“Yep.”
Four days ago Greta had come to him complaining that Taryn had taken their deckchairs and barbeque from storage and set them up near the lake as an area where she could go and relax. Well, she hadn’t taken the items personally – more like she had turned into Captain Von Trapp and had his enforcers virtually marching as they followed her every command. He had to admit it was a nice little set up and he was surprised no one had thought to do it before.
“Great, thanks,” said Caleb, his eyes still lowered.
A few minutes later Taryn was sitting by the lake at the patio table trying her best not to laugh at the way Shaya and Caleb were glancing around nervously as if they were expecting Trey to jump out and pounce on them.
“They’re all very protective,” noted Caleb, referring to the pack.
And wasn’t that an understatement. It was laughable the way the males were hanging around trying to look as though they weren’t in fact there to keep an eye on her and ensure she wasn’t kidnapped. Like that would ever happen. Marcus and Trick were lazing in the lake as if it wasn’t a chilly day, Tao sat against a nearby tree reading a book that was upside down, and Dante and Ryan were cleaning a barbeque that was already spick and span. All were occasionally sneaking covert looks at Taryn and her friends, or at least they thought they were being subtle anyway. Apparently she should have better defined ‘the hell away’ because they didn’t appear to have gotten the idea.
“Yeah,” she agreed.
“Which means you must have proven your worth as an Alpha Female, so I’m guessing that tale about you calming a feral Trey was true.”
The emphasis on the word ‘feral’ irritated Taryn. “He hasn’t hurt me and he’s not going to.”
“Taryn, have you seen yourself in a mirror? You’re covered in marks.” Most of which were fading, thankfully. “Someone that possessive isn’t balanced.”
“I know Trey’s a few fries short of a happy meal, but it doesn’t mean he’ll hurt me.”
“How can you be sure of that? His wolf goes feral for God’s sake.”
“But even feral he doesn’t hurt me.”
“And you expect us to believe that’s because he’s your true mate, right?” Caleb snickered. “There’s no way I can believe that.”
Shaya appealed to her with a look. “Taryn, we watched you, at nine years old, slip into a state of depression. It was like being around a zombie. You existed but you didn’t live. It was all just mechanical. And we understood why – you had just lost the other half of your soul. It was a shock that you even survived it, no one thought you would. I mean, I know you two hadn’t mated but you had still formed a connection and you were so young.”
“It hasn’t occurred to you that maybe the reason I lived was because that connection – solid and true though it was – just wasn’t the connection between true mates? That maybe the reason I reacted so badly was because I’d just lost my best friend and my mom in the same accident?”
Caleb lowered his voice as he spoke. “Look, if your dad’s right and you did this to get away from Roscoe…well he’s dead now. You don’t have to keep this up. God, you could have come to me, I’d have mated you. I still will if it’s what you want.”
Taryn smiled. “Caleb, that’s sweet and all, but do you really think I’d ask you to enter a permanent mating with someone you thought of as nothing but a friend – an annoying friend at that – ending any chance of you having a life with your true mate?”
He shrugged, suddenly seeming uncomfortable. His voice was even quieter when he spoke again. “Who says I see you as nothing but a friend? Maybe I just hadn’t acted on what I felt because it would have felt like I was betraying Joey.”
Taryn rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Right.”
“So you hadn’t wanted to mate with Roscoe?” asked Shaya.
“Not particularly, no. I thought he was kind of vain and overly flirtatious – you know how stuff like that annoys me. I don’t know how my dad or anyone else can claim that me mating with Trey – someone who had been a stranger to me before that day – has anything to do with that. Maybe if I had the power of mind control and could hypnotise him to believe and claim that I was his true mate, then yeah sure.”
“Obviously you guys believe you’re true mates, I saw for myself what happened,” said Shaya. “But isn’t it possible that it was just a really strong case of lust at first sight? ’Cause, you know, I’ve been there – it’s powerful.”
A loud, sharp, metallic ‘tock’ sound had Taryn looking up. She smiled at her relatively new friend who was perched on a branch high in the tree to her left. “Hey, big guy. Come on down here.”
“Oh no, Taryn please don’t,” whined Shaya. But it was too late. The huge glossy black raven was already on the table.
Caleb frowned. “What is it with you and birds? Why do they always like you?”
Taryn shrugged one shoulder. “Isn’t he gorgeous?”
“I don’t like crows,” whined Shaya, leaning back in her seat.
“It’s a raven.”
“Well then I don’t like ravens.”
“How can you not like them? They’re so intelligent and beautiful. Look at the way his feathers shine a kind of metallic violet in the light.” He made a series of guttural croaks that had Shaya flinching.
“Aren’t ravens an omen of death and disease?”
Taryn rolled her eyes at the nervousness in her friend’s voice. “For God’s sake, Shaya, it’s only a bird.”
“And a scavenger, did you forget that part? Wait, does it only have one leg? And hang on, did it just bark?”
Taryn chuckled. “Ravens can imitate a whole variety sounds, even a human voice.” As if to back her up, he made a series of gurgling and croaking noises followed by another bark. “See, LJ’s cool.”
Caleb made a choking noise. “LJ?”
“Yeah, as in Long John…Long John Silver, the sailor cook with the one leg?”