“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 o**l s*x 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 c**k 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 f**ked 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 f**k 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 ass**le.”

“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.

Trey couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to be latent. He wasn’t sure who would have gone crazy first, him or his wolf. The fact that Taryn was not only sane, but free of bitterness and hatefulness demonstrated just how strong a person she was.

As he sat sipping the remainder of his coffee, he watched her chewing on a piece of bacon. Such a simple sight and yet he couldn’t move his eyes from her. There was such an effortless sensuality to her movements. Each one was graceful, almost fluid. The way she chewed her food and licked that carnal mouth had his c**k so hard he could probably hammer nails with it.

Dante’s eyes were helplessly glued to her – something which Trey wasn’t pleased about, but couldn’t blame him for. Even his enforcers seemed to begrudgingly admire her innate grace. She really was the most sensual creature he had ever seen. The fact that she was totally without vanity and completely oblivious to how provocative she was only increased her attraction. She was truly nothing like any of the women he had been with in the past.

“Trey?!”

Definitely nothing like the female who was currently heading toward the kitchen. Once, he had f**ked the woman once and yet ever since that night four years ago Selma had acted as though she had rights to him. He’d kind of hoped that she would have moved on by now, but apparently the universe thought it would be more fun this way.

“An ex?” Taryn was surprised at just how much the idea irked her.

“For her to be an ex, there would’ve been some kind of relationship to begin with.”

“In other words, she’s someone you used to f**k?”

“I like to think of her as more of a mistake.”

“Trey, is it true?” demanded Selma as she stomped inside with Hope at her side. Instantly Selma’s nostrils flared as she took in the other scents in the room. Her head whipped round to face Taryn. Trey watched as Taryn smiled warmly at her, but there was something dark in that smile, something that warned Selma to be very careful.

Taryn cocked her head at the females. Oh Lydia hadn’t been kidding when she said they were living tributes to Barbie complete with peroxide blonde hair, fake tan and an overabundance of make-up. The taller of the two lowered her eyes at the sight of Taryn, but Trey’s ‘mistake’ was mightily pissed. Good.

Selma’s focus quickly returned to him. “You mated her? You actually mated her?”