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)
Tao raised his hand. “I claim bodyguard duty!”
Ryan grunted. “Damn little shit, I was going to do that.”
“I’m going to be an uncle,” said Dominic excitedly. “If it’s a boy, I’ll teach him all he needs to know about reeling in women.”
Trick snorted. “You mean you’ll teach him those dirty lines you’re always subjecting us to.” He gave Taryn a quick hug and said, “Congratulations, honey.”
“Speaking of dirty chat up lines,” drawled Dominic as he turned to Taryn, wearing that all too familiar wicked grin. When she shook her head, warning him to keep it to himself, he sighed. “I can’t help it. I love your hair, your eyes, and your smile. Hell, I love every bone in your body. Want to add one more?” As usual, Trey hit him.
“Don’t worry about Dom, Taryn.” Marcus patted her stomach gently. “I’ll teach the little guy in there the art of flirting so that he never has to use those lines.”
“I’ll teach him how to throw a ball,” declared Dante. “And how to drive.”
“That’s nice and all,” said Ryan, “but you know I’m going to be his favorite uncle, right?”
“Um, hello,” said Taryn. “The baby could be a ‘her’, you know.” They all gave her sympathetic looks as if they pitied her for even thinking something they perceived to be dumb. She might have scowled at them if, to Taryn’s astonishment, the old crone hadn’t suddenly approached wearing a genuine smile. Just like that, Trey, Dante, and the enforcers formed a wall in front of her. Oh dear God, was she going to have to put up with this overprotectiveness for the entire five months of the pregnancy? It certainly looked like it.
“I’m not going to hurt her.”
Nobody moved to let her pass.
“She and I might not always see eye to eye, but that’s my great-grandchild in there.”
Their expressions said that wasn’t relevant.
Sighing, Taryn hopped up onto the counter behind her. Immediately Trey spun to face her. “Be careful jumping around like that.”
Taryn double-blinked. “Oh my God, you’ve got to be kidding me. Chill, Flinstone. Grace, I need one of your magical coffees.”
“No, no coffee,” said Grace. “Caffeine’s not good for you during pregnancy.” As Grace then rambled on about all the other things Taryn wouldn’t be able to drink or eat, she felt her mood plummet.
“You look tired, baby. Want me to take you back to bed?”
She looked at him in sheer disbelief. “No, I don’t. None of you get to treat me like an invalid – let’s just clear that up right now.”
“It’s great to have some good news for a change,” said Brock with a smile. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been around any pups.” He turned to Kirk. “Well, son, aren’t you going to congratulate our Alphas?”
Kirk said nothing. Just sat next to an equally mute Hope looking kind of…defeated.
“She’s pregnant?” hissed Selma. “Oh. Great. Not only are we stuck with her, but we’ve got Warner blood polluting our pack!”
“Selma,” growled Trey, more protective of Taryn than ever before.
“Twelve weeks you said she’d be here! Twelve weeks! Then you try telling us she’s your true mate! I’ve waited for you to see the truth, waited for you to see that you’re wrong and she’s just fooling you so she can be Alpha fe -”
“You know, Selma,” began Taryn, interrupting her mid-rant, “you’re behaving like a drug-crazed Terrier trying to catch and chew off its own tail. Seriously, pursuing you’re mated Alpha is insane and suicidal. It really is time to get off the ‘Selma Gets Whatever She Wants’ plane and accept the facts. I am Trey’s mate, I am Alpha female here, and you don’t have a prayer of changing that. We’ve got enough things to worry about so stop with your tantrum or I’ll have to do what I like to call making my point in a way that no one can misinterpret. Others might refer to it as breaking your fucking nose.”
“That wouldn’t be so bad,” said Grace, sounding hopeful.
Selma refused to drop the matter. “Trey, how can you not see her for what she really is? Everything was fine here until she came along.”
Reminding himself that hitting females wasn’t a good thing, Trey released his frustration with a long exhale. “Well if you’re so unhappy, feel free to leave. In fact, you’re more than welcome to leave with Darryl tomorrow after the challenge. If there’s anything left of him. I can’t guarantee there will be.”
“M-maybe I will l-leave,” she replied, seeming to be truly shocked that Trey would choose Taryn over her. Why? “Maybe Hope and I w-will start our own p-pack.”
“I never said anything about Hope. If she wants to leave, she can…but it won’t be because you bullied her into it.”
Predictably, Selma stormed out of the room wearing the scowl from hell. For once, Hope didn’t follow her, making her loyalties clear. Kirk, too, remained where he was.