Petting Nick’s chest to calm him, Shaya smiled at her best friend. “Taryn, I really appreciate your concern for me—it was the same concern I showed for you when you first mated with Trey.” Ignoring Trey’s affronted look, Shaya continued, “But I’m asking you to give me the same support I gave you.” When both Dominic’s and Tao’s mouths opened, Shaya gave them a dark look that made their mouths snap shut. “You’ve made your opinions clear. I don’t need to hear them again.” She swept her gaze over all of them as she said, “This isn’t a negotiation. If you’re not willing to give Nick the same chance I’m giving him, you need to leave.”

When Trey’s eyes moved to her neck and narrowed, Shaya knew he’d seen one of Nick’s many marks. “You haven’t officially claimed her,” noted Trey, studying Nick curiously.

“Yet,” Nick quickly said. “When Shaya’s ready, I will.”

Lips pursed, Trey considered that for a moment, and then nodded in satisfaction. Tao did the same while Dominic shrugged.

Taryn gawked at her mate. “You’re okay with this?” she practically screeched.

“Baby, you knew this would happen.” Trey ran a hand through the various shades of blonde that made up his mate’s hair, clearly trying to calm her down. “Nothing in this world could keep me away from you, and nothing was going to keep him away from Shaya.”

“He should have claimed her when he had the chance!”

“Yes, but he didn’t.” Trey gestured to Shaya’s neck. “And look, he still hasn’t. He’s waiting for her to be ready. That’s more than a lot of shifters would do, and we all know it.”

After a thoughtful pause, Taryn turned to Nick again. “I want to talk to Shaya alone.” Her eyes dared him to say no.

“Then you need to ask Shaya,” said Nick. “I’m her mate, not her boss.”

Taryn’s brows rose in surprise, and Shaya saw a hint of approval in her eyes.

“Why don’t you all wait inside while Taryn and I talk out here?” When Nick tensed almost imperceptibly beside her, Shaya knew he didn’t like the idea of her being completely out of his sight with Taryn when it was clear that the Alpha female wanted her away from Nick. She laid a reassuring hand on his chest and rubbed her jaw against his side. That easily, the tension left him. Looking up at him, she said, “I’ll just be a few minutes.”

Common sense told Nick that Taryn wouldn’t attempt to sneak away with Shaya because that would mean leaving without her mate and pack members. Common sense also told him that Taryn was too brazen to do “sneaky”; she’d do it right in front of him and expect him to deal with it. But he couldn’t help being anxious. It was one thing for the two females to talk where he could see them. It was another for him to wait inside. But as he looked down into gray-blue eyes that were begging for the same trust she was trying to give him, there was no way he could object.

Dropping his arm, Nick nodded. Shaya’s beaming smile was reward enough for him. “Don’t leave the yard unless you want our little followers to hear your conversation.” As Shaya nodded and then went to the Alpha female, he caught the blonde’s eye and held her gaze. “Try to take my mate from me, and I’ll take yours from you.”

The blonde just blinked at him, before asking Shaya, “Is he always delusional?” Nick tracked their movements as they went to stand at the bottom of the yard, satisfied when they didn’t walk any farther.

“Who are the people watching the house?”

At Trey’s question, Nick sighed. “I guess you’d better come in.”

As Nick, Derren, and the Phoenix wolves went inside the house, the rebels insisted on waiting outside. The trio stood monitoring Taryn and Shaya, and she had the feeling that they intended to ensure on Nick’s behalf that Taryn didn’t attempt to kidnap her. It was kind of touching. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

“We saw you and Nick on the news,” said Taryn, arms folded across her chest. “We left Dante and Jaime to hold the fort while we came here. The reporter said there’s some kind of shifter war going on, but that made no sense to me—every shifter in the world is on their best behavior right now, not wanting to give the human extremists anything to work with.”

Shaya sighed. “You can thank those extremists for what happened. They did it to get a reaction from Nick. It turns out that the guy running the local extremist group was one of the prison guards when Nick was in juvie.” When Taryn showed no surprise about Nick having been in juvie, Shaya frowned in confusion. “You knew about his past?”

“Only what Dante told me: that he killed a human and injured two others while defending himself and his sister.”

Shaya inwardly sighed in relief. She was sure Nick wouldn’t like all his past to be common knowledge.

“You can’t seriously be thinking about mating with him, Shaya.”

“There was a lot I didn’t know about him.” Aware that Nick’s pride would balk at others knowing about his health issues, that Nick wouldn’t want to be viewed as having weaknesses to anyone, she didn’t elaborate. “And nobody can say he hasn’t earned a chance, Taryn. I put him through an alpha’s version of hell—rejected him, stomped on his pride, and even went on a date with another guy.”

“No way!” Taryn seemed pleased about it.

“But he’s still here. He’s apologized, he’s done sweet stuff for me, he’s bought me gifts, he’s fixed the little messes in my life, and he’s just generally been here for me. It’s like, wherever I look he’s there, just like—”

“A mate,” finished Taryn with a sigh. “Okay, I get it; he’s been a good Boy Scout. But how do you know that will last?”

“I don’t. I can only give him the chance he’s earned.”

“And if he messes it up?”

“I make a margarita with his balls.”

Taryn laughed. “I have to say I was impressed when I heard he’d given up his position for you. I’d expected him to return to his pack at some point. But he never did. He kept searching for you. What are you going to do about your living situation? You only took on the lone-wolf lifestyle to hide from Nick. Does this mean you’ll come home now?”

Shaya ran a hand through her curls. “I don’t know. Nick offered to join the Phoenix Pack.”

Taryn’s jaw almost hit the floor. “You’re shitting me. He hasn’t asked you to go back to his old pack?”

Shaya shook her head. “He knows his wolf would find it hard to obey someone less dominant than him, and he doesn’t want the position of Alpha, so he has no intention of returning. I’m just going to take things one step at a time. If things turn out badly, I’ll probably come home. But if they don’t…well, that’s a decision Nick and I would have to make together. But I couldn’t ask him to join the Phoenix Pack, Taryn. I couldn’t ask someone as powerful as him to serve and obey someone else.”

Taryn nodded in understanding. “It wouldn’t be right. Well, there’s no denying that he’s trying hard to win you over. I still don’t like him for how miserable he made you.”

“But you’ll give him a chance just like I am. You’ll wish me luck, like I did for you and Trey,” prodded Shaya.

Rolling her eyes, Taryn said, “Fine.”

Smiling, Shaya threw her arms around her best friend, who returned the hug. “I’ve missed you.” She pulled back. “And I’ve missed Kye. How is he?” Although the fact that she chatted with her pack over Skype at least once a week meant that Shaya had watched Kye grow, it wasn’t the same as being with him.

“You can find that out for yourself,” said Taryn, urging Shaya to follow her to the pack’s Toyota Highlander that was parked behind Nick’s Mercedes. “Now that I know there’s no chance of a fight breaking out and no blood will be shed, I can get him out of the SUV.” When Shaya’s face lit up, Taryn snorted. “I wouldn’t get so excited if I were you. Old Mother Hubbard, who has spent the past five hours driving me insane in the SUV, is waiting with him—she insisted on coming.” Taryn was referring to Trey’s grandmother, who was very possessive of Trey, Dante, Tao, and the enforcers and didn’t like females around them. “She hovers around him unhealthily like she does with Trey and her other ‘boys.’ It’s disturbing.”

As Taryn slid the side door open, Greta huffed at the Alpha female. “I heard that, hussy. No respect.” The arguing that went on between them happened daily.

Taryn gave Trey’s grandmother a sweet, mocking smile. “Oh, I’m sorry, was I supposed to break the habit of a lifetime and bring joy to your day?”

Cuddling a sleeping Kye to her chest, Greta huffed once more at Taryn before turning to Shaya and smiling fondly. “Shaya, sweetheart, how are you?”

“Oh, you’re nice to her because she’s not going to mate with one of your boys.” Taryn growled. “Give me my son before your old-lady breath bleaches his hair.” As Taryn took the adorable eight-month-old baby into her arms, his lids fluttered open to reveal a set of arctic-blue eyes exactly like his father’s. As Nick had once said, Kye was literally Trey with Taryn’s hair—which made him one absolutely gorgeous baby who would undoubtedly break many female hearts when he was older.

“Hey there,” whispered Shaya, playing with his hair. “Recognize me?”

“Of course he does,” said Taryn. “It’s so cute how he points to the laptop and waves—I know it means he wants to wave to you on Skype. Can you do it for Auntie Shaya again now?” Taryn waved her hand slightly, and Kye mirrored the move, flashing Shaya a huge smile. “Now that I can visit you without worrying that Nick will have people following me who will then know where you are, we can come see you whenever I want, and you can visit us whenever you want.”

A smile spread across Shaya’s face. She liked that idea. After only a minute of gentle coaxing, Kye went willingly into Shaya’s arms. “He’s such a sociable kid.”

“It’s only natural given that he’s part of a pack that spoils him rotten and treats him like he’s at the center of the entire universe,” said Taryn. “He’s used to being handled by different people.”

With Kye in her arms, Shaya led Taryn and Greta into the house. She found the guys all gathered in the dining area. Her eyes instantly went to Nick, who was sitting at the table. His smile had a hint of relief to it, and she realized just how worried he’d been that she might leave. As she entered the room, Dominic straightened from where he’d been leaning against the wall and came toward her wearing a devilish grin—yep, he had every intention of flirting with her to annoy Nick, just like he did to all the mated females to provoke their mates. Well, it wasn’t so much flirting as delivering cheesy lines, but it had the desired effect on the mated males.

She halted him with a look. “Dominic, if you value your life, you won’t aggravate him right now.” Not while Nick was being forced to cope with her being in the presence of a number of males, particularly when two of them were unmated. Possessiveness would be haunting him, just as it did her when Amber was around.

Dominic, to her surprise, raised his hands in surrender and dropped his smile. “Okay, fine, but I was just going to give you a little kiss. If you don’t like it, you can always return it.”

“Dominic.”

“Watch it, blondie,” warned Nick, his voice like a whip.

“You sure like to live dangerously, don’t you?” said Tao, shaking his head at his packmate.

Dominic just grinned. “There’s no better way to live.” Noticing Nick’s evil smile, he asked, “What?”

“I’m just thinking how much fun your pack is going to have when you meet your mate. I could be wrong, but I’m guessing the males will be getting some payback.”

Nodding, Trey said, “Damn right.” At that moment, his son held out his arms to him, and Trey took him gladly.

“Hey, I’m a breath of fresh air,” maintained Dominic. “Besides, why would I want a mate yet when there is such a wide variety of females out there to sample?”

Shaya wasn’t buying that act for one minute. Oh sure, Dominic loved women, and women loved Dominic—it was impossible not to love that wicked grin, his caramel skin, and those impressive abs—but he wasn’t quite the slut he pretended to be. She had yet to figure out what his act was all about, however. Just as she had yet to figure out why he bothered with lines, given how easily he reeled in females.

As Greta came to stand beside Shaya, the old woman scowled at Nick. “You I’m not in the least bit happy with,” she told him in her usual witchy voice. Nick’s brows rose in surprise. “It doesn’t matter that you had your reasons—you hurt our Shaya, and I don’t like it. You should be thankful that you have a mate as wonderful as Shaya and not a hussy like her!” She tipped her head at Taryn, who just smiled.

“You love me really, Greta.” Taryn elbowed her gently. “Admit it, I hold a place in your heart of solid concrete.”

Trey rolled his eyes and then turned to Shaya. “Nick and Derren have told us what’s been happening around here with the humans. It’s not safe.”

“Which is why I recommended that you take your pack and leave,” Nick told him.