Taryn looked up as Dante entered and went straight to the jug of coffee. He poured some into a Bart Simpson mug, inhaled the aroma deeply, and then took a sip. It was only then that he turned to everyone, apparently now equipped to interact with others as he had caffeine in his system. The instant he saw her he almost choked on his drink. She would have said she didn’t look that bad, but she did.
“Now I know why you kept yelling at him for biting you.” At her raised brow, he explained while grinning wickedly, “As Beta, my room’s next to the Alpha’s. How does he look?”
“You’ll see for yourself, won’t you.” In truth, she hadn’t marked Trey. Her wolf had wanted her to, had desperately tried to surface in response to Taryn’s resistance. But no chance was Taryn going to encourage his wolf’s sense of possessiveness by marking him back, not when this was temporary. Also, it would be easier on her wolf when they separated if she hadn’t branded him. It would be easier on Taryn too. Trey hadn’t questioned her about it or urged her to mark him so she could conclude from that that he was on the same wavelength.
Dante took another swig of his coffee. “I said that Trey – although he’s not usually possessive – would mark you up proper. The others, including Trey, thought he would be able to rein it in because you aren’t true mates. I have to say that I’m kind of enjoying that I was right.”
“Your life is that sad?”
“You don’t get it. Trey never marks his women. He’s always teased us whenever we’ve gotten even the slightest bit possessive with our partners. I’m just enjoying how the tables have turned.”
“To be fair,” said Trick, pausing in the demolishing of his cereal, “it’s a little different since he mated her.”
Dante looked about to say something but was distracted by the entrance of Ryan, Dominic, Tao and Trey. Ryan acknowledged her with a grunt, Dominic with a teeny nod, and Tao with a fierce scowl.
“Yes it is a fabulous morning and yes I did have an amazing sleep, thank you,” she said to them sweetly.
Just for the hell of it, Trey delivered a sharp nip to her bottom lip before taking a seat at the table with the others. Inwardly he frowned at this strange primal urge that he had to be close to her and touch her. Naturally he ignored it, but his irritation remained. Trey hadn’t hungered for touch for a long time and he didn’t like the idea that that might be changing.
He hadn’t been too pleased when he woke up to find himself alone. He’d originally hoped to taste her this morning since oral sex had been out of the question last night while she was battling his dominance so hard. He hadn’t been able to pin her down to taste her and he certainly hadn’t been interested in risking sliding his dick between those snapping teeth. Damn if their battles for dominance hadn’t been the hottest thing ever though.
Dante leaned back in his seat, smiling at Trey. “So…how come you didn’t mark her?”
Low laughs filled the room but Trey just ignored them. Okay he’d probably gone a little too far, but he simply liked the look of his mark on Taryn’s flesh. Once he’d gotten passed that annoyance with himself for his urge to do it, he hadn’t held himself back.
“Poor girl looks like she had a fight with a vampire. Oh and you, Taryn, damn you can curse. What did she call you at one point, Trey? Oh that was it. A motherfucking ass-licking sod of a cock-sucking goddamn bitch.” Grace and Lydia laughed.
“I’m an expressive person,” she said with an innocent shrug.
“I especially liked the part when she threatened to slice your cock off in your sleep if you didn’t stop spanking her. So where did she mark you?”
Trey knew the question was rhetorical. Females tended to mark their males around the groin and obviously Dante figured that was the case with Taryn. Rather than correct him, he allowed him to think that. He wasn’t sure why she hadn’t marked him. Oh she’d nipped him and scratched him a few times through the night, but it had only ever been in retaliation and it was never deep enough to even draw blood, let alone mark.
His wolf didn’t like it, and Trey was pretty sure that her wolf wouldn’t be too pleased about it either. Maybe she would do it when the battles for dominance had eased, he mused. He didn’t bother asking himself why he even gave a shit. This mating stuff fucked with the brain.
“How does it feel to have a female who won’t bow down to you?” Dante’s grin was roguish.
Trey returned the grin. “It makes life interesting.” Very interesting.
“I don’t know how you can fuck a Warner,” snarled Kirk.
An unnerving growl filled the sudden silence and Taryn’s wolf began pacing and releasing a growl of her own as if to back up her mate.
Trey’s entire focus was on a fidgety Kirk. “Don’t. Insult. Taryn. Again.” Just like last night, the very idea of anyone insulting her made his blood boil.
Keeping his head bowed, Kirk rose from his seat and stalked out of the kitchen. Brock gave Trey an apologetic smile and then followed after his son.
“You’re right,” Taryn said to Grace who was taking Kirk’s now vacant seat, “he is an asshole.”
“We’ll be leaving here in a couple of hours to head to the meeting with the Mediator,” Trey told her. “In the meantime I’ll be in my office, but there’ll be plenty of people around if you need anything.”
Yeah, all of whom are hoping I die a painful death very soon. “I wouldn’t have pictured you as the type to have an office.”
“I have investments in a number of different businesses and I like to keep an eye on them. Feel free to wander round or whatever.”
“I will once I’ve been for a run.”
The eagerness in her voice surprised him. “You still have that need even though you’re latent?”
“My wolf gets restless and uncomfortable if I don’t. She still craves that feeling of being free, the kind that comes from running with other wolves.” Although these wolves were only temporarily her pack, her wolf wasn’t affected by that.