Wild Hunger (The Phoenix Pack #7)(77)

Shaya’s nose wrinkled. “Yeah, my mate’s not what you’d call social. A little like his sister, actually.” She flicked a glance at Roni, who’d shoved a lollipop in her mouth and looked the height of uncomfortable.

Jaime turned to Makenna, sipping her cosmo, and then she frowned. “You’re texting Grace, aren’t you?”

Makenna didn’t even look up from her cell phone. “I just want to check that Sienna’s okay.”

Jaime sighed. “She’ll be fine. Relax. Enjoy yourself.”

“Trick, thought I might find you here.”

At those words Frankie’s eyes snapped to the broad, Latin-looking guy who was fast shrugging his way through her pack mates, making a beeline for Trick. And going by Marcus’s wince and Trick’s sudden stillness, this was someone from Trick’s past. Awesome.

“You haven’t been to Enigma in a while and—” Rio paused, taking in Trick’s proximity to Frankie and their claiming marks. “And you’re mated,” he sensed.

“That’s right.” Silently cursing, Trick tightened his hold on her as he said, “Frankie, this is Rio. Rio, this is my mate, Frankie.” A mate who was currently staring at Rio, her face blank. Feeling her agitation through their bond, Trick soothingly rubbed her back and laid a possessive kiss on her temple, hoping to keep her and her wolf calm.

Rio was staring right back at her, clearly gobsmacked. Then he seemed to shake it off. “I didn’t expect your mate to be female.”

Frankie gave him a hard smile. “Funny old world, isn’t it?” She took a long swig from her bottle, keeping her eyes on the male. Black bear, she sensed. Her wolf bared her teeth, wanting him gone. His very scent offended the wolf.

Marcus leaned toward Rio and spoke into his ear only loud enough for the bear to hear. Whatever he said made Rio bristle, and his eyes scanned their crowd. It was only then that Frankie realized that every Phoenix and Mercury member was glaring at the bear. He gave Trick one last look and then walked away. Smart.

Trick turned to her and rubbed his nose against hers. “Sorry about that.”

“Why?” she asked. “You didn’t do anything.”

“I don’t ever want you being touched by anything or anyone from my past, even though none of them were important to me.”

While that was sweet . . . “There’s no way you can guarantee that, just as I wasn’t able to keep my past away from you. You handled Vance just fine, and I handled the bear—note that I didn’t smash the bottle over his head, despite the temptation being so strong.”

His mouth kicked up into a smile and he kissed her neck. “I like it when you get all possessive.”

“Hmm.”

“It’s hot. My wolf likes it a fuck of a lot.”

“Does he now?” She tilted her head slightly, giving him access to his claiming mark. Her eyes fell closed as he licked and nipped and traced it with his tongue. Feeling the weight of someone’s glare, she opened her eyes and saw Rio watching them from the other end of the bar. It was instinct to possessively prick her claws into Trick’s back.

Trick looked up, his gaze trapping hers, and kissed her hard and deep. “Mine.”

She smiled. “Not gonna argue with that.” At the sound of a low growl, Frankie looked in time to see Roni smack her mate’s chest.

“No, no, no,” said Roni. “There will be no dancing.”

Marcus curled his arms around her. “But sweetheart—”

“No. You’re not getting your way this time.”

But he got his way after Roni had downed a few shots. They all gravitated to the dance floor, and Frankie wasn’t surprised to find that Trick danced as smoothly and confidently as he did everything else. He also had her totally turned on.

Really, the entire group had a ball. They drank. They danced. They sang. They laughed.

When they were once again at the bar, Trick’s cell phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket and told her, “It’s Trey.” Swiping his thumb over the screen, he answered, “Hello?” Trick knew that if it weren’t for his enhanced shifter senses, he might not have heard his Alpha over the noise.

“We have Drake,” said Trey. “Ryan tracked him. He’s in the hut.”

Trick went rigid as satisfaction and anger trickled through him. “Has Dante taken a shot at him yet?” The Beta was a damn good interrogator.

“No. We figured that you were owed that pleasure.”

Grateful, Trick nodded. “I’ll be there soon.” He ended the call and looked at his mate, feeling like utter shit. She was relaxed, truly relaxed, with the females of his pack, and it was clear that she was even letting her guard halfway down for the Mercury Pack females. Now he was about to spoil her evening. “Baby . . .”

Frowning, she grabbed his arm. “Something’s wrong. What is it?”

“Yeah, what the fuck put that dark look on your face?” asked Marcus, who’d been doing his best to eavesdrop on his conversation with Trey.

Trick scraped a hand over his jaw. “We have Drake in custody.”

Frankie’s brows flew up. “Drake?”

Trick nodded. “Ryan found him and brought him to our territory.”

“You need to go,” she understood.