In the Company of Wolves(42)

“What about him?” she asked, jerking her head at the werewolf still trying to get to his knees.

Becker nudged the omega with his boot, pushing him back down. The guy looked like he really didn’t want to bother getting up this time.

“What about him?” Becker said, holding the door open for her.

* * *

“You left them to get arrested?” Liam snarled.

Becker returned the other werewolf’s glare. When he and Jayna had gotten back without the diamonds and the two omegas, Liam had made it no secret that he was pissed. Frasheri, on the other hand, didn’t seem nearly as upset. Instead, he sat at his big desk in front of the huge row of picture windows in his office on the second floor, watching Becker and Liam square off. Even Kos seemed more interested in the power struggle going on than the botched robbery.

“Damn right I did,” Becker told Liam. “Any loyalty I felt toward them disappeared the minute I heard they were planning to swipe some of the diamonds for themselves.”

Kostandin’s eyes narrowed. “Planning to swipe some of the diamonds for themselves?”

“That’s bullshit,” Liam snapped. “He’s making that up to distract you from the fact that he screwed up. Right, Jayna?”

Becker swore silently as Kos and Frasheri looked at Jayna, their eyes questioning. Becker knew she’d back him up, but he still felt like crap for putting her in this position. She didn’t seem uncomfortable though. Beside him, her pulse beat in a nice, steady rhythm.

She met Liam’s gaze unflinchingly. “Eric’s not making anything up.”

Becker couldn’t resist giving Liam a smug look. “If you need any more proof they were dirty, this should do it.”

Pulling the platinum medallion out of his pocket, he tossed it on Frasheri’s desk. The silence that descended on the room was deafening. Even Liam seemed speechless for once.

“Where did you get that?” Kos asked.

“One of the omegas flashed it around before we got to the jewelry store,” Becker said. “When I went back to see what was taking him and his buddy so long with the safe, I heard them talking about taking a few diamonds for themselves, that no one would notice. Let’s just say they should consider themselves lucky to be sitting in a jail cell. If I had my way, those assholes would be in the morgue right now, but the cops showed up.”

That part wasn’t exactly true, but Frasheri and Kos didn’t know that. And from what he’d picked up over the past few days, loyalty was a big thing with the Albanians. They’d never consider Becker or any of the other werewolves part of their inner circle—you had to be a blood relation for that—but they expected anyone who worked for them to be loyal to the family. That included the hired muscle.

Telling Frasheri and Kos that the omegas were traitors fed into the suspicions they probably already had about the unpredictable werewolves. If he played this right, he might be able to drive a wedge between the Albanians and the omegas, maybe even between them and Liam. If the various factions in the loft were focused on who was betraying them, it’d be a hell of a lot easier to take them out one by one.

“Why would you care that those omegas had been stealing from us?” Kos asked.

Becker shrugged. “Pack doesn’t steal from pack. And you’re my pack now.”

Kos raised an eyebrow at that, then glanced at Frasheri. The older Albanian stared at Becker for a moment before nodding.

“That’s it?” Liam demanded, slanting Becker a venomous look. “This a-hole doesn’t come back with the diamonds, he gets two of my omegas arrested, and you’re fine with that?”

Kostandin gave Liam one of those patented flat-eyed looks of his. “Failure on a job is the price of doing business. But we will not tolerate those who steal from us. And those omegas of yours were stealing from us. Eric has simply done what I would have done in his position. Not only am I fine with it, I require it.”

Liam’s eyes flashed yellow. “That’s—”

But Kos cut him off. “And if I discover you knew what these omegas of yours were doing—”

“I didn’t! I swear to you,” Liam insisted. “If you weren’t so damn worried about me stealing from you, maybe you’d stop and wonder why the cops show up every time a crew has gone out on a job the past couple days.”

Becker saw Jayna glance at him, but he didn’t look at her. “Maybe someone’s been tipping them off.”

Frasheri considered that. “Like who?”

Becker shrugged. “A rival crew maybe?”

He and Jayna had talked about suggesting the possibility to Kos and Frasheri but hadn’t had a chance to plant the seed yet until now.