“How does the leg feel?” It was clear by the way Taryn was fidgeting that the healer in her was finding it hard to know that someone in her presence was injured.
“A little tender, but that’s it,” replied Jaime, flexing it. “Give me a couple of days and I’ll be ready to challenge Glory.”
Dante nearly choked on his food. “You will not.”
Her wolf growled, displeased by his objection and tone. Dante had told her all that he had learned from the lone wolf last night. There was really only one thing Jaime could do now. “Dante, that crazy-ass woman tried to have me killed. Call me strange, but I’m not prepared to let that go.”
“She’ll pay for what she did. It doesn’t mean you have to challenge her.”
“A few months ago, I wouldn’t have. But your training taught me how to keep a handle on my wolf when I’m fighting. Why not put those skills to good use? Besides, she’ll just keep doing stuff until I do. Generally people who want someone dead will not stop until they’ve succeeded.”
“Yep,” he agreed, playing with her hair, “but she’ll have to get through me to reach you, and that’s not going to happen. You don’t get involved at all. The enforcers and I will deal with it.”
“I’m not the type of person to sit on my ass while everyone else shovels the shit.” A huff escaped the old woman standing near the door. “If your wolf wasn’t insane and you weren’t such a liability, you wouldn’t have to, would you.”
“Uh-oh,” said Jaime. “Greta’s mouth is open and words are spilling out. That can’t be good.”
“Because of that, the responsibility now falls to my poor boys.” Jaime groaned. “Please tell me you’ll cut the apron springs at some point. Seriously, it’s kind of disturbing.”
“It’s your wolf’s state that’s disturbing. I don’t know why Dante couldn’t have settled for someone who wasn’t mental, rude, slutty, and fat. There’ve been some lovely girls in his life. Why he had to pick you is beyond me.”
Jaime cupped her ear. “Sorry, what? It was hard to understand you while all that shit was streaming out of your mouth.”
Dante held a hand up to shush Greta and gripped Jaime’s chin, bringing her face to his. “I won’t let you put yourself in danger, Jaime. Deal with it.”
“Before we decide what to do next, we need to talk to Nick about what happened,” Trey interrupted.
Jaime resisted the urge to glance at Shaya to see if she was okay at the mention of Nick’s name. She made a mental note to check in with her later.
Tao leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. “What’s the point? He’s been no help at all.”
Trick nodded his agreement. “So far, all he’s done is protect Glory.”
“That’s only to be expected,” said Trey with a shrug. “She’s one of his wolves. I’d want damning evidence before I handed over any of you to someone to be punished. Even then, I wouldn’t want to do it.”
Dante sighed. “Then we don’t contact him about it. I told him that time I met him in the diner that if she didn’t let this drop, I’d deal with her myself without his approval. He said he’d do the very same thing if the situation was reversed.”
“Still, I doubt he’d truly be okay with it. And the last thing I want right now is to be battling with another pack. Taryn doesn’t need that kind of stress—” Taryn growled. “Flintstone, please explain what I did to give you the impression that I was delicate?”
“Taryn, you’re due to give birth any day now.” His expression was fierce and his voice was firm, but he might as well have been whispering for all the good it did to intimidate his mate.
“That doesn’t mean anyone in the pack has to suffer because of that. I think Jaime’s right. I think Glory will keep this up until someone gives her a very good reason to stop. If she acted alone, it’s possible that her brothers no longer wish to get involved.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me, given what Dante, Jaime, and Ivy did to them when they turned up at the animal sanctuary,” said Marcus.
“No.” Jaime shook her head. “I saw the looks on their faces. They were excited about hurting me. They were going to enjoy it. Especially because they’re unbelievably overprotective of their baby sister and know I hurt her badly. I can’t see them wanting to let someone else have the privilege of hurting me in return. They’d see it as being robbed.”
“She’s right.” Dante took her hand in his, wanting to feel her skin against his. “The brothers wouldn’t let this go. But they’ll know by now exactly what happens when they confront us. They’ll most likely want to bide their time, may even think we’d fall for the ‘Oh, they’ve let it go’ trick.
Maybe Glory didn’t want to wait and acted alone this time. Whatever the case, we can’t let this go.” Jaime nodded. “Which is why I fully intend to challenge her.” Dante tightened his grip on her hand. “Jaime—”
“Just what would you do to a guy who not only attempted to have you killed, but was claiming I was his mate?”
That didn’t even require an answer. He knew that she had a point, knew that nothing in this world would have stopped him from challenging someone who tried to claim her, but fairness didn’t matter to him right now. All the fear and anxiety he’d felt last night was still lingering in his veins.
The last thing he could condone would be for her to be in any form of danger ever again. And she honestly expected him to? What perturbed him more was that his wolf wasn’t objecting to her intention. He saw it as just that his female would challenge the person responsible for her injury.
“I’m not asking for your permission,” she said softly, “but I am asking for your support.”
“I can’t.” With that, he released her hand, slammed his mug on the bedside table, and stood sharply. As he stormed out of the room, he heard her hitch in a breath behind him, knew his reaction had hurt her. A part of him wanted to do a U-turn and lock his arms around her, fuse his lips with hers, and tell her he was sorry. But he couldn’t, because he wasn’t sorry. He didn’t want her challenging Glory, and nothing could change his mind on that.
Until Jaime came along, he’d never been a brooder. Never saw the attraction in going off to be alone somewhere to simply stew on his feelings. But he found himself doing that for the next few hours. As if the rest of the pack knew exactly what he was doing in the living area, they completely avoided it the whole time. Well, all but one.