In the Company of Wolves(65)

“It has nothing to do with looks,” she said. “It’s deeper than that. You’ve heard about wolves in the wild mating for life, right? Well, it’s like that for werewolves too. Some of our kind say that there’s only one mate out there for us. When we meet The One, we know it right away, and nothing can come between us.”

“That’s crap,” Liam snapped. “I’ve never heard anything like that.”

“I have,” Caleb said slowly as if unsure whether he wanted to get involved in the conversation. “I never thought it was true, but I’ve heard a lot of older werewolves I’ve met talk about it. It’s kind of like an urban legend.”

Frasheri’s gaze traveled from Caleb to linger on Liam before coming to rest on her. “So you’re saying this is some kind of werewolf love at first sight? So strong that Eric immediately turned against his own pack to be with you?”

She nodded.

Liam snorted. “Jayna, you are so frigging naive. I guess it never occurred to you that Eric might just be playing you to get inside the pack so he could arrest us?”

Jayna narrowed her eyes at Liam. “Right. It was all an elaborate ploy to get inside so he could arrest us. Did you forget that Eric went out and killed one of the members of his own pack last night? Then again, maybe you did forget since you should have been the one there putting a bullet in that SWAT werewolf’s head instead of letting Eric do it.”

Liam jerked as if she’d slapped him. “What the hell are you trying to say?”

There had been a time when Jayna would have refrained from saying anything hurtful to Liam, but that time had long passed. Right then, she barely felt the normal alpha-beta connection that had always been there. It was like it had never existed at all.

“I’m saying that you stopped being our alpha a long time ago. First, you bring us into this arrangement without talking to us. Then, you bring in the omegas.” Brandon growled at that, but she ignored him. “And if that isn’t bad enough, you start sending us on jobs that could get us killed while you stay behind where it’s safe.”

Liam had the good grace to look a little chagrined. But then his lip curled. “I had to stay back here and coordinate pack operations.”

Even Caleb and some of the other omegas snorted at that.

“Right,” she scoffed. “Because that’s what we need from an alpha. Not someone who will take a bullet for another member of the pack, like Eric did for Megan. Not someone who will dig a bullet out of another member of the pack, like he did for Chris. Hell, not even someone who will lead us in a fight when we’re in over our head, like he did last night. No, we need someone who will stay inside where it’s comfy, cozy, and safe, coordinating the next job.”

Liam’s eyes flared, a growl of rage rumbling in his throat. Jayna’s claws extended all the way, along with her fangs, as he took a step toward her. She tensed, ready to launch herself at him.

The sound of guns coming out and safeties clicking off echoed in the room, reminding Jayna where they were and what they were doing there. She froze.

But Frasheri had his weapon pointed at Liam, not her. The omegas had theirs pointed at Frasheri. And the Albanians had theirs pointed at the omegas. All it would take is one little sneeze to start everyone shooting.

Jayna glanced at the guys still sitting on the couch. They were tense but alert. Both Moe and Joseph had one arm draped over Chris’s shoulders. If things went from bad to worse, she knew they’d get Chris out of here.

She turned back to see that Liam’s fangs had retracted. But his eyes still swirled with gold.

“I won’t bother to ask if you and the other members of your pack consider Eric your alpha now. I think that’s obvious,” Frasheri said, his gun still pointed at Liam’s head. “But I do have one question.”

Jayna’s breath caught in her throat. Crap, what had she missed?

“You said that Eric is so attracted to you he was willing to turn his back on his career and his pack, but you haven’t said anything about whether you feel the same.”

She frowned. Why the hell would Frasheri ask her something like that?

She knew the easy answer would be to say she felt the same about Eric. But she couldn’t. She knew she was extremely attracted to Eric, more than she’d ever been to any other man. She wasn’t quite so sure of anything beyond that though. While Eric might have bought into the whole The One thing, she was still on the fence about it.

But as the silence stretched on, she knew she had to say something. She couldn’t make anything up either, on the off chance that Liam might pick up on the lie. On the other hand, she needed to say something that would satisfy Frasheri, or that big gun in his hand was likely to be pointed at her next.