Filed to story: Luna Lovette and Alpha Kodak Story
Dante was right; she could admit defeat and, in effect, quit, or she could strengthen herself and continue to fight. “I hope you’re right.”
“I am.” He hung an arm over her shoulders. “Come on, let’s go move your stuff to my room.” She stopped dead. “What?”
He frowned and shrugged. “I guess I could move into your room instead. But my bed’s bigger.”
“Whatever gave you the impression that we would be getting into any bed together?” Her body and her wolf were fine with this potential arrangement, unsurprisingly.
“Gabe told me about the nightmares. He said they freak out your wolf and then she tries to surface. Don’t worry, I won’t take advantage of you being next to me in bed.” Though he’d be so very, very tempted, and rock hard the entire time. The sound of his cell phone ringing disturbed him from teasing her further. “Hello.” In response to Kodak’s request, he answered, “Give me five minutes.” After he ended the call, he told her, “Kodak wants me to take a look at some paperwork. Choose where we’re staying-my room or yours.”
“Well, since your bed’s bigger, I guess your room.”
He smiled. “Good. I’ll walk you to your room. I want you to get your things together. When I’m back from the office, we’ll move your stuff to mine. Okay?” Reluctantly, she nodded. Admittedly, there was a part of her that was both curious and excited about sharing a bed with Dante. However, another part of her was absolutely terrified, because she wasn’t good at ignoring temptation. As said temptation didn’t return her interest, it would be pretty damn messy if she jumped on the poor unsuspecting victim.
It didn’t take her long to pack some of her stuff together to take to Dante’s room. She figured that she didn’t need to pack and move everything. It would be easy enough to go back to the room at some point if there was anything she needed that wasn’t basic stuff.
She had expected Dante to be a little put out at the sight of her things lying around his room.
Instead, he seemed kind of…self-satisfied. Her wolf, though still Dante’s number-one fan, wasn’t too pleased about the move. She liked being in a space that smelled heavily of Dante, but she didn’t like losing her own personal, private space. As a matter of fact, neither did Jaime. There was also the none-too-small matter that spending a lot of time with Dante would mean that she was in a perpetual state of arousal-something which he would be well aware of, unless she could find some nose plugs somewhere. In fact, two pairs of nose plugs would be nice. That way, his amazing scent wouldn’t be constantly teasing her and her wolf.
God, this all had the making of a disaster. Especially when she knew just how gifted those hands were, and especially now that her state of arousal had hit critical levels.
Huh…it occurred to her then that it was Saturday. And there was one thing she had planned for tonight. Operation Calm Libido. Oh yeah, that was what she needed. With some luck, she might actually bag herself a guy for the night, and that would help her function like a normal person around Dante-who wouldn’t be happy about her leaving pack territory.
Yeah, well, he would simply have to be unhappy, because there was no way she would let any person control her. Jaime had her own mind, and she knew how to use it. She was aware that she’d be in some serious trouble with Kodak for ditching her guard, but Jaime’s motto was that it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission. There was a chance that Kodak would count it as a strike against her and banish her, but she knew that was going to happen sooner or later anyway.
She’d seen the looks the enforcers gave her earlier; she’d seen the wariness and distrust in their eyes. That same wariness and distrust had been in the eyes of the rest of the pack at lunchtime and at the evening meal. Only Dante, Shaya, Dominic, Gabe, and Hope had treated her just the same as before. Kodak and Lovette had been absent both times, and Jaime strongly suspected that Kodak was purposely keeping his mate separate from her. She understood that, she understood all their reactions, but it still hurt. It was truly only a matter of time before Kodak changed his mind and slung her out. Why not just get it over with?
So while Dante and the enforcers were having a meeting in his office with Nick Axton-that cruel son of a bitch best hope he didn’t see her anytime soon-she quickly changed into her black halter-neck dress with the neckline that dipped all the way down to the front clip of her bra, showing a little cleavage. Little black dresses were always winners, she thought.
Then, remembering the stealth tips Dante had taught her earlier, she scurried out of the caves and down to the parking lot. She hopped inside her Chevy and cursed as she saw that the keys were gone from their usual place behind the visor.
Dante. He really was set on her not driving her baby, wasn’t he? Asshole. She had a spare set of keys, but they were in her room.
Not willing to be discouraged by anything, she instead took the Toyota Highlander and zoomed out of pack territory, waving pleasantly at Cam, who was gaping at her from the security shack. Oh yeah, he’d be on the phone to Dante within seconds. No doubt she’d be subjected to a huge lecture from him when she got back. But that was only if Kodak didn’t disconnect her from the pack before then
-something which was a strong possibility.
“No Kodak today?” asked Nick from the chair across from Dante. They were the only two sitting. Tao, Marcus, and Ryan stood behind Dante while Nick’s Beta, his bodyguard, and one of his enforcers stood behind him. Whereas Nick’s demeanor was usually relaxed and friendly, it was much more formal today. Dante had a pretty good idea why Nick had called for a meeting.
“He’s keeping Lovette occupied so that she doesn’t know there’s a meeting of any kind,” explained Dante. “He doesn’t want her under any form of stress, though he can’t seem to work out that his overprotectiveness is what’s stressing her out.”
“I spoke to Glory about what happened. According to her, she did nothing more than try to use the restroom. She said that Jaime rounded on her, warned her away from you, and said she was going to teach her a lesson for spreading rumors about you.”
Dante had to give the female credit for her creativity. She even had her Alpha believing her.
No, Dante thought as he studied Nick more closely. Nick didn’t believe her. But he wasn’t happy about what had happened. “And what do you think?”
“I think…that you’ll lie for Jaime no matter what she did.” Dante didn’t deny it. He had strong morals and a fierce sense of right and wrong, but he’d sacrifice both to protect his wolves. He especially would for Jaime, but he didn’t want to think on why. “Doesn’t mean I’m lying when I say she merely responded to another female provoking her.”
“Responded is putting it lightly, don’t you think? I’m surprised Kodak hasn’t banished her.”
“If you’re going to question our Alpha’s decision,” rumbled Dante, his tone low, “you really don’t want to do it in front of me.”
Nick gave a curt nod. “Okay, I overstepped my boundaries. But Jaime caused a lot of damage to Glory. It took four sessions to heal her, though it’s fair to say our healer operates in a different way than Lovette and so it takes longer. I might not have a particular fondness for Glory, but she’s still part of my pack. She’s still under my protection.”
“And Jaime’s under mine. She told me the things Glory said to her. Not only did she lay claim to me again, but she repeatedly insulted Jaime and threatened her. I won’t punish Jaime for responding to a threat, or for feeling a need to defend her own Beta. It’s what we do here-we take care of each other, look out for each other. I told you at the diner that if Glory continued to make a claim to me then she’d be dealt with. Well, she’s been dealt with.”
“And the way she was dealt with doesn’t bother you? The way Jaime lost all control doesn’t bother you?”
Dante’s patience was wearing thin now. “She didn’t lose all control or she’d have shifted- which is something you know. But what I fail to understand is why you’re so interested in Jaime.”
“I’m just surprised she hasn’t been banished. Hey, don’t get me wrong, I can understand if you’re all hesitant to ask her to leave, but you have the other members of your pack to think about.
What if Jaime was to feel provoked by one of them? Would it be fine to you if she was to attack, say, Shaya in the same way that she attacked Glory?”
“Well, neither Shaya nor the other females are any of your business, so…” Marcus let the sentence trail, shrugging.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?