“Yeah, but you scared her off.” Trey affectionately rubbed circles on her belly.
“Want me to kill her?” she asked Dante, sounding hopeful.
“No, I don’t,” he chuckled.
“Seriously, Trey can hold my hair back out of the way and I’ll—” Trey cupped his mate’s chin. “You will not get into any kind of confrontation with anyone.
Besides, Nick’s said he’s dealt with it. Let’s hope that’s the end of it.”
“There’s still the matter of her brothers,” Marcus pointed out, running a hand through his short, dark curls as if trying to straighten them.
Dante crossed his arms behind his head and sank farther into his chair. It was pissing him off that his eyes kept darting to Jaime of their own accord, but he managed to veil his irritation from the wolves around him. “It might be better to let Glory and her brothers sweat, leave them wondering what we’ll do or if we’ll do anything at all.”
Trey nodded. “According to Trick, her brothers are loons.”
“I don’t think they’re loony enough to turn up in pack territory looking for him, though,” said Trick. “That would be an act of suicide, and they’ll know that.”
“So you think it’s more likely that they’ll try to corner him somewhere?” asked Trey, to which Trick nodded. “The way I see it, then, is we can deal with this by going on the attack instead of waiting for her brothers to make their move, or we can deal with them when the time comes.”
“I have better things to do than hunt down a group of crazies.” Dante had to restrain himself from growling at Dominic for twirling a strand of Jaime’s long hair around his finger—something he had found himself wanting to do many times. Her hair was so shiny that it was kind of inviting. He wanted to know if it was as soft as it looked. “I wouldn’t give Glory the satisfaction of a reaction anyway.”
“You do realize you brought this on yourself, don’t you?” Dominic shook his head incredulously. “Out of all the girls out there, you picked her. Don’t get me wrong, I love women and I respect them, but come on, there are just some girls you make a point to stay away from. Glory’s like a bowling ball. She gets picked up, fingered, and thrown in the gutter, and yet she still comes back.” Trey laughed and looked about to say something, but his attention quickly went to the hand he had resting on Taryn’s belly. “Whoa, that was a big one.”
“How’s the little guy been today?” Marcus began giving Taryn one of his infamous shoulder massages.
“ She’s still kicking the life out of me. It’s almost like she’s trying to kick her way out. I think she’s just as eager to get the birth over with as I am.”
“What, you don’t like being pregnant?” Trick frowned. “I thought females loved it.” Taryn pursed her lips. “Let’s see…I’m constantly tired, emotional, hungry, and horny. Most of my clothes don’t fit, my back always aches, and I can’t see my feet. It’s such a magical experience.
Oh, and I walk like a fat, deformed penguin.”
“Aw, don’t say things like that about yourself, Taryn,” begged Dominic. “You’re beautiful. If you were words on a page, you would be what they call ‘fine print.’” Everyone groaned, except for Jaime, who laughed.
There was no doubt that Trey would have hit his enforcer if he’d been within reach. “How many times do I need to tell you to stop using those lines on my mate?” Dominic placed his hand over his heart. “I try, I really do, but my love for her is like diarrhea
—I just can’t hold it in.” Again there were groans.
Taryn looked unimpressed. “Getting compared to diarrhea—awesome.”
“Only eight weeks to go until the baby’s here.” Dante’s gaze again wandered to Jaime. As if she sensed it, she looked right at him. He guessed that he was wearing a pretty intense expression, because her eyes briefly widened. She didn’t avert her gaze, though. Instead, she gave him an expectant look, one that dared him to speak his mind and explain what the hell his issue was. His wolf liked that.
“Maybe then you’ll all stop smothering and coddling me.” Taryn flicked a disgruntled snarl at Trey.
“Now, Taryn, we just want you and the baby to be safe.” Trey gave her a soft, placating kiss. It didn’t work.
“Safe or confined? Seriously, I’m surprised you haven’t placed me in a sterilized room where everyone can wave to me through a window.”
“Sorry, Taryn, but I’m pretty sure that all this Glory crap will only make him worse,” Tao said with a cheeky smile and no sympathy whatsoever. Taryn gave an almost imperceptible nod to Ryan, who nodded back and then whacked Tao over the head obligingly.
“Hey, don’t mess with the hair,” Tao whined. Although his chocolate-brown hair was tousled, it was purposely styled that way.
“Why don’t we all go for a run?” suggested Dante. “We’ve all got a lot of frustration to burn off.” Everyone rose from their seat and went to leave the room with him. Well, almost everyone.
“Jaime, aren’t you coming?”
She smiled and shook her head. “I’m heading to my room to take a shower.” It was only then that Dante realized something—he had never seen Jaime shift. She had never gone on a run with the pack. She must have gone for one with Gabe or someone, but she had never accompanied the entire pack. Wolves needed that kind of closeness, so why would she ignore it?
The confusing female rose from the sofa and, without meeting Dante’s eyes, gave him a polite smile as she walked past him. His wolf didn’t like her indifference, and a low growl escaped Dante before he could stop it. That damn ugly cat hissed at him over her shoulder. Dante saw her tense slightly, but she kept on walking. And he kept thinking about how she hadn’t been on a pack run.
Was it because she was holding herself back from the pack? Was it that she wasn’t relaxed and trustful enough? Was it that she didn’t feel as welcome and a part of the pack as the others? The whole thing bugged him. He was Beta; it was his role to see to the safety, well-being, and protection of his wolves. If for some reason Jaime wasn’t feeling settled here, he needed to know why and solve the issue.
So when he saw her the following day sitting on the patio near the lake, staring almost longingly into the mountains, he slowly approached her. “Hey.” Almost imperceptibly, she stiffened.
Had he not been so totally focused on her, he wouldn’t have noticed. So was it him that made her feel uncomfortable in the pack? Or was she just feeling awkward because he had, in a roundabout way, rejected her? Well, he was about to find out.
Silently cursing the universe for shoving this wicked temptation in her face, Jaime turned her head and forced a smile. The cocky ass was so magnificently masculine, so deliciously male, that it simply wasn’t fair. Instantly her wolf was alert and pacing. “Hi.” He nodded toward one of the chairs. “Can I sit?”
It wasn’t really a question, but Jaime nodded anyway. “Whatever it is, I didn’t do it.” Christ, that voice…It was like a throaty purr. It sent a sizzle down Dante’s spine and practically stroked his cock—which was now quickly hardening. “Don’t worry. You’re not in trouble.” He straddled one of the chairs. “What’re you doing out here all by yourself?” Jaime was feeling pretty jealous of that chair right now. “Just thinking,” she replied with a nonchalant shrug.
“About what?”
About things she had no intention of sharing. “Nothing interesting. What about you?”
“I was on patrol and I saw you sitting here looking all glum. I thought I’d check on you.”
“I do not look glum,” she countered, indignant but smiling.
Dante held her gaze with his own as he spoke. “Jaime, you know if there’s ever anything you need to talk about that you can come to me, don’t you?”
Having no clue what this was about, she frowned in confusion. “Sure.”
“I mean it. I know things have been a little…I don’t know…awkward between us because I—” He cut himself off, not sure how to phrase it. She did it for him, looking very amused.
br /> “Because you don’t want me. It’s all right, you can say it. I’m a big girl.” He almost laughed. She had no idea how wrong she was; his cock roared to life at just the sound of her voice. Her scent—Christ, that fucking scent—made his mouth water. “Jaime, I’m not a good partner for a submissive wolf.” The last thing he had expected her to do was laugh. “What?”
“I’m not sure you’re a good partner for a dominant wolf either. No female likes to be controlled as much as you’d want to control them.” His controlling streak would undoubtedly be ten times worse with a female he was in a relationship with.
He shrugged unapologetically. “That’s just who I am. Besides, I don’t touch females in my pack, Jaime. I don’t do relationships either; it only ends up a mess when true mates come along.” She hadn’t asked him for a relationship, but whatever. “You sound like you’re speaking from personal experience.” When he didn’t respond, she added, “So you won’t commit to anyone but your true mate. That’s sweet.” And unfortunate. Sigh.
Not willing to touch that subject, he went back to his original point. “All I was trying to say is that although things have been awkward between us, I don’t want it getting in the way of anything. I don’t want you feeling like you can’t come to me about stuff. I’m your Beta. If you’re having any problems in the pack, come to me, so that I can help.”
If she was having any problems she’d take care of them herself—dominant females took care of their own shit. But, as she needed him to continue believing that she was submissive, she simply said, “Thanks.”
“Nice ring.”
“Huh?” When he gestured at her hand, she looked down to see that she’d been absentmindedly fiddling with her ruby—something she always did when she was nervous. “It was my mom’s engagement ring.”
“I heard about what happened,” he said in a gentle voice. He was about to say that it was lucky she and her brother hadn’t been at home when the attack happened, but there was really nothing lucky about it. Lucky would have been for her parents to still be alive. “I’m sorry, I know it’s hard.” Yes, he did know, she thought. Well, sort of. He knew what it was like to lose his parents. She remembered how she used to watch him sitting near their graves, silent tears trailing down his cheeks.
She remembered wishing that she could help, that she could understand how he was feeling. She got her wish, just not the way she ever would have wanted.
“Is that what’s got you so down? You’ve been thinking about them?” Not today, but if she said that he’d keep pressing her until she gave him an answer, so she nodded.
“It might help if you shift and let your wolf run.” He could have sworn that anxiety flashed across her face, but if it had, it was gone as quick as it came. “I’ll come with you.” Jaime quickly got to her feet and backed up. “Um, I can’t. I, um, have somewhere I need to be.” She’d arranged to go to the movies with Riley tonight. But even if she hadn’t, she knew better than to spend time alone with a person who made her entire body hum and melt for him—against her will, no less.
He stood and approached her slowly. “Where?”
“I’m meeting someone, and I don’t want to be late.”
Pretty Boy. Although Dante had told himself that he didn’t particularly care about the whole thing, he couldn’t let his questions go. He wanted to know who this male was that had replaced him in her thoughts, wanted to know what he was to Jaime. Or, more specifically, his bruised ego wanted to know.
Ordinarily, Dante wasn’t much of a brooder—that was Trey’s department—but he didn’t like unanswered questions. He was very good at reading people and situations, had always had very good intuition. But for some reason, his intuition always failed him around Jaime. Sometimes he got the feeling that she was hiding something, that there was a lot more to her than what she allowed people to see, but his instincts didn’t go off around her like they usually would around someone with secrets.
It made no sense.
“A date?” he bit out. Before she could reply, he asked, “With the guy I saw you with at the diner?”
Wondering at the strain in his voice, Jaime started to say no, but again, he didn’t give her the chance to speak.
“Who is he?”
“Shawn’s a guy I work with.”
“Just a work colleague, nothing more? Because it sure looked like more.” She might have corrected him about the whole “date” thing if he wasn’t firing questions at her so abruptly. His accusatory tone had her totally confused. “I’m not sure I understand what this is all about.”
Dante wasn’t sure he understood either, but he couldn’t let it go yet. He wasn’t going to get a break from his ego until his questions were answered. “What pack is he from?”
“He’s not a shifter. He’s human.”
“Human?” he repeated disbelievingly. “What are you doing dating a human? Are you stupid?” Bristling at the way he was talking to her, she straightened her posture and folded her arms across her chest. The natural and very potent pull in his voice to give him the answers that he wanted sent tingles down her spine. Damn if she would let it faze or fluster her. “You do understand that this is none of your business, right?”
Dante wasn’t sure why those words bothered him as much as they did, but he couldn’t hold back a growl. His wolf growled angrily inside his head. “None of my business?” he echoed quietly as he invaded her personal space.
Jaime tensed. Although Dante was a very dominant, assertive wolf, he was quietly forceful.
He barely ever raised his voice, but he didn’t have to. Even back when he was in his teens, the change in his mood could alter the emotional temperature in a room and put the fear of God in whoever was in his sights. This was partly why he was such a good interrogator. From what she’d heard, there wasn’t anyone he had failed to break. In spite of all that—or maybe because of it—
people respected him. Or feared him, whichever. When he lowered his voice like this, well, that was always a bad thing. It meant he was totally and utterly pissed.
Fear didn’t overtake her, though. She knew that despite the strength and the power that ran through that very muscular body, he would never hurt her. He would never hurt any female. Her instinct was to snap at him, to return his attitude with her own, but that wasn’t how a submissive wolf would behave. So, although it killed her to do it, Jaime lowered her eyes and let the tension leave her body. That seemed to placate him, because although he growled again, it was a growl of approval. It shouldn’t have been like a zap to her clit, but shockingly, it was. Her body was so damn weird sometimes.
“I shouldn’t have snapped at you the way I did,” he allowed. “But you must know why dating a human isn’t wise. You can’t seriously be thinking about having a relationship with him.” It was hard to think past the way his scent—an alluring blend of pine needles, cinnamon spice, and sandalwood—caressed her senses. Looking up, she replied, “Shawn knows the score.” He snickered. “He would say that, wouldn’t he.”
“He and I had a brief fling a long time ago and it ended fine.”
“Oh is that right?” Those quiet words dripped with a menace of which Dante didn’t understand the source. Nor did she, if her expression was anything to go by. “You need to break it off with him, Jaime, before things go tits up.”
See, this was the thing about Betas—they often took their role as “protector” a little too literally. Jaime didn’t need this big-brother behavior, and she especially didn’t want it from a guy who she could never see in a fraternal sense. “Seriously, Dante, you’re letting yourself get frazzled over nothing.”
“I mean it, Jaime. You need to break it off with him.”
Aw, the poor guy really thought she was going to comply. It was kind of cute. “Not going to happen, Popeye. Sorry.” Giving him a slight wave, she turned and strolled away.
“Jaime?” he called after her. “Jaime, don’t ignore me!”
Without breaking stride, she glanced at
him over her shoulder. “It’s not that I’m ignoring you.
I’ve just lost interest in the conversation.”
He growled at the smart-ass comment. The female was too obstinate for her own good. His wolf was raging within him, wanting Dante to stop her from meeting this other male. In truth, Dante didn’t like it either. He gritted his teeth against the urge to march over there and grab her. He didn’t want her leaving pack territory knowing that she’d be out somewhere with Pretty Boy; he didn’t want the human touching her or kissing her. He wanted to hoist her over his shoulder and lock her in her room—or maybe his. That irrational response was exactly why he let her go.
His mind, however, didn’t let it go—not even when he was back in his office with paperwork in front of him needing his attention. His wolf was severely irate. Not that his wolf’s sense of possessiveness surprised Dante. His wolf had wanted her badly since she arrived, had felt slightly possessive of her on sight. What did surprise Dante was that he felt a sliver of possessiveness, too.
Being protective and controlling with Jaime were two things he could easily rationalize. Of course Dante was protective, since she was one of his wolves. Of course he was being a little too controlling with her—or, at least, attempting to—as that was who he was. But the hint of possessiveness that was suddenly making itself known…well that was new. He wasn’t, by nature, a possessive person. He’d never been much of a jealous person either, yet that very emotion was circulating through him, curdling in his stomach.
It had to be all tangled up with the blow to his ego, Dante deduced. Plus telling himself that he would not, could not, have her made him want her more. Naturally, that was messing with his head.
Naturally.
No matter how hard he tried to focus on the paperwork in front of him, his wolf and his ego tormented Dante until he found himself taking his cell phone from his pocket. Before he knew it, he was typing a text message. He wasn’t sure where exactly the compulsion came from to type those particular words, but he didn’t fight it.
Remember one thing, Jaime: A human can’t satisfy you the way you need him to.