Greta snarled, though she looked uncomfortable. “Any decent person who knew they were a danger to their own pack would leave.”

“Any decent person who knew someone in their pack needed support would give it,” countered Shaya.

Jaime folded her arms across her chest. “Let me ask you something, Greta. If this was Dante, or Tao, or Dominic, or any of your other ‘boys,’ would you be saying the same thing?” Greta averted her gaze, unsurprisingly. “You know what this reminds me of? The day when Trey was banished.

Everyone stood around, shouting out their opinions about him—claiming he was unstable, a danger, and that he needed to be killed or ordered to leave. I’m getting an idea of how that must have felt for him, how deep that betrayal must have cut him. Well, thank God he had people who supported him enough that they even left with him. Funny how that same supportive bunch is now acting just like the people they once resented.”

“Jaime—”

“No, Trick, I don’t want to hear it. I don’t need to. I think you’ve all said enough.”

“Jaime, honey, wait,” pleaded Dominic.

“You know what pisses me off the most? That any of you could actually question Dante’s competence as Beta. You’ve betrayed him by even thinking that. Not one of you would do better at that position than him. Not one of you could take his place and fill it. And if you tried, I’d kill you.

Even if it meant coming back from the grave.”

Seeing that she was about to leave the room, Gabe stood and took a step toward her. She held up her hand. “I need some time alone, okay,” she said softly. He nodded, smiling.

More specifically, what she needed was to leave the place for good, but if she’d said that aloud, either he, Shaya, or Dominic would most likely have tried to stop her. This was something she had to do whether she liked it or not. It might make her wolf go over the edge, and she might turn rogue within a few days’ time, but she had only been delaying the inevitable. She couldn’t stay here in this place where she was not only unwelcome, but feared. Especially not when it meant Dante’s position as Beta might be in jeopardy. She knew how much he loved his job, and she wouldn’t be the reason he lost it.

“I’d like to think that’s the end of it,” Dante said to Trey as he paced slowly in his office. “But I doubt even the beating they were given will stop them from coming after me again. Or Jaime.” Trey leaned forward in his seat, resting his elbows on the table. “You say she got involved in the fight but didn’t lose control?”

“Like I tried to explain, her situation with her wolf isn’t like yours. It’s not that she lives close to the surface and so puts Jaime at risk of turning feral. Her wolf is just…traumatized. It means she’s constantly on the offensive, but it’s because she’s scared. Most of the time Jaime’s in control of her, but sometimes her wolf gets enough strength to lunge for the surface. Despite that she’s been doing that for the past four years, Jaime has kept enough control that she hasn’t shifted forms.”

“So that’s why you started training her. You think if she has better control, if she makes herself stronger, she’ll be able to suppress her wolf.” Trey sighed. “I’m sorry, Dante, but I don’t see how that will work. Oh it’ll work for a while, sure. Maybe even a few years. But soon her wolf will gather enough strength again, because what’s happening isn’t natural. Confining her wolf isn’t natural. Don’t kid yourself into thinking you can truly help her, because you can’t.” Dante shook his head. “You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do, and so do you. It would be the same as the body trying to work without a heart.

Your heart is too much a part of your body just like your wolf is too much a part of your soul. One can’t exist without the other.”

“Maybe her wolf will get used to being confined and stop fighting to surface.”

“You know that she won’t—she’s a dominant wolf. Dante, it doesn’t make you a failure that you can’t help her.”

“And if this was Taryn we were talking about? What would you do?” Trey’s expression was fierce. “Everything I could to keep the crazy woman alive, no matter what it was.”

Dante hadn’t expected any other answer. “Then don’t ask me to give up on Jaime. I won’t.”

“She matters to you even more than I thought,” Trey observed with a frown.

“Jaime’s mine.” The sound of his cell phone interrupted whatever Trey had been about to say.

“It’s Tao,” he told Trey before answering. “Hello.”

There was a hesitant pause and then Tao sighed heavily, almost as if in resignation. “It’s Jaime.”

Dante’s wolf went still. “What about her?”

Another pause. “She left.”

“She what?”

“About fifteen minutes ago,” he answered reluctantly. “She left in her Chevy carrying a bulging backpack.”

“Why are you only telling me now?” A growl trickled out of Dante as realization dawned on him. “You weren’t going to, were you? Christ, Tao!”

“You don’t need to yell at me! I feel bad enough, all right! Just go and get her and bring her back. She’s pack, and she shouldn’t be out there alone.”

“I’ll deal with you later,” Dante promised him before ending the call, only interested in finding Jaime and carting her back over his shoulder.

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 f**ked 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.”