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)
“While you’re denying him there’s still a chance he’ll back out.”
She searched his expression. “Doesn’t it matter to you at all that this will make me miserable? I know you must have heard the rumors about him and how he treats women. Does none of that matter to you?”
“It’ll be good for you to mate with someone who has a firm hand. You could use the discipline. Maybe he can be the one who manages to teach you the meaning of respect.”
Taryn couldn’t help that her mouth fell open. She had thought that her dad was just ignoring the rumors, blinding himself to them to escape the guilt. In actual fact, he felt none. He was perfectly content with the idea of handing her over to someone who would beat her, and he wouldn’t even be angry with Roscoe for doing it.
She took a step forward until she was invading his personal space, something that no wolf should do to their alpha, but in that moment he wasn’t her alpha or her father. He was just an asshole. “You know, for the first time in my life I’m actually glad Mom’s not around. If she’d been here to hear this, it would have broken her heart.”
He actually laughed. “You forget, Taryn, she died before it became clear you’re latent. She wouldn’t have wanted anything more to do with you than I do.”
Taryn smiled. She knew he didn’t really believe that just as she knew that her mom wouldn’t have cared about the latency. “You know, jamming your fingers into your ears might just prevent all that hot air from gushing out of your mouth.”
“You disrespectful little bitch,” he gritted out as he raised his hand to slap her.
She didn’t cower. “Go on, do it.”
“I’d really rather you didn’t, Lance,” said a voice from the doorway. They both turned to see Roscoe removing his leather jacket, flanked by two of his enforcers. As usual he looked like he’d just walked out of a photo shoot. A blond god, some of the females called him. Taryn thought of him more as the Antichrist. “When you signed that contract, you signed her over to me.”
In other words, the only person who had the right to slap her was him.
“Until the mating ceremony, I’m still her Alpha, Roscoe. Remember that.”
“And as her mate, I’d feel obliged to protect her if you were to lay a hand on her.” He turned to Taryn and smiled. “Nice to see you again, beautiful.”
Taryn almost shuddered. He had that same look in his eyes that he’d had when he’d bitten her. As that was something which was a kind of rape to her wolf, she was going crazy now inside Taryn – growling, pacing, flexing her claws.
This was one of the things that most annoyed Taryn about being latent. When her wolf was frenzied, her anger and frustration had nowhere to go and it was like a pressure gradually expanding inside Taryn’s chest. People tended to think that because her wolf didn’t physically show herself she must therefore be subdued and weak in spirit. Taryn wasn’t sure how it was for other latent wolves, but it certainly was not the case for her.
Her wolf was a big presence within her. She didn’t understand that she couldn’t surface. She didn’t understand that it was pointless to tug at the reins, pointless to try to fight Taryn’s will. So, in general, her wolf was bold, difficult and pushed her instincts and desires on Taryn. Right now, her wolf’s desire was to take a swipe at the smarmy bastard in front of her. When he leaned down to kiss her she turned her head away, but his mouth still managed to catch her ear.
Lance released a tired sigh. “Let’s go. Everybody will be waiting for us.”
As they made their way to the dining room, Roscoe attempted to hold her hand. She shot him a look that swore violence and curled her upper lip. His response was a smile. She kind of got the feeling that he liked seeing her riled. Damn if she could figure out why. He should find her rebellious behavior insulting and exasperating. She’d rather hoped he would anyway.
“You’ll be sitting at the head table tonight, Taryn,” Lance announced as they entered the room. She had to resist the urge to growl. Although she was the Alpha’s daughter and the pack healer, ordinarily she would sit at another table with Shaya and Caleb.
Of course Lance placed her beside Roscoe. She wasn’t thrilled to find her dad’s bodyguard sat at her other side. Like most of the others in the pack, he had always been nice to her when she was a kid, before puberty hit and her wolf didn’t surface. Maybe if Lance had still been accepting of her then things would have been different, but by dismissing her as unimportant and weak he had pinned a big fat target on her back.