Glancing around the room, Dante noticed that the rest of the pack seemed confused by her appearance and the lack of her usual sparkle. So it was a family secret. Huh. Well it wouldn’t be a secret for much longer. Dante would make sure of that. He had no doubt that she wouldn’t want to tell him, but he was Beta; he was responsible for his wolves’ well-being, and that meant he had every intention of finding out what was wrong.
“Bad night?” Gabe quietly asked Jaime.
Knowing what he meant, Jaime nodded. “I’ve had worse.” Okay, that was a lie, but she didn’t want him worrying too much.
“You’ve never been able to lie to me, so why are you trying?” When she didn’t answer, he sighed, but he didn’t push her. He never pushed her, and she adored him for that. “Maybe you should take the day off work, catch up on your sleep.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“How long has it been since your wolf last tried to take over? A month?”
“Shh. Keep your voice down.”
He flushed, looking a little sheepish. “You know, you could tell them all the truth.”
“And risk being cast out? No thanks. Having no pack or territory…I’m pretty sure that would knock my wolf over the edge. But if I wasn’t convinced that you’d follow me instead of staying here, I’d chance it.”
“They might not cast you out, they might—”
“Gabe, you’ve seen how overprotective Trey is of Taryn. He will not want an unstable wolf in his pack, especially since his mom turned rogue and he had to kill her. No, the best thing for me to do is keep my wolf buried.” That meant that people couldn’t sense her wolf’s dominant vibes, but they simply thought she was submissive. “I’ll be fine. I can keep a handle on her.” Gabe gave her a gentle smile. “If you think I don’t know that you’re planning to run off once you think I’m properly settled here, you’re dumb, sis.”
Jaime would have denied it, but Gabe was right, she could never get a lie past him. Although she would continue fighting her wolf every step of the way, she had every intention of leaving the pack if her wolf was close to gaining the upper hand. She wouldn’t risk turning rogue and hurting her packmates, not ever.
Ignoring Gabe’s further attempts to talk her into staying at pack territory, she went to work as usual. Caring for the dogs was therapeutic, in a sense. Not only because she could relate to them in a way that she couldn’t to any of her own kind, but because caring for them was such an important job that it allowed her to forget her problems for a while. It allowed her to forget just how worried she was.
She hadn’t corrected Gabe’s assumption that it had been a month since the last time her wolf fought for supremacy. In truth, it had been just eighteen days. In the beginning, she had been able to go without such an incident for up to nine months at a time. But her wolf had gotten stronger and stronger
—most likely fueled by her anger at being confined. Now it had become a battle of wills between them. A battle that Jaime had to win.
When it came to the end of her shift, Jaime sat with Ben for a while as she always did. As usual, it was a few minutes before he relaxed enough around her to lie on her lap. It took even more minutes before he finally fell asleep. Even asleep he was restless, and she wondered if he had nightmares just as she did, wondered if they were flashbacks to a time that had changed him on such a fundamental level that he was no longer the animal he once was.
“What’re you doing?” asked a confused voice.
Oh, Dante had to come along when she stank of dog muck, didn’t he?
Jaime slowly raised her head, finding him standing there, looking as gorgeous as ever. Just like always, her wolf immediately stirred at his presence and his amazing scent. The ear protectors should have made him look at least a little stupid, but no. He arched an eyebrow, waiting for her answer.
“Ben always shakes like crazy when he’s nervous and anxious. I’m just trying to settle him a bit.”
Dante felt his brow arch even higher. “You’re sitting in a cage…because he’s nervous?”
“You’re watching me sitting in a cage…because, what?” For that matter, why was he even there at all? He’d never visited her at work before. He’d always purposely avoided her in general.
The sound of someone approaching snatched both their attention.
“Oh h-hi,” stammered Riley, staring at Dante with lust-filled eyes. Did she want Jaime to bitch slap her, was that it? Not that Jaime blamed her. Because of his size, females tended to have a conflicting reaction to him, feeling both intimidated and captivated. Who wouldn’t be intimidated by someone who looked as though nothing in the world could faze or scare him? Dante simply gave Riley a nod.
Carefully Jaime returned Ben to his little spot on the floor. When she turned back, it was to see that Dante was holding out his hand to her. She slipped her hand into his, and he helped her stand upright. “Thanks,” she uttered, wondering if he felt the surge of heat that she did when their hands touched. Going by his frown, probably not.
“I just wanted to ask if you were able to give Neo his shot?” asked Riley, referring to the Neapolitan mastiff that had recently arrived at the sanctuary. Blushing an unattractive beet-red color, she repeatedly glanced nervously at Dante.
“Yeah, he was fine.” Jaime locked Ben’s cage before placing the keys on the hook. “Pissed, but fine.”
“Great. That’s all, so I’ll, um, see you tomorrow, I guess.” With that, she scuttled away. No doubt her inner lioness was nervous around Dante, too.
“So, is there a problem or something?” Jaime asked him as they walked toward the exit, her body very much aware of him.
“I came to take you to lunch.”
And interrogate the hell out of you, he wisely didn’t add.
Although he’d be lying if he said that he wouldn’t enjoy spending time with her.
Okay, that had been totally unexpected, in which case she couldn’t help feeling both suspicious and anxious. “Why?” He gave her one of his crooked grins that never failed to do interesting things to her body.
“That’s not usually the reaction I get when I offer to take a female to lunch.”
“Well, we both know you aren’t offering to take me on some kind of date. So what’s this really about?”
“I want to talk to you.”
Uh-oh. That did not sound good. “About…?” she prodded as they reached the exit. She took both sets of ear protectors and placed them on the shelf beside the doors.
“I’ll tell you when we get to the restaurant.” He opened the main door but held up his hand, gesturing for her to remain where she was.
Jaime almost laughed at the way he scanned his surroundings, checking for any signs of a threat. Very Beta behavior. Once he stepped aside, she headed to the main building. “I would have thought you were too busy for this.”
He was, but this was important. She was important. “I have to eat like everyone else.”
“Fine. I just need to go change and grab my backpack.” He gave her a short nod.
The entire time she washed and changed, she wondered how she could get out of this pickle.
Spending time with the guy she was trying to get over was counterproductive. It would be like a recovering alcoholic sitting in a bar. Also, she was a little nervous about whatever it was he wanted to discuss. Not that she thought he could break her. Jaime was used to keeping secrets; she’d been doing it for a long time. But she wasn’t feeling great today. The last thing she needed was an interrogation.
As she exited the building, Dante’s eyes perused her body and a devilish smile surfaced. He knew that he should wipe it off his face, but it didn’t seem to be going anywhere. She looked both surprised and confused, and may have been about to comment when they were both distracted by the sound of someone calling her name. Turning his head, he saw the guy from the diner jogging toward them. A low growl poured out of Dante. “Oh look, it’s your human,” he said with fake delight.
Jaime gave him a look that said “behave,” but she knew there was no getting Dante to do anything he didn’t want to. “Hi,” she said when Shawn was up close.
“Hi. Um, who’s your friend?” Shawn glanced nervously at him—which was understandable, since Dante was looking at him like he wanted to peel off his flesh like an onion.
“Yes, introduce us,” drawled Dante.
She had to resist releasing a cautioning growl as Dante entered her personal space like he had every right to. “Dante, this is Shawn. Shawn, this is my Beta.” They exchanged stiff nods. To Shawn’s credit, he tried not to falter under Dante’s unblinking stare. He tried.
Finally, Shawn returned his attention to her. “I wanted to check if we’re still on for tonight.” They’d agreed to meet up at one of the local bars. “Yeah, sure.” Another low growl from Dante, who was suddenly even closer. She gave him a reproachful elbow-nudge, but the big lug didn’t even seem to feel it.
“Great. Oh and—”
“This conversation will have to wait,” interrupted Dante, knowing that if he didn’t move away from Pretty Boy soon, it was highly likely that he’d punch him. Not that it would be so bad, but he was quite sure that Jaime wouldn’t like him bringing trouble to her place of work. “We don’t want to be late for lunch, do we, Jaime?” He smirked at Pretty Boy, ignoring the voice in his head that told him his reaction was a little irrational. He didn’t want Jaime dating a human and risking the trouble that came with it. Okay, so he didn’t want her dating anyone. Or, more accurately, his ego didn’t. But that wasn’t the point.
Shawn cleared his throat. “I, um, I guess I’ll see you later.” Jaime waited until Shawn was out of hearing distance before speaking. “You know, there’s really no need to bully him.”
Dante shackled her wrist with his hand. “Come on.” Ignoring the sizzle of heat that traveled up his arm, he led her to his SUV and opened the passenger door.
“What about my car? I can’t just leave it here.”
Dante snorted. “That is not a car. That is an accident waiting to happen. There is no chance I’m letting you drive that. Give me your keys, and I’ll have Ryan pick it up later. Once it’s in a better condition, you can have it back.” He hated the idea of her driving that rusty old thing.
Immediately Jaime’s hackles were up. Even her wolf didn’t like the orders, despite being such a huge fan of Dante’s. “There’s nothing wrong with my car. I’ll drive it and follow—”
“No, you will not put yourself in danger. Give me your keys, and I’ll have Ryan pick it up later,” he repeated, making it an order this time.
The f**king shit-stain. No woman, submissive or not, would appreciate being spoken to like that, but a submissive female would follow an order from her Beta when it was related to her safety.
So, gritting her teeth, Jaime dug her hand into her bag, took out her keys, handed them over, and then hopped into the SUV without a word.
Inside her head, she cursed him repeatedly as indignation surged through her. Not only because of his high-handed behavior, but because she didn’t want to be in such close proximity with someone her body reacted to as if it thought it belonged to him. “So where are we going?” she asked when he reversed out of the parking space.
“The Steakhouse. Okay with you?”
“Fine,” she grumbled. The cocky jerk seemed to find her mood amusing. “What is it you want to talk about anyway?”
“Like I said before, we’ll talk at the restaurant.” He wanted to be looking at her when he quizzed her. Wanted to be able to observe her posture and see right into those mischievous eyes while he tried to solve her secret.
Earlier, as he’d been pondering Jaime’s current state, he’d realized that this hadn’t been the first time he had seen her looking like that. Although on the outside she always seemed strong, bright, and lively, there was an undercurrent of melancholy about her. Some days she seemed…tired. Not physically, but mentally, as if there was something weighing hard on her that ate at her natural enthusiasm. He didn’t like it, and neither did his wolf.
He had tried asking Gabe about it, but the male had played dumb. Dante hadn’t been surprised, and he didn’t blame Gabe—his loyalty to his older sister was admirable. That had left Dante only one option: he’d have to go straight to the source. He was determined to solve the mystery that was Jaime Farrow.
Twenty minutes later, he pulled up outside the restaurant. “Wait, I’ll get the door for you.” She gave him a look that said she could do it herself. “I know, but I want to do it, so wait.” When he opened the passenger door, he took her hand and helped her slide from the SUV. Rather than release her, he kept her hand in his as he led her inside the restaurant. He probably should have released her purely for the reason that he liked touching her. Liked it a little too much. He’d give himself a hard time about it later.
He wasn’t oblivious to the number of eyes that tracked her as she followed the waitress to their table. He couldn’t blame the guys, especially since she was sexy as hell in those jeans that looked as though they’d been painted on. Still, he shot them glares that had them quickly averting their eyes. His wolf settled a little, satisfied that they had been warned off.
As she sat in the seat opposite Dante, Jaime barely refrained from snarling at the waitress for ogling him like she wasn’t even there—even though she wished she wasn’t. Her body was already heating at the close contact with him, and she just hoped to God that he didn’t sense it. As they placed their orders, he didn’t return the waitress’s flirtatious smile or give her any kind of encouragement.