by Paige Tyler
Then something angry reared up inside her—the same thing that had refused to let Darren rape her so many years ago.
Lifting her hands, she shoved the big Albanian so hard that he stumbled back a few feet. The power and rage she’d felt earlier still wasn’t there, but her claws were out and ready to do some damage if Kostandin didn’t get the hell out of her way.
But before she could use them, Kos chuckled and moved aside to let her pass. Jayna hesitated, waiting to see if it was some kind of trick. When Kos only lifted a brow, she slowly walked past him and headed for the door, but his voice stopped her cold.
“I know you do not enjoy the things you’ve had to do lately, things your pack leader has been making you do,” he said softly. “I could change that. If you were a bit…nicer to me…you wouldn’t have to go out and do those things again.”
Jayna whirled around with a growl. “I’d rather take my chances getting shot and killed than spend one second being…nice…to you.”
For a moment, Kos let his normal, expressionless mask crack a little, and Jayna saw a depth of hatred and evil there that nearly took her breath away. But just as quickly, the look was gone, replaced by the cold, dead stare she was used to. She turned and started for the door only to be stopped once again by a voice that was so emotionless she wasn’t sure it was even human.
“Perhaps I will make the same offer to your friend…the little wolf pup. She hates going out there even more than you. Do you think little Megan will be nicer to me?”
Jayna had no problem finding her rage now. Her eyes blazed as her claws and fangs extended even farther than they had in the lobby, and she spun around to advance on Kostandin, ready to tear him to pieces.
He didn’t even flinch as he reached behind his back and pulled out a really big handgun. Jayna didn’t know much about guns beyond loading and pulling the trigger, but this one looked big enough to do a whole lot of damage, even to a werewolf. And Kos had the barrel pointed calmly at her head.
She stopped, not going any closer but damn sure not backing off either. “You go anywhere near Megan—or any members of my pack—and I’ll tear you apart. I swear it.”
Kostandin wasn’t fazed by her threat. Instead, he kept the automatic pointed at her head for a few more seconds before casually slipping it into the holster behind his back. Then he chuckled again and brushed past her.
He stopped just outside the door and looked back. “Your pack, Jayna? Does Liam know you’ve taken over?”
Jayna didn’t offer a reply. That was okay because Kos didn’t seem to expect one.
Still trembling with anger, she headed for the stairwell. She had one foot on the steps when Liam’s voice stopped her this time. Dammit. Was the whole world trying to piss her off today? She turned around to see him jogging to catch up with her. Fifteen years older than her, she used to think of Liam as the big brother she never had. Now, she didn’t know what to think of him.
“Where have you been all day?”
Normally, she would have come up with a good lie, trusting in her ability to talk her way out of most tight corners. But after the run-in with Kostandin, she wasn’t in the mood to play games with Liam. Right now, she wanted to make sure Megan was okay.
“I was out taking care of something.”
His eyes narrowed. “What kind of something?”
Jayna felt her fangs slip out at the suspicion in his voice. She forced them back in and regarded her alpha with what she hoped was a calm expression. “I had to get out of here for a while.” She jerked her head toward the lobby. “Away from all…this.”
Liam frowned. “Why would you want to get away from this? It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to us.”
If she’d had any doubt that he’d lied about Frasheri forcing them to work for him, she didn’t now. “Best thing that ever happened to us? You’re kidding, right?”
His face darkened. “Why do you always have to act like this? I’ve never done anything but try to take care of all of you. Frasheri and Kos are going to look out for us…protect us.”
She’d thought Liam had simply looked the other way when it came to all the illegal crap the Albanians were into, but now she realized he really was indifferent to the danger he’d put the pack squarely in the middle of.
“Protect us from whom?” she demanded. “The only people who are likely to hurt us are these new friends of yours. Or haven’t you seen the way Kostandin and his buddies look at Megan and me?”
Liam actually looked like he didn’t know what she was talking about. Maybe he didn’t.
She turned and started up the stairs, done with the stupid conversation. But apparently, Liam wasn’t.
“Kos values us too much to risk pissing me off.”
Liam made it sound like he and the Albanian were equals. He was even further gone than she’d thought if he didn’t know Kos was using him.
She threw a disgusted look over her shoulder as she kept walking. “You keep believing that right up until it’s too late.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Liam asked.
She stopped and turned to look at him. Liam was standing at the bottom of the steps, an annoyed look on his face.
“When we first came down here, you said your debt would be paid off in a few weeks,” she said. “Well, it’s been a few weeks and we’re still here.”
Liam didn’t answer right away. “We’ve got something good going here, Jayna. We’d be crazy to leave. Can’t you see that?”
No, thinking Liam might actually come clean with her and admit there was no debt and never had been was crazy. She should have known better.
Jayna didn’t say anything as she turned to climb up the stairs again. Fortunately, Liam was smart enough not to follow her. If he had, Jayna knew she wouldn’t be able to help what happened.
She walked down the hall to the small, one-bedroom efficiency apartment on the third floor that she and Megan shared and tapped on the door. Even though they both had a key to the place, they had no idea if Kostandin or one of the other Albanians had a second one. So anytime one of them was in the room, they slid a chair under the doorknob to wedge the door closed even after they put the chain on it. It wouldn’t stop any of those thugs for long, but it would slow them down.
She heard Megan move the chair aside and undo the door chain. A moment later, the door opened. Megan stepped back so Jayna could enter, then closed the door and locked it again.
“Hey! I was wondering when you’d be back.” Megan smiled. “You smell different. New shampoo?”
Jayna opened her mouth to tell her best friend about Eric, but then closed it again. She wanted to trust Megan, wanted to think she wouldn’t tell Liam anything Jayna asked her to keep secret. But honestly, Jayna wasn’t sure what Megan would do if Liam got in her face and asked her straight out if she knew where Jayna had been. Even if Megan could keep from telling Liam, she still might slip up and tell one of their other pack mates, which was essentially the same thing. The guys, especially Joseph, were still really tight with their pack alpha.
So, feeling like a piece of crap, Jayna smiled back. “Yeah.”
Jayna was careful not to look at her friend as she wedged the chair back under the door. By the time she turned around, Megan was sitting cross-legged on her bed, regarding her expectantly.
“What are we going to do?” Megan asked.
Jayna walked over to the other bed and sat down. “About what?” she asked as she took off her boots.
“About these things Liam and Kostandin are making us do. I heard them talking earlier about a job they want us to take lead on. Something involving a jewelry store.” Megan sighed. “I don’t know anything about security at a jewelry store, but I’m guessing there will be guards—and guns. If things keep going like this, one of us is going to get hurt or worse. At the very least, they’re going to ask one of us to kill someone, maybe even one of those alpha werewolves from SWAT. I know that we have to stay here until the rest of the debt is p
aid off, but I don’t want to have anything to do with killing anyone.”
Jayna’s stomach clenched at the thought of one of her pack mates killing someone, especially one of the alphas from Eric’s pack—if that was even possible. She wasn’t sure about Liam anymore, but the rest of her pack weren’t killers. She knew it in her soul.
She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees. “I don’t want any of us to have anything to do with that.”
Megan chewed on her thumbnail. She always did when she was worried. “Do you think Liam could work something out with the Albanians? Maybe he could pay back the money some other way.”
Jayna was so close to telling Megan that Liam had lied about everything, but she couldn’t make herself say the words. Liam might have gotten them into this mess, but she wasn’t ready to turn her pack against their alpha yet.
“Something tells me the Albanians won’t go for that,” she finally said.
Megan nibbled on her nail some more. “Maybe we should just leave. There has to be someplace we can go where the Albanians won’t be able to find us.”
If only it were that easy. “Liam won’t leave. And I don’t think the guys will go if he doesn’t. Are you ready to leave them behind?”
Megan sighed and shook her head. Then she looked at Jayna sharply, her pulse suddenly pounding so fast it seemed to echo in the room. “You won’t leave on your own, will you?”
The panic in Megan’s voice was so painful to hear, it almost brought tears to Jayna’s eyes. Getting up, she walked the three short strides that separated her bed from Megan’s and plopped down beside the other girl. She wrapped her arm around Megan’s shoulders and hugged her close.
“I’ll never leave you,” she murmured, resting her cheek against Megan’s silky, dark hair. “Never.”
Megan immediately relaxed, her heart rate slowly returning to normal as she wrapped her arms around Jayna. Megan had been through so much and depended on Jayna. Jayna would die before she let the girl down.
“We’ll be okay,” Jayna whispered. “We’ll find a way out of this. I promise.”
“I believe you,” Megan said. “You’re the heart and soul of this pack. If you say we’ll be okay, we will.”
The burden on Jayna’s shoulders suddenly felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. How the heck could she do anything? She was only a beta.
Jayna thought about Eric Becker and how the big alpha had promised to help her and her pack. She almost laughed at the notion that some outsider—a cop to boot—would ever help them. But something told her that Eric was going to come through for them.
She prayed her instincts were right because she needed something miraculous to happen if she was going to get her pack out of this situation alive.
Chapter 6
The plan was simple. Walk into Gage’s office, get the fake ID out of the safe, drop a leave form on the boss’s desk, and be out before anyone came in for PT that morning.
That was why Becker and Cooper got to the compound at oh dark thirty. Luckily, Cooper was right about the combination to the safe being the date Gage had changed into a werewolf, so opening it wasn’t a problem. Even finding the high-quality forgeries the SWAT commander had made just in case the Pack ever had to go on the run was easy.
In addition to a license and passport, there were also credit cards. Becker had seen some good fakes when he was with the Secret Service, but this stuff was some of the best he’d ever laid eyes on. The name was even perfect—Eric Bauer. Definitely close enough to his own that he’d instinctively answer to it.
“That was almost too easy.” Becker grinned as he dropped his leave form on Gage’s desk and followed Cooper out of their boss’s office. “Maybe we’re in the wrong line of work.”
Then the door of the admin building opened and Gage walked in.
Shit.
Gage stared at them—not exactly with suspicion but definitely with curiosity. “What are you guys doing here so early?”
Becker’s mind went completely blank. He was going undercover with a group of werewolves who would tear him apart if they even sniffed something wasn’t legit. And right now, he couldn’t come up with a single excuse that explained why he and Cooper were at the compound so early.
“I, um, had to come in early and drop off a leave form,” he finally said, trying to sound casual.
His boss frowned. “You’re taking leave? Now?”
“Yeah.”
Becker glanced at Cooper to find his friend regarding him patiently. Clearly, there wouldn’t be any help coming from that direction. So what now? Gage was really good at sniffing out lies, and if he called Becker on this one, his undercover assignment would be over before it started.
“It’s my sister. They think they might have to induce labor.” He felt like crap for bringing her into this and lying about her being pregnant, but he didn’t have a choice. Jayna’s life might depend on it. “I know my timing is bad, especially with the other pack in town, but I really think I should be there. It’s her first child and all.”
Becker held his breath, waiting for Gage to call bullshit on the lie, but his boss didn’t. Maybe Becker wasn’t such a crappy liar after all. Or maybe Gage knew how close Becker was with his family and thought that any weird vibes he picked up were because Becker was worried about his sister.
“Take all the time you need,” Gage said. “And when she has the baby, make sure you take pictures. Mackenzie will want to see the kid. She’s crazy about stuff like that.”
Becker promised he would, then added, “I’ll check in as often as I can.”
“That went a hell of a lot better than I thought it would,” Cooper said as they walked across the parking lot.
“No thanks to you,” Becker muttered. “You could have helped me out when Gage started grilling me.”
Cooper snorted. “Trust me, that wasn’t grilling. When you walk into that loft, you’re going to be grilled. The questions will be coming at you fast and hard. You’d better be ready to talk a good game, or you’re toast.” When they got to Becker’s bike, Cooper stopped to face him. “I’m serious. You up for this?”
All Becker had to do was imagine Jayna in that loft full of killers. He was going in there whether he was up for it or not.
“I’m good,” Becker said as he climbed on his bike. “You just be ready when I call you with whatever I uncover. The faster we take down these guys, the faster we can get Jayna’s pack out of there.”
“I’ll be waiting,” Cooper said. “Watch your back in there.”
Becker reached to start his bike, then stopped. “Almost forgot. Can you stop by and feed my fish every few days? And talk to them too. They get lonely when I’m not home.”
Cooper made a face. “Who the hell talks to their fish?”
“Me. You’ll feed them, right?”
“Yeah, I’ll feed them. But I’m sure as hell not talking to them,” Cooper said. “Now get outta here before anyone else shows up and asks what you’re doing here so early.”
Becker chuckled as he cranked the engine, but his amusement disappeared the moment he rode out of the parking lot. Cooper’s warning echoed in his head. Damn straight he’d watch his back—because there’d be no one else around to do it for him.
* * *
The thought that Jayna might not show briefly entered Becker’s mind on the ride over to the coffee shop, but he quickly dismissed it. Jayna would be there. If not today, then tomorrow. All he had to do was keep going back to that Starbucks until she did.
He grabbed a cup of coffee and found a table in the corner where he could put his back to the wall and keep an eye on the door. In between, he surfed the net on his phone and skimmed his fake IDs so he’d be familiar with his alter ego. He was so busy trying to memorize the address on his driver’s license—some rural trailer park near Waco—that he didn’t notice Jayna had walked in and was coming his way until her intoxicating scent nearly knocked him out of his chair.
He looke
d up to see her backlit by the midmorning sun pouring through the open door, silhouetting her curvy figure and gorgeous mane of dark blond hair. When she caught sight of him looking at her, a smile tilted up the corners of her beautiful lips, and just like that, the tension he hadn’t even known was there left his body.
Jayna motioned that she was going to get a drink. A few minutes later, she slipped into the seat opposite him, a venti latte in her hand. She looked pleased to see him—or maybe that was just his imagination.
“I’m glad you could come,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be able to get away again so soon.”
“Me either. But there weren’t many people hanging around the loft this morning.” She sipped her latte. “Besides, you said you might have a plan on how to get my pack out of this mess. I’m willing to take any risk if it helps them.”
He gave her a hurt look. “And here I was thinking you were meeting me because of my scintillating conversational skills.”
She laughed, and Becker couldn’t get over the effect that sound had on him. It was like an extension cord plugged straight into his heart. Damn, he had it bad for this woman.
“Nope,” she said. “I’m just here for the latte and the plan.”
He grinned. “Well, if that’s the case, I guess I should probably tell you I’ve come up with one.”
Jayna leaned forward, bringing that delicious scent of hers even closer. “You did? What is it?”
While she might be eager to hear what he had to say, Becker got the feeling she was a little cautious too. He supposed he couldn’t blame her.
“The only way I can help you and your pack is if I’m on the inside—as an omega,” he said. “So I’m going back to the loft with you.”
She stared at him, speechless. “Are you serious? That’s your big plan? You’re just going to waltz in and say you heard through the grapevine that some Albanian mobsters are looking to hire werewolves off the street to be enforcers?”
Becker had to admit, the plan didn’t sound nearly as good when she put it that way. But it was the only one he had, so they were going to have to make it work. It was either that or go back to his raiding-the-loft idea, and Jayna had already made it clear that wasn’t an option.