“Your daughter, huh? Biologically, maybe. In practice, not so much.”

Again Lance’s gaze darted briefly to an otherwise occupied Taryn. “I heard about what happened with Roscoe.”

“Yes, it was all very sad.”

“I also heard that you went feral and that Taryn managed to calm you down and bring you back from that.” Lance’s gaze focused solely on her and he seemed to be looking at her through new eyes. Almost done with her meal, she was eating what was left of her toast. Damn she ate fast and it always brought a smile from Trey. Not right now, though, because she was being ogled by her father’s enforcer who didn’t think Trey would notice.

Yeah he knew she was a very sensual creature and sometimes it gave him a kick to know that others wanted what was his, but not when those males were obviously daydreaming about that fantasy mouth of hers. “If you keep staring at my mate I’ll rip your f**king throat out.” Oscar double-blinked then quickly lowered his eyes. That didn’t placate Trey or his wolf. As if Taryn sensed that, she rubbed her jaw against his shoulder and briefly patted his thigh. He calmed slightly at the bodily contact and, needing more, he resumed massaging her nape.

Lance frowned, watching them closely.

“It was wise that you didn’t come along with Roscoe. I’ll tear anyone apart who tries to take her from me, I don’t give a shit who they are or how many alliances they have.” The look on Lance’s face said he believed him. So he should. Trey decided not to think on the fact that it was more than his wolf’s possessiveness and his mating instincts that drove him to make that very truthful statement.

Sighing happily now that she had demolished her meal, Taryn leaned back in her seat and rubbed her bloated stomach. “I’m stuffed.”

“Not too stuffed for coffee, right?” said Trey.

“Never too stuffed for coffee.” She reached out and gripped her cup, only then meeting her dad’s eyes. “Well hello Daddy Dearest.”

“Nice of you to finally acknowledge me.”

“Really? I wasn’t aware you’d give a shit.”

Puffing up his chest a little, Lance said, “Alright, let’s talk alliances.”

Trey held up a hand. “Firstly, let me be clear on a few things. I might agree to an alliance with you, but I’ll never like you. You judged Taryn’s worth on whether she could shift – something that has to do with her genetics. Instead of protecting her as you should have, you threw her literally to the wolves and she spent her life fighting off ass**les. You were even prepared to force her into a mating, at which point I would have lost her. So, yeah, we can talk alliances, but I wouldn’t bother continuing this discussion if you’re hoping for my permission to use me as protection.”

Lance narrowed his eyes. “I won’t have your support in the event of a challenge being made against my pack by another alpha?”

“I didn’t say that. But, see, Taryn’s told me all about how you like to name-drop.” When Lance’s gaze moved to her she gave him the sweetest smile. “If there are incidences when you need to call on your alliances for back-up, well that’s one thing. What I won’t have is you throwing my name at people whenever you feel threatened. Understand?”

“If you’re going to restrict the alliance to such a degree, I’m not sure there’s any point to this conversation.”

Recognising that Lance was calling his bluff, Trey smirked. “Don’t play games with me, Warner. You want this alliance more than I do. If you don’t like my terms, feel free to go.”

“You have very few alliances. You would benefit more than from this than I would.”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t benefit more from this than you, I just said I didn’t want it as much as you do. As my history shows, collecting alliances has never been a particular interest of mine.”

“Until now.”

“Until Taryn. Things change when you mate.”

“Yes, they do,” he allowed. “I have a condition of my own. I want to be able to call on Taryn whenever I need a healer.”

Uh-oh, thought Taryn as she felt Trey’s body tense.

Both incredulous and irate, Trey leaned forward. Whatever the males saw on his face made them lean back. “You honestly think I’ll agree to you using her the way you have been all these years?” Lance had spoken about her like she was an object or tool that he would like to pick up when he felt like – of course, that was how he had always seen her and treated her. A growl built in the back of Trey’s throat and sent vibrations down his chest.

Lance swallowed hard in a nervous movement. “She’s a powerful healer.”

“She’s also a person. My mate. No one uses Taryn like that. Not anymore.”

The appearance of a tall brunette halted the conversation. Trey heard Taryn groan and guessed this wasn’t a friend of hers. He couldn’t help noticing that everything about the female appeared to be false.

“Alpha,” she said respectfully to Lance with a nod by way of greeting.

Oscar cleared his throat. “We’re a little busy here, Brodie.”

She waved her hand. “That’s fine, I was just coming to say hi.” Then her eyes landed on Taryn and she smirked evilly. “I’m guessing you must be lost to be in this place.”

Taryn smiled though it wasn’t pleasant. “Hating me won’t make you pretty, Brodie.” Anyone else might have been very careful how they spoke to the mate of someone like Trey Coleman, but one thing Brodie always loved to do was make herself look the big strong female in front of big bad alphas. Well there were plenty of those in this place, and for some reason this woman still hadn’t realized that Taryn wasn’t quite the easy target that Brodie thought she was. “I see your nose healed a little crooked. Shame that.”

“You broke her nose, baby?” Although Trey really didn’t like that this female was confronting his mate, he knew not to interfere. To do that would be to undermine her own ability to take care of herself.

“She wouldn’t let me pass and then she called me a freak, what was I supposed to do? Yeah, okay, I suppose I could’ve just ignored her, but there wouldn’t have been any fun in that.”

Brodie snickered. “You only hurt me because I didn’t fight back,” she stated loudly, drawing the attention of everyone within the diner as they recognised her confrontational posture. “It would be like picking on a disabled person, and I was raised not to do that.”