Taryn glanced around at all the onlookers and sighed. “So you’ve decided to schedule some time to make a spectacle of yourself.”

“Honey, the person who should be embarrassed here is you. You’re nothing but vapour to people like us. It’s laughable that you even walked through the door.”

“You know, Brodie, you’re like an STD: No one wants you, everybody hates you, and you’re a reminder of the devastating consequences of not using protection during sex.”

Brodie’s over-tanned face flushed. “Very funny aren’t you, little freak.”

“As it happens, I have my moments.”

“Want to know what’s even funnier?”

“Not really.”

“The idea of you as an Alpha Female of a pack. I honestly don’t think I’ve heard anything as ridiculous as a latent running a pack. Except maybe for this rumor of you calming a feral wolf. We all know that was a nice little story you spread just to make others think your own strength matched that of your mate – if he even is your mate, which I’m not buying at all.”

A growl escaped Taryn which had Brodie jumping in surprise. “Frankly I couldn’t give a shit what you think, but disputing my claim to Trey – that I won’t tolerate.” Her wolf was in full agreement.

“Won’t tolerate?” said Brodie, sounding amused. “What’re you going to do? Insult me to death?”

“Too slow a method. Challenge me to a woman-to-woman fight, Brodie, I dare you.”

“You don’t know what you’re asking, latent. How about I give you a taste of what you’re dealing with.” She flung her alpha vibes at Taryn, intending for them to oppress and intimidate her. Instead of lowering her gaze submissively, Taryn retaliated by clotting the air with her own.

As Taryn’s alpha vibes smothered them all like humidity in summertime, Trey realized something. That night when she had hit his grandmother with them, she had held back. All she’d been doing was giving Greta a small demonstration of her strength just to shut the woman up. This demonstration here and now was different. She was unleashing the full force of her wolf’s alpha strength on Brodie, making it perfectly clear that although she couldn’t shift, her dominance, strength, speed, and power exceeded that of Brodie’s. In a woman-to-woman fight, Brodie would be overpowered within seconds. Shit if Trey wasn’t hard as a rock right now at her display of dominance.

“Come on, Brodie, challenge me,” urged Taryn. “You’ve always liked an audience. Shall I kick your ass in front of one?” The terribly fake female let loose a low whine as she ducked her head, averting her gaze as a gesture of submission. “No? Then it might be best if you back the f**k off and scarper, don’t you think?” Taryn’s wolf was extremely disappointed when Brodie did exactly that.

Trey kissed her temple and ran his hand through her hair, hoping to soothe her wolf. “I’m surprised you didn’t throw her at the wall like you did Selma.”

Reining in her alpha vibes, she smiled at Trey. “Brodie isn’t one of your mistakes so she gets to walk away without a cracked skull.”

“How did I miss it?” asked Lance.

Taryn arched a brow. “You mean the fact that the female you’ve been sleeping with is about as smart as your toenail?”

He cast an annoyed look in Brodie’s direction, obviously unhappy about her making their sex life common knowledge. “How did I miss how strong your wolf is? Or I suppose a better question would be…why did you hide it?”

“I didn’t hide it, I just didn’t care to show you.” He seemed genuinely confused that she hadn’t wanted to impress him. “I’m not interested in having the approval of people I don’t respect. And I’ll never beg for scraps from anyone’s table. You just never got that.”

For the first time ever, there was an element of respect in Lance’s eyes as he regarded her. “But you’re not going to fight this alliance?”

“This here and now isn’t about making friends or building bridges. This is politics, pure and simple. Us being related by blood has no relevance because, as unfortunate as it is, there’s just no emotional bond there.” It was a sad, simple truth delivered with a shrug. It hurt more than she would ever admit or ever let him see.

“I underestimated you quite a bit, it seems. Both of you suit well. You make a good Alpha pair.” After a heavy sigh he asked irritably, “Okay, Coleman, what exactly are you willing to agree to?”

“Like I said, if there’s a situation that requires you to call on your alliances then you’ll have my support. In other words, I don’t mind being part of a solution to your problems, but I won’t have you doing your name-dropping thing and using me as a deterrent to the beginning of any problems. And there’ll be no using Taryn.”

“Out of curiosity, if you didn’t consider me such an awful protector where Taryn’s concerned…?”

“Then we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. My allegiance would be automatic and have no limits.” And Trey sincerely meant that.

Maybe it was petty of Taryn to be enjoying that, for just once in her life, her dad was regretting his treatment of her. Not because he cared about her, true, but because it had cost him in a political sense – something more important to Lance Warner than anything else. “How’s that Karma tasting, Daddy Dearest? A little sour, I’ll bet.”

Lance simple gave her an impatient look. “I’ll agree to your terms,” he said to Trey, albeit a little begrudgingly.

Trey looked at Taryn. “All of that okay with you, baby?” He knew he’d surprised her by asking for her input, but she didn’t let it show on her face.

“One last thing,” she said to Lance. “Because of your attitude toward me growing up, a lot of people saw it as their right to target me just for fun. Don’t think that if, like Brodie, they decide to do it again I’ll back down just because of the alliance. They shouldn’t challenge me unless they’re damn positive they can take me. I’m an Alpha female of a pack, which means any attack on me is an attack on the pack and I won’t ignore one.”

Lance gave her a sharp nod. “I’ll make sure the pack understands this.”

“Good.” After draining the last of the coffee from her cup, Taryn said, “Shall we go then, Trey?”