Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 151489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
It should have sent him into threatening mode to have other males giving him looks that warned him away from his mate. His mate. But Trey honestly didn’t blame them for the way they were crowding Taryn’s sleeping form and regarding him like he was a threat. He’d fucked up. Just like Dante had said. Whether he’d meant for Taryn to hear those cruel words or not, he had hurt her and there was now a gulf a mile wide between them and he didn’t know how to close it.
She was now uneasy around him again and emotionally wary of him, both of which were like a blow to his system. He wanted her to know that he was sorry, that he hadn’t meant what he had said, that he would never purposely hurt her, but each time he had tried to get her alone she had managed to slip away. She was freezing him out again. It burned even more this time than it had the first time. His wolf had also sensed her withdrawal as well as her pain and both ate at him.
As Trey stared down at her he promised both himself and his wolf that he would fix this. He refused to believe what Dante had said – that he might have broken something that couldn’t be mended. No, he refused to believe that. He couldn’t accept that. Because feeling the sting of her withdrawal had given him a taste of what it would be like to be without her, and although Trey still wasn’t sure about those chest pangs or the emotions that tormented him or the extreme sense of possessiveness, he now knew that he couldn’t be without her.
Despite his low ‘move out of my way’ growl, none of the males moved even an inch from their positions. Tao, Trick, Dominic and Ryan remained sitting on the floor with their backs against the sofa while Dante was sitting on it with her feet on his lap and Marcus was beside her head stroking her hair. Trey had to admire their loyalty to their Alpha Female, and it was a good thing considering that she wasn’t going anywhere, but no one kept him from his mate. His wolf was in full agreement with him on that.
He released another menacing growl, letting his eyes flash wolf. Reluctantly the males on the floor shuffled along to make room for him. Trey bent and gently scooped her up to cradle her against his chest. She fussed a little in her sleep but didn’t wake. He held her tighter against him, stilling her movements, and strode out of the room through the tunnels.
In the bedroom he placed her gently on the bed and then carefully he removed her clothes. Once he’d removed his own he slid under the covers and held her possessively to him, wanting his skin against hers. As she always did, she wriggled a little until she found that groove that seemed to have been made just for her. Then instantly she settled and her expression melted into that sinful angel look she had when sleeping.
Cupping her face and breezing his thumb along her cheekbone, he whispered, “I’m sorry, baby.” Then he nuzzled his face into her hair and closed his eyes, feeling a strange kind of peace now that he was no longer at war with himself and had made the decision to do whatever it took to keep her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Ordinarily Trey’s trigger for waking was either a hunger pang in his stomach or a full bladder. This morning, it was something else. As he lay there with his eyes closed, he felt something nagging at him. Something was different, wrong, something that agitated his wolf and had him reaching for the surface, annoyed with his human side for not realizing the problem.
Taking a deep breath, Trey scrubbed at his eyes. He hadn’t had to open them to know what was disturbing his wolf. Taryn’s exotic scent had instantly shot up his nostrils, but it was too faint. Which meant that she wasn’t there.
As his lids flipped open, his eyes confirmed it. The rest of his senses told him she wasn’t in the en-suite bathroom, which meant that she had woken before him and snuck out of the room – there had to have been sneaking and creeping involved or else he would have easily woken. Unlike Taryn, he was a light sleeper.
Never since the morning after the anniversary of her mom’s birthday had Taryn left the room before him. They always had a little play in the mornings before going for breakfast together. It seemed that she was establishing a distance between them, and apparently it wasn’t just going to be an emotional one.
Well fuck that!
Yeah he had messed up. Yeah he had said shit he shouldn’t have. And yeah he had hurt her. But he was still her mate and if she had just given him five minutes of her time she would know that he was sorry. Okay, maybe she would never have mated with him if it wasn’t for their deal, but their mating had created a connection between them. It was a connection that wouldn’t allow for distances – something that he had discovered the hard way. So now his wolf was highly agitated and fighting for control of the situation. His wolf wanted to hunt her down and show her just what he thought of this distance she wanted.