Chapter 04

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?”