In the Company of Wolves

by Paige Tyler

  * * *

  It took all the restraint Becker possessed to keep from scooping up Jayna in his arms and carrying her down the stairs. She was moving so gingerly that it hurt to watch her try to get down to the first floor.

  He and Cooper took their time leading Jayna through the building and out to the operations vehicle in the parking lot behind the loft. Becker was just thinking he might have to pick her up to get her into the renovated RV, but the moment he opened the door, all her aches and pains disappeared. She must have picked up the scent of her pack mates because she practically leaped through the door.

  He climbed in just in time to see Jayna pulling Megan into her arms, hugging the smaller werewolf to her as she moved over to join Moe and Joseph by Chris’s side. The beta was stretched out on his back on the floor near the bank of TVs there. Alex and the team’s other medic, Trey Duncan, were leaning over the injured werewolf with forceps, bloody hands, and a frigging needle and thread.

  “Oh God, Chris. What happened?” Jayna asked as she knelt down beside the werewolf.

  Chris gritted his teeth as Trey slid the needle through the ab muscles on either side of the ragged laceration the bullet had made in his stomach the previous night. It was bleeding heavily and didn’t look nearly as healed as it should have.

  “He tore open the half-healed wound in his stomach fighting those damn Albanians,” Joseph said. “The stupid idiot wouldn’t stay still no matter how many times we told him to.”

  Becker knelt down beside Jayna, taking hold of her hand and giving it a squeeze. “Is he going to be okay?” he asked Trey.

  “He should have healed already,” Trey muttered distractedly as he looped a knot in the thread, then pulled the edges of the wound closed. “He said this happened over twenty-four hours ago, so I don’t understand why the wound hasn’t closed already. The internal injuries are doing fine, but this muscle tissue should have knitted closed sometime last night. I don’t know why it hasn’t.”

  Tears filled Jayna’s eyes, but before Becker could say anything to reassure her, Gage spoke.

  “He’s a beta. That’s why the wound hasn’t healed. Betas can’t handle the amount of damage alphas can, so it takes longer for them to heal. He’ll recover much faster now that Trey and Alex have closed up those torn muscles, provided he stays off his feet for a while.”

  Jayna looked over her shoulder at Gage, as if trying to figure out how much she wanted to trust his words. Apparently, whatever she saw on his face must have satisfied her because she visibly relaxed as she turned back to rest a hand on Chris’s forehead.

  “He’ll stay off his feet,” she said firmly. “I can promise you that.”

  When Alex and Trey were done, they moved away from Chris and out the door, letting Jayna and her pack have unfettered access to their friend. As one, they leaned in to wrap him in their arms. The image was pretty damn moving, even for a werewolf used to living in a pack. If Becker hadn’t been sure before, he was now: betas simply possessed a stronger and more dependent bond than the one that existed in his SWAT pack. His pack was tight, but hers was tighter.

  Part of him worried what that meant for his relationship with their new leader—and he had no doubt that Jayna was their pack leader now. That fact had become more and more obvious over the past few days, but it was official now. Her pack had chosen her over Liam.

  He got to his feet and walked over to where Gage was standing by the open door. He knew the morning’s events had been traumatic for all of them, and he got the feeling that being together as a pack was what they needed.

  Gage was watching the other pack intently. “So, that’s her, huh? The reason you did all of this?”

  Becker glanced at Jayna. She was hugging both Moe and Joseph at the same time while Megan kneeled beside them with a big smile on her face. The whole attitude of her pack had changed now that Liam was gone. Whereas everyone had been tense and scared before, now, with Jayna, they were all smiles and laughter. Becker could certainly understand why—Jayna made him feel like that every time he was with her too.

  “Yeah, that’s her,” he said.

  “Guess I can understand why you went to such extreme lengths to be with her then,” Gage said. “She seems pretty special.”

  Gage didn’t know the half of it. “She is.” He turned to his boss. “Cooper said some of the werewolves and Albanians got away. I need to figure out who.”

  His alpha nodded. “Go ahead. I’ll look after them until you get back.”

  The loft had turned into a complete zoo in the few minutes he’d been inside the operations vehicle. There were at least twenty patrol cars parked in the lot and along the street, all with their blue lights flashing. Throw in the various ambulances with their red lights and the unmarked cars with flashing headlights and dashboard lights, and the place was lit up like a freaking circus. The sidewalks on the far side of the street from the loft were already filling up with reporters and news vans. Oh yeah, it was turning into a madhouse.

  Becker immediately headed up to the second floor, making his way around uniformed cops dragging the Albanians away in cuffs and paramedics pushing the injured and dead away on gurneys. He checked a few body bags as he went, but none of them held Liam or Kostandin. Unfortunately, when he picked up their scents, he realized they’d both slipped out of the loft—together. Worse, they had at least a half-dozen Albanians with them, maybe more. He followed the scent trail out of the building and down the block, where they disappeared. Obviously, they’d gotten into a vehicle and were long gone.

  When Becker got back to the operations vehicle, Jayna was talking to Gage, the anxiety back on her beautiful face. Her pack was still gathered in the rear of the RV, but they looked just as concerned as she did. Becker walked over to stand beside her.

  “Frasheri isn’t getting out of prison for a long time, I can promise you that,” Gage said.

  “That doesn’t mean anything if we’re in there with him,” Jayna said. “You still haven’t said if you’re going to arrest us or not.”

  Becker held his breath. He found Jayna’s hand, interlocking his fingers with hers. It was his way of letting her know he was on her side—and her pack’s.

  Gage’s mouth curved slightly. “If I were going to arrest you and your pack, you wouldn’t be in the back of my operations vehicle. You’d already be in jail.”

  Some of the tension left Jayna’s shoulders, but the rest of her pack didn’t seem as convinced.

  “Why are you letting us go?” Moe asked.

  “Because Becker said that none of you actually ever committed any serious crimes. That’s good enough for me,” Gage said.

  “What if Frasheri tells the DA about us, hoping to make a deal?” Megan asked. “Or Caleb?”

  “The DA is interested in putting away mob bosses like Frasheri, not people who worked for him,” Becker said. “Frasheri is probably scared shitless of you testifying against him.”

  “And as for Caleb, ratting you out wouldn’t be in his best interest,” Gage added. “All he has to do is say he was the muscle Frasheri brought in to follow orders. I doubt there’ll be any way to pin him to any specific crime. He keeps his head down, he’ll be out of prison in less than two years.” He glanced at Becker. “Did you come up with anything out there?”

  “It looks like Liam and Kostandin got away, along with a few of the Albanians,” Becker said. “I tracked their scent for a block before it disappeared.”

  Gage swore. Becker silently did the same. He didn’t like the idea of Jayna’s former alpha being anywhere but in prison. She and her pack looked just as alarmed.

  Chris pushed himself up on an elbow. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead from the effort and he bit back a grimace. “Liam’s going to come for us. We’ve got to get out of Dallas before he does.”

  Megan and Joseph both put a hand on Chris’s shoulder, gently pushing him back down.

  “Hey, that medic guy said you’re supposed to take it easy, not get on the first bus ou
t of here,” Joseph said. “That means none of us are leaving either. At least not until you’ve healed up.”

  “Joseph’s right,” Megan said. “Besides, just because Liam got away, that doesn’t mean he’s going to come after us.” She looked at Jayna. “Right?”

  Becker could practically see Jayna’s shoulders bow under the sudden weight of so much responsibility. He knew without having to ask where her mind was headed. She was wondering if she should take her pack and get as far away from Dallas, Frasheri, Liam, and Kostandin as they could.

  “Megan’s right, Jayna,” Becker said. “Liam and Kos are no doubt long gone from here.”

  If Liam did come after Jayna and her pack though, going on the run was more dangerous than staying in Dallas, where he and the rest of his SWAT team could protect them. But if they were hell-bent on leaving, he’d go with them.

  “Jayna?” Moe prompted when she didn’t answer.

  She looked back and forth from her pack to Becker, anguish clear in her eyes. He wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her that he’d make everything better, but she had a pack that depended on her. They needed her to figure out what to do, not him.

  “I don’t know if Liam will come after us or not, but Chris is in no shape to go anywhere right now,” she finally said. “We should have enough money between us to lie low at a motel for a few days until we figure something out.”

  “Or you could stay with me,” Becker suggested.

  It wasn’t a question, but it wasn’t a command either. Jayna might be new to this alpha thing, but he wasn’t going to impose his will on her, ever. That didn’t mean he couldn’t still be persuasive as hell. Right now, all he was trying to do was show her that she and her pack didn’t have to go it alone. She had him now, and his pack would help hers.

  Jayna gave him a skeptical look. “All five of us? I don’t think we’d fit.”

  He shrugged. “We can make it work.”

  “I’m not sure about that, Becker. I’ve seen how small your apartment is,” Gage said. “But I think I might know a place where Jayna and her pack can stay without falling over each other every time they turn around.” He looked at Jayna. “If you’re okay with that?”

  She exchanged looks with her pack mates, then gave Gage a nod.

  Relief coursed through Becker’s body. Jayna and her pack would be hanging around Dallas long enough for him to convince them to stay permanently.

  Chapter 14

  “You want something to eat?” Eric asked, tossing his keys on the table inside the door of his apartment.

  Jayna started to say no, then stopped. She’d eaten a huge breakfast just a few hours ago, so she shouldn’t be hungry, but she was famished again. She’d been eating like a bear since yesterday. Eric and Cooper said it was because she needed the extra energy to heal the damage her body had sustained during the fight with Brandon. She supposed that made sense, considering Trey had told her she’d broken four ribs and fractured several bones in her back bouncing off that column. What didn’t make sense was how fast she’d healed. As a beta, it should have taken days to recover, but she was feeling almost back to normal already.

  Eric must have taken her silence for consent and jerked his head at the couch as he headed toward the kitchen. “I’ll dig us up something to eat. You can turn on the TV if you want.”

  She curled up on his big, comfy couch, but ignored the TV remote. She didn’t feel like watching television, and she definitely had no interest in what the news channels were saying about yesterday’s shoot-out at the loft. So instead, she leaned back into the cushions, trying furiously to figure out what she should do with the pack she had become responsible for overnight.

  She barely felt capable of taking care of herself on most days, much less four other werewolves. For one horrible minute back in the SWAT operations vehicle yesterday, she’d almost considered walking away from Eric. She hadn’t wanted to do it, but being responsible for the rest of her pack meant she had to put other people’s needs ahead of her own, especially if it meant keeping them safe from Liam.

  But fortunately, Sergeant Dixon, the very large and very intimidating alpha of Eric’s pack, had come up with a solution—staying with his future in-laws, Ethan and Kathryn Stone. Jayna still couldn’t believe the couple had opened up their beautiful home to people they didn’t know, but they had, and for that, she was extremely grateful.

  She and Eric had talked about her pack staying at the compound instead, but quickly decided against it. Living in close proximity to seventeen extremely alpha werewolves would have made her pack jumpy as hell. And if Liam and Kos were still in Dallas, there was no way they’d find them down near College Station.

  Jayna didn’t realize she’d zoned out until Eric walked into the living room carrying two plates piled high with sandwiches. He set them on the coffee table, then went back to the kitchen to grab a monster-sized bag of Doritos and two sodas. She was about to tell him that a single sandwich would have been enough, but then her stomach growled and she decided that maybe she could eat the entire plate of sandwiches.

  They didn’t talk much as they ate, but that just gave Jayna more time to worry. Was Chris resting like he was supposed to? Were Megan, Moe, and Joseph sticking close to the Stones’ place like she’d asked them to? Did she have to worry about Liam or Kos finding them?

  God, had her former alpha agonized over everything like this? Something told her he probably hadn’t.

  Eric must have picked up on her anxiety because he frowned as he reached into the bag for another handful of Doritos. “Still worried about your pack?”

  “My pack? Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds? I’m not even an alpha.”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “No,” she said quickly. “I’m a beta like the rest of them.”

  “I wouldn’t be too sure of that. You’re eating like an alpha. You’re healing like an alpha. Your claws and fangs are longer and sharper than anyone else’s in your pack, and all of them naturally turn to you for answers when anything goes wrong.” He grinned. “Sounds like an alpha to me.”

  Jayna placed her empty plate on the coffee table, then stared hard at it as she considered that. “But if I’m an alpha, why don’t I know what to do? They’re worried and scared, and they’re looking to me to tell them what we should do next, and I don’t know what to tell them.”

  Eric set his plate on the table beside hers, then moved closer and put his arm around her shoulders. She leaned her weight into him, resting her head on his muscular chest and letting herself be weak for just a little while.

  “You’re going to figure this out,” he said softly, kissing the top of her head and pulling her even closer. “We’re going to figure this out. We just need to find a place for you and your pack to live and work you’ll enjoy doing.”

  “I don’t know if that will be enough,” she said softly. “We’ve never lived in one place more than three or four months, less if there was trouble of any kind. And even though Moe is new to the pack, running from problems is already what he’s used to doing. It’s what all of us are used to doing.”

  “But it doesn’t have to be that way this time. You can stop running and let me help. We can make this work. We just have to try.”

  Jayna closed her eyes for a moment, listening to the strong beat of his heart under her cheek. She wanted to believe him, but she was terrified at the thought of what would happen if he was wrong.

  “But what if we can’t?” she asked. “What if we can’t find jobs or a place to live? What if the guys don’t want to stay here? You just said it. I’m supposed to be their alpha now. I’m supposed to take care of them. What if I have to leave…for them?”

  He gently pulled her away from his chest so he could look at her. “If we can’t find something for your pack in Dallas, something that really works for them, or if they’re not happy here, then I’ll leave with you.”

  Jayna was speechless. She knew Eric cared for her, but she hadn’t r
ealized just how deep those feelings really were until now.

  “You’d really leave your pack to be with me?” she finally managed.

  Saying the words out loud made the whole idea seem even more ridiculous. Why on earth would a guy like Eric give up a job he obviously loved, a fantastic apartment, and a pack that was amazing to live like a nomad with a screwed-up werewolf like her and her band of equally screwed-up pack mates?

  “Of course I would,” he said as if he was surprised she was even asking. “I don’t know how many different ways I can say this for you to believe it, but you’re the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. And if that means I have to leave Dallas to do that, I’ll do it without a second thought. I love you, Jayna.”

  Jayna was so floored, she was speechless. She knew she should say she loved him too, but she couldn’t. Not that she wasn’t crazy about him—she was. It was just that she didn’t know if she believed in love, not the way he did.

  But at the same time, she had to admit hearing him say those words to her made her feel warm all over. Tears suddenly welled in her eyes, but before she could reach up to wipe the embarrassing things from her cheeks, Eric’s lips were there, kissing them away. His mouth quickly moved from her cheeks to her lips, and soon enough, she was having a hard time remembering why she’d been crying in the first place. It was amazing the way he could make her forget her problems with a simple touch. She had about a hundred critical decisions to make, but right then, she couldn’t think of a single thing that couldn’t wait until later…much later.

  Pushing him back on the couch, she climbed onto his lap and kissed him with the same abandon he was kissing her with. Eric rested his hands on her hips, letting her take charge, though she could tell from the bulge in his pants that he was more than a little aroused.

  He wasn’t the only one. Knowing how excited Eric was got her going too. Dragging her mouth away from his, she sat back and slowly pulled her shirt over her head, then did the same with her bra. Eyes molten, Eric cupped her breasts in his big hands and leaned forward to take one stiff nipple into his mouth. Oh God, he could drive her insane with that mouth of his.