In the Company of Wolves

by Paige Tyler

  The concern in Liam’s voice seemed genuine, but the smile on his face didn’t quite reach his hazel eyes. He seemed more concerned with reading the situation, probably trying to see if her disappearance last night would reflect poorly on him.

  “Liam.” Kostandin’s tone stopped her pack leader in his tracks. “I thought you said there weren’t any other alpha werewolves in this country.”

  Liam looked shocked for a moment, but he quickly recovered. “There aren’t. I told you, Brandon made a mistake. Those SWAT cops might have been werewolves, but they sure as hell weren’t alphas.”

  Kos didn’t answer for a long time, and the silence started to become uncomfortable. Finally, he turned and speared Jayna with a look. “You just said they were alphas. Were you mistaken?”

  Liam grumbled something under his breath she couldn’t make out. But what was she supposed to do, lie and say that the werewolves who’d taken out the pack omegas had just been big boned?

  She lifted her chin. “They were alphas.”

  Liam opened his mouth to say something, but Kostandin cut him off. “How many alphas?”

  Jayna didn’t answer right away. She had no idea how many werewolves they’d faced. She tried to remember how many different scents she’d smelled. She’d picked up at least five of them, including the woman. Not that she was even considering saying anything about her. If Liam had a cow about there being other alphas in Dallas, he’d lose his mind if she told him there was a female alpha too.

  She opened her mouth to tell Kostandin how many alphas she’d seen when a sudden unexplainable impulse to drop the number by one hit her. Was she actually feeling protective about the SWAT guy who’d saved her life? Did she really think she’d be helping him if the Albanian thought there were less of them than there really were?

  That was stupid. If the Albanians thought they were facing an overwhelming number of these SWAT werewolves, maybe they’d say the hell with Dallas, and she and the rest of the pack could be done with them.

  “Well?” Kos prompted.

  “Seven at least,” she said. “Maybe eight.”

  Her answer earned a gasp from Liam and the rest of her pack. She couldn’t blame them. She was having a hard time imagining that many alphas all living together, much less functioning as a team.

  Kos frowned. “All alphas? You’re sure of that?”

  “Yes.” She jerked her head in Brandon’s direction. “As I’m sure he told you, they were all big, fast, and strong. I got away, but it was more luck than anything.”

  She was hoping that last little part might convince Kos this was a no-win situation, but he merely nodded thoughtfully, then looked at Liam.

  “Start figuring out exactly what we’re up against,” he ordered. “Find out if there are more alphas than Jayna saw, where they live, and when they’re most vulnerable.”

  Liam’s eyes sharpened. “We’re going after them?”

  Kostandin didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. All it took was one glimpse of the sick gleam in the Albanian’s eyes to know that he intended to kill every member of the other werewolf pack in the most vicious way possible.

  Kos walked away with Liam and Brandon following closely behind. As they were leaving the lobby, she heard Brandon asking when they would strike and Kostandin saying something about patience. She could have kept eavesdropping on the conversation and probably heard the rest of their plan, but she resisted. The way her stomach was twisting in knots, she decided she didn’t want to know what they were planning to do.

  Megan and the guys looked at Jayna as if they expected her to come up with a way out of this for all of them. They’d agreed to this job because of Liam, but none of them had signed up for killing anybody—not cops and especially not other werewolves. But the way this was shaping up, they might not have a choice. Kostandin and his Albanians wouldn’t think twice about going after those SWAT werewolves, and Liam seemed to be willing to go along with anything Kos suggested. Even Brandon and his omegas would be happy to help.

  Trying to stand against both the Albanians and the omegas? That was a fight their small pack couldn’t win. All they could do was go along and hope a chance to get out of this situation presented itself.

  Could she really just sit back and let Kostandin and the others go after those SWAT werewolves—especially the one who had saved her life—without doing anything? She didn’t want to, but it wasn’t like she could warn them. She’d never caught her savior’s name, and she sure as hell couldn’t call in an anonymous tip to the hunky werewolf with the amazing blue eyes.

  What the hell was she going to do?

  Chapter 3

  “So what the hell are you going to do?” Cooper asked Becker the moment they were inside the armory’s security cage.

  Tuffie, the team’s unofficial mascot, had followed them into the building, figuring something must be up if the two of them were slipping off to the most private place on the SWAT compound right in the midst of all the insanity going on. The pit bull mix took up a position by the door like she was standing guard. Becker shook his head. Maybe that was exactly what she was doing. Sometimes Becker thought that dog understood more than anyone gave her credit for.

  Cooper had been trying to talk to him privately ever since they’d gotten back to the compound this morning, but they hadn’t had a chance to slip away until a few minutes ago. When you worked with fifteen other werewolves, all of whom had incredibly good hearing, finding a little privacy could be tough.

  Becker wasn’t surprised that everyone was losing their minds. It wasn’t every day they got into a gun battle with another pack of werewolves. And while Xander’s squad had technically won—taking down five of the nearly psychotic werewolves from the mob pack—nobody was in the mood to cheer. Their success had come at a cost. Hale Delaney, along with Max and Alex, had been hit with multiple rounds from the other pack’s submachine guns. If they hadn’t been werewolves, they’d all be dead. As if that weren’t bad enough¸ Khaki had been bitten. Seriously…bitten. She’d shot one of the enemy werewolves eight times, and the guy had still been able to get his fangs latched on to her shoulder. Khaki would be fine, but Xander was still so pissed that no one could even look at him without earning a snarl.

  Becker leaned back against the counter separating the weapons and ammo area from the front of the building. “Do about what?”

  Cooper looked at him like he was insane. Even Tuffie’s jaw dropped. Hell, maybe he was a little nuts. After nearly half a day to think about it, he still had no idea why he’d behaved the way he had around that female werewolf. Not only had he not arrested her, but he had hidden her in a box so no one else could either. That wasn’t exactly normal.

  “You’re joking, right?” Cooper said. “You know you have to tell Gage and Xander about that female werewolf. You got a good look at her face. If we can ID her, she could lead us to the rest of her pack.”

  Becker’s gut clenched. Some part of him knew it was the right thing to do. Shit, her pack had nearly beaten those poor security guards to death. On top of that, there were at least six other werewolves out there besides her, all probably just as insane and out of control as the ones they’d killed at the warehouse. But he couldn’t betray her. He didn’t understand why, but he couldn’t.

  “I can’t do that,” he said.

  “Why the hell not?” Cooper demanded. “She’s a criminal. Shit, Becker, she pointed her automatic weapon at you.”

  “But she didn’t pull the trigger,” he argued. “She could have, but she didn’t. She’s not like the others. She’s not a criminal.”

  Cooper snorted. “How can you know that?”

  Becker knew his friend was just trying to get him to see reason, which normally would have been a good approach. But as far as this woman was concerned, reason didn’t enter into the picture. For the first time in his life, he was making decisions based purely on instinct and emotion. He was usually linear and calculating. This should have been freaking him out, but t
he funny part was that it felt right.

  He ran a hand through his short, dark blond hair and sighed. “I can’t tell you how I know…I just do. She’s different. You have to believe me when I say that. And whatever you do, you can’t tell Gage or anybody else about her.”

  Cooper pulled a tall metal stool out from behind the counter and sat down. Tuffie left her place by the door and moved closer, as if she really wanted to hear the next part of their conversation.

  “Becker, you’re asking me to lie to Gage and the rest of the team about something that could get a lot of people killed, so no bullshitting. You need to be completely honest with me on this.” Cooper pinned him with a hard look. “Are you doing this because you think a woman you’ve known all of sixty seconds could be The One for you?”

  Ever since Gage had met Mac, the rest of the SWAT team had been seeing The One in every woman who gave them a casual glance. After Xander met Khaki, it had only gotten worse. It was the number one topic of conversation whenever they had some downtime. Hell, even when they were on incidents. Becker was just as guilty as the other guys when it came to wondering if there was someone special out there for him.

  Right now, though, his first impulse was to say Hell no! He’d exchanged half a dozen words with her in all of thirty seconds. It’s not like he was in love with her or anything like that. He was asking Cooper to lie for him because he thought she was innocent and because…well, she seemed nice.

  Shit, that was lame.

  The longer he stood there trying to come up with an answer, the longer Cooper’s theory had to sink in. Was his friend right? Was the reason he’d reacted so strongly to this beautiful werewolf because they were somehow linked together like Gage and Mac, and Xander and Khaki?

  That was crazy. The odds were incredibly stacked against a werewolf ever meeting his one-in-a-billion soul mate. There was no way Becker could have met his in the midst of an armed robbery. That kind of crap didn’t happen in the real world.

  But it had happened for Gage and Xander. So maybe it had happened for him too.

  He pushed at a piece of dirt on the floor with the toe of his boot before finally shrugging. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  Cooper folded his arms, his dark eyes regarding Becker thoughtfully. “Are you sure you’re not just projecting? That you want this woman to be The One so badly you’re willing to overlook anything that doesn’t fit?”

  “What the hell does that mean?” Becker demanded. He pushed away from the counter. “Since when did you turn into Dr. Phil?”

  Cooper held up his hands. “I’m just saying. I know you’ve been looking around the next corner for that one-in-a-billion babe for you ever since Gage met Mac. I get it.”

  Becker didn’t say anything. Cooper was right. He hadn’t had a serious relationship since he’d gone through his change, and if there was a perfect woman out there for him, he wouldn’t turn a blind eye to her—or turn her in to his fellow cops.

  “So what if I am eager to find The One for me?” he asked. “What kind of dumbass werewolf wants to live his life alone?”

  Cooper seemed to think about that. “I get what you’re saying. But given that you really, really want this woman to be The One, are you sure you aren’t just seeing what you want to see?”

  “No. I’m telling you, there’s something about her.” Becker eyed his friend. “So…are you going to say anything to Gage?”

  Cooper looked to Tuffie for help, but the dog’s expression remained happily neutral, as if to say Cooper was on his own with this one.

  Cooper muttered something under his breath. “Why am I the one who has to keep everybody’s secrets when they’re doing something stupid?”

  Becker chuckled, remembering how Cooper had kept Xander and Khaki’s relationship secret from everybody on the team for a while. “Because you’re so good at it.”

  Cooper shook his head. “Okay, so we don’t tell Gage and the rest of the Pack. What do we do then?”

  Becker frowned. “Hold on. There is no we. I’ve already gotten you in deep enough by asking you to lie for me.”

  “If this all goes south, it’s not like Gage and Xander will go easier on me because all I did was lie to them,” Cooper pointed out. “It’s in my best interest to make sure this all works out right. If it doesn’t, we’ll probably both end up getting punched through a brick wall. So, how can I help?”

  Dammit, Cooper could be stubborn. Becker should have told his friend that he didn’t want him involved, but the truth was, he could use the help. And as Cooper pointed out, Gage would be pissed anyway. Then again, Gage was always pissed about something.

  “The first thing we need to do is get out of here so I can do some digging,” he told Cooper. “Think you can come up with an excuse without making anyone suspicious?”

  Cooper thought about it for a moment, then grinned. “Yeah. We tell Gage the truth.”

  Becker gaped. Had Cooper missed the part where he said they couldn’t tell anyone about the werewolf babe?

  But Cooper was already out the door with Tuffie at his heels, leaving Becker no choice but to catch up.

  Cooper’s version of the truth was telling Gage that the two of them wanted to check out the warehouse to see if they could find something that would lead to the other pack. Becker had expected it to be harder than that, but Gage hadn’t even batted an eye.

  Cooper glanced at Becker as they headed to the parking lot. “See how easy things are when you tell the truth?”

  Becker just snorted as he walked over to his bike. He could have ridden with Cooper, but since Becker didn’t know where the trail might lead, he figured he might need his wheels, so he took his Harley instead. Besides, the ride might help him get his head right where that female werewolf was concerned. Could she really be The One? Yes, he’d been immediately attracted to her and so rattled that he’d barely been able to think, but shouldn’t he have felt something more definitive? Gage and Xander claimed they’d known they’d met their soul mates the moment they saw them. Why hadn’t he?

  Unless being attracted to a woman even though she’d been pointing a weapon in his face at the time actually was a sign he’d met The One.

  Stupid thoughts like that were still bouncing around his head when they arrived at the warehouse. He pushed them aside as he parked his bike beside Cooper’s Wrangler.

  Cooper motioned to the helmet strapped to the backseat as Becker climbed off his Harley. “Why do you carry that if you never wear it?”

  Becker shrugged. “Never know when you’re going to meet a safety-conscious hottie looking for a ride.”

  “If she was safety conscious, wouldn’t she want you to wear a helmet too?”

  “Huh. Never really thought about it that way.”

  “Yeah, I figured you hadn’t,” Cooper said drily. “And as long as you’re thinking about it, you might want to consider that a safety-conscious hottie probably wouldn’t want to ride on a motorcycle anyway. There’s a reason doctors call them ‘organ donor vehicles.’”

  “I guess I’m just looking for a regular hottie then,” Becker said. “Forget the safety-conscious part.”

  Cooper just shook his head and fell into step beside Becker. The crime scene techs were done processing the warehouse, but the young patrol officer left on duty still signed them into the logbook before letting them go inside.

  “Were you guys part of the SWAT team that took down that crew this morning?” the patrolman asked. Then he hurried on enthusiastically, “I got a look inside. It was like a combat zone. Must have been crazy, huh?”

  Becker nodded but didn’t say anything.

  “World Cargo had its insurance people in here a little while ago,” the officer continued. “I heard them say the suspects who got away made it out with something like fifty of those platinum medallions. That’s a pretty big haul, right?”

  Becker headed into the warehouse, leaving Cooper to deal with the overeager patrolman. Guarding an inactive crime scene had to be boring a
s hell, and any other time, he would have chatted with the guy, but right now, he had some urgent crap to take care of.

  He headed straight for the crate where he’d told the female werewolf to hide but stopped midstride when he picked up her scent by a big trash can. He dug through papers and cardboard until he came up with her lightweight tactical vest and black sweater. Smart girl. She’d dumped them so she wouldn’t look suspicious. He checked them for anything he could use to track her, but the stuff was clean.

  He could have followed her scent out of the warehouse, but he knew that wouldn’t lead anywhere but a dead end wherever she’d gotten into a vehicle. No werewolf’s nose was good enough to follow her beyond that.

  He continued on to the crate and was just climbing inside to look around when Cooper showed up.

  “What are you looking for?” his friend asked. “I’m pretty sure she didn’t leave her phone number in there for you.”

  “Probably not,” Becker agreed. “I’m hoping I can find something that might give me a clue about who she is.”

  Cooper rested his forearm on the edge of the crate. “You know, this would have been a lot easier if you’d remembered to get her name.”

  “Yeah, well, I was a little distracted at the time.”

  Becker hunkered down in the tight confines of the box, envisioning the beautiful female werewolf doing the same thing as he breathed in her incredible scent. Despite the perfume permeating the wood, he could still smell her.

  “So what was it?” Cooper asked as Becker rummaged through the packing material in the bottom of the crate.

  Becker glanced up at his friend. “What do you mean?”

  “What was it about her that got to you? Was it her face? Her scent? The way she talked?”

  Becker stopped what he was doing to lean back and consider the question. “I’m not sure,” he finally admitted. “I’ve been asking myself the same thing all day and still haven’t come up with the answer.”

  He let his butt slide down until he was sitting in the same cramped space where the female werewolf had sat, except she’d done it with the lid closed and cops wandering around just outside the thin wooden walls. The thought of her being trapped and scared in here suddenly made him want to growl and tear into something—violently. He resisted the urge and instead forced himself to take a deep breath and focus on the question Cooper had asked.