Mom screaming. Claws. Black wolf. Blood. Blood. Black wolf. Blood. Blood. Blood.

“Jaime, now!”

With a loud gasp, Jaime vaulted upright in the bed. Her panting quickly became a loud cry of pain as her wolf fought with everything she had to escape her cage and deal with the threat that she didn’t understand was long gone. Jaime instinctively creased over with the pain, curling her arms around her stomach to help ease the spasms. Her wolf persisted in trying to escape her confines, leaping at the walls, clawing at them, and body-slamming them as she howled in anxiety. Breathing and thinking through the familiar agony, Jaime fought to keep control, to prevent the change.

“Come here, baby, come here.” Dante curved his body around her. His wolf was frantic with the need to do something, to cancel out her pain. Snaking a hand around her throat, Dante whispered into her ear, “It’s okay, it’s okay.” But he sensed no response from her wolf. “Calm down,” he ordered, pouring authority into the words. That seemed to get her wolf’s attention, as a rebellious growl trickled out of Jaime. Good. If her wolf was focused on him, she was focused on the present as opposed to the past. “Stop.”

“I’m going to be sick,” warned Jaime as her wolf became distracted enough that she resisted fighting to surface. Leaping out of Dante’s hold, she dashed to the en-suite bathroom and vomited repeatedly into the toilet until there was nothing left. The entire time, Dante held her hair out of the way and stroked her back.

“She fought a lot harder than that time at the bar.”

Jaime simply nodded, breathing heavily.

“But you kept control, baby. You still fought off her efforts to shift.”

“Only just.”

He understood now why she so feared what her wolf might do if she took over. He’d sensed her wolf’s fear and anxiety, her need to defend and protect and to eliminate the threat she believed was there. If she had surfaced in that state, she would have attacked him or anyone else near for sure.

“You certain you still want to keep me here?”

It was a rhetorical question, he knew. She genuinely thought he’d fear her wolf now. He gripped her chin. “You’re not going anywhere.”

She sounded tired and defeated even to herself. “Dante, you know it’s best for me to—”

“You’re not leaving me. You promised me you wouldn’t, Jaime. Yes, she was strong. But you were stronger. And you’ll keep getting stronger.”

“Yeah, but so will she.”

Just as Dante had anticipated, Josh had gone totally over the top for his birthday. Colored lanterns, balloons, and birthday banners were everywhere, particularly in the opening of the forest. Hey, Dante loved a good party like everyone else, but the whole thing was set up in a way that suggested the guy was all-important and deserved to be worshipped. Being Alpha didn’t mean the pack owed him that.

It was his job to earn their trust and respect.

“Is it just me who’s thinking that he’s gone a little overboard?” grumbled Jaime. Although she wasn’t at all interested in celebrating Josh’s birthday, she was quite enjoying seeing her old packmates.

“Nope, not at all.”

Seeing that yet another guy was ogling Jaime, Dante curled an arm around her and gripped her hip possessively. Not that he could really blame the guy. She was always beautiful to Dante, but she looked particularly stunning tonight in her white strapless dress and white stilettos. He’d barely resisted taking her hard and fast before they left. He was looking forward to rolling up that dress and bending her over while he f**ked her until she forgot how to breathe.

Seeing so many males admiring her had his wolf on edge, as if waiting to be challenged. Dante couldn’t help wondering if any of those guys from this pack were ex-boyfriends of hers. It was probably best that he didn’t know. He couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t punch them if it turned out that they were.

Snapping him out of his thoughts, an elderly couple approached. Immediately he recognized them from when he was younger. Just as many other members of his old pack had done that night, they shot question after question at him: How had he been? How was the rest of the Phoenix Pack doing?

Were he and Jaime mated? Then they would ask Jaime if she had any intention of returning and all about how Gabe was doing. He quickly came to realize that Jaime and Gabe had been popular in the pack, and he had to wonder why it was that they left.

Although it was nice seeing old pack members, he often found his mind drifting. He was very much aware of just how much work he had waiting for him back at his office, and it was playing on his mind. Being here was taking away valuable time he could have used on getting all that done.

Several times people had had to repeat their questions at least twice before it even registered to him that they were talking to him. Luckily, Jaime was a good conversationalist.

“You know, you could at least look like you’re enjoying yourself.” He blinked at her words, only then realizing the elderly couple was gone. He supposed it was kind of obvious that he was eager to leave. “Sorry. I just have a lot on my mind.” Yeah, and that was always the problem with him, thought Jaime with a sigh. She wanted to be understanding, she really did, but sometimes she couldn’t help resenting how little consideration she got. It was one thing for him to be tending to his duties, but it was another thing for him to be off in a world of his own when he was supposed to be spending time with her. Resisting the urge to argue with him was difficult, but she managed it.

“Dante,” drawled a voice that was almost as gruff as Dante’s. Jaime inwardly rolled her eyes.

God, she despised this guy. Out of all the brothers, he looked the most like Dante, but he was nowhere near as attractive.

“Josh,” said Dante with a nod and a shake of the hand. “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks. This is my mate, Rhea. You saw her briefly when we came to your territory with some of the others to ask about Taryn.”

Dante gave her a nod. “Congratulations on the pregnancy.”

“Thank you,” she said, placing a hand on her flat stomach. Josh turned to Jaime then.

“Jaime, it’s been a while. How’ve you been?”

“Super,” she replied flatly before quickly switching her attention to Rhea, giving her a brief hug. The redhead was a lot like Ryan in the sense that she didn’t say much, but she had a keen pair of eyes and a strong set of morals.

Dante frowned when Josh didn’t even arch a brow at Jaime’s lack of respect toward him. It was clearly no surprise to him.