“Morning,” drawled Tao as he strolled into the room. He play-punched her shoulder before joining the others at the table.

“Ass,” she snapped, smiling.

Trey knew he shouldn’t have the urge to growl at his ex-Head Enforcer. It was just a play punch – it wasn’t sexual, it hadn’t hurt her, and it had only been the briefest touch. But Trey was honestly considering stabbing the wolf with his fork. It might not have annoyed him so much if Tao wasn’t always touching her. The guy had taken his role as ‘bodyguard’ a little too literally. Trey couldn’t understand how he hadn’t noticed before the way Tao looked at her. Mixed in with admiration and respect was a deep longing. And Trey didn’t like it one bit.

His wolf was urging him to take a swipe at his enforcer and warn him off. Perversely, Trey the man liked that others wanted what was his, and that gave him strength against his wolf’s drive to separate her from the other male. Also, Trey knew that no matter how much Tao might want Taryn, he would never encroach – he was too good a guy for that. Nonetheless, his wolf wasn’t particularly interested in whether or not Tao was a good guy, he didn’t want him around Taryn so much.

Trey inhaled deeply, reminding himself that he was in control – not his wolf, not those primal instincts. The smile on Dante’s face said he knew what inner struggle Trey had been going through. The ringing of his cell phone distracted him from thoughts of flicking scrambled egg at his Beta. “That was Kirk,” he announced on ending the call. “They’re here. He just let them through the gate. Should only be a minute before their SUV pulls up outside.”

Taryn hopped down from the counter and stretched. “Time for Scene One: The Alpha Pair’s Welcome. Make it good, Flinstone. These guys won’t be easy to convince.”

“I noticed that at the club.”

“They won’t be trying to separate the two of you like they did that night,” stated Dante.

Hearing the fierceness in his tone and watching the way his body language became confrontational, Taryn pointed hard at him. “You are not going to spend the next few hours trying to intimidate them. They’re already scared half to death by Trey.”

“Are you going to tell me they won’t try to convince you to leave with them?”

“Of course they will.”

“Let’s hope our luck stretches that far,” muttered Selma. Hope and Kirk chuckled. Everyone else ignored them.

“They won’t dare ask you to leave if a few of us are sitting with you,” said Dante.

Taryn shook her head. “Not a chance, Barney Rubble. You all stay the hell away and give us some privacy.”

“It’ll only be until Trey comes over.”

“No, I’m not having any of you hovering around us like parental supervisors. Not even Tao.”

Tao frowned. “But I’m your bodyguard.”

“They’re not a threat to me.” As all three males opened their mouths to say something she held up her hand. “I don’t want to hear it. Now let’s do this.”

Seeing the resolve in her expression, Trey sighed and took her soft hand in his large calloused one as they walked together to the main door. Marcus was holding it open, watching with his usual grin as their visitors hesitantly exited the SUV and, with a slow nervous stride, made their way up the stairs.

Trey locked his arms around Taryn’s waist, keeping her back against his chest, and allowed himself the luxury of burying his face in her neck to drown in that scent that could so easily make his c**k hard. He shouldn’t have been surprised when he woke up that morning and found himself curled around her with his face nestled in the crook of her neck, taking comfort in the exotic smell of his mate as he slept. At some point in his sleep he had covered that huge space between them and fed the hunger that he had ignored for the past week. Then he had snuck out of bed before she realized. Had she not been such a deep sleeper, he would never have gotten away with it.

As Shaya and Caleb finally came to stand in front of them, shuffling from foot to foot and completely avoiding eye contact with Trey, Taryn had to refrain from groaning. She knew he had an intimidating presence, but she didn’t think he was that bad. Okay, maybe he was. “Thanks for coming.”

“It’s been weird not seeing you every day,” said Shaya.

Taryn discreetly pinched Trey’s arm, urging him to do his part.

Flinching a little, he said, “Welcome. I have a few things to do, but Taryn will take you down to the lake, won’t you, baby?”

“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.”