolf shifters hovered. All heads turned as she entered and the crowd split, giving her a view of who sat at the table. Her jaw almost hit the floor.

Motherfucker. Trey Coleman.

Now she knew for a fact that she hadn’t come here willingly. Even if she had been on a night out and gotten hammered, no amount of alcohol would have distracted her from the fact that this was guy was a psycho. He was kind of like the Black Mamba snake; fiercely aggressive, had a bad reputation, and was respected, admired, and feared all at the same time. That had a lot to do with the rumor that he had challenged and almost killed a mature Alpha male at the delicate age of fourteen. A mature Alpha male who had also been his father.

If what Taryn had heard was correct, Trey had been banished rather than earning the position of Alpha male. The act had caused a divide in the pack and those who hadn’t agreed with the decision had left with him. Together they had formed their own pack with Trey as Alpha male and earned their own territory through battles with other packs. So far this particular Alpha was undefeated…which was probably because his wolf tended to turn feral during battles. And here she was with him. She couldn’t help but get the feeling that the universe was laughing behind her back.

Given that she was in the company of – or, more accurately, being confined by – a person who wasn’t at all mentally stable, you would think her wolf would be at least a little nervous. Taryn certainly was beneath her anger. Oh not at all! Her wolf wanted to rub against him enticingly, recognising his scent as the one from the bedroom. Tramp.

Okay, Taryn could concede that the homicidal nutcase was seriously hot. His harsh scowl and the sharpness in his artic blue eyes seemed to only add to it. His t-shirt didn’t hide his broad shoulders, defined upper body or washboard abs. Ripped, that was what he was. Ordinarily, Taryn didn’t much like the highlander look, but she found that she couldn’t help admire that physique. In addition, both her body and her wolf helplessly reacted to the power that was practically buzzing around him; he wore authority like a second skin. Perversely, his hard penetrating stare was heating her blood rather than affronting her. His eyes had taken on a glazed, hungry look that both thrilled and startled her. It made her wolf growl in excitement. The primal lust that gripped her was so intense it almost hurt.

Well that was just great. Maybe she was developing Stockholm Syndrome or something.

In any case, no way would her inconvenient attraction to him inspire her to react to him as her body and her wolf wanted – and as many other females often did, if his reputation as a rake had any substance. Her father was also the dark, rugged, brooding, dangerous type and he was a pain in the padded ass. Betraying nothing about her appreciation of him as a male specimen, Taryn simply returned his full-on alpha stare with one of her own. Oh her wolf may be latent, but she was still an alpha wolf.

Trey regarded the female before him curiously. He had been told that she was latent. Add in that she was a tiny little thing, away from her pack and in his company, and surely you would have yourself a flighty deer. But there was no fear in her expression, nor was it wafting from her like fumes as he would have expected. Instead, she was royally pissed. Apparently he had become so used to the scent of fear that he now found himself a little thrown.

He also found that he was becoming painfully hard as a raw basic hunger surged through him, beating at his self-control. She wasn’t beautiful in that oh so obvious in-your-face way, but in a natural, understated way. Although she was slender she had mouth-watering curves that had all sorts of fantasies playing around in his head. It was her mouth that had most of his attention though; it was plush, carnal and made a guy think impure thoughts. A mouth that was currently set into a hard line, communicating how livid she was. Still the stench of fear hadn’t permeated the air. Maybe she just didn’t recognise him. “Do you know who I am?”

Taryn rolled her eyes. “Why don’t we just skip to the part where you tell me how the hell I got here and why exactly I’m here at all, Coleman?”

Everyone around her stiffened and an uncomfortable hush fell upon the room. Obviously they were all waiting for the guy to explode. Yeah? Well she had had enough of intimidating, dominating males. Had had enough of boyfriends who seemed to think that her being latent meant she had to be submissive and meek. Had had enough of her father trying to force her to mate with a sleazy alpha for his own sly reasons. Had had enough of said sleazy alpha who was so determined to mate with her that he had cornered and bitten her without her permission, believing he had marked her as his. And now psycho boy here had obviously kidnapped her. Forgive her if she had reached her limit!

Trey smiled inwardly at her feistiness. He had been told enough times that he had an intimidating presence. All his life, even before earning his reputation, people had been weary of him and it had kind of irritated him. His grandmother blamed his seemingly permanent scowl as well as the dominant vibes that surrounded him.

This female, however, wasn’t shrinking away from him or the intensity of his gaze. And he knew it was intense. He knew that his eyes were so completely focused on her and every single line and curve of her hot little body that it should have been enough to make her look away, squirm or scowl. She didn’t even flinch under his scrutiny. Instead she met his hard stare boldly, and it occurred to him that it was very possible that he had found someone who could outstare him. This was obviously a female who was used to taking shit from people – probably as a result of being latent. Her fiery nature pleased his wolf who didn’t respect tremblers. He would bet she had a wicked temper.

Instinctively, Trey inhaled deeply to investigate the scent of the female just as he did with anyone he met for the first time. Fuck. The exotic fusion of coconut, lime and pineapple seemed to slam into his system and shoot straight to his hard cock, making it jerk. His wolf growled his arousal, wanting to further investigate this female with the mouth-watering scent. “Why don’t you sit,” he invited, gesturing to the seat opposite him. His strong attraction to her would be a good thing if she agreed to his deal.

Taryn would have refused his invitation, but to do that would give the impression that she was feeling too intimidated. She couldn’t afford to show weakness. After taking the seat, she said, “So you were going to explain what this is all about?” If she hadn’t been so in need of answers, she would have avoided talking to him at all. That rough, gravelly voice caressed her senses and almost succeeded in making her shudder.

“My Beta and my Head Enforcer brought you here a few hours ago.”

“What? Why? And how did they even get me to go with them?”

“They drugged you.”

Taryn gaped. He was too flippant and unremorseful for her liking. “They did what?”

“At the café. After you left and the drowsiness kicked in as you were walking home, Dante and Tao took you and brought you to me.”

“If it makes you feel any better,” began Mountain Man, “you still fought me and Tao like a wildcat before you went away with the fairies to dreamland.” He lifted his t-shirt to show her a set of claw marks that spanned his chest. Her marks, she realized. Although she was latent, she could partially shift. She also realized that Mountain Man was amused rather than angry.

“Wildcat is an understatement. No one ever marks our Beta,” a tall, olive-skinned wolf told her who she presumed was Tao – her other kidnapper. With his athletic build and chocolate brown hair, he was more her type. Unfortunately her wolf was growling her disagreement; she rather liked psycho boy.

“And the purpose of Operation Drug and Kidnap the Female Wolf is what exactly?” Her tone made it clear that no answer could possibly placate her.

Trey’s inward smile surfaced. She would be perfect for what he had in mind. In order to know for sure, he needed to tell some sweet little lies first and feel her out, find out if his suspicions about her supposed mating were true. “Roscoe Weston.”

Her wolf growled inside her head at the name. “What about him?”

“He has something I want. Something that he owes me.”

“Ah, and now you believe you have something he wants and that there’s going to be some sort of trade going on.” It was just her luck that she would get stuck in the middle of alpha games.

“You’re not so much insurance as you are a little reminder that he owes me and I’m not a patient man.”

And she wasn’t a patient woman. Nor was she partial to being drugged and kidnapped. But did anyone give a shit? No. It could be that she was latent or just that she was small, but people tended to judge her as being delicate, skittish and submissive. “Look, maybe in your culture it’s perfectly fine to drug and abduct a person, but it sure as shit isn’t acceptable in mine.”

“As soon as Roscoe arrives, you can leave.”

That wasn’t exactly fan-freaking-tastic news. A part of her wanted to rant and rave, but what good would it do? She would only end up being confined in that damn bedroom again and that would drive her and her wolf crazy. Also, she was a believer that it was best to have your enemy in sight. “Have you called him yet?”

“He’ll be here soon,” he lied. In truth, he hadn’t contacted Roscoe and he had no intention of doing.

“Well then, can the captive get a coffee or what?” she asked no one in particular.

Aside from psycho boy, Dante and Tao, there were four other males in the room; a broad frowner with a military haircut, a gorgeous blonde with caramel skin, a tall wolf with tousled dark curls and a clown-wide smile, and a burly rugged guy with claw mark scars across one cheek. It occurred to her that she could just label them Grumpy, Blondie, Smiley and Burly.

Other than Dante – who seemed strangely fascinated with her for having managed to claw him – none of the wolves looked at all pleased about her presence. She guessed that they weren’t a fan of her dad. Not many were. Even the wolf who was wearing a huge grin looked intrigued as opposed to friendly, and she had the feeling that his smile was permanently there. Or maybe he was imagining what it would feel like to rip out her throat and hand it bow-tied to her asshole of a father. With his arrogance, deviousness and ‘I own the world and can do whatever the hell I want’ attitude, her dad was as good at collecting enemies as he was at gathering alliances. Even those who allied themselves with him only did so because of how influential he was – it was all just politics.

In response to her question, Trey nodded to a grinning Marcus who switched on the coffee machine and retrieved a mug from the cupboard. Trey tilted his head as he considered her. “You know, you’re not what I’d expected.”

“Is that right?” she said flatly.

“Roscoe usually likes airheads and submissives.” Blonde as she was, she didn’t have that bimbo look about her. There was no missing the sharp, keen mind behind those charcoal-grey eyes. “Funny how a person’s true mate can be the opposite of what they go for.”

“He’s not my true mate.” It came out snappier than she had intended.

“If you haven’t found your true mate yet, why would you mate with someone else? It’s not like you haven’t got plenty of time to find him. You can’t be much older than twenty-four, twenty-five.”

“My mate’s dead. He died when we were kids.”

“Well then that’s something you and I have in common. I also lost my mate a long time ago before I was able to claim her.”

Taryn took in his solemn expression and felt a pang of sympathy for him. The loss of a mate wasn’t something anyone could understand unless they had experienced that kind of pain themselves. “Sorry.”

He simply shrugged a little. “Hmm, now you and Roscoe as a couple make even less sense. If you’re not true mates, then that means he’s chosen a spitfire. It really must be love.”

“Huh.” Taryn had to bite back a snort. Love? Yeah, right. The reason Roscoe was so determined to fuck her was simply because she hadn’t responded to his charm and apparently his ego couldn’t handle the blow. As for why he wanted to take her as his mate…The only thing she could figure was that he wanted an alliance with her dad.

“When’s the mating ceremony scheduled for?” asked Trey.

Oh there would be no mating ceremony. Roscoe was keen to get it over with because her dad had insisted on there being one before he would hand her over completely – only so he had an excuse to have a get-together with all his alliances and look the big man. No way would she bind herself to someone she didn’t care for or even like. Then there was the matter of Roscoe being a control freak; she had picked that up from his interactions with his enforcers, all of whom were intimidated by him. She didn’t believe they were scared of him in a physical sense. It was as though he had some sort of hold over them, like he held their secrets in the palm of his hand or something like that.

Also, if the rumors were right, Roscoe got his kicks from inflicting pain on women. Considering he had forced his mark on her in the middle of a night club, she had no problem believing that. She had expected him to strike her after she practically crushed his balls with her hand in retaliation, but when he could finally stand and had finished panting, he merely smiled. It was a creepy smile that swore revenge, but he hadn’t stopped her from walking away. Apparently he was biding his time.

To escape the mating, her first stop had been her dad. As he wanted the alliance, she wasn’t getting any help from that corner. Her next stop should be her Alpha, but as her dad was the Alpha, that avenue was closed to her. She could try leaving the pack but that wouldn’t improve her situation. As a lone wolf without any protection, pack, or territory she would be easy pickings, and Roscoe would undoubtedly be the picker.

The only other person she had was her uncle – her deceased mother’s youngest brother – who she hadn’t seen since he mated into another pack ten years ago. Her plan was to ask him to approach his Alpha with the idea of accepting her into his pack, but she wasn’t optimistic. Although she was a healer, she was also latent and she couldn’t envision any Alpha being particularly interested in taking in a latent wolf. The question was, even if the Alpha did take her in, would he be prepared to challenge Roscoe if he – angry at being thwarted as only a control freak could be – came to bring her back?

She thought about telling Trey that she liked Roscoe even less than he did, but sometimes it was a case of ‘better the devil you know’ – and this particular devil was possibly worse than Roscoe. Instead of answering his question, she got herself comfy on the seat, crossing her legs yoga-like, and sipped the coffee that Smiley had placed in front of her.

“Does your silence mean you haven’t set a date yet?”

“Oh, didn’t I answer? That’s probably because it’s none of your business.”

He felt his mouth twitch into a smile. “You must be looking forward to soon becoming an Alpha Female of a pack.”

Something about his tone had her frowning. “Are power hungry females the only type you’ve known?”

He shrugged. “Isn’t it what every female wolf dreams of?”

“Oh yes, and I’m bowled over with excitement at my upcoming position.”

Strangely he found that he liked her sarcastic streak. “I thought you were a healer.”

“I am.”

“Typically they have gentle natures.”

“I fall flat there.”

“I heard you’re quite a powerful healer.”

She was. There were three different types of healers. Some worked on an emotional level, neutralising or healing emotional wounds. Others drew the aches and pains into themselves, acting more as a sedative and ensuring a speedy recovery. Then there those like Taryn who could heal the actual wounds within minutes, guaranteeing a recovery.

“Do you always sit in odd positions?”

“Just be thankful I’m not sitting on your countertop. That’s where I usually sit when I’m in the kitchen.” Maybe because it reminded her of all the times her mom had sat her there while they baked together, maybe not.

“What about in the bedroom?” he asked with what he knew was a wicked, suggestive grin. “Do you get in odd positions in there too?”

“Depends if the male can succeed in pinning me down.”

“Ah, of course. You’re an alpha.” And alphas, whether they were leaders of their own pack or just alpha by nature, didn’t surrender without the male proving their dominance. Just the idea of fighting to have Taryn submit to him had his cock throbbing and his balls aching. He knew she’d fight him like a wildcat.

He liked his women strong and feisty, but they were often too intimidated by him to challenge him. If they weren’t intimidated by his unapproachable air, it was the heavy dominant vibe he gave off. If it wasn’t either of those that intimidated them, it was how close his wolf was to the surface. That was if they weren’t scared enough initially by his reputation. The only female who had ever stood up to him – and still did on a regular basis – was his grandmother.

“Do you have any cookies or something to go with this coffee?”

Marcus placed a pack of his grandmother’s cookies beside her mug and she immediately delved into them. Trey’s gaze was helplessly drawn to her carnal mouth as she chewed. Images of those lips around his cock flashed through his mind, making his wolf growl inside his head. Then his entire body clenched as she sucked the dribbles of coffee from the tips of her fingers. Well fuck. What made the whole thing even more of a turn-on was that she clearly had no idea she was being watched by every male in the room. She was innocently and unknowingly provocative. Of course Roscoe would want her, but it was still difficult to understand him taking a spitfire for a mate. He was too controlling to mate with a strong-willed woman.

What Trey found even more difficult to understand was why Taryn would want Roscoe as a mate. Yeah he knew females tended to like Roscoe and his charming ways that hid his coldness, but Taryn seemed like someone who would snort at flowery words and oppose being with someone who wanted to control her. It didn’t make sense. They didn’t make sense. That was why he was thinking that maybe his suspicions about their supposed mating had truth in them.

One of his enforcers, Dominic, had come to Trey with the story of how he had stumbled upon Roscoe and a female wolf having some sort of struggle. Dominic had been ready to interfere when he saw the fresh bite on her skin – a claiming. He had walked away then; no shifter with any sense would try to interfere in a row between mates. Still, the whole scene had bugged Dominic because she hadn’t looked willing. What Trey hadn’t been able to figure out was why she would allow anyone to get away with forcing their mark on her. Her father was Alpha of the pack for Christ’s sake. Surely he wouldn’t allow that.

Trey knew the kind of things Roscoe Weston was capable of. Claiming an unwilling female would be nothing to him. Maybe if that female was submissive it would be nothing much to her, but Trey had only known Taryn Warner for five minutes and already he could tell that she was far from submissive or complacent. It didn’t make any sense. There was another thing supporting his suspicion that there was something very wrong about this mating… “You don’t smell of him.”

Thank God, Taryn refraining from saying aloud. Although Roscoe had left his mark on her, he hadn’t been able to imprint on her. Two wolves who weren’t true mates could still come together as mates and have a tight bond through the process of imprinting. That process couldn’t be sparked unless there were strong emotions involved and it also required a lot of physical contact. When two wolves were imprinted, their scents mixed and they developed a sort of metaphysical link. Even if Taryn ended up mated to Roscoe they would never have that link, because there was no way they would ever imprint. Unless the emotion of hate was able to spark it of course. “Hmm” was her only response.

At that second she dropped a biscuit in her coffee and, taking advantage of her distraction, Trey reached across the table and tugged her t-shirt aside to bare her shoulder. What he saw there made him growl.

Taryn jerked back, gaping and scowling. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Why would you cover it with make-up?”

“What?”

“Your mark. A female wears her male’s mark with pride, you’re covering yours. Did he force his mark on you?”

Totally thrown by the suddenly turnabout in the conversation, Taryn was pretty much speechless.

“Taryn,” he drawled menacingly before demanding, “Answer my question.”

His bullying tone had her straightening in her seat. “Look, psycho boy, I don’t know what you’re problem is – though I’d imagine it’s difficult to spell even for your psychiatrist – but no matter what’s going on between you and Roscoe, it doesn’t give you the right to know anything about what’s going on between me and Roscoe.”

“Maybe not, but I still want an answer,” he said in a gentler voice. “Did he claim you against your will?”

Although there wasn’t really a reason to hide it, pride and distrust still had her denying it. “Do I seem like the kind of person who would allow something like that?”

“I have no doubt that you’re trying to find a way out of mating with him if it’s not what you want, but I don’t think you’ve found one. Now, did he claim you against your will?”

“What does it matter to you?”

Trey took that as a yes. “Does your father know?”

She spoke quickly, hoping that if she just satisfied his curiosity he’d back off. “My dad’s a proud man whose only child is a latent daughter. He sees an alliance with a wolf as powerful as Roscoe to be the best thing that’s ever come out of my existence.”

“Your mother?”

“Died when I was nine.”

“You don’t have other relatives who’ll help?”

Taryn was about ready to scream at this guy. Not only was he poking at a very raw wound, but her body was reacting to him in a way that unsettled her. Her fingers itched to touch him and to comb through his short dark hair to find out if it was as silky as it looked. The primitive hunger crushing her had her insides churning and there was some throbbing going on in some very interesting places. There had to be something wrong with her if she was attracted to a psycho. But, strangely, she didn’t feel in danger with him. Definitely Stockholm Syndrome. “This is not your problem and it has nothing to do with whatever’s going on between you and Roscoe.”

He twisted his mouth and cocked his head. “What if I said I could help you?”

Her heart almost stopped. “Why would you do that? How could you even do that?”

“You could join my pack.”

Okay well that was unexpected. “What could you possibly gain from that?” she asked, immediately suspicious.

“A healer.”

Yeah, sure. “There’s more.”

“Yes, there’s more. I have a proposition for you. I believe that we can help each other out.”

He rooted in his jeans pocket and pulled out a small sachet. “Inside that is a pill like the one you were drugged with earlier, but a little stronger. If after our conversation you decide to decline my offer, I’ll ask you to take it. When you wake up, your memory will again be fuzzy and you will have lost the past ten hours.”

“You want to drug me again? It wasn’t bad enough that you drugged me the first time?”

“Let me ask you this. If any of my enforcers had approached you and asked you to meet me here at my pack house, would you have gone along peacefully?”

Of course not. “Point taken.” Begrudgingly. “What’s this proposition of yours?”

“I’m sure you’ve heard all about how I supposedly beat the hell out of my own father when I was fourteen. Well it’s true. I did. And for very good reasons, none of which are important right now. I won the right to be Alpha, but my dad, my uncle and many other males banded together to banish me. I was just a juvenile; I couldn’t take them all on. So I left, along with some from the pack who disagreed with what had happened. We formed our own pack, which we called the Phoenix Pack -”

“That was my idea,” interjected Dante. “You know…because we rose from nothing.”

Clearing his throat, Trey continued, “Anyway, we then got ourselves some territory and we’ve been content enough here. I was never interested in getting involved with any political bullshit or making alliances, so we always kept pretty much to ourselves. Unfortunately, that’s come back to bite me right on the ass.”

He settled back in his seat, crossing his legs beneath the table. “A few weeks ago, my dad passed away. Since he was Beta, my uncle has now taken over as Alpha, but apparently that’s not enough for him. He has applied to the council for his pack and mine to be united as one again with him as Alpha. Personally I think it’s because he wants our territory, but it’s probably to piss me off too. The council arranged a date for us both to meet in the presence of a Mediator to see if the issue can be resolved without violence.”

Shifter councils only formed to appease anxious humans who didn’t like the shifter way of solving disputes – namely violence. Taryn didn’t much like it either, but it had always been part of shifter culture. The agreement made with the humans was that the shifter council would insist that packs would have to appeal to the council before starting any disputes with other packs. If the matter couldn’t be solved through Mediation, the protocol was that exactly three months had to pass before either pack could act on the challenge made – the council’s way of giving tempers a chance to calm, hoping an amicable agreement could then be reached within that time period.

It was clear to Trey by the expression on Taryn’s face that although she was listening intently she didn’t have a clue where he was going with this. “Of course I’m going to oppose his request, which means he’ll then have to back down or officially challenge me. I know him well enough to know he will not back down. An agreement won’t be reached within the three month period that the council will impose, not in this case. There’ll be an out-and-out battle between the packs – one that I have absolutely no problem with. But I know my father had plenty of alliances and all of those will now be my uncle’s. Naturally he’s going to ask for aid from those alliances and we’ll easily be outnumbered.”

Taryn gave him a helpless shrug. “I’m sorry to hear things are pretty shitty, but I really don’t see what I can do – unless you’re interested in a sarcastic comment – and I don’t see what any of this has to do with Roscoe.”

“This has to do with me needing a mate…and you needing a way of being out of Roscoe’s reach.”

Taryn’s entire body stiffened. Surely he wasn’t suggesting what she thought he was.

“I need alliances, Taryn. Your dad collects them like they’re coupons. If I had an alliance with him, I would have a link to his alliances and then I’ll have plenty of wolves to call on for this battle. Maybe it will make my uncle hesitate, maybe it won’t. In any case, the situation will be evened out.”

Alliances, alliances, alliances. “So, you’re asking me to reject a guy who wants nothing more than an alliance with my dad, all in favor of a guy with exactly the same motive?” She snickered. “You could probably arrange an alliance without using me, so why not just contact him?”

But she already knew the answer to that. Her dad was cunning and ruthless, known for sniffing out a person’s weakness and leaping on it. He would see how much Trey needed him and would exploit it. Probably by demanding some of his territory or by insisting he owed him a ‘favor’. Being indebted to an Alpha like him was never a good thing. Alliances formed through a mating, on the other hand, were more balanced.

“There’s a very big difference between what it would mean to mate with me and what it would mean to mate with Roscoe.”

“What’s that?”

“With me, it doesn’t have to be permanent.” And he’d never hurt her, unlike Roscoe.

Confused, Taryn shook her head. “Wolves mate for life.”

“Yes, but I don’t want cosmic, soul-moving, imprinting shit in my life.” In fact, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be capable of feeling the kind of emotions that kept a mating alive. “Of course we have to make everyone believe this is the real deal and that we’ve mated for life, but all I need is for you to remain with me as my mate until the battle is over.”

“Well then you don’t necessarily need me to mate with you. You just need me to act as though I’m mated to you.”

He shook his head. “That wouldn’t work because I’d need to mark you. The second I do, you’ll be classed as my mate. It will be a real mating, just not a forever-after one.”

A big issue, though, was that Taryn was sure her wolf would be accepting of his mark and wouldn’t understand that this was to be a short-term thing. It still wouldn’t be difficult to break the mating link because she and Trey wouldn’t imprint on each other, but it would be very uncomfortable for her wolf. And that was just one of many problems. “Look, even if I wanted to take you up on your offer, I couldn’t. My dad and Roscoe have signed contracts and my dad’s elated at the idea of having an alliance with Roscoe. He won’t stop it.”

He had thought as much. “Unless you make him believe that we’re true mates.”

Her tone was flat as she spoke. “I told you, my mate is dead. Everyone in the pack knows I lost him.”

“Many times shifters have mistaken a close childhood friend as their future mate. You’ll just need people to believe that was the case with you.”

She shook her head. “I couldn’t do that to Joey, I couldn’t shit on his memory like that. I won’t shit on his memory like that.”

Knowing he needed to tread carefully, he kept his tone gentle. “You think he’d prefer for you to be stuck in a mating with a wolf you don’t want? Do you think he’d want that for you? Would you have wanted it for him?”

“It still doesn’t seem right,” she mumbled.

He was impressed by her loyalty. “It’s not like we can make it look as though we met, fell head over heels and then decided to mate. We don’t have the time, and given my reputation, it wouldn’t look realistic. It would also give your dad room to argue your choice of mate. If it’s believed that we’re true mates, he can’t oppose that – it’s beyond his control.”

“What about your pack? Won’t they know it’s bullshit?”

Not wanting to go into the specifics, he kept his reply vague. “It’s a shitty story, but let’s just keep it at I hadn’t acknowledged to others that she was my mate.” That had made her death all the worse and then he hadn’t felt like he had the right to speak of her. Not many knew the complete truth and that was how he liked it. “When I informed my pack a few weeks ago of my plan to mate, I also informed them that my true mate died a long time ago. That’s all they need to know.”

And that’s all you need to know, he didn’t say but Taryn heard. She might have bristled at that but it would have been hypocritical; losing Joey wasn’t a matter she spoke of unless she had to.

“They will play along that we’re true mates if it helps us keep our territory and stops my uncle from taking over the pack.” Unfortunately, not all of them were supportive of a Warner being in their pack, but telling her that wouldn’t be a wise move.

A part of Taryn wondered what she was hesitating for. She wanted to get away from Roscoe, didn’t she? Well here was her chance. But it wasn’t as simple as that, was it? No, because her chance came in the form of another big bad Alpha who had a price for his help. Hell, two wolves suddenly wanted to mate her – two alpha wolves – yet neither actually cared even a tiny bit about her. She was a means to an end. Not exactly flattering and it certainly stung.

Taryn was surprised by just how much it stung considering that she hadn’t envisioned ever wanting to take a mate; it would have felt like she was betraying Joey. Yeah, that might not make a lot of sense given that they were kids when he died, but Joey had been the one person in the world created for her, just for her. Created to care for her, to accept her, to love her.

And because of that, just as Trey had pointed out, Joey wouldn’t have wanted her to be trapped in a mating she didn’t want. Joey would have wanted, no, expected, her to do whatever it took to escape that fate. This particular avenue, however, might be a bit too complicated.

“Even if I did agree to this deal, I don’t see how we could fake a mating bond. It’s an extremely intimate thing. Mates are all touchy-feely, they don’t spend a minute apart, they smell of each other, they wear each other’s mark and they have some kind of link that helps them sense each other’s mood. How in the hell could we ever fake a metaphysical connection like that?”

“We’ll only need to fake it when anyone outside my pack is around and that won’t be often. Knowing that your freedom from Roscoe depends on this should help you dramatically with your acting skills.”

The man has an answer for everything, grumbled Taryn inwardly. Could she do this? Could she pull this off? It wasn’t in her nature to cower from anything challenging, no matter how much danger or risk it involved. Maybe it was a lot to do with her latency; continually proving herself had always been a way of gaining some measure of respect. But this wasn’t just some kind of dare. This was her life and all about what direction she wanted it to take.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “My dad’s not stupid, unfortunately. He knows I don’t want to be mated to Roscoe. If I walk up to him and say ‘Hey dad, guess what, it turns out my true mate’s not dead and I found him’ he’s going to accuse me of trying to play him.”

“And that’s why we’ll need to be publically seen to ‘discover’ each other. Maybe at one of the shifter clubs. No one other than my wolves will know we’ve met before that claiming.”

Okay that was a good idea. But would it work?

Taryn stifled the urge to groan as indecision wracked her mind and body. Her wolf wasn’t undecided. Oh no. With her elemental nature, her wolf wasn’t interested in details or problems, she was only interested in whether Trey was a potential mate. She liked his confidence, his determination, his heavy air of dominance, and she absolutely loved his scent. Her wolf was totally fine with letting Trey mark her. In fact, she was craving it. Not good.

“Have you thought about what it’ll mean to claim me even temporarily?” she asked. “Your wolf will know I’m not your true mate, and he may even understand that you don’t consider this a permanent mating, but those will be itty bitty details to him. If you bite and mark me your wolf is going to see me as all his in every way. That means he’ll be -”

“Crazily possessive, crazily jealous and crazily protective” finished Trey. “That will help us with faking a mating bond. Though I’m sure that his understanding that you’re not my true mate will be enough to keep him under control.” His wolf was currently quiet inside his head, completely focused on Taryn as he waited for her response. His wolf approved of Trey’s choice. He had identified her wolf as dominant and assertive, and he very much liked Taryn the woman too. Liked her innate sensuality, liked her loyal streak and he especially liked her spunk. Just as Trey did. And her scent…God, her scent.

He could sense that she was close, so close, to accepting his proposition. He didn’t blame her for being wary or hesitant, but she had to know he was the lesser of two evils. “Taryn, I’m offering you a way out. If I were you, I’d take it. Unless you want to end up bound to Roscoe for the rest of your life.”

“That would never happen, no matter what.”

“Maybe not. It seems to me, though, that there aren’t any other avenues open to you right now.”

“I was planning to go to my uncle’s pack.”

Oh he hadn’t doubted that she had some plan up her sleeve. “You trust his Alpha to take you in, to protect you against Roscoe when he comes for you? And he will come for you.”

She swallowed hard. “I don’t know if I can trust his Alpha because I’ve never met him, but I don’t know if I can trust you to protect me either. I know Roscoe won’t just bow down and accept it; he has too much pride for that. He’ll most likely turn up and challenge you. Are you saying you would honestly accept that challenge, that you would fight to keep me in your pack?” She didn’t hide the scepticism from her voice.

“Yes, I would,” he stated firmly. “I need this mating as much as you. You can still contact your uncle after joining me and then see about switching packs afterwards. Three months at the most is the length of time I’ll need you to stay. Mediators don’t usually ask packs to take longer than that to civilly sort out the matter. You could then say you’ve realized you were wrong about me being your true mate, whatever.”

A few months in a mating with psycho boy versus a lifetime with Roscoe…It should be easy for Taryn to take Trey up on his offer in theory, but not when she considered that she would be handing herself over to someone who literally was the big bad wolf. Her instincts told her he wouldn’t harm her, and although they had never let her down before that wasn’t to say that they weren’t letting her down now.

He raised his brows questioningly. “Well, Taryn, do we have a deal?” He shook the pill packet. “Or would you like another long nap?”

“There’s one thing I really don’t get. Why me? From what I’ve heard, you’ve never had any problems reeling in females. Surely it would have been a lot easier for you to approach an unmated female and ask her to play mates. I’m sure plenty of those females have alphas that have the same kind of alliances my dad has.”

“As much as it’s going to be a pain in the ass having to convince everyone that your mate was never your mate, it would be even more complicated to convince an unmated female to pretend I’m her mate. To let another male mark her, even if it was temporary, would be like betraying her true mate, even if she hadn’t found him yet. Sure I know females who are power hungry enough that they would find the prospect of becoming Alpha female of my pack more important than waiting for their true mate. But then I’d be stuck with them. When I heard of your situation, I figured we could help each other.”

Taryn made a noise that was something between a sigh and a groan. There were so many issues, so many unanswered questions. However, she supposed that when it came down to it, the question of most importance was: Was she truly prepared to do what it took to remove herself from Roscoe’s reach? Returning her gaze to Trey, she sighed again and then nodded.

He gave her a crooked smile. “Right decision.”

“So when do we do this?”

“This weekend. I have my meeting with my uncle and the Mediator on Saturday afternoon so the matter can’t wait. I take it you usually go to a shifter club on weekends?”

She nodded. “I go to The Pulse every Friday night as it’s the nearest club to my pack house. I have to stay local in case I’m needed to do some healing.”

“It’s best not to do anything out of the norm for you. Friday night I want you to go to the club as usual. If you can, stay near the bar. At some point I’ll find you and we’ll ‘stumble upon’ each other. I think you’ll find that everything will move very fast from there. Then afterwards you’ll come home with me. In the meantime, go about your business the way you usually do. I’ll give you my number in case there’s some reason you need to get in touch. Try not to use it unless you have to.” He didn’t like that this gave her four days to change her mind, but this was the plan with the most potential.

Again she nodded.

“You can’t tell anyone about this, Taryn. Not even your best friend. Especially when there’s a risk that someone will consider you safer with Roscoe.”

Unfortunately he was right. Her two best friends, Shaya and Caleb, were pretty protective of her and they seemed to find Roscoe completely charming. They didn’t see the coldness behind his smile. They would do everything they could to discourage her from mating with psycho boy here, and if that didn’t work they would most definitely go tattle. Even if she had been utterly convinced that they would be supportive, she wouldn’t have told them. It wouldn’t be fair to place them in the position of keeping secrets from their Alpha.

Not liking her silence, he said, “I mean it, Taryn, you have to keep your mouth shut about this. You don’t tell a soul.”

She bristled at the ring of command in his voice. “We should probably clear this up right now, psycho boy. I don’t have a submissive bone in my body so don’t bark at me unless you’re happy to be ignored.”

The word ‘submissive’ had his mind conjuring images of her tied up, bent over and begging him to take her. He couldn’t hold back a devilish smile, and he was sure by the way her charcoal-grey eyes narrowed that she knew just what was going through his head. “We’ll see. So, can we shake on it?”

Taryn clasped his offered hand. “Note this: If you try to hand me over to Roscoe when he comes, I’ll claw your balls off.”