“Yes, it’s yours,” he allowed, “pending the applicable terms. In situations where you’re threatening to cheat on me with a fake cock, you don’t get any.”

Tricky little bastard. “It really is a good thing I love you and your cock, Trey, or I’d have had to snap it off for that.” An expression of shock replaced his scowl. She placed a finger to his lips. “Don’t say it back. I don’t want you to say what I know you don’t mean. Maybe one day you can mean it, but we both know that’s not today. I just want you to know.”

This was why she deserved a better mate – he was so damn wrong for her it wasn’t even funny. Still, she was staying exactly where she was. “You’re all there is for me, Taryn. I’m broken, baby. You know that. Before you…it was like those bits of me were just scattered all over the place. I’ve never felt whole. Not until you. You hold those pieces together. It’s not an exaggeration when I say you hold my sanity in your hands. Without you, I’d fall apart.” If that made any sense to her, he’d be surprised.

She stroked his bottom lip with the pad of her thumb. “Thank you for that. Now do me already.”

He sighed dramatically. “I’m mated to a nympho.”

“Ass.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The ringing of Trey’s cell phone had everyone in the kitchen stiffening, particularly Taryn who was sitting on the counter with her legs wrapped around his waist. Without releasing her gaze, he dug it out of his pocket and answered. “Hello.”

“They’re here,” Ryan informed him.

Trey wasn’t surprised that they had arrived at 10 A.M. The only reason he had told the pack last night that he was expecting Darryl around noon was because Trey didn’t want the informant telling Darryl he’d be ready for the bastard. “How many?”

“Dominic says there’s something like one hundred and seventy out there, but it’s likely that some of them are just there to stand at his side.”

“What about the three packs that offered to come and stand at our side, are they here?”

“Arrived an hour ago just before Lance and Nick. Everyone’s waiting just inside the gate.” They had arranged for their allies to arrive early, suspecting Darryl would make an attack in the morning time in the belief that he would be catching Trey unawares.

“Okay. Don’t let Darryl and his crew through the gate until I get there.”

“Sure.”

Trey ended the call and handed his cell over to Taryn. “I’ll lose it in the battle if I take it with me out there.”

She tightened her legs around him, wishing she could just hold him there and ask the others to face Darryl. Yes that was selfish and unfair, but she couldn’t help wanting that and she wasn’t going to apologize for it. This was her mate, the other half of her soul, the father of her child. If she had the right to be selfish about anything, it was him.

“I have to go, baby,” he told her softly.

She nodded sadly. “I know. Be careful. You have to come back to me.”

“There’ll be a lot of blood on my hands by the end of this battle. You know that, right?”

She pressed her forehead to his. “Do you honestly think I’d judge you for protecting your family, your pack, your territory? Darryl obviously wants to die. Assist him.”

Damn this woman got to him. Never had she judged him – not for being who he was, not for what he could and couldn’t feel, and not for anything he’d done or was capable of doing. He kissed her hard and deep, urging her into him, taking strength from her in a way that he had never been able to do with another person. Breaking the kiss, he buried his face in the crook of her neck and took her scent deep inside him, let it flow over him and center both him and his wolf. He hated to leave her, especially right now. Every primal instinct he had told him to stay at her side and be her constant protector, but there was no choice. He couldn’t tell the other males of his pack to face the danger alone – that wasn’t who he was and it wasn’t what an Alpha did.

“I need you to promise me something,” he said as he locked his gaze with hers. “I need you to promise me that no matter what you feel over our link, no matter what you think is happening, you stay here. You don’t try to reach me, you don’t take a chance out there just so you can heal me. You stay here with Grace, Lydia, Greta, Hope, Brock, and Selma. You focus on keeping yourself safe and our baby safe. Promise me.” He wasn’t surprised when she gave him a look that could kill. A lesser man would have cowered.

“That’s not fair,” she said through her teeth. “Of course I don’t want anything to happen to the baby, but by asking me to make this promise you’re asking me to choose between you both, and I can’t do that.”

He cupped her face with his hands as he insisted, “Yes you can and you will. I’m not asking you to choose, I’m asking you to keep yourself and the baby safe.”

She blinked back tears. Her wolf whined inside her head. “If you died, I wouldn’t survive it anyway.”

“Yes you would. You’re so goddamn strong, you could get through anything.” It made him proud to have her. For the first time, he was actually glad that the mating bond was only partially developed as it meant that she had a better chance of surviving the bond being broken. Not that he planned on dying today, but there was always a possibility. “I have to go.”

Reluctantly she uncurled her limbs from around him. “I love you, even though you’re being an unfair prick.”

He chuckled, but the sound didn’t hide the anger he felt with himself for not being able to give her those words.

Knowing what was going through his head, she gave him a cautioning look. “I don’t need words, I just need you to come back.”

“I plan on it.” Having kissed her one last time, he turned to see Grace and Lydia both crying as they had a private moment with their own mates while Kirk and Brock hugged each other tightly. Although Cam, Rhett, and Kirk weren’t enforcers and only ever worked as security guards for the gate, Trey couldn’t afford to leave them behind. He needed all the wolves he could get, especially since they needed Brock to stay behind – they wanted the females to have at least one male with them.

Dante had expressed concern about taking Kirk along with them since he was one of their suspects, but somehow Trey just couldn’t see the informant being him. They would find out soon enough – if it was Kirk, he would join with Darryl when they reached the gate.

As Dante, Tao, Marcus and Trick were saying their goodbyes to Taryn, Greta came and hugged Trey tight. “Take care, son. Rip the bastard apart.”

“Always so bloodthirsty,” he said with a smile.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure she’s alright.”

He narrowed his eyes at her, still smiling. “Since when do you care about Taryn’s welfare?”

“Since I heard she was pregnant.” At his skeptical look, she shrugged. “Alright, I like her just a bit. She reminds me of me.” She thumped him in the arm when he laughed. “She does. She’s got spirit.”

“Yep, she has plenty of that.” He gave Taryn one last look – in it was a warning to do as he’d asked, a reminder that she was too important for him to lose, and a goodbye. He then looked up at the others. “Everyone ready?”

Nodding, Dante, Tao, Marcus, Trick, Rhett, Cam, and Kirk followed behind Trey as he left the room. No one said a word as they exited the caves and descended the many steps of the mountain. As they entered the woods, Trey gestured for Dante to come close.

“You don’t need to ask me to make sure she’s okay if anything happens to you,” said Dante quietly. “But we will win this, Trey.”

“But if we don’t, if you feel me die through the pack link, you leave the battle and you go to the caves – you take her where Darryl can’t reach her.”

Dante swallowed hard. “You have my word on that, although I don’t know if she’d survive the bond being broken.”

“She would. Taryn could survive anything. Besides, it’s only partially developed. And another thing – I’d be lying if I said I hope she mates with someone else so she’s not alone, I’m too much of a bastard to be that noble, but if she does you make sure that kid knows who its dad was.” Satisfied by Dante’s nod, Trey said no more as they progressed through the forest. His wolf was pacing inside him, all worked up by the adrenalin circulating through Trey’s system. He hadn’t wanted to leave Taryn’s side, but he did understand that there was a nearby threat and that this threat needed to be eradicated.

It was odd to think that only a few months ago the most important thing to Trey had been his pack, his territory, and protecting both. He never would have thought anything could be more important than that, never would have expected that anyone could be important to him. Now he had other things to fight for – his mate, his unborn child, their future. The woman had turned his life upside f**king down, turned him inside f**king out, and yet he wouldn’t have it any other way.

It amazed him that he’d thought he was content before she came into his life. In reality, he hadn’t known the meaning of the word. With Taryn he was content. She anchored him and made him happy in a way that nothing and no one had ever done before. He didn’t want to lose that, refused to lose that. Dante was right; they would win this, because no other ending was acceptable.

Finally the forest thinned and they stepped out onto the clearing, bringing them within twenty feet of the main gate. Although Ryan had told him just how many wolves Darryl had brought along, Trey was still rocked by the intimidating sight it made. Had he been normal enough to respond appropriately to fear, he might have been tempted to stop the battle before it started. Not to save himself, but the others who might get hurt. He’d soon find out if it was a good thing or a bad thing that he wasn’t normal.

Gathered on the fringe of the woods were Nick and a number of males from his pack, including his Beta, Jon, and bodyguard, Derren – both of whom Trey recognized from their visit to his home. Not far from them was Lance with several from his pack, including his bodyguard, Zack, and two of his enforcers, Perry and Oscar. They all gave him a brief respectful nod before resuming scowling at Darryl and his followers.

The wolf shifters – there were approximately fifty – that had come to stand at Trey’s side and serve as back-up were all grouped together near the security shack. They didn’t look so eager to be there. Trey guessed it was because they hadn’t expected him to be so outnumbered, placing them in a position where they would in fact have to provide back-up.

He stalked toward the closed gate with Dante and Tao flanking him, blanking his expression the way he had done as a child whenever his father and uncle decided to torment him for their own entertainment – being stoic had always agitated the hell out of both of them. Trey stopped as he came to stand directly where Darryl stood on the opposite side of the gate. His wolf growled inside his head, affronted by this male’s scent and reaching for the surface with his eagerness to get to him.

Looking as smug as all shit, Darryl grinned at him. “Time’s up. You really should have just given in to me at the beginning, Trey. I’ll tell you what, since you’re my nephew and all, I’ll give you one last chance to yield to me.”

Trey couldn’t help that his mouth twitched into a smile, especially since Dante and Tao were chuckling. “Yield? My mate’s right; you do live in La La Land.”

“You can’t honestly mean to accept my challenge.”

“And why’s that?”

“Look around you.” He gestured to his numerous supporters. “Forty against one hundred and seventy. I think it’s safe to say that you’re outnumbered.”

“If that bothers you so much, let’s keep this as a one-to-one battle. Let’s take care of this Alpha to Alpha.”

Darryl’s fear didn’t show on his face, but it could be heard in his voice. “I don’t think so, Trey – we both know your enforcers would attack me after I’d killed you. They have no honor.”

Dante and Tao growled at the insult and gave Darryl looks that promised he’d pay for that. But Darryl was Trey’s.

“You can’t win this, nephew. You never had any chance of winning it. Not even mating with the daughter of an influential wolf could help you out with this. I’m looking forward to becoming better acquainted with her, even if she is latent.”

A growl trickled from Trey’s mouth. His wolf wanted to sink his jaws into this male’s throat and feel his blood gush into his mouth. “I’m pissed enough with you as it is, Uncle. If I were you, I’d be very careful about pushing me even further.”

Darryl laughed, but there was a nervous tremor to it. “One last chance. Give in to my requests, and we can avoid this battle.”

As Trey backed away from the gate with Dante and Tao, his uncle smiled – obviously believing Trey was backing down. Snort. Like that would ever happen. “Ryan, open the gate.” The smile immediately fell from Darryl’s face and was replaced by a dark scowl.

As the gate creaked open slowly, more wolves stepped out of the trees – some from behind Trey, some from his left side, and some from his right, until there were approximately one hundred and fifty wolves standing with him. It didn’t make the numbers strictly even, but it was pretty damn close. He noticed Quinn was grinning like a kid in a toy store. The other nine Alphas that Trey had met at the diner only yesterday looked just as eager and bloodthirsty.