It made sense that the bond had never clicked into place before now, he mused. Both he and Taryn had held back from each other all this time. Now that he had come to accept he couldn’t be without her and now that she had finally branded him, there had been a bridge between them that enabled the bond to exist. It wasn’t fully developed yet as it was only in its early stages, but it was enough that he could feel her and what she was feeling.

So this was what Dante had meant each time he spoke to him of a truth that Trey wasn’t yet ready to accept. Dante had obviously suspected for a while that they were true mates. He was going to be so smug about this. “You know this is more than imprinting, don’t you?” he said softly.

She nodded. “Are you scared?” she asked quietly, dreading the answer.

Trey shook his head. “No.” He wanted her bound to him in every possible way. “Are you?”

Not wanting to lie and thinking he would probably sense it if she did, she nodded again.

He stroked her hair gently. “Why?”

“I don’t know if I’ve just claimed someone who doesn’t care for me.”

“Feel what I feel.”

Closing her eyes, Taryn found their connection instantly. She didn’t feel it in her head as she had thought mates did, she felt it everywhere, felt Trey everywhere. It was much like he was a shadow – something insubstantial that was forever just behind her but that she couldn’t touch. Yet, like with her shadow, although she couldn’t touch it or even feel it, she knew it was there – close and a part of her. She knew that he was genuinely happy that they had bonded, knew that he had been serious when he said he wouldn’t have let her leave no matter what.

And beneath all that, there was something else. God, it was like he had this knot inside him that chafed and nettled – threads of protectiveness, possessiveness, adoration, respect, desire and loyalty all twisted and matted with disorientation, panic, incredulity and even fear. With all these feelings he was in totally unfamiliar territory and couldn’t make sense of anything, but he was sure that he cared about her and couldn’t be without her.

Hell, it had been a lot more than she would have ever expected to find. She would have thought that anything he felt for her would be based on a primal need for sex and the instincts that came with his wolf and their mating, but it wasn’t that at all. This was about Trey and Taryn, the man and the woman. When she opened her eyes it was to see him looking at her with confusion in his eyes.

“You think you love me,” he practically whispered. He hated that he couldn’t say it back, knowing it would hurt her. Stroking her hair again he said, “I don’t know what that is, baby.”

Taryn’s heart literally ached for him. He was telling the truth, he didn’t know what it was. He had never had any real examples of love in his life, and he was convinced from the things he had done and was capable of doing that he wouldn’t be able to feel an emotion like that. He’d only been a child when he’d closed himself off. A child who didn’t want his dad’s words or treatment to be able to hurt him anymore. Closing himself off so early like that had stunted his development and he was, in a way, emotionally immature. It was that which was stopping him from untangling that knot.

It was like a kid with a complex math formula – too many factors and variables and unfamiliar terms for him to work out what it all meant. “Love is giving someone the power to completely destroy you, and hoping that they won’t.”

Trey framed her face with his hands, brushing his thumb over her bottom lip. “I’d never purposely hurt you. Never. I’m a man which means I’ll f**k up. Regularly. I’m not good with words, I spout crap when I’m angry, and I’m about as romantic as a pebble. But…See, I’m not good with words. All I can say is you’re important to me in a way I can’t explain or understand. More important to me than anything else.”

And Taryn could work with that because he did care for her, and that was more than she would have hoped for. “Same here.”

Gently he brought her face to his and ravished her mouth, gliding his tongue against hers and drinking her in into him. “My wolf’s feeling pretty smug about this.”

She smiled. “So is mine. Think the rest of the pack will be okay about it?”

“Let’s go find out.” Although it had been hot at the time to tear her jeans from her body, Trey was regretting it as he walked back toward the house with a half-naked Taryn. Shifters were pretty easy about nakedness since they had to strip in front of each other a lot for shifting, but it wasn’t something they did so casually under other circumstances. When they reached the spot where he’d thrown his clothes he gave Taryn his t-shirt to wear. A smile spread over his face at the sight of her practically drowning in it.

“Did it ever occur to you that I’m not too small and you’re just ridiculously big?”

Zipping his fly he shrugged. “You like how big I am.”

Of course, as usual, he was referring to the bulge in his jeans. She snorted. “It’s a wonder that thing even fits inside me.”

“Thing?” He pulled her to him and kissed her forehead. “Of course it fits. It belongs there.” Swatting her ass, he added, “Now come on.”

Strolling through the tunnels toward the living area they passed Greta. As she took in Taryn’s appearance she huffed. “Hussy.”

“Prude,” Taryn shot back without breaking stride as she and Trey walked hand in hand into the living area. Cam, Rhett, Grace, Lydia, Trick, Marcus and Dante all looked up, saw their clothes – or lack thereof – and grinned.

“So you’ve kissed, bitten, and made up?” asked Dante.

“Get the entire pack together,” ordered Trey. “We’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Exactly ten minutes later both Taryn and Trey were back in the living area, washed and dressed in fresh clothes. Taryn was surprised at how nervous she was about the pack’s reaction. She knew that most of them liked her and respected her and even viewed her as their Alpha female to an extent. However, this would no longer be a temporary thing, they would now have to accept her as their true Alpha female, latency and all. She hadn’t had to care before about what they thought of her, but now it mattered.

She was certain that Kirk, Selma, Hope and Greta wouldn’t be pleased about it and she suspected that Tao might not be so happy either. Even though he was reasonably friendly, he didn’t spend time with her the way he used to and envy wafted from him whenever she and Trey were together around him. He could very well decide that he wasn’t going to stick around and watch she and Trey be mated.