“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 mean, you’re discussing my life and when exactly it should end, so I would’ve thought I have the right to be here.”