Wicked Cravings

CHAPTER NINE

Three times Jaime kicked the tire. Not that she thought it would make the car suddenly roar to life or anything, but it sure felt good. So Dante had been right. Her Chevy was on its way out. And now here she was in the middle of a dirt road with no choice but to take her bag and carry it the rest of the way to Ivy’s house. Huffing and cursing, she threw her backpack over her shoulder, slammed the door shut, and began walking.

As she’d left pack territory, she’d seen only Tao, who was beginning gate duty. He’d seen her bag, known she was leaving for good. For a second she’d thought she spotted guilt on his face…Nah.

What she knew for sure was that he’d keep Dante occupied long enough that the big giant wouldn’t realize she was gone until she’d had enough time to get away. She suspected that he might want to come after her. Dante was the most determined person she knew, and he took his job seriously; it wouldn’t sit well with him to think that he’d failed one of his wolves. But Trey wouldn’t let him come after her, he’d talk sense into him, would disconnect her from the pack link with utmost relief.

At that point a countdown would start. She wasn’t sure how long it would be before her wolf finally took over, though she was certain she’d have at least a couple of days. She figured that she’d spend that time with her two BFFs and then…well, Ivy wasn’t going to like what Jaime was about to ask of her. But she was a practical enough person to admit that Jaime was right.

Not saying good-bye to Gabe had been hard, but she’d call him later and explain. He’d be in a homicidal mood for sure, but he’d understand. She’d have to make him swear to take care of Hunk too, she mused.

Hearing the sound of a vehicle in the distance, she turned. Hitchhiking wasn’t the most attractive idea, but it was a lot better than walking all the way to Ivy’s house. It was only as the vehicle approached that she realized what she was looking at. The pack’s Toyota Highlander. Oh.

Great.

Sighing, she waited until the SUV came close. Dante was out almost at the same time that the engine cut off. He stalked predatorily toward her. Her wolf paused in her pacing, unsure whether to regard him as a threat. He stopped in front of her, his face unreadable and blank, giving away nothing of the rage that was practically seeping out of his pores.

“You tried to leave me.”

Jaime blinked rapidly, surprised by his gruff words. She was sort of expecting a lecture for sneaking off. “I couldn’t stay there.”

“Why?” His tone was harsh.

“You know why.”

He arched a brow tauntingly. “Giving up so soon, Jaime?”

She barely managed to keep her anger in check. “I have no choice but to leave, even if it does make things worse.”

“No choice?”

“I’m not wanted there.”

“If you weren’t wanted there, you’d have been banished.”

“That’s certainly what most of the pack want. I heard that much for myself.” His entire body stilled. It was then he noticed the flickers of pain in her eyes. He wanted to comfort her, but he didn’t trust himself to touch her right now. Fury was thrumming through him, and his wolf was urging him to bite her, to remind her that she was his. “Who upset you?”

“They only said what I already knew. Then they started questioning your competency as Beta, all because you want me to stay. I couldn’t have that.”

Although that touched him, he couldn’t soften his voice. He was still so damn angry with her for leaving. “So you thought you’d scuttle away without a word?”

“You would have tried to stop me, just like you are now.”

He gave a short, humorless laugh. “No, baby, I am going to stop you. Where would you have gone, anyway? To Shawn?”

“To Ivy, actually. I was going to stay with her for a couple of days and ask her to give me an injection when I do finally shift.”

“An injection that will kill you? Damn it, Jaime!” He felt sick at the mere idea of it.

“Look, I get that it’s hard for you to feel like you’ve let down one of the wolves you’re responsible for, but I’ve left. I’m not part of the pack now—you’re not responsible for me anymore.” He fisted a hand possessively in her hair. “You. Are. Mine. That’s it, that’s all there is to it.” His wolf fully agreed.

She struggled against his grip, but he only tightened it. Her wolf bucked at his dominance, both liking and disliking it. “Fucking me doesn’t mean I belong to you!” She gasped as suddenly his mouth came down hard on hers, giving her a punishing, possessive, demanding kiss that told her he meant every word, that she was going nowhere but with him.

When he finally broke away, they were both panting. “Like I said, you’re mine. I protect what’s mine. You are going to come back with me, and you are going to learn every single skill I teach you to make you stronger, and we’ll deal with what comes together. Now get in the SUV, Jaime.” His voice was softer now, but his tone was unmoving.

The picture he’d painted was so tempting, so very much what Jaime wanted, but his possessiveness made no sense. The protectiveness, sure. But not the possessiveness. “You told me you don’t do relationships.”

“I don’t. It only ends up a mess when true mates come along.” The hurt in his eyes made her chest ache. “Then why? Why ask for more?” A slight pause. “Because you matter.”

Her stomach fluttered at his words. No, it wasn’t some kind of romantic declaration. It was a simple truth delivered in a no-bullshit manner, and she liked it even more for that.

“Before you think to scoff at what I’ve said and tell me that I don’t matter to you, know that it won’t make me leave you here. You’re coming back with me either way.” Denying her feelings might have been smart, but she wanted to take the hurt out of his eyes, not make it worse. “You know you matter,” she said sharply, which earned her a cocky smile. Then his arm was around her and he was drawing her to him. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and inhaled deeply. “Tell me what happened, Dante.”

He stiffened, knowing what she meant. It was the last thing he wanted to talk about, but she wasn’t going to totally understand everything until he told her. He kissed her forehead and went to sit on the tree stump a few feet away. “Her name…was Laurie. My wolf went crazy whenever she was around, just like he does with you.” He almost smiled at the surprise on her face. She really had no idea what she did to him.

“To be blunt, we fucked like rabbits. But it was more than that, I…well, I cared about her.

Loved her. Three months later imprinting began without us even consciously deciding it, but both of us were glad about it. A few weeks later, her true mate came along—though she hadn’t realized it, because she was partly imprinted with me. That blocked her ability to feel the mating bond. But he knew, and he set out to make sure that the imprinting stopped.” Hearing the pain in his voice, she opened her mouth to tell him that he didn’t need to say any more, but he shook his head and lifted his hand to stop her.

“He seduced her into cheating on me. I could actually feel her pleasure through the partial bond. I knew that she was with someone else, knew how much she was enjoying it.” Oh God. Before she’d even thought about it, Jaime was straddling him and curling her arms around his neck. “You really don’t have to—”

“No, I do.” He took a preparatory breath, rubbing his hands up and down her back, taking strength from her. “I hunted them both down, ready to kill him. She stopped me, said she chose him.

That was painful enough, and the breaking of the imprinting bond was even more painful. I had migraines all the time, this weird empty feeling, and sometimes I was close to being medically depressed. What added to it all was that her true mate…is actually my brother.” Jaime gaped. “What?”

“You remember Blane, right?”

The name made her wolf growl. Blane was the oldest of the six and had been the worst when it came to taunting Dante. All of them had tormented him. But Blane…She’d often wondered if he was stable. She’d been relieved when he mated into another pack four years after Dante had left. She hadn’t once thought that his mate had been half Dante’s at the time that he found her. “He made me eat a spider once. I spat it at his face.”

Dante chuckled. “Good girl. As you know, my dad was Beta when I was a kid, and he was pretty caught up in his job. When he chose his position over Mom, she sort of…deflated. She became a shadow of her former self. She didn’t live, she just existed, going through the motions.”

“You think that was why she died when you were seven? Feeling the bond weaken made her weak?”

He nodded. “When Dad didn’t survive the loss and Blane became our guardian because he was the oldest, there was no one to hold him back from targeting me all the time, so the bullying got worse. The others followed his example. I think that’s why control is so important to me. My childhood was like a whirlwind. So many things happened around me and to me, none of which I could do anything about, no way of stopping it, no way of protecting myself, no way of helping my mom as I watched her slowly weaken until she was just a shell.”

“I get it,” she said softly. She also understood that if she was to have any kind of relationship with him, she would have to accept his controlling streak and occasionally accommodate it.

“All my life Blane took things from me—toys, clothes, CDs, money. And then he took her. And he loved that he’d been able to do it. I can understand that he would want her as badly as he did, but had it been me and I found my mate happily involved with someone else, I’d have walked away. I wouldn’t have wanted to cause her any pain by separating her from someone she obviously cared for.”

No, he wouldn’t have, thought Jaime. He was too good a person to do something like that.

Could anyone really blame her for being obsessed with the guy?

Absentmindedly, he began twirling a strand of Jaime’s hair around his finger. “That’s why I swore I’d never get into a relationship again until my true mate. But then you came along.” He smiled, tracing her lips with the tip of his finger. “My wolf was practically obsessed with you, and I was constantly hot and hard for you. I kept you at a distance, but then I hated that distance. You know, even when we were kids I was protective of you. I didn’t like it when I didn’t know where you were.”

“You hated me,” she countered.

“No, I didn’t. You irritated me,” he chuckled, “but I didn’t hate you. Who do you think got that group of bullies off your back? You reminded me of me. I saw you getting teased, and it made me think of what I had to deal with at home.”

“I’m sorry you had to deal with all that. And I’m sorry about what happened with that bitch.” His lips curved into a grin. “Is that jealousy I hear?”

“Damn right. I have an ugly jealous streak. I have a lot of ugly streaks. So I can’t understand why we’re having this conversation. You know how broken I am, you—”

“You’re not broken,” he quickly insisted. “Don’t talk about yourself like that. On the contrary, you’re stronger than most people I know.”

“Not strong, just too stubborn to give in to my wolf.”

He shook his head, sighing inwardly. She would never see herself as he saw her. “The reason I told you about Laurie is so that you’d understand what you’re getting into.” His tone was serious now, grave. “If we take this further, I won’t let you go. If your true mate comes along, I won’t step aside. If he tries to take you, I’ll kill him. My wolf won’t see him as someone who has rights to you either. He’ll see him as a threat, and he’ll want nothing more than to rip his throat out. If you say yes now, that’s it. You have to tell me if you can deal with that.” His intense possessiveness shouldn’t have been a turn-on, but it was. Soon enough she’d work out what was wrong with her. “What if your true mate comes along?” He brushed her nose with his. “She’ll most likely hate me, because I won’t leave you. I kept telling myself that the reason I don’t want to find her is that I’m not ready yet, but the truth is I won’t ever be ready. She’ll want too much from me, and she’ll eventually ask me to give up my position as Beta, just like my mom did to my dad.”

“You’re sure she’d do that?”

“I’ve seen it happen to a lot of Beta pairs. The female doesn’t like that her mate’s loyalty, attention, and time has to be divided. This is something else you need to understand. My job is very demanding, Jaime. I have a lot of responsibilities, and it means I won’t be able to give you the same time and attention that another guy could, that your true mate could. I need to know if that’s enough for you.” What he didn’t say was that if she told him that she didn’t want him, there wasn’t a chance that he would leave her alone. He’d hound her until she changed her mind.

“You’ve been honest, so I will, too. As cruel as it might sound, I don’t want to find my true mate, either. I don’t mean it in a bad way. It’s just that I can’t give him all of me. I can’t let down my walls without letting my wolf get out. Plus, I’d be risking his life if I mated with him. If my wolf does surface and turn rogue, she’ll have to be killed. It won’t be easy for him to survive that.” He nodded in understanding, thinking that maybe a relationship between them might just work.

Jaime understood him and respected how much he cared for his job, and she wouldn’t want to imprint any more than he would.

“But there’s the little detail that you’ll never be able to control me all the time the way you want to. I’ve no doubt that you’ll still try. You can’t help yourself. But you’ll only end up frustrated and pissed.”

He shrugged. “That’s all right. Makeup sex is good.” He took her mouth gently this time, having a long, leisurely taste. “Don’t leave me again.” It was an order, but even he heard the slight plea in those words.

“I won’t,” she promised. Not willingly anyway.

No matter how many times Jaime assured him the following morning that she had no intention of running again, she couldn’t make him relax. Not even the physical toll from the training session calmed his agitated state. He was convinced that if the pack gave her a hard time or talked any more about if he was fit to be Beta, she would be tempted to leave. He was right; she would be tempted.

But she’d promised him that she wouldn’t leave him again, and Jaime didn’t break her promises.

Still, Dante was set on ensuring that the pack didn’t say anything else that might act as a trigger and make her break that promise, which was why he had his arm curled around her as they went for breakfast. His hold made it clear that he considered her his, that he believed he had a claim on her.

Dante smiled when everyone at the table lifted their heads and recognized his possessive posture. “You all got what you wanted. She left. Well, I’ve brought her back, and she’s staying. I don’t need to tell you that what Jaime needs right now is support. If you can’t bring yourself to give it to her, then fine. But if that’s how you feel, stay away from her altogether.” To Jaime’s surprise, no one said a word. She’d kind of expected some sort of uproar, or at least a few objections. Instead, she actually received smiles from some of the people who had only yesterday decided that it was best if she was gone. Apparently, her gesture of leaving and her protectiveness of Dante had gone a long way with them.

Gabe, Shaya, and Dominic weren’t very happy with her for running off and made it clear with reproachful looks, but their silent treatment didn’t last any more than two minutes, and soon they were chewing her ear off about one thing or another.

Having demolished his overloaded plate in record time, Dante leaned back in his seat.

“You’re off work today, right?”

“Yep,” she said as she petted a loudly purring Hunk. “Sundays are my day of rest from work.”

“Rest?”

Smiling at the way he echoed the word in utter confusion, she said, “Yes. I like to rest or go do something fun. Shaya and I have already arranged to go shopping for a few hours.” She was about to add that she’d take two enforcers along when Dante began shaking his head madly.

“You two can’t go out shopping alone when Glory and her brothers are desperate to get their hands on you, Jaime.”

The nonnegotiable tone had Jaime slowly arching a brow. “I can’t?” Dante shook his head again, his face darkening. “No. Not a chance.” She gave him a sympathetic smile. “Aw, Dante, exercising your will on me is purely a waste of time. You know this already. Would you like an aspirin?”

“You’re not going. That’s it.”

“Whatfreakingever.”

“I’m serious! There’s no way I’ll let you put yourself in that kind of danger!” Let her? “Dante, don’t make me kick you to death.”

Pissed with her attitude, he growled. His wolf was just as unhappy about her intentions.

“Look, it’s one thing not having a flight response, but it’s another thing to have no sense of self-preservation. Not only did Glory confront you, but her brothers tried to attack you.”

“Ten out of ten for observation.”

“You can’t go off and make yourself an easy target. I won’t allow it.” Jaime sighed. “I’m pretty sure we went over this yesterday, big guy. Just because you and I have close encounters of the best kind doesn’t mean you get to control me or baby me.”

“I want to do a lot of things to you. ‘Babying’ isn’t one of them.”

“Good. Then it’s all settled.” She gave him a winning smile. “See how easy that was?”

“Jaime,” he gritted out. Seeing the resolve on her beautiful face, he bit out, “Fine. I’ll go with you.”

She had to have heard him wrong. “Sorry?”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he repeated, “I’ll go with you.”

“You’ll go shopping?” she said slowly, stunned.

“Yes.”

“But you’ll be off doing Beta stuff.”

“I have Tao and four enforcers—I can delegate.” He noticed the surprise on the faces of those around him, but he paid them no attention. He was only interested in ensuring that the stubborn female beside him didn’t hand herself over to Glory’s brothers on a platter.

The workaholic was actually prepared to take most of the day off? Nah, surely not. She glanced around the room as she said, “I’m being Punk’d, aren’t I?”

“‘Fucked’ is what you’ll be getting, but that’s for later.” She studied his face, still incredulous. “But you hate the mall.” Yeah, he did. He hated shopping, period. “I hate the thought of you in danger more.” Aw, how could she resist him when he said stuff like that? “Okay, big guy. You can come.”

“Why thank you,” he replied acerbically.

“Great,” said Dominic, “you guys can drop me off at the tattoo studio first. I’m getting the finishing touches done to my tattoo.”

Jaime went to ask him about it, but Dante’s words distracted her.

“I have a condition, though.”

“A condition to what?” she asked, both suspicious and confused.

“To coming with you shopping instead of making your day miserable by hounding you. I get to buy you something.”

That would have excited her if he hadn’t said it like a threat. “Define ‘something.’” His impish smile surfaced. “You’ll see.”

Five hours later, she saw. And gawked. When she could finally speak, she said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Nope.”

“You can’t buy me this.”

He folded his arms across his chest—a gesture that said this was nonnegotiable. He’d anticipated resistance, because he knew Jaime well enough to know that she wasn’t the slightest bit materialistic. “Yes, I can. You’re mine, I protect what’s mine, and you’re going to accept this. The end.”

“Dante, I’m serious.”

“Baby, so am I.”

“I thought you meant chocolates or maybe a pair of shoes or something. Not a brand-new top-of-the-line car!” His grin was totally unapologetic, which peeved her even more. “Dante, I’m not letting you spend that much money on me.”

He advanced on her. “Hey, I’ll spend my money on you if I want to, when I want to.” She made a slashing motion with her hands. “Look, I appreciate the offer, but it’s too much.”

“No, no more arguing. I had the patience of a damn saint today. I let you drag me around the mall, and I hardly moaned at all.”

He was right. Call her mean, but Jaime had quite enjoyed dragging him, Tao, and Ryan from store to store. Whenever Dante tried rushing her, she had slowed her pace until he finally received the message and stopped pestering her.

While Ryan often manned the entrance, Dante would personally escort her around every store while Tao escorted Shaya. It had been hilarious watching Dante’s huge frame try to squeeze through racks of clothes. It hadn’t been hilarious when the female assistants openly stared at him or flirted.

Several times Jaime had shot snarls at the women or placed her hand on his arm possessively, warning them away. She literally hadn’t been able to stop herself from doing it.

He naturally found that funny. The only thing that had saved him from getting a whack over the head was that he hadn’t once—no, not even once—responded to the ogles or the flirting. He had been solely focused on Jaime, despite most of his oglers being model material. That had scored him some serious bonus points.

He lost some of said points when he tried telling her what she could and couldn’t wear.

Basically he wanted every inch of her body covered at all times. She had just given him an indulgent, “sure thing” smile and then bought what she wanted anyway. He soon gave up.

She hadn’t been able to resist asking questions like, “Do these jeans make my ass look big?” and “Does this skirt make my calves look fat?”

Sheer and utter horror had flashed across his face every time, as if he’d sensed that there might not be a right answer. Each time, however, he would say, “No, baby, you look beautiful, you should definitely buy that,” which of course could be translated into “Please get me out of this fucking store.” Just when she’d thought he’d forgotten about his “condition,” he’d informed her that they had one more place to go before collecting Dominic at the tattoo studio. She hadn’t for one second suspected that he meant a car dealership. Why would she? Normal people didn’t go and spend more than twenty thousand dollars on a girl they had only been seeing for, like, two minutes.

Okay, she could admit to herself that she seriously liked the silver Chevy Captiva, but damn it, that wasn’t the point. She shook her head at him. “Dante—”

He fisted a hand in her hair. “It’s important to me that you’re safe, and as much as I’d rather chauffeur you everywhere, my job is too demanding for that. Plus, I know that would make you feel suffocated, and then you’d get pissed at me all the time. Wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you?”

“Yes,” she admitted.

He released her hair and smoothed it out. “I’m not good at relationships, baby. Most likely because I haven’t been in one since I was eighteen years old. The ones before Laurie weren’t serious.

I get that I’m going to mess up often, especially when I get all controlling and overprotective. This car is a compromise—I get to know that you’re not driving that tin can that you’ve been insisting we get fixed, and you get to have your independence. Okay, you get to have some of it. For it to be a compromise, you have to meet me halfway here.”

He really was trying, she suddenly realized. It wasn’t often you could get a controlling person to make any kind of compromise about anything. What bothered her was how expensive this compromise was.

Reading her mind, he said, “It’s just money, Jaime. I have plenty of it, and I want to spend some of it on someone who matters to me.” Trey—like most Alphas—had hands in many pies, and it was Dante who had educated him on business. He had investments of his own that had all paid off, and he wasn’t one for splurging. But with Jaime it was different. He wanted to buy her things, wanted to spoil her in the way that her parents had never been able to when she was younger. “Is that really so awful?”

His soft, cajoling tone almost had her saying no without thought. She knew he could afford it, but that wasn’t her point. “If I accept this now, you’ll try to buy me other expensive stuff, too.”

“No, baby, I won’t try to do that. I will do that. But I’ll do that even if you don’t accept it.” Ignoring her groan, he gently turned her so that she was facing the vehicle and curled his arms around her. He whispered into her ear, “You know you want it, Jaime. I know you want it. I heard you once before say you love the new-car smell. I can’t wait to christen it. You can ride me in the front seat. Up and down, up and down, up and down on my cock until—”

“You’re such a goddamn jerk!”

Ignoring her attempt to wriggle out of his arms, he laughed, relishing the scent of her arousal.

“Ready to drive your new SUV to the tattoo studio?”

A sizzle of excitement and anticipation ran through her. Sure, she was still a little uncomfortable with him buying something this expensive for her, but she also knew that this was more than just a gift to him. This was an effort to make their relationship work, even if it was a strange method. Although his overprotective streak had the potential to drive her crazy, she didn’t want to change him. She cared for him just as he was, and she understood that in order for this to work, she would occasionally have to accommodate his weird ways. “Don’t think this means you’ll get your way all the time, Popeye.”

He grinned against her nape. “Never would I think that.” His grin totally disappeared when he realized what her idea of driving was. “You’re going to get us killed! Slow down!”

“Oh, live a little, will you,” she said. “I’m only doing eighty.”

“You’re going one hundred and ten miles per hour!”

“Sure, if you want to get technical about it.”

His heart missed a beat when she barely dodged a pedestrian. “Slow the hell down, Jaime, or I swear I’ll shove you in the backseat and do the driving myself!”

“Okay, Grandma, we’re slowing, happy now?” She rolled her eyes at his thunderous scowl.

“I’ll even slow down enough that Tao can catch up, okay?” The scowl was still on Dante’s face when she parked the SUV ten minutes later. “Are you regretting giving it to me yet?” He growled at her amused smirk. “No, but I’m seriously rethinking the idea of letting you chauffeur yourself. Develop a better sense of self-preservation fast.”

“Sir, yes, sir.”

Growling again, he exited the vehicle and opened the driver’s door. She was still wearing that goddamn smirk. At least she’d given up arguing about her ability to let herself out of cars and was indulging him in this. Caging her wrist with his hand, he led her into the studio, ignoring the amused looks that Shaya and the guys were wearing inside the safety of the Toyota.

Dante was surprised by the interior of the studio. He’d expected either a medical, biker, or Zen look. The place was like an art gallery, slash record store. It was very clean and had a calming, welcoming feel, and Dante had to wonder if the latter was because of a little magick, since the people who worked there were, in fact, witches. The accelerating healing that came with being a shifter made it nearly impossible to be tattooed. Witches, however, were able to tattoo shifters effectively.

He wasn’t sure whether it was because they enchanted the ink or because they, too, were preternatural beings.

On the walls were framed photographs of amazing tattoos—the kind that would make you want a tattoo yourself even if you hadn’t thought about it until then. There were, all in all, six tattoo artists at work, and all spared them only the briefest glance, totally focused on what they were doing.

Dominic, who was speaking—well, flirting—with the blushing receptionist, held up his index finger, gesturing that he’d be one minute. Jaime sighed and rolled her eyes. Typical.

As Dante flicked through one of the portfolios placed on the coffee table in the corner of the reception area, he whispered into Jaime’s ear, “Do you think we could get my name tattooed on your ass?”

Gaping, she slapped his upper arm. “I’d laugh if I thought you were joking.”

“It would be the biggest turn-on ever to take you from behind and see my name on your ass.” He was getting hard just thinking about it.

In a voice both sweet and sarcastic, she asked, “Shall I have ‘Chattel of’ tattooed there too?”

“I guess that would be all right.” He chuckled when she slapped his upper arm again.

“Does your girlfriend know that you like to flirt with other females?” asked a deep, rumbly voice.

Dante and Jaime looked up to see Nick Axton breezing into the studio, his eyes fixed firmly on Dominic, who was tucking a folded slip of paper into his pocket.

Sensing that Jaime wanted to intervene, Dante gave a subtle shake of his head. He wanted to see how this played out, wanted to know if his suspicions about Nick’s odd behavior were correct.

That wasn’t going to happen if he and Jaime stepped forward. So far the Alpha hadn’t noticed them in the corner, as his attention was solely on Dominic.

Considering that there was a powerful Alpha glowering at him, Jaime had expected Dominic to either buckle slightly or straighten to his full height and mirror Nick’s confrontational stance.

Instead, he strolled casually toward the Alpha until he was a foot away, not looking in the least bit rattled. Jaime was impressed. But then, he wasn’t an enforcer for nothing.

Cocking his head, Dominic asked, “I have a girlfriend?”

“Does she know that you take other females’ numbers, too?”

“Oh you noticed that. You sure do seem to have a lot of interest in me. I don’t bat for both teams, sorry.”

Nick closed the small distance between them. “Break it off with her.” The words dripped with power and authority. Yet Dominic simply shrugged and said, “It’s going to be hard to do that when I don’t know who you’re talking about.” Dante could see that Nick was surprised by Dominic’s failure to cower. People tended to underestimate just how capable the playful wolf was. Dominic’s dominance was subtle but very much there, and it was clear that Nick was just coming to that realization.

“In any case,” continued Dominic, “the only Alpha I take orders from is Trey. Take care now, Nicky.”

When he tried to walk past, Nick stepped in his path and growled menacingly. “I’m not done yet.”

Knowing that things would quickly escalate from here, Dante stepped toward them. “Let him pass, Nick.” The Alpha didn’t react at all, just continued to stare at Dominic as if imagining which would be the most stimulating way to kill him. “Dominic, go wait in the Toyota. Tao, Ryan, and Shaya are in there waiting for you.”

“Excellent,” said Dominic with a grin, stepping around the Alpha, who was currently watching the Toyota through narrowed eyes.

“Want to tell me what that was all about?” Dante asked Nick, though he was damn confident what it was about.

Nick looked as though he had every intention of walking out without answering, but then he saw Jaime and stopped. “So you haven’t been thrown out yet.” Jaime gave Nick a beaming smile. “Shocking, isn’t it?”

“You find this funny? You’re barely in control of your wolf. You could hurt the people in your pack.”

She snorted. “You’re a fine one to talk about hurting people in my pack, aren’t you? You don’t deserve her.” She ignored Dante’s gaze, now only interested in the jerk in front of her. “She deserves better.”

“She told you,” he surmised in a quiet voice. “I didn’t realize you were so close.”

“So close that I’m seriously considering clawing off your balls and feeding them to you. Not because I’m losing control, but because you’re an ass.” His eyes danced to Dante. “She told you, too.”

“No. I figured it out. It won’t be long before the rest of the pack does, too, if you continue acting the way you have been. I can’t work out whether you’re planning on taking some time before claiming her, or you have no intention to at all.”

“The latter,” Jaime answered for him.

Nick’s focus returned to her. “You must know why I can’t claim her.”

“What I know is that you don’t even have the decency to discuss it with her. You act like she doesn’t exist. You make her feel small and worthless. What kind of male does that to his mate? No male worth his salt ever would.”

Even knowing that Nick was a powerful Alpha, Dante still had the undeniable urge to punch him. He might have told Trey about it and asked him to stop Nick from coming to pack territory if he didn’t know for certain that Trey would want to kill Nick. “If you don’t intend to claim her, you need to stay away from the pack and stick to phone calls from here on out. Taryn won’t be in the least bit merciful if she finds out. Trey turns homicidal if he sees Taryn even the slightest bit upset. What happens won’t be pretty.”

“I know,” the Alpha bit out.

“Then stay away.”

He didn’t say “I can’t,” but his expression said it for him. Jaime felt her mood soften slightly at the sheer and utter torment on his face. Not claiming Shaya was killing him. Still, there was only one way this could go. “Stay away. You owe her that.”

“You’re right, I do.”

But he still wouldn’t stay clear of Shaya. Jaime could tell that much. She could understand that he would feel compelled to seek out his mate, but he was choosing not to claim her, and that meant he had to ignore the draw. Jaime knew exactly what Shaya would do if he didn’t. “There’s a lot you don’t know about Shaya. You think her being submissive means she’s weak? Pfft. There’s nothing weak about that female. If you push her, she’ll react, and not in a way you’ll like.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Unwilling to elaborate, she simply said, “Exactly what I said.” Dante nodded his agreement. “Claim her or leave her alone. Not just because it’s unfair to Shaya, but because it could end up causing a war between our packs.” The Alpha snickered. “Who are you either of you to preach to me about claiming your mate?

You’ve both forsaken yours. Forsaken them and shacked up with other wolves.” Inwardly, Jaime flinched. He was right—there was no escaping that or buttering up what she was doing. As if Dante sensed the twinge of guilt she was feeling, he took her hand in his.

Dante inclined his head at Nick, allowing that. A part of him felt bad about it, but there was no way he’d let Jaime go, and that was that. “But we’re not insisting on sticking our noses into their business and hanging around them, are we?”

“Don’t kid yourself into thinking that if your true mate comes along you’ll be able to ignore her. No matter how content you are with another female, the draw will be there. No matter how many times you tell yourself to keep a distance from her, you won’t be able to. If I were either of you, I’d get out of this relationship while you can. Before one of you gets hurt.” He was gone before either Dante or Jaime could respond. Jaime wasn’t exactly sure if, or how, she would have responded. Nick had been right again. If Dante’s mate appeared tomorrow, she would lose him. Even if he didn’t leave her, Jaime would still be hurt, knowing that he was with her and thinking about someone else. He’d said he didn’t want to find his mate, but Jaime knew that if he did find her, things wouldn’t be so black and white to him anymore. It was one thing to know your mate was out there and another altogether to actually see her, wasn’t it?

For Jaime, to find her mate truly would be the worst thing ever. Although she was determined to fight her wolf’s desire to take over, she knew there was still a chance that she could. To join with her mate would therefore be to risk his life, and she couldn’t do that. In Dante, she had found someone she cared for who wouldn’t demand more than she could give. Someone who would care enough to be upset if anything happened to her, but who wouldn’t die along with her. In him, she had found what she needed. And losing that would break something inside her, even if it was kind of melodramatic.

“Hey,” said Dante gently as he skimmed his thumb over her jawline. He didn’t like how quiet she was, knew that what Nick said had gotten to her. “You okay?” Nodding, she let him lead her outside to the Chevy. When she didn’t object to him driving, he knew her mind had to be racing like crazy. His usually animated Jaime was mute as he drove. Halfway to pack territory, he pulled to the side of the road. “Talk to me.”

“I’m fine,” she said without looking at him.

“You’re not fine.” He cupped her chin and turned her head so that he could see her eyes. So much confusion and anxiety there. It caused a weird tugging sensation in his chest. “Talk.” After a tense pause, she finally asked, “Dante, are you sure this is what you want? You, me, this relationship?”

“You know me well enough to know that I don’t make important decisions without giving them clear thought.”

“I know but…Look, you said you wanted a relationship, but, I mean, what constitutes a relationship to you?”

“I’ve told you, I don’t have much experience with them. For me, this is permanent. Exclusive.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. You’d have been this possessive no matter who I was.

Relationships—permanent or not, exclusive or not—can be casual, or they can be semiserious, or they can be something much deeper.” She wanted to know just how much he was willing to emotionally invest in this.

He shrugged. “As deep as it can get between two people who are so against the idea of being bonded. I don’t know how deep that can go, Jaime.”

Neither did she, but she did know that their resistance to being bonded made the relationship about as secure and settled as a feather in the wind. Which meant that Nick was right; Dante could easily leave her if his mate came along. Just the idea of that made her chest ache. She hadn’t thought it had the potential to hurt her that much. “Maybe we should take Nick’s advice and end this now.”

“What? Why?” He twisted in his seat to fully face her.

“I get why you don’t want to find your mate. But let’s say that you did. You’d be curious to know if your position was something she could have accepted. You’d want to talk to her, get a feel for the type of person that she is. It’s only natural. If it turns out that you being Beta is something she can accept, you’ll go to her. I wouldn’t expect anything different.”

“That’s not going to happen. The likelihood of me recognizing her on sight is a million to one anyway. What happened with Nick and Shaya is rare.”

“But if it did, you’d leave me for her. I wouldn’t blame you, but I’d still want to rip your heart right out of your chest with my bare hands. And her heart, for that matter.” His expression turned fierce. “I’d do the exact same thing to any guy who tried to take you from me, even your mate. I told you that.”

“The difference is that nothing could change my mind about mating with him. I’d never do it.

But with you…it could turn out that you’re wrong and she is okay with the Beta thing, and then you’ll be gone and I’ll be alone and it’ll goddamn hurt!” Her voice broke slightly at the end, and she turned her head away to blink the tears from her eyes.

“Look at me, Jaime. Look at me.” Finally, she did. “I want this. I’m keeping you. If you think you have a choice, that’s not my problem.”

“Keeping me? I’m not a stray kitten, I’m a person.”

“If you were a stray kitten, I’d give you a kick up the ass and walk away.” She did a double take. “You’d kick a kitten?”

“I’d kick Hunk if I didn’t think the gremlin would eat my foot.”

“All right, we’re getting off the subject.” Inhaling deeply, she let out a long breath. Her voice was small when she spoke. “I just don’t think I could bear it if I got comfortable in this relationship and then you left me later.” There, she’d set aside her pride and admitted her fear.

He cupped her nape and joined his forehead to hers. “Ah, baby, that’s never going to happen.

I’m not leaving you, and there’s no way you’re leaving me again, so don’t even think it.” He crushed her mouth with his, shooting his tongue into her mouth and coaxing her own to play. Relief filled him when she responded as enthusiastically as she always did. “Like I said, I don’t know how deep this can go. Neither of us wants to be bonded, we test each other’s self-control, I don’t have a good work/play balance, I’m going to drive you absolutely insane trying to control you, and you’re going to drive me insane when you rebel…Maybe it’s fucking doomed, I don’t know. But don’t you want to know?”

No, she didn’t want to know, she had to know. And didn’t that just piss her off. She gave him a curt nod.

“Good. Because nothing and no one will keep me out of your life, Jaime. Not even you.”