“Don’t look away from me.”

She snapped her eyes back to his. “Why, are you going to do a trick?” He didn’t want to smile, but he couldn’t help it, damn it. He gave the smart-ass a look that swore reprisal. “Oh, baby, if you—” Catching a faint hint of her arousal in the air, he halted.

Fuck.

He couldn’t help inhaling deeply; the mix of the pure, tantalizing smell of her arousal together with her own unique scent was like a punch. A low growl rumbled out of him. It was definitely a mistake taking her scent inside him like that; knowing she was so wet and primed for him had his painfully hard c**k throbbing.

His wolf strained toward her, wanting at her again. Hell, he wasn’t the only one. Calling on every ounce of control he had, Dante remained where he was. He couldn’t pounce on her; he couldn’t let himself have her, no matter how badly he wanted her. He had enough reasons to ignore his hunger for her, and he silently recited each one of them to himself.

As she watched Dante sense her arousal, Jaime inwardly cursed herself. She would have expected him to be wearing one of his cocky grins. To her surprise, there was no grin, no smugness.

Instead, pure male need blazed from his eyes. Not that she could take it as a compliment—the scent of a mature female wolf’s arousal would have undoubtedly stirred his wolf and interested his body whether Dante wanted it to or not. Still, his reaction thrilled her wolf; the animal wasn’t interested in the facts surrounding the situation, she saw only a strong, dominant, aroused male who would take care of her own arousal quite nicely.

Yeah, well, her wolf would have to be disappointed, because Jaime herself was interested in the facts surrounding the situation. This was a male who had made it quite clear that he didn’t want her. This same male had not only been shoving his nose into her business, he had actually marked her when he had no goddamn right or reason. Possibly worse than all that, Jaime wanted him regardless.

“Answer my question.” His voice was taut with the feverish lust that was pounding through him.

“I don’t have to tell you a f**king thing.”

Of course the word f**king had Dante’s brain going back to its favorite subject—the idea of f**king Jaime. More fantasies began playing around in his head, making his balls ache. “Why are you being so secretive about this? Just answer the damn question!”

“Or what? You’ll tell Trey? Go ahead.” She waved a hand at the door. “Go on, go tell him.” He probably should. No, he definitely should. But Dante knew that Trey would decide to banish her purely for lying about her wolf’s dominant nature—there was no room for deception in a pack. While Dante understood that, he wasn’t comfortable with the idea of Jaime being banished. Not until he knew exactly why she had lied. Jaime wasn’t a vindictive, disloyal person. If she was trying to keep her wolf’s true status a secret, there had to be a very good reason. “I can’t help you unless you’re honest with me.” He growled when she arched an imperious brow at him.

“Did I ask for your help, Popeye?”

In two strides, he’d covered the space between them. “Stop being so f**king stubborn and tell me,” he ordered, all Beta now. The scent of her arousal swirled around him, blending with his own, making him close to drunk. The obstinate, challenging, hotheaded female was actually able to shrug off his order, and God help him, he found it sexy as f**king hell. All he could think about was stripping her naked and f**king her raw, f**king her into submission. His usually iron control was now papery thin, all because of this woman. “You don’t even know that you’re doing it, do you?” She double-blinked, confused—fully proving his point. She had absolutely no clue what she did to him, no clue just how hard he had to fight not to pounce on her and ravish her. If he didn’t leave this room right now, she soon would.

Reminding himself of all the reasons why he couldn’t have her, he stepped back. “Don’t think this is the end of this, Jaime. I told you yesterday that I won’t stop harassing you until I get answers.” He thought about apologizing for what had happened last night, but he wasn’t sorry—not even about marking her, oddly enough. So he turned on his heel and forced himself to leave before he dove on her again.

Deciding that she had definitely never met a male stranger than Dante, she stared after him as he waltzed out. His natural cocky swagger should have annoyed her, but damn if it didn’t have her stomach clenching in need again. Jerk.

Although Jaime was eager to know what had Shaya in such a state that she was chugging down a glass of vodka like it was ice water, she didn’t prod her for answers. She simply sat on the bar stool, waiting patiently for her to speak. Sensing that she and Shaya had needed a little alone time, Gabe had taken Hope onto the dance floor. He was good like that.

“I know I said I’d tell you, but I’m not sure I want to talk about it,” Shaya eventually said.

“I think you do. I think this is eating at you.”

Shaya offered a sad smile. “That’s almost the exact same thing that Marcus said.”

“Marcus is the one who has you upset?”

“No, no, definitely not. The shameless flirt guessed there was something upsetting me, and he wouldn’t stop hounding me until I told him.”

Jaime recalled seeing the two of them going on private strolls around pack territory together.

She had wondered if maybe they scratched each other’s itch occasionally, but apparently, it was something much more important.

“I’m glad I did tell him. Without having him to talk to, I’d have lost it. He’s the only one who knows. If I tell you, you have to keep it to yourself. I mean you keep it from Gabe, and Dante, and even Taryn and Trey. I know that’s not a fair thing to ask, so if you’re not comfortable with it, we won’t talk about it.”

Jaime wasn’t in a position to judge anybody for keeping secrets from their Alphas. Even if the idea had made her feel uncomfortable, she still wouldn’t be okay with leaving Shaya to deal with whatever this was alone. Sure, Shaya had Marcus, but sometimes a woman needed to talk to another woman. “You have my word that I won’t repeat a single thing you tell me.” Shaya slumped over the bar. “I know who my true mate is.”

That had Jaime raising her eyebrows. “Is he in the pack?”

“No. None of those guys would ever walk away from their true mate.”