And what had Trey’s response been when she told him that he may have overdone it a little with the marking? A shrug followed by a very smug grin.
Maybe it would be fair to say that if she hadn’t fought him so hard on the issue of belonging to him then she wouldn’t be in this state. Yeah, but that only applied to the first time. After that, she had conceded belonging to him as his mate, although she had snarled at him with every concession. He hadn’t had any need to keep it up.
She wondered if maybe the drive behind it had been that he had sensed that her admission was only half-hearted. Once she had belonged to someone and when he had been taken from her it nearly killed her, even though they had never mated. As it was, Joey had taken a chunk of her with him when he died. And that was okay, because that was his chunk to take. But she wouldn’t give that much of herself to another person again. Her soul wouldn’t survive the loss a second time as there wouldn’t be enough of her left to allow her to live. She would simply exist, breathing in and out and in and out, but nothing more. And this was a male who she would lose – that was a sure thing. So, yeah she would belong to Trey on a physical level, but no more than that.
It was actually best that way as it meant there was no chance whatsoever of the process of imprinting being sparked. Despite Trey’s mark-happy behavior, he didn’t want that any more than she did. It was simply in the nature of the male to want to completely possess his mate inside and out. This male would just have to make do.
“And I thought I looked badly marked up on my claiming night,” said Lydia.
“Can I, um, ask,” began Rhett, “is it true that you’re, um, latent?” At her nod he added, “Do you still feel your wolf or is she buried deep?”
Grace quickly interrupted. “You should know that Rhett is one of the most curious people to have ever walked the face of the Earth. Whereas he’s great with computers and anything technical, he’s not an expert with human emotion. It wouldn’t occur to him that he might offend you by bringing it up.” She shot him a reprimanding glare.
Taryn shrugged. “It’s fine. No, my wolf’s not buried, she’s very much aware and very much a pain in the ass.” Rhett seemed about to ask her something else, but a sharp look from Grace had him returning his attention to his meal.
“It’s going to be nice having some more female company,” said Lydia. “We’re way too outnumbered by the males.”
Taryn arched a brow. “There aren’t many women?”
“Well, there are three others but they don’t really count. Selma and Hope are your typical walking tributes to Barbie, and are both vain and bitchy. And Greta’s….well, she’s horrid.”
“Lydia,” censured Brock. “Have a little respect.” The look he gave Taryn was withering.
Lydia ignored him. “She thinks she rules the place because she’s the Alpha’s grandmother, likes to boss us females around. The males can’t do any wrong in her eyes. She mothers Trey, Dante and the enforcers something awful, calls them her boys. And, well, she doesn’t like females sniffing around her boys.”
“She’s even worse when it comes to Trey.” Grace’s smile was sympathetic. “Scares off every female who goes near him.”
“Surely she’s not going to want to scare me off when Trey needs to claim I’m his mate for his super plan.” Their winces said that wouldn’t be the case.
“Need a Warner? Now that’s a joke.” The deep voice belonged to a male who, though nowhere near as good-looking or muscular as Trey, bore a few similarities to him. He had the same strong nose and chin, the same artic blue eyes, the same height. Whereas Trey’s dark scowl somehow looked good on him, it made this guy look creepy. She only had to look at his posture and the flash of bitterness in his eyes to know the guy had a chip on his shoulder. She had to wonder just what that chip was all about. He took a seat beside Lydia and then glared at Taryn. “We don’t need a Warner, and we don’t need a latent.”
“I don’t need your approval,” retorted Taryn. “So fuck off.” That seemed to surprise him, but she wasn’t under the illusion that it would shut him up.
Grace sighed. She didn’t appear any happier by his presence than Taryn was. “That’s Kirk, Brock’s son, so he’s sort of Trey’s cousin.” She mouthed, ‘And an asshole’.
His nostrils flared as he looked at Taryn. “If you think we’re all going to bow down to a Warner then think again.”
Taryn smiled at Grace. “Isn’t it great when just your very existence infuriates someone? You’ve got to love that kind of power.”
The sound of very merry whistling was soon followed by the entrance of Marcus and Trick. One look at the marks on her body and that clown grin took over Marcus’ face. Trick simply snickered.
“Hey little sister.” Trick ruffled Grace’s hair, earning himself a scowl and a smack on the shoulder.
“Go, sit, eat, don’t bother me,” she grumbled. Chuckling, he took a seat at the table and practically attacked the plate piled with slices of cold meet. “Here,” said Grace as she handed Marcus a goody bag. “See you later.”
Marcus opened it and sighed happily. “Is it wrong that I’d sell my soul for your cooking? If you weren’t already mated I’d snap you up.”
Grace rolled her eyes but a blush stained her cheeks. Taryn couldn’t blame her – the guy was seriously hot. Hell, all the enforcers were. “He’s guarding the gate today so he only has time to pop in and out,” she explained to Taryn after he had left the room.