“Dante.”
Hearing his Alpha call him, Dante froze. The Beta in him urged him to answer the summons, but he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t walk away from Jaime. A part of him knew that he was overreacting by not wanting to move from her side. That same part of him acknowledged that she would heal and be absolutely fine—no other outcome was allowed. But another part of him was raging; this was Jaime, his Jaime, and she had a hole in her fucking leg. She was bleeding and in pain, and that was absolutely unacceptable.
“Dante,” Trey called again. As if he sensed Dante’s struggle, he added, “You don’t have to leave the room, just get your ass over here.”
“Go on,” Jaime told him gently. When he didn’t move, she assured him, “I’ll call you if I need you.”
Nodding, he—ignoring Grace’s sharp look—squeezed past Lydia and kissed Jaime’s hair, inhaling her scent. Very, very reluctantly, he walked to where Trey stood in the doorway with Trick and Tao. Dante stood at an angle so that he could still monitor Jaime.
Tao winced at the sight of all the blood. “I still can’t believe she was shot.” Neither could Dante. Sure, he’d known that Glory’s brothers would try something sooner or later, but he hadn’t considered that there would be guns involved. Shifters fought with tooth and claw.
Guns were considered cowardly, and not many shifters used them.
Trey folded his arms across his chest as he spoke to Trick. “When you said Glory’s brothers were crazy, I didn’t think you meant crazy enough to skulk around my territory with a rifle and then shoot one of my wolves.”
“And all because their little sister doesn’t like being denied what she wants,” growled Dante, striving to remain calm while anger bubbled through his veins.
Trey studied him closely and narrowed his eyes. “You will not head out there the second Jaime’s leg has been taken care of to go hunt those assholes, understand?” Dante growled again, further incensed by the way that Trey had seen right through him. “They shot her, Trey. Shot her. I can’t let that slide.” His wolf was in full agreement. No one got to harm Jaime and live.
“And we won’t let that slide, I can promise you that. So there’s no need for you to turn vigilante on us. If I have to, I’ll order you not to do it, and then I’ll have the enforcers take care of this.”
“No fucking way. Jaime’s mine. Her shit is my shit, and those bastards are mine. It’s difficult enough not to go to Nick’s territory and rip out Glory’s throat—her being female doesn’t mean shit to me or my wolf right now.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” said Trey. “But you’ve got to get a hold of yourself, Dante.”
“Get a hold of myself? You’re kidding me, right?”
“Do you remember that time when I almost attacked Tao because he’d told Taryn he wanted to mate with her?”
Suddenly Tao was looking anywhere but at them.
“Do you remember what you said to me?” persisted Trey. “You said that I had to choose what was more important—kicking the living shit out of Tao, or making sure that Taryn stayed. I knew you were right when you said she’d have left if she thought she was causing fights within the pack. You told me to go to her and make sure she was okay. So I calmed my ass down and I went to her. You need to do the same now. Pick which is more important—going off on your own personal crusade, or being here for Jaime while she needs you. From what I heard, you let her down when she needed you once before. Do you really want to do that again?”
For a long moment, Dante didn’t speak. “I hate that you’re right.”
“I know. I hate it when you’re right. In the morning, we’ll discuss how we deal with this. For now, just concentrate on Jaime.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me that Jaime was hurt?” Taryn practically screeched as she stomped toward them, cutting off what Dante was about to say. Marcus wasn’t far behind her, giving Trey an apologetic look.
“You were supposed to be guarding her,” Trey growled at Marcus.
“You mean he was supposed to stop me from leaving the room.” Trey blocked her path, but the tiny female was peering under his arm, trying to get a look at Jaime. “She’s been shot!”
“Yes, she’s been shot but—”
“She needs healing.”
“Grace and Lydia are taking care of it,” Trey assured her in a voice someone might use to soothe a mental person having a tantrum.
“Yeah, with tweezers, bandages, and all that medical crap. I can have her fully healed in under a minute.”
“Yes, baby, you can, but we agreed that you wouldn’t use your healing gift while you were pregnant, remember. Your gift makes you tired and weak—”
She snorted. “You agreed on it, Flintstone. I did no such thing.” Sighing, Trey picked her up and headed for their room. “Come on, let’s get you back to bed.
We’ll play Hiding Pedro. That should calm you down.”
“Why do you always try to use sex to calm me?”
“Because it works, my crazy little nympho.”
“Ass.”
Once his Alphas had disappeared down the tunnel, Dante turned back to Jaime. The sight of her there, pallid and tired, made him want to kick himself. How hadn’t he sensed that someone was there watching them? He, with all his training, should have known immediately and gotten to the bastard before he could hurt her or anyone else. She was his, he should have protected her, that was how it worked.
“If you’re standing there blaming yourself, I’ll bitch slap you, Dante. Seriously, don’t make me do it.”
Jaime’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts and made him smile. He noticed that Grace and Lydia were also smiling. Approaching the bed, he ran a hand over her hair and sighed. “I should have sensed he was there.” Grace appeared to have given up trying to keep him from Jaime, because she didn’t scowl at him this time, though she did make a Greta-like humph sound.
“The enforcers didn’t sense him either. Whoever he is, he knows what he’s doing. I wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t been in position for more than ten seconds before firing. It would be his best shot—no pun intended—at avoiding detection.” A few months ago, she would never have made any such prediction, but Dante’s training had changed her in many ways.
His thoughts exactly. “You’re a good student.”
“You prefer it when I’m bad.” She flinched when Lydia jabbed her arm with a needle.
“Goddamn it, Lydia.”
“It’s just another painkiller,” she explained, looking sheepish. “The first one wore off fast.” Grace gave Jaime an apologetic smile. “Sorry, but we have to keep the good stuff for when Taryn goes into labor. Dante, would you get Jaime something clean to wear? Her clothes are covered in blood. So are yours, actually. You could do with a quick shower.” Yeah, he thought, but that would involve leaving Jaime’s side.
“Go on,” Grace encouraged softly. “It’ll only take you a minute. Your wolf isn’t going to calm down while you have her blood all over your skin and clothes.” No, he probably wouldn’t, but all the same…
Jaime growled. “Oh for the love of God, Dante, go take a shower, I’ll be fine.”
“Okay, I’m going.” If she was well enough to growl and snap at him, she was well enough to be alone for a few minutes. “I’ll close the door while you strip.” After what had to have been the quickest shower in the history of the world, he returned to Jaime’s side with one of his T-shirts that she liked to sleep in. He helped her slip it on and was about to insist on being left alone with her when suddenly he heard his name being quietly called. He frowned when he saw Trey in the doorway again. “What is it?” he asked as he approached him, wondering why his Alpha was speaking quietly.