Chapter 5

It took every ounce of werewolf strength Becker possessed not to follow Jayna to make sure she got back to the loft okay. If he had, he would never have been able to leave, and he couldn’t help Jayna and her pack if he staked out the loft 24-7. Now, on the ride back to his apartment, all he could think about were the past few hours he’d spent with her. He’d go to his death before he ever told a soul, but it had been the best date he’d ever been on. Maybe that was because he’d never been on one that started with a full-out sprint across downtown Dallas.

Damn, Jayna was fast as hell. He’d really had to push it to keep up with her, which had shocked him. He could outrun anyone in his SWAT pack without even breaking a sweat. And the way she’d gone from flat-out hauling ass to a full stop in two steps was unbelievable. He’d almost snapped his ankles trying to do the same.

But as much as he’d enjoyed racing Jayna, he’d liked the benefits that came with it even more—the view of her ass in those curve-hugging jeans and the pheromones coming off her incredible body. In fact, he was having a hard time figuring out which one of those things had come closest to making him nearly pass out.

While Becker would have liked to spend the rest of the drive to his apartment fantasizing about Jayna, he had more pressing things to think about—like figuring out how to help her and her pack. And he needed to do it fast. The longer they stayed with the Albanians, the more chances there were that it would end badly.

But just because he needed to come up with a solution fast didn’t mean he could. Other than finding a place near the loft and trying to keep an eye on Jayna’s pack from a distance, he had nothing. As plans went, it was pretty damn useless.

He was still trying to come up with something when he turned into his apartment complex and saw Cooper’s Jeep Wrangler in the guest parking spot beside his reserved space. When Becker pulled in beside him, Cooper got out and fixed him with a pissed-off look.

“Why the hell aren’t you answering your phone? I haven’t heard a word from you in over twenty-four hours and every time I called, it went to voice mail. Where the hell have you been?”

Becker flipped down the kickstand on the bike, then climbed off. “With Jayna—the female werewolf from the warehouse.”

Cooper did a double take. “You found her? What’d you find out?”

Becker jerked his head at his apartment building. “I’ll tell you about it inside.”

He led the way up to his fourth-floor apartment, dropped his keys on the table just inside the door, and headed for the kitchen. He opened the fridge and started to reach for a couple beers but grabbed two bottles of water instead. Cooper was on duty, and while werewolves couldn’t get drunk, smelling like beer wasn’t a smart thing to do when you were in uniform.

He tossed one of the bottles to Cooper, then cracked open his own. He leaned against the counter and took a long pull before getting his friend up to speed on the situation. Between the Albanian mobster with the serial-killer underboss, the mercenary omegas, a jackass alpha, and Jayna’s pack of betas, even Becker’s head was spinning by the time he was done, and he already knew the story.

“Oh yeah,” he added. “There’s one other thing. The sadistic underboss I told you about, Kostandin, is gunning for us. Guess he figures they won’t be able to focus on what they want to do in Dallas until we’re out of the picture.”

Cooper nodded. “I’ll make sure the Pack knows. So, Jayna’s a beta, huh? And the werewolves who run without a pack are called omegas? Gage should really give a class on some of this stuff because there’s obviously a lot we don’t know.”

No kidding. Then again, maybe Gage didn’t know betas existed either. “Yeah, well, she and her pack are in deep crap if we can’t come up with a way to help them.”

“And there’s no way you can convince them to walk away from this asshole Liam?” Cooper asked.

Becker shook his head. “Not a chance. Her pack won’t leave, and Jayna won’t leave without them.”

“Huh.” Cooper’s mouth edged up. “You got to respect that.”

“No, I don’t have to respect it,” Becker snapped. He swigged the rest of his water and angrily threw the bottle in the recycle bin. “The Albanians are dangerous. She’s going to get killed.”

Cooper raised a brow, clearly surprised by the vehemence in Becker’s voice, but didn’t say anything. Becker ground his jaw. He rarely got pissed, especially at his best friend, but he was worried as hell about Jayna.

“So, what did you tell Xander and Gage about why I didn’t show up for work today?” he asked, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction. When he’d texted Cooper yesterday to tell him he wouldn’t be in, his friend had said he’d come up with some reason Gage would buy.

Cooper shook his head. “I told them your sister was having problems with her pregnancy and you were spending most of the day on the phone trying to figure out if you needed to go to Denver.”

Becker frowned. As lies went, that was a good one, except… “My sister isn’t pregnant.”

“But no one knows that,” Cooper said. “And if you need to disappear for a few days to help get Jayna and her pack out of the mess they’re in, it’s the perfect cover.”

Becker couldn’t argue with that. Now he just had to figure out how to make it happen.

“So, what’s the plan?” Cooper asked.

“I’m not quite sure yet.” Becker told him about his original idea to raid the loft when Jayna’s pack wasn’t there and why that wouldn’t work. “Other than staking out the place to make sure they’re safe, I got nothing.”

Cooper regarded him thoughtfully. “How far would you go to keep her safe?”

“That’s a dumbass question. I’d go as far as I have to.”

“I thought you’d say that.” Cooper sighed. “Then it’s obvious what you need to do.”

Becker frowned again. “It is?”

“Yeah,” Cooper said. “If you can’t get Jayna out of the situation, you need to get yourself into it, so you can protect her.”

Becker shook his head. “I don’t think sitting on the place is going to work. Not only would one of the werewolves pick up my scent sooner or later, but I also wouldn’t be close enough to protect Jayna when it really matters. If the Albanians send her out on another job like that warehouse gig, I wouldn’t even know it was happening until it was too late.”

“Then you need to be closer,” Cooper said. “So close you’d be right under the other werewolves’ noses…and you can go on those jobs with her.”

Becker’s heart started to thud as he realized what his friend was getting at. Shit. Leave it to Cooper to come up with a plan that verged on suicidal. “You’re suggesting that I go in undercover?”

“Yeah.” Cooper grinned, as if he thought his plan was foolproof. “You said her alpha is bringing in omegas to fill out the ranks. You can go in as one of them and keep Jayna safe from the inside.”

Becker snorted. “That’s insane. You remember how shitty my first, last, and only undercover job turned out, right?”

“You weren’t a werewolf back then,” Cooper pointed out. “And the second one is always easier.”

How the hell would Cooper know? He’d never done any undercover work. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to be any better at it now.”

“You’ll be better now because you have to be. The life of the woman you think is your soul mate depends on it.”

That thought scared the hell out of Becker so much his hands shook. “There’s no way I can go in there. They’ll know I’m a cop the moment they check me out. And I’m pretty sure I can’t just make up a name. These Albanians seem a little sharper than that.”

Cooper thought about that for a second before he grinned. “Then you need to go in with a new identity, a really good one established a long time ago by professionals.”

At first Becker didn’t know what Cooper was talking about, but when he figured it out, he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. “You think we can break into Gage’s safe without him knowing it?”

“We don’t have to break in. Gage uses the date when he changed into a werewolf as the combination.”

“And how would you know that?” Becker asked.

Cooper chuckled. “Because I’m a very curious werewolf by nature.”

* * *

Jayna was torn as she walked the last few blocks to the loft. She dreaded facing Liam and Kos and the crap she knew was coming her way. If she didn’t love her pack mates more than anything in the world, she wouldn’t have gone back there. Kos was going to be suspicious about why she had been gone so long, and Liam was almost certain to be furious.

It wasn’t her fault though. Walking away from that Starbucks had been hard. Well, walking away from the coffee shop hadn’t been that difficult. It was leaving Eric that had been tough. She couldn’t understand why a guy she barely knew had that kind of effect on her. When she walked out of that coffee shop, she’d felt this crazy sensation…like she was leaving something really important behind. The urge to run back in had been almost overwhelming. But she’d forced herself to keep going. It was going to take a while to shower, and it was going to take even longer if she hung around mooning over the big, blue-eyed were-hunk.

She’d stopped at a pharmacy on the way and picked up a bottle of perfume and the fruitiest shampoo she could find. Then she’d gotten a room at the Holiday Inn Express a few blocks off Canton, drawing a bit more attention than she’d liked when she pulled out the wad of cash Eric had given her and discovered that most of the bills were fifties. Who the heck walks around with that kind of money in their wallet?

Jayna expected to see Megan and the guys waiting for her, but they were nowhere in sight. Instead, she found two Albanians and an omega parked on the couch in front of the giant TV, playing video games, while another omega watched. On the other side of the atrium, Liam, Kostandin, and Brandon were still deep in conversation about a job. She heard Brandon ask how they would get in the safe and Kostandin saying something about the daytime manager knowing the combination.

“Don’t be afraid to break a few bones to get her to talk,” Kos said. “Just make sure you break the ones on her left hand—she still has to open the safe.”

She walked over to the omega watching the guys playing video games. Short and stocky, with curly hair, he had a mustache and full beard that could have used a trim. “Where are Megan and the guys?”

He barely glanced at her. “What the hell do I look like, your secretary?”

Jayna didn’t realize she’d shifted until she started forward, her canines and claws extended, her right hand poised to rip out the idiot’s throat.

The omega’s eyes widened in alarm and he quickly backpedaled, raising his hands in an attempt to protect his face and neck. “Shit. Chill out! The girl is upstairs. The three guys are checking out a drug lab that Kos wants to take down in a couple days.”

Jayna’s rage immediately faded. Her pack mates were okay—or at least as okay as they could be considering the present situation.

Abruptly aware of eyes on her, she glanced around and saw everyone staring at her. The omega she’d been about to shred was looking at her like she had horns as well as fangs and claws. She didn’t know why he was so terrified. Sure, she’d lost control for a second, but the guy had to know there was no way a beta her size could take on an omega without her pack. But as he took another step back, she realized he clearly wasn’t aware of that fact.

On the other side of the lobby, Liam frowned at her in obvious displeasure—probably pissed she was usurping his pack authority again. Beside him, Kos regarded her with an expression of sick amusement. That pissed her off even more than the look her alpha was throwing her way.

Screw them both, Jayna thought as she turned and headed for the kitchen. She grabbed the first thing she saw on the counter—a box of frosted cinnamon Pop Tarts. She yanked out a pack and ripped it open, then bit into the pastry. It didn’t taste nearly as good as the coffee cake Eric had gotten her at Starbucks. That had tasted better than anything in this room ever could, and she had no doubt it was because he’d been sitting across from her.

Jayna was so wrapped up in thoughts of Eric that she didn’t notice Kostandin coming in until she turned and almost bounced off his oversized chest. How the hell had he been able to sneak up on her like that? He was the size of a house.

The fact that a guy as creepy as Kos could sneak up on her gave her goose bumps all over, and she took an involuntary step back. She might have scared the hell out of the omega out in the lobby, but it was obvious Kos wasn’t intimidated by her in the least.

He closed the distance between them, and before she realized what he was doing, he’d leaned in and sniffed her hair. She pulled back in revulsion even as he chuckled.

“You smell good, she-wolf. Like a peach.” He gave her an oily smile. “I like peaches.”

Jayna tried to walk past him, but he moved with her, blocking her path and gazing down at her with an unnerving glint in his eyes. She growled, reaching for the rage she’d just unleased on the omega only a few minutes ago. But that powerful rage—and the werewolf who’d shown it—now seemed to be AWOL. In its place was a frightened seventeen-year-old girl facing not a sadistic mobster but a sadistic stepfather. For a second, she was so scared she could barely think, much less defend herself.

Then something angry reared up inside her—the same thing that had refused to let Darren rape her so many years ago.

Lifting her hands, she shoved the big Albanian so hard that he stumbled back a few feet. The power and rage she’d felt earlier still wasn’t there, but her claws were out and ready to do some damage if Kostandin didn’t get the hell out of her way.

But before she could use them, Kos chuckled and moved aside to let her pass. Jayna hesitated, waiting to see if it was some kind of trick. When Kos only lifted a brow, she slowly walked past him and headed for the door, but his voice stopped her cold.

“I know you do not enjoy the things you’ve had to do lately, things your pack leader has been making you do,” he said softly. “I could change that. If you were a bit…nicer to me…you wouldn’t have to go out and do those things again.”

Jayna whirled around with a growl. “I’d rather take my chances getting shot and killed than spend one second being…nice…to you.”

For a moment, Kos let his normal, expressionless mask crack a little, and Jayna saw a depth of hatred and evil there that nearly took her breath away. But just as quickly, the look was gone, replaced by the cold, dead stare she was used to. She turned and started for the door only to be stopped once again by a voice that was so emotionless she wasn’t sure it was even human.

“Perhaps I will make the same offer to your friend…the little wolf pup. She hates going out there even more than you. Do you think little Megan will be nicer to me?”

Jayna had no problem finding her rage now. Her eyes blazed as her claws and fangs extended even farther than they had in the lobby, and she spun around to advance on Kostandin, ready to tear him to pieces.

He didn’t even flinch as he reached behind his back and pulled out a really big handgun. Jayna didn’t know much about guns beyond loading and pulling the trigger, but this one looked big enough to do a whole lot of damage, even to a werewolf. And Kos had the barrel pointed calmly at her head.

She stopped, not going any closer but damn sure not backing off either. “You go anywhere near Megan—or any members of my pack—and I’ll tear you apart. I swear it.”

Kostandin wasn’t fazed by her threat. Instead, he kept the automatic pointed at her head for a few more seconds before casually slipping it into the holster behind his back. Then he chuckled again and brushed past her.

He stopped just outside the door and looked back. “Your pack, Jayna? Does Liam know you’ve taken over?”

Jayna didn’t offer a reply. That was okay because Kos didn’t seem to expect one.

Still trembling with anger, she headed for the stairwell. She had one foot on the steps when Liam’s voice stopped her this time. Dammit. Was the whole world trying to piss her off today? She turned around to see him jogging to catch up with her. Fifteen years older than her, she used to think of Liam as the big brother she never had. Now, she didn’t know what to think of him.

“Where have you been all day?”

Normally, she would have come up with a good lie, trusting in her ability to talk her way out of most tight corners. But after the run-in with Kostandin, she wasn’t in the mood to play games with Liam. Right now, she wanted to make sure Megan was okay.

“I was out taking care of something.”

His eyes narrowed. “What kind of something?”

Jayna felt her fangs slip out at the suspicion in his voice. She forced them back in and regarded her alpha with what she hoped was a calm expression. “I had to get out of here for a while.” She jerked her head toward the lobby. “Away from all…this.”

Liam frowned. “Why would you want to get away from this? It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to us.”

If she’d had any doubt that he’d lied about Frasheri forcing them to work for him, she didn’t now. “Best thing that ever happened to us? You’re kidding, right?”

His face darkened. “Why do you always have to act like this? I’ve never done anything but try to take care of all of you. Frasheri and Kos are going to look out for us…protect us.”

She’d thought Liam had simply looked the other way when it came to all the illegal crap the Albanians were into, but now she realized he really was indifferent to the danger he’d put the pack squarely in the middle of.

“Protect us from whom?” she demanded. “The only people who are likely to hurt us are these new friends of yours. Or haven’t you seen the way Kostandin and his buddies look at Megan and me?”

Liam actually looked like he didn’t know what she was talking about. Maybe he didn’t.

She turned and started up the stairs, done with the stupid conversation. But apparently, Liam wasn’t.

“Kos values us too much to risk pissing me off.”

Liam made it sound like he and the Albanian were equals. He was even further gone than she’d thought if he didn’t know Kos was using him.

She threw a disgusted look over her shoulder as she kept walking. “You keep believing that right up until it’s too late.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Liam asked.

She stopped and turned to look at him. Liam was standing at the bottom of the steps, an annoyed look on his face.

“When we first came down here, you said your debt would be paid off in a few weeks,” she said. “Well, it’s been a few weeks and we’re still here.”

Liam didn’t answer right away. “We’ve got something good going here, Jayna. We’d be crazy to leave. Can’t you see that?”

No, thinking Liam might actually come clean with her and admit there was no debt and never had been was crazy. She should have known better.

Jayna didn’t say anything as she turned to climb up the stairs again. Fortunately, Liam was smart enough not to follow her. If he had, Jayna knew she wouldn’t be able to help what happened.

She walked down the hall to the small, one-bedroom efficiency apartment on the third floor that she and Megan shared and tapped on the door. Even though they both had a key to the place, they had no idea if Kostandin or one of the other Albanians had a second one. So anytime one of them was in the room, they slid a chair under the doorknob to wedge the door closed even after they put the chain on it. It wouldn’t stop any of those thugs for long, but it would slow them down.

She heard Megan move the chair aside and undo the door chain. A moment later, the door opened. Megan stepped back so Jayna could enter, then closed the door and locked it again.

“Hey! I was wondering when you’d be back.” Megan smiled. “You smell different. New shampoo?”

Jayna opened her mouth to tell her best friend about Eric, but then closed it again. She wanted to trust Megan, wanted to think she wouldn’t tell Liam anything Jayna asked her to keep secret. But honestly, Jayna wasn’t sure what Megan would do if Liam got in her face and asked her straight out if she knew where Jayna had been. Even if Megan could keep from telling Liam, she still might slip up and tell one of their other pack mates, which was essentially the same thing. The guys, especially Joseph, were still really tight with their pack alpha.

So, feeling like a piece of crap, Jayna smiled back. “Yeah.”

Jayna was careful not to look at her friend as she wedged the chair back under the door. By the time she turned around, Megan was sitting cross-legged on her bed, regarding her expectantly.

“What are we going to do?” Megan asked.

Jayna walked over to the other bed and sat down. “About what?” she asked as she took off her boots.

“About these things Liam and Kostandin are making us do. I heard them talking earlier about a job they want us to take lead on. Something involving a jewelry store.” Megan sighed. “I don’t know anything about security at a jewelry store, but I’m guessing there will be guards—and guns. If things keep going like this, one of us is going to get hurt or worse. At the very least, they’re going to ask one of us to kill someone, maybe even one of those alpha werewolves from SWAT. I know that we have to stay here until the rest of the debt is paid off, but I don’t want to have anything to do with killing anyone.”

Jayna’s stomach clenched at the thought of one of her pack mates killing someone, especially one of the alphas from Eric’s pack—if that was even possible. She wasn’t sure about Liam anymore, but the rest of her pack weren’t killers. She knew it in her soul.

She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees. “I don’t want any of us to have anything to do with that.”

Megan chewed on her thumbnail. She always did when she was worried. “Do you think Liam could work something out with the Albanians? Maybe he could pay back the money some other way.”

Jayna was so close to telling Megan that Liam had lied about everything, but she couldn’t make herself say the words. Liam might have gotten them into this mess, but she wasn’t ready to turn her pack against their alpha yet.

“Something tells me the Albanians won’t go for that,” she finally said.

Megan nibbled on her nail some more. “Maybe we should just leave. There has to be someplace we can go where the Albanians won’t be able to find us.”

If only it were that easy. “Liam won’t leave. And I don’t think the guys will go if he doesn’t. Are you ready to leave them behind?”

Megan sighed and shook her head. Then she looked at Jayna sharply, her pulse suddenly pounding so fast it seemed to echo in the room. “You won’t leave on your own, will you?”

The panic in Megan’s voice was so painful to hear, it almost brought tears to Jayna’s eyes. Getting up, she walked the three short strides that separated her bed from Megan’s and plopped down beside the other girl. She wrapped her arm around Megan’s shoulders and hugged her close.

“I’ll never leave you,” she murmured, resting her cheek against Megan’s silky, dark hair. “Never.”

Megan immediately relaxed, her heart rate slowly returning to normal as she wrapped her arms around Jayna. Megan had been through so much and depended on Jayna. Jayna would die before she let the girl down.

“We’ll be okay,” Jayna whispered. “We’ll find a way out of this. I promise.”

“I believe you,” Megan said. “You’re the heart and soul of this pack. If you say we’ll be okay, we will.”

The burden on Jayna’s shoulders suddenly felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. How the heck could she do anything? She was only a beta.

Jayna thought about Eric Becker and how the big alpha had promised to help her and her pack. She almost laughed at the notion that some outsider—a cop to boot—would ever help them. But something told her that Eric was going to come through for them.

She prayed her instincts were right because she needed something miraculous to happen if she was going to get her pack out of this situation alive.