“Hello there, honey,” said the one in the center who was the tallest and stockiest of the seven.
His eyes surveyed her body, and a creepy smile took over his face. Looking in his eyes, she couldn’t help but get the feeling that someone else was driving. “I can see why he might be tempted to ignore his mate for you.”
“How’s your sister doing?” she asked tonelessly. Her wolf paced restlessly, recognizing their posture as threatening and beginning to feel overly anxious. In truth, Jaime wasn’t feeling particularly calm either, but she wouldn’t let them see that.
“You hurt her pretty badly. As you can imagine, I can’t have that. And since you’re Dante’s girl, that means you’re a way to hurt him, too. By dealing with you, we’re killing two birds with one stone.”
Her wolf lunged at her confines, but Jaime breathed through the pain and ignored it. “So you’re going to gang up on and beat up a girl. Huh. Your bravery staggers me.” His nostrils flared. “You messed up her face.”
“I’d do it again. What your sister fails to realize is that the huge circle of fire in the sky is what the world revolves around, not her. She wants Dante and thinks that she’s therefore entitled to have him, even if he doesn’t want her. It’s kind of sad and pathetic, really.” He looked at her curiously. “There has to be something wrong with you. Here you are, confronted by seven male shifters who have every intention of beating you to a pulp, and yet…you’re giving us attitude and insulting our sister. In a way, I kind of respect that.” Seeing that he was about to signal to his brothers to move toward her, she sighed and held up a hand. “Look, guys, you might want to think twice before doing this. I’m not an easy target. And I’ve seen CSI. I know how to get rid of the bodies and everything.” The crazy asses actually laughed, which only served to anger her wolf, who was now howling her frustration as she continued to attack her cage, wanting out. For once, she wasn’t overreacting.
One female against seven males was, undeniably, bad odds. She couldn’t call Ivy and Riley. With their ear protectors on, they’d never hear her. The only thing she could think to do was distract them until one of her coworkers came out.
Jaime looked at the empty space beside her. “I’m pretty sure they intend to hurt us badly, Mr.
Dungworth. We don’t like violence, do we, Mr. Dungworth? What course of action would you suggest?” She let her face take on a speculative look, as if she was considering an opinion.
“Interesting. Illegal and immoral, but interesting.” When she turned to the brothers, it was to see the seven glancing at each other with expressions that begged “What the fuck?” The middle brother looked to the others, gulping hard and seeming nervous. “Let’s get this over with.” None of them moved.
“Glory’s right, she’s crazy,” hissed the one on his left.
“She’s also one female. Now come on.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” interrupted Dante, growling, as he came out from behind the main building. “I really, really wouldn’t.” He’d noticed the huge truck as he neared the sanctuary, and some sixth sense had told him that it was Glory’s brothers. While a part of him had wanted to race over to the parking lot and confront them, the Beta in him had known it was important to be careful. If they’d heard him coming, they could have panicked and jumped on Jaime before he was even out of the SUV.
After making a quick call to the enforcers, he quietly approached to investigate. Thank God he’d gotten here in time.
“Okay, baby?” he asked Jaime without looking at her.
“Super.” Her wolf calmed a little at his voice and presence, but she was still very much on edge.
“Good.” He stepped forward until there was only a small space between him and the brothers.
“I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. You’re all going to turn around and leave here. You’re going to ensure that your sister stops spreading sweet little lies about me being her mate, and you’re going to make sure she stays the hell away from Jaime.”
She shivered at his words. Sheer dominance and power had dripped from every syllable.
The brother in the middle snickered, clearly too stupid and crazy to be nervous. Seeing that he was clearly the most dominant and the leader, Dante had every intention of demobilizing him in the quickest way possible in order to unsettle the others.
The crazy idiot advanced a step toward Dante. “Or what?”
Dante smiled, but it wasn’t pleasant. “Do you really want to know the answer to that?” The idiot’s response was to aim his balled-up fist at Dante’s nose. Dante blocked the move with his arm and delivered a head-butt hard enough to make the idiot stumble and triple-blink. He righted himself quickly and unsheathed his claws before taking a swipe at Dante.
Dodging the claws, Dante struck at his neck, aiming for his pressure points and easily taking him out of the equation. As he’d expected, the second the others watched their brother fall unconscious, they suddenly seemed unsure and rattled. Unfortunately, it didn’t completely discourage them from doing what they’d come to do.
One of them lunged at Dante, only to receive a kick to the ribs that took the breath from him and put him on his ass. Not someone who fought fair when he or any of his pack were threatened, particularly when it was Jaime, Dante didn’t hesitate in delivering another kick—this time to the face, making blood spurt from his attacker’s nose.
Two came at him this time. Dodging the blow aimed at his temple, Dante gripped one of his assailants by the throat, lifted him easily, and sent him colliding into the other wolf who had been heading for him. Both of them crashed into one of the vehicles and bounced to the ground, groaning.
One managed to jump to his feet and again flew at Dante, subjecting him to a series of blows and kicks. After some ducking, weaving, and blocking, Dante ended the duel with a palm-heel strike to the face.
Catching Dante off guard, a fifth brother came at him from the side and would have managed to sink his teeth into his throat if Dante’s reflexes hadn’t been as perfect as they were. He ducked, causing the male to topple over him and fall flat on his face. Swiftly, the other wolf bounced to his feet, but before he could make any further threatening moves, Dante swung his arm in an unnaturally fast, fluid motion, and his fist connected heavily with the male’s temple. His head flew to the right, and his entire body went limp as he awkwardly dropped to the pavement with a heavy thump.
Knocked out cold.
Seeing no sign of the other two males, Dante’s heart leaped into his throat. Jaime. He twirled sharply and cursed at the sight he found. There was Jaime scowling down at two guys. One was trying to snap a dislocated shoulder back into place, but didn’t seem to be having much luck—most likely because he was dizzy as all shit. The other guy was curled on the ground, cupping his balls with what looked to be a broken wrist and glaring at her through blood that was dripping from an ugly gash above his eye.
More surprising, there wasn’t a scratch on her. In fact, she looked cool as a cucumber. He could sense that her wolf, on the other hand, was royally pissed. Huh. She’d been paying more attention during training than he’d thought. Good girl.
“I’ll get you back for this, bitch,” the male cupping his balls managed to grit out.
She gave him a patronizing smile. “I know this must be painful for your ego. Try not to think of it as being defeated. Just think of it as being beat up by a girl.” Shuffling sounds had Dante’s head whipping around. Other than the two who were still out cold, the brothers behind him were back on their feet, apparently ready for more. Also, Jaime’s dizzy victim had now snapped his arm back into place and was dragging himself to his feet, just like the brother beside him. Not good.
They all looked ready to dive on Dante and Jaime as a unit, but then all seven suddenly stilled as the most riveting sound Dante had ever heard filled the air. It was no surprise to see Ivy behind Jaime with her arm outstretched, her palm facing outward.
When Jaime had explained that Ivy was a Siren a
nd that her voice could lure those around her into a trance, he had been expecting it to be choir-like and angelic. It was anything but. There was no real way to describe it. It was smoky, husky, and velvety, but not low or quiet. No, it was powerful, and it was commanding the attention of each of the brothers, who were no longer intent on advancing on him and Jaime. Instead, they stood gaping at Ivy, totally under her spell. When she stopped, they remained where there were, motionless and mute.
“Dumb shitheads,” muttered Ivy. “Sorry I didn’t hear them sooner.” Before Dante or Jaime could say anything, a gold Chevrolet Tahoe pulled up. Tao and the enforcers dived out. “You took your time, didn’t you?”
“Luckily, Ivy stepped in.” Jaime watched as Tao, Trick, Dominic, Ryan, and Marcus all stared in amazement at Ivy. Tao’s jaw was at risk of hitting the floor. Ryan was gulping hard as his gaze wandered over her. Dominic was wearing the most flirtatious grin ever. Trick was practically drooling. Marcus’s eyes were shining with lust. And Dante…well, he spared Ivy a brief glance before returning his attention to the brothers. So Ivy was right, Dante was immune to her sexual lure.
He was so getting lucky later.
Suddenly Dominic’s expression turned impish, and she knew one of his cheesy lines was coming. He cocked his head at Ivy. “Screw me if I’m wrong, but haven’t we met before?”
“Knock it off, Dominic,” Jaime complained before giving Ivy an apologetic look. “You’ll have to excuse him. He has a habit of dishing out cheesy lines. It might be some kind of disorder—we’re looking into it.” To her surprise, Ivy seemed amused rather than irritated.
Dominic put his hand over his heart, feigning hurt. “That wasn’t cheesy. I can’t believe you’d say that.”
Finally snapping out his ogling, Trick took in the state of their attackers and his brows arched.
“How long will they stay like that?”
“Until I free them from the trance,” replied Ivy, glaring at the brothers with hate in her eyes.
“Or kill them, whichever.”
“Cool,” said Marcus, to which Ryan grunted his agreement. “You okay, gorgeous?” Marcus tentatively asked Jaime, keeping his distance, as if he expected her to snap any moment now.
Tao frowned at her. “Good thing Dante got here and dealt with them before you lost control and ate them.”
“Don’t, Tao,” growled Dante.
“If you must know,” said Ivy cockily, “Jaime dealt with Assholes Number Six and Number Seven over there, and yet here she is, calm and collected. So give her a fucking break or I might just break that jaw of yours that’s still hanging loose.”
Jaime wouldn’t have thought it possible for Dominic’s grin to turn any more flirtatious, but it did. He was looking at Ivy like he wanted to own her. Oh for the love of God.
Dante went to Jaime’s side and rubbed her back soothingly. “Sure you’re okay?” She nodded. “Fine.”
“Good. Get your stuff from your locker. I’ll have Tao drive you back to pack territory while the guys and I take care of those pricks. You really don’t want to see what comes next.” He was right, she didn’t. She knew the guys would make an example of them to ensure they got their message across so that it never happened to anyone in their pack again.
“Ryan can drive her,” said Tao with a scowl.
Dante held his gaze. “Believe me when I say that I’d rather you weren’t anywhere near her.
But if I don’t get you out of my sight, I’m going to end up going for your damn throat. Take her home.
Oh, and Tao? Don’t try winding her up. She’s better at it, and she’ll have you in tears.” To Jaime’s surprise, Tao didn’t try it. He remained silent the entire time he drove. She could feel the tension and anger emanating from him and knew he was dying to give her a piece of his mind, but he restrained himself.
Back at pack territory, she took a long, soothing shower and dressed in some fresh clothes. At a leisurely pace, she dried her hair while listening to some music, hoping to ease her wolf’s mood. It worked well enough. An hour later, she made her way to the laundry room, wanting to ensure she had washed the offensive scent of Glory’s brothers from her coveralls. She knew she wasn’t supposed to go anywhere without Dante beside her, but they all should know by now that Jaime didn’t follow rules. Besides, she had no idea if he was back yet.
She stopped still as she passed the living area and caught a thread of the conversation.
“…know she’s your sister, Gabe, but you have to admit that we’re right.”
“Honey, I love you and your sister,” said Lydia softly, “but Cam’s right.”
“I know that leaving the pack might make things worse for her and she could end up dead,” said Rhett, “but if she turns rogue while she’s here, she’ll be killed, so she’ll end up dead anyway.”
“Rhett!” chastised Grace. “For shit’s sake, she’s one of our wolves.”
“Hey, I’m not saying we should banish her, but I do have a valid point.” Grace growled at her mate. “Dante’s going to watch her constantly, so surely that’s enough.” Greta’s witchy voice came next. “He’s only one person. He can’t watch her every minute of every day, and I very much doubt that he wants to.”
“Okay, well then, maybe some of the enforcers could help,” suggested Grace with a sigh.
“I will,” offered Ryan. Clearly, the guys were all home. Jaime was anxious to know if Dante was in the room, but she didn’t dare move and try to peek. She wanted to hear every word.
“She’s dangerous, Ryan!” Greta snickered. “She was only here to try to mate with one of you anyway. Be glad none of you fell for her charms enough to mate her or you’d die with her.”
“Dante thinks that if he gives her the same training he gave us and teaches her better control, it might help,” Trick informed them.
Greta huffed. “Yes it might. Shall I tell you what else might happen? She might attack Taryn.”
“Oh for God’s sake,” gritted out Shaya. “She needs help. Not all this.”
“It’s true, Shaya,” insisted Greta, “and if anything was to happen to Taryn or the baby, Trey would completely lose it and the entire pack would fall apart—and all because we kept Jaime here so that she could live a little longer than she otherwise would have. I don’t know what my Dante’s thinking by wanting to keep her here.”
“I tried talking to Trey about it, but he cut me off.” Tao sighed. “All I can think is that Taryn told him not to make Jaime leave. He won’t do anything that will upset Taryn right now.”
“What do you think about her being here, Marcus?” asked Cam.
A heavy sigh. “I wouldn’t like to see her out there alone.”
“But you have to admit it’s unsafe for us to have her here. Even her own brother can admit that much, can’t you, Gabe?” said Cam.
“I honestly can’t believe you’re all talking like this.” Gabe’s pain was obvious in his voice.
“Do you think I don’t know what you’re doing? You know Jaime will listen to me, and you think that if you can convince me it’s best for her to leave, I’ll ask her to. Well fuck all of you. Have none of you even wondered how her wolf came to be like this? Have any of you even wondered what she must have gone through? No. I agree that it’s important that the pack is safe, but Jaime is pack.”
“Damn straight,” said Dominic as Shaya said, “Exfuckingactly.” Greta ignored them. “It makes me wonder if Dante should still have the position of Beta.” There were several gasps. “I love him, he’s one of my boys, but he’s not thinking straight. He’s not putting his pack first. I have to question whether he needs a break from his duty.” There was a short silence then. “Maybe she’s right,” said Tao.
“Maybe,” agreed Cam.
Offended and enraged, Jaime couldn’t stay hidden any longer. It was one thing for them all to judge her, but not Dante. “How come I wasn’t invited to the party?” Tension and awkwardness filled the air the second she entered the room. “I m
ean, you’re discussing my life and when exactly it should end, so I would’ve thought I have the right to be here.”
Greta snarled, though she looked uncomfortable. “Any decent person who knew they were a danger to their own pack would leave.”
“Any decent person who knew someone in their pack needed support would give it,” countered Shaya.
Jaime folded her arms across her chest. “Let me ask you something, Greta. If this was Dante, or Tao, or Dominic, or any of your other ‘boys,’ would you be saying the same thing?” Greta averted her gaze, unsurprisingly. “You know what this reminds me of? The day when Trey was banished.
Everyone stood around, shouting out their opinions about him—claiming he was unstable, a danger, and that he needed to be killed or ordered to leave. I’m getting an idea of how that must have felt for him, how deep that betrayal must have cut him. Well, thank God he had people who supported him enough that they even left with him. Funny how that same supportive bunch is now acting just like the people they once resented.”
“Jaime—”
“No, Trick, I don’t want to hear it. I don’t need to. I think you’ve all said enough.”
“Jaime, honey, wait,” pleaded Dominic.
“You know what pisses me off the most? That any of you could actually question Dante’s competence as Beta. You’ve betrayed him by even thinking that. Not one of you would do better at that position than him. Not one of you could take his place and fill it. And if you tried, I’d kill you.
Even if it meant coming back from the grave.”
Seeing that she was about to leave the room, Gabe stood and took a step toward her. She held up her hand. “I need some time alone, okay,” she said softly. He nodded, smiling.
More specifically, what she needed was to leave the place for good, but if she’d said that aloud, either he, Shaya, or Dominic would most likely have tried to stop her. This was something she had to do whether she liked it or not. It might make her wolf go over the edge, and she might turn rogue within a few days’ time, but she had only been delaying the inevitable. She couldn’t stay here in this place where she was not only unwelcome, but feared. Especially not when it meant Dante’s position as Beta might be in jeopardy. She knew how much he loved his job, and she wouldn’t be the reason he lost it.
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