Wicked Cravings (The Phoenix Pack 2)

“What if they haven’t dismissed it at all and instead come to take a closer look?”

“Avoid combat if you can.”

That had her halting in her tracks. “Combat? You want me to fight the guys?”

“Eventually, yes. I’ve seen you move—you put me on my ass. There’s plenty more to learn, though. But as I said, you should avoid combat if you can. Stealth isn’t just creeping around without being seen, it’s about disappearing as if you were never there. I tell the enforcers the same thing. It might be honorable to stand and fight, but it can be dangerous if they’re alone. It can also endanger the team if they have some kind of plan cooked up and one of them just messed with it.”

“So how do I do a Houdini?”

“It won’t be easy with the guys, because they’re shifters and they can follow your scent, so it’s all about speed. Speed, and moving as quietly as possible so that they can’t also rely on their hearing to find you. Tracking you just by using your scent alone can slow them down and place more distance between you and them.”

Jaime threw her hands up in the air. “I can’t even walk quietly. How am I supposed to run quietly?”

“That’s where a little thing called practice comes in, baby, and you’ll get plenty of that throughout your training. Don’t lift your feet too high when you run and make sure you flex your ankle as if you’re pushing the ground backward, like you would on a treadmill.”

“What do your enforcers do if it’s not a shifter who’s tracking them, just humans? Does that mean they can just hide?”

“Yes, because I’ve ensured they’re good enough that they’re practically impossible to track.

And so will you be when you need to find cover and they’re hunting you down. You don’t need to necessarily find cover as such, but at least camouflage your shadow by standing next to a tree or maybe kneeling next to something of that height, like a large boulder or bush. All this is something you can practice in your own time. Maybe you could try sneaking up on Gabe.” A mischievous smile split Jaime’s lips. “I’m going to enjoy that. So what next?”

“Next,” he said with a feral grin, “we improve on your combat techniques.” The feral grin should have warned her that the tricky jerk meant to knock her on her ass time and time again. Clearly, he hadn’t yet forgiven her for the parking-lot incident. Jaime didn’t give him the satisfaction of yielding. No, she bore the pain and kept on moving. In spite of the grueling method of teaching, she suspected that she’d actually learned a lot more than she would have if it was just a standard lesson. Perversely, she was even enjoying it…until he suddenly stiffened and twirled.

“What do you want, you nosy bastards?”

His gaze was locked on the trees to their right, but Jaime had no idea what he was looking at.

Then, looking highly disgruntled, the enforcers stepped out of the trees.

Dante turned to Jaime. “See how they blended their silhouettes with their surroundings? That’s what I was talking about.”

“She’s still here?” asked Tao sharply. He was looking warily at Jaime.

Dante’s smile disappeared. “Watch it.”

Jaime’s wolf growled in her head at Tao’s unfriendly tone, backing up Dante.

“Come on, Dante, be fair—she nearly killed Glory.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“She could be dangerous to the pack. No, she is dangerous to the pack. And when Trey finds out—”

“He knows.” Dante’s tone was soft, low, pissed.

“You told him?”

“Of course I did. He agreed that she can stay, providing I keep watch over her.”

“You left out that part when we talked earlier,” said Jaime. The idea of being monitored constantly was a hurtful one, but she understood. She wasn’t one of those people who let pride get in the way of things.

“If you must know, Jaime didn’t want to stay. I’ve convinced her to, and she’s agreed to let me subject her to the same training that I did to all of you. We hope to improve on her self-control.”

“Will that be before or after she’s attacked one of us?”

Jaime crossed her arms over her chest. “So you all want me to leave?” Trick and Marcus looked at anything but her, while Ryan gave her an apologetic look that said it was nothing personal.

“Jaime, honey, ignore Tao,” Dominic told her gently. “He’s just freaked out.” Tao rounded on him. “And so would you be if you’d been there last night.” He turned back to her. “In all honesty, yes, I think you should go.” He stiffened when Dante growled. “I don’t think that training her will make much of a difference. Mostly because there’s no way she’ll finish it.” Jaime arched a brow. “There’s no way I’ll finish it?”

“If anyone knows who has the potential to pass that kind of training, it’s me. I’m Head Enforcer.”

She snorted. “Yippee for you.”

“Dante doesn’t go easy. It’s tough.”

“And I can’t do it because, what? Because I’m a female? I’ll have you know that there are plenty of things women can do that men can’t.”

Tao snickered. “Like what?”

“Well, bend over in prison, for one. Multitask, ask for directions, belly flop with dignity, bleed for five days every month yet not die—”

“Have multiple orgasms,” offered Dominic. When Tao turned and scowled at him, he shrugged innocently. “What?”

“All right, all right,” said Tao, his hands raised in a placating gesture. He turned to Jaime.

“Look, if you think you can handle it, by all means try it. I’m looking forward to you proving me right.

But don’t expect me to be okay with you staying here. You’re a nice girl and everything, Jaime, but you’re also a danger to the pack, and I can’t endorse you being here.” With that, he and the other enforcers walked away. Her wolf relaxed slightly, though Jaime doubted that she would have done so if Dante hadn’t been so close and his scent hadn’t been surrounding her.

“None of the pack trust me anymore, do they?” She already knew the answer to that.

Dante placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “It’s not that. They’re just all in an overcautious mind-set right now because Taryn’s pregnant and Glory’s being a pain in our ass. Plus, most of them were there when Trey’s mom turned rogue. They’ve seen what a rogue wolf can do, and it hurt them all when Louisa had to be killed. They don’t want to have to go through all that again.”

“They shouldn’t have to. Why do you insist on me staying? You said Trey wants me monitored constantly. You’re Beta, you have enough to do without watching over me.” He cupped her chin. “Yes, I’m Beta. This is what Betas do.”

“You look after your wolves’ well-being, I know. But what about their well-being? I’m a danger to them.”

“Only if you stop fighting.”

“Answer me honestly. Do you really think putting me through this kind of training will make a difference?” She refused to even begin hoping.

“I know it will,” he replied with total conviction. Why was he so sure? There was no other acceptable alternative to him than that Jaime was safe and well.

Although Jaime wasn’t totally convinced, she wasn’t put off by the idea of training. She’d known without Tao warning her that it wouldn’t at all be easy. But neither was fighting her wolf.

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 Trey’s request, he answered, “Give me five minutes.” After he ended the call, he told her, “Trey 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 Trey for ditching her guard, but Jaime’s motto was that it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission. There was a chance that Trey 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. Trey and Taryn had been absent both times, and Jaime strongly suspected that Trey 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 Trey 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 cl**vage. 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 Trey didn’t disconnect her from the pack before then

—something which was a strong possibility.

“No Trey 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 Taryn 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.”