Wild Hunger (The Phoenix Pack #7)(48)

His voice rang with truth, but she couldn’t quite relax. “So there was nothing serious between you and Marcus?”

“Not at all,” he said.

“You were more like friends with benefits?”

“Not even that, because there was nothing regular about it. They were random encounters. To me this isn’t significant. It has no bearing on what’s between you and me. But I didn’t want you to find out another way.” Leaning forward, he slid his hands up to her thighs. “Tao once wanted to imprint on Taryn.”

Her mouth fell open. “No.”

“Yes. This was before Taryn and Trey knew they were true mates. Initially they were faking it so that Taryn could escape an arranged mating and Trey could then have access to her father’s alliances.”

Wow, thought Frankie. Having seen how tight the Alphas were, she found it hard to believe that they were originally brought together by nothing more than a deal.

“The plan was that she’d leave after a few months, and Tao made it clear that he was willing to leave with her. He didn’t love her, which was probably why that willingness died pretty quickly. There was never any lingering jealousy or a yearning that he tried to hide. It was just one weird, very short period in his life that none of us ever even thought about—it just faded to the backs of our minds. It was so insignificant to him that he didn’t think to mention it to Riley. But Greta did.”

Frankie winced. The old woman was such a bitch.

“She blindsided Riley to hurt her. I don’t want Greta blindsiding you with anything from my past, so I’m telling you straight up about Marcus. In your position I’d want to know anyway.”

“I’m glad you told me.” Even if it did pluck at her jealous streak. Her wolf didn’t like hearing about his past either.

“And you believe that it doesn’t mean I have needs you can’t fulfill,” Trick pushed, stroking his thumb down her cheek, which was pink and warm.

Frankie inhaled deeply, breathing in the moist air. “I believe you when you say I’m enough for you.” He’d never given her any reason to think differently. “But if it turns out that you lied about that . . . well, there’s a good chance I’ll stomp on your spine until I hear something crack.”

Trick smiled, perversely finding the threatening glitter in her eyes kind of hot. He cupped her nape. She’d tied her hair up into a high ponytail, but curly tendrils hung around her neck. “You’re not only enough for me. You’re everything.”

She really didn’t know how to handle it when he said stuff like that. He didn’t say it shyly or with any hesitation. He spoke boldly yet casually, holding her eyes the entire time. As if he sensed her discomfort, he gave her a lopsided grin that made the claw marks on his cheek darken. She tilted her head. “Can I ask you a question?”

“You just did, baby. Not really giving me a choice here, are you?”

Frankie gave him a droll look. “Funny.” She bit her lip. “You can tell me to mind my own business if you want—”

“I’m yours. My business is your business. What do you want to know?”

“How did you get the scars on your face?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t ask about them sooner.” He’d sensed that she was curious about them. “It’s not a pretty story,” he warned her, slowly smoothing his hands up and down her legs. “When I was fourteen and still part of the Bjorn Pack, a twelve-year-old girl declared to me that we were true mates.”

She blinked. “Wow. Just wow.”

“Jana was adamant that she was right. She truly believed it, but I didn’t. There was no doubt in my mind that she wasn’t mine. The moment was awkward as fuck, and I felt like a bastard when I refuted it, but I had to make her see that it was just a crush. She wasn’t hearing me, though. She believed I was hers. Said she knew her own mind and her own feelings. She accused me of denying it out of fear of mating.”

“Which is something you’ve never feared.”

He exhaled a heavy sigh. “I’ll admit I lost my temper. I didn’t want to hurt her, but I knew that being firm about it was the only way to shut that shit down. I wouldn’t have in a million years suspected that she’d attempt suicide.”

Frankie’s eyes bulged. “She what?”

“She wrote a note and said she didn’t want to live a life without me in it. Then she slit her wrists in the bathtub.”

“Jesus.” Frankie loosely hooked her arms around his neck and studied his expression as she said, “It wasn’t your fault, Trick. You know that, right? It was tragic that she tried to commit suicide, but it was her choice. You don’t hold any blame for it.”

“I know that.” But he’d still been hit hard by regret, shame, and guilt back then. “She was a nice kid, you know. Fun and bright and upbeat. She had really bad lows, though. Could bounce from happy to sad to angry in an instant. Being around her had been like walking on a minefield. But she had a spark; it made people like her, made her seem strong. I realized later that the spark was just that—a spark. Not a sign of strength.”

“And you felt like you’d snuffed out that spark,” Frankie realized.

“At first, yeah. Not by saying that it was a crush, but by losing my temper and hurting her.”