“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 f**k 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.”
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.