“Yep,” agreed Riley. “He’s kind of scary. So what are you going to do?” Jaime blew out a breath. “Talk to him, I guess. He said we’d discuss it later.”

“Good idea,” said Ivy with a nod. “Right, we need to get to work. I just want to say one thing.

Last night was the first time I’ve ever actually been up close to Dante, the first time he and I have ever made eye contact. He wasn’t drawn to me, Jaime. The magick didn’t work on him. The only guys who can resist it are those who are totally hung up on another person. You might want to think on that.” With those words, Ivy turned and walked away.

Not knowing what to do with that information—her thoughts were jumbled enough—Jaime simply put it to the back of her mind and got to work. But apparently she and those jumbled thoughts didn’t quite have an understanding, because soon enough they were tormenting her again. In all fairness, though, how could she not be feeling confused right now? The guy she wanted with every ounce of her being had gone from being aloof to suddenly wanting some kind of relationship with her.

What made it even more confusing was that he was fully aware of just how broken she was—a broken female wouldn’t be attractive to a dominant male. None of it made any sense. Of course a relationship with Dante was what she wanted, but not if that relationship didn’t mean anywhere near as much to him as it did her. And it wouldn’t mean as much to him. It would eat at her to be with him, care about him, and want to mean something to him, when he only saw her as a convenient body.

When her shift was almost over, she took out some garbage bags as usual. It was as she threw them into the huge garbage container that several unfamiliar scents surrounded her. Spinning, she found seven male wolf shifters, smirking and chuckling. All were clearly related, and all closely resembled Glory.

“Hello there, honey,” said the one in the center who was the tallest and stockiest of the seven.

His eyes surveyed her body, and a creepy smile took over his face. Looking in his eyes, she couldn’t help but get the feeling that someone else was driving. “I can see why he might be tempted to ignore his mate for you.”

“How’s your sister doing?” she asked tonelessly. Her wolf paced restlessly, recognizing their posture as threatening and beginning to feel overly anxious. In truth, Jaime wasn’t feeling particularly calm either, but she wouldn’t let them see that.

“You hurt her pretty badly. As you can imagine, I can’t have that. And since you’re Dante’s girl, that means you’re a way to hurt him, too. By dealing with you, we’re killing two birds with one stone.”

Her wolf lunged at her confines, but Jaime breathed through the pain and ignored it. “So you’re going to gang up on and beat up a girl. Huh. Your bravery staggers me.” His nostrils flared. “You messed up her face.”

“I’d do it again. What your sister fails to realize is that the huge circle of fire in the sky is what the world revolves around, not her. She wants Dante and thinks that she’s therefore entitled to have him, even if he doesn’t want her. It’s kind of sad and pathetic, really.” He looked at her curiously. “There has to be something wrong with you. Here you are, confronted by seven male shifters who have every intention of beating you to a pulp, and yet…you’re giving us attitude and insulting our sister. In a way, I kind of respect that.” Seeing that he was about to signal to his brothers to move toward her, she sighed and held up a hand. “Look, guys, you might want to think twice before doing this. I’m not an easy target. And I’ve seen CSI. I know how to get rid of the bodies and everything.” The crazy asses actually laughed, which only served to anger her wolf, who was now howling her frustration as she continued to attack her cage, wanting out. For once, she wasn’t overreacting.

One female against seven males was, undeniably, bad odds. She couldn’t call Ivy and Riley. With their ear protectors on, they’d never hear her. The only thing she could think to do was distract them until one of her coworkers came out.

Jaime looked at the empty space beside her. “I’m pretty sure they intend to hurt us badly, Mr.

Dungworth. We don’t like violence, do we, Mr. Dungworth? What course of action would you suggest?” She let her face take on a speculative look, as if she was considering an opinion.

“Interesting. Illegal and immoral, but interesting.” When she turned to the brothers, it was to see the seven glancing at each other with expressions that begged “What the f**k?” The middle brother looked to the others, gulping hard and seeming nervous. “Let’s get this over with.” None of them moved.

“Glory’s right, she’s crazy,” hissed the one on his left.

“She’s also one female. Now come on.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” interrupted Dante, growling, as he came out from behind the main building. “I really, really wouldn’t.” He’d noticed the huge truck as he neared the sanctuary, and some sixth sense had told him that it was Glory’s brothers. While a part of him had wanted to race over to the parking lot and confront them, the Beta in him had known it was important to be careful. If they’d heard him coming, they could have panicked and jumped on Jaime before he was even out of the SUV.

After making a quick call to the enforcers, he quietly approached to investigate. Thank God he’d gotten here in time.

“Okay, baby?” he asked Jaime without looking at her.

“Super.” Her wolf calmed a little at his voice and presence, but she was still very much on edge.

“Good.” He stepped forward until there was only a small space between him and the brothers.

“I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. You’re all going to turn around and leave here. You’re going to ensure that your sister stops spreading sweet little lies about me being her mate, and you’re going to make sure she stays the hell away from Jaime.”

She shivered at his words. Sheer dominance and power had dripped from every syllable.

The brother in the middle snickered, clearly too stupid and crazy to be nervous. Seeing that he was clearly the most dominant and the leader, Dante had every intention of demobilizing him in the quickest way possible in order to unsettle the others.

The crazy idiot advanced a step toward Dante. “Or what?”

Dante smiled, but it wasn’t pleasant. “Do you really want to know the answer to that?” The idiot’s response was to aim his balled-up fist at Dante’s nose. Dante blocked the move with his arm and delivered a head-butt hard enough to make the idiot stumble and triple-blink. He righted himself quickly and unsheathed his claws before taking a swipe at Dante.