The ideal thing would be to stay away from her, but he had questions that needed answering.

This time she was going to answer him honestly or, by God, he’d blister her perfect ass with the palm of his hand.

Jaime had never been to a baby shower before, so she hadn’t really known what to expect. Okay, yeah, she knew that they were little parties thrown for expectant moms, but that was pretty much the extent of her knowledge. What she hadn’t expected was to enjoy herself. Jaime wasn’t much for parties, but she was actually having a great time.

Earlier, while Taryn was having her afternoon nap, Jaime, Shaya, Grace, Lydia, and Hope had hung up all the decorations. The Winnie the Pooh theme matched the baby’s nursery, though the Alphas planned to keep their baby in their room with them for the first few months.

Taryn had been so delighted that she’d cried. Not that it took much to make Taryn cry these days. Every time Trey tried to comfort her she hit him, which was fun to watch. The buffet was fabulous, particularly the cake—most of which had been eaten by Marcus—and the games that Shaya organized were fun.

When it came time for Taryn to open the gifts, there were more tears. It was clear that it wasn’t just the hormones; she had been genuinely touched and grateful. Possibly the best gift had been the one that Shaya had given her. It was a photo frame that held three photographs. The space in the center was empty, but on either side were photographs of Taryn and Trey as kids.

“You can put a picture of the baby in the middle so you can see the resemblances between you,” Shaya told her Alphas. Unsurprisingly, Taryn cried again.

Possibly the worst gift was Greta’s. The old dragon actually gave Taryn a maternity dress that she’d made out of an old tablecloth. What kind of messed-up shit was that?

“She’s a dysfunctional woman,” Gabe commented as Dominic rushed over to steer Greta away from a murderous-looking Taryn. “Um…is there a reason why our Beta has been staring at you throughout the entire party? He looks…suspicious, I guess you could say.” She couldn’t really expect anything else, could she? Undoubtedly he’d have plenty of questions

—none of which she had any intention of answering. She knew why Dante hadn’t approached her to begin his quiz yet; he would never risk spoiling Taryn’s baby shower. Why did he have to have a sweet side? Jerk.

She felt an urge to touch the bite on her neck, just as she had at least a hundred times today.

Like those times, she ignored it. She hated that he’d done it. She liked that he’d done it. Her wolf was just as torn about the whole thing; she was infuriated with him for the possessive act, but she also liked the depth of his dominant streak.

“So what happened?”

“I sort of, um…I yelled at him last night. And growled. And hurt him.”

“Oh.” He sounded amused. “So then he’s probably wondering how a submissive wolf could challenge his dominance like that.”

Yes, particularly since there was no way he wouldn’t have picked up her wolf’s dominant vibes. She was surprised that he hadn’t told Trey and Taryn. Surely the fact that one of their wolves had been lying to them was something worth mentioning to their Alphas. For whatever reason, he appeared to be keeping the information to himself. She had to wonder if it was to make her nervous, to keep her on her toes. If so, it was working. “What do I say?” she whispered.

“How about the truth?”

“You know what will happen if I do that.”

Gabe shrugged. “It’s not for sure that they’ll ask you to leave.”

“I can’t risk it. I won’t.”

He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Okay.”

Seeing that he was glancing at Hope, who was smiling at him and blushing like crazy, Jaime asked, “Something going on between you two?”

“Not yet. But hopefully there will be.”

“If she can resist you, there’s something wrong with her.”

“You have to say stuff like that, you’re my big sister.” He cocked his head, giving her an odd look. “Thank you.”

She frowned. “What for?”

“After what happened with Mom and Dad…Our aunt and uncle might have housed us, but it was you who did the rest, you who did the parenting. And you had your own problems to deal with. I don’t think I ever thanked you.”

“You don’t have to.”

He rolled his eyes. “Will you just accept the thanks? I’ll probably never say it again, so you should really take advantage of this moment.”

“Fine. Thank you for the thank you.”

“So how are things going between you and Shawn?”

She grimaced. “They’re not. He’s still hung up on his ex-girlfriend, though he won’t admit it, so we haven’t even been doing the dirty.”

“Just like you’re still hung up on Dante.” At the sound of her growl, he held up his hands.

“Hey, I’m not judging. I just wish you guys would get your acts together and stop pretending you don’t want each other.”

“If he wanted me, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. It’s not like I played hard to get.”

“Sometimes people need to have something moved from their reach before they realize how much they want it.”

She loved her brother, but sometimes he made no sense to her. She knew Dante well enough to know that when he wanted something, he didn’t dance around it, he took it. “Whatfreakingever.” Gabe simply laughed.

As the party continued and Dante didn’t show any signs of slackening his stakeout, Jaime began to get restless. Having his total attention should have made her feel uncomfortable, but it heated her blood. Like her blood needed heating up any further! Good thing she, Ivy, and Riley were going to the club tomorrow night. Operation Calm Libido couldn’t come soon enough.

Eventually the party ended, and to Jaime’s surprise, Dante didn’t take the opportunity to corner her. That made her nervous, but she took advantage of that and scampered to her room. Not to hide.

No, of course she wasn’t hiding. Okay, she was hiding. But considering that she was about to be interrogated by someone who was not only an ace at it but who primed her body with his mere presence, was it really any wonder?

A few minutes later, there was a soft knock on her door. Bracing herself, she took a deep, calming breath. Opening it, she was surprised to find Shaya. She was even more surprised when Shaya pushed her way inside and quickly closed the door.