Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 137004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
“You could come to the game, too.”
“I can’t, baby. I—”
She held up her hand. “You don’t have to explain. I know you’re busy. It was just a thought.” The more understanding she was, the worse he felt whenever he disappointed her. “It’s Josh’s birthday party tomorrow. We could go if you want.” No doubt it would be a big event, since Josh had recently taken over as Alpha of the Bjorn Pack after the death of Trey’s uncle.
“I wouldn’t have thought you cared.”
He shrugged, smoothing his hands up and down her thighs. “Being honest, I’m not particularly interested in rebuilding my relationship with him. Too much has gone on for that to be possible. Plus, he actively encouraged Trey’s banishment. But I’ve heard that his mate’s pregnant. Maybe it would be a good idea to shove all our shit aside. I’d like to know my niece or nephew.” Oh, he was just way too cute. Not many people would be able to put aside the kind of crappiness that existed between him and Josh. Jaime doubted that she could’ve. Although Josh had really only followed Blane’s example, it was no excuse, in her opinion. He had his own mind, his own will, and he should have used it. He should have protected his baby brother. “Any opportunity I can find to spend some time with you, I’ll take.”
Although she’d said it with a smile, Dante had sensed the slight sadness there. He sat upright and folded his arms around her. “I know we don’t get much—”
“This is your job, I get that.”
Dante sensed her melancholy and sighed inwardly. He wondered if she had any idea just how much she’d changed him over these past few weeks. Before her, there were times when he’d gone almost three days without sleep or with just a brief nap in his office chair. Now every night he went back to his room, because he knew she’d be there when he did. Welcoming him, holding him, giving him attitude, and making him laugh.
She also drove him insane. He could never find a damn thing in that room among all that clutter. The number of times he’d tripped over one of her shoes and nearly broken his neck was unreal. She’d jumbled his neat and orderly room just as much as she had his neat and orderly life. For the first time, he’d wondered if maybe his life had been too orderly—or dull, as Jaime liked to think of it. She brought color to his black-and-white world. If someone had told him before now that he would like to complicate his predictable world, he’d have snorted.
The sound of his cell phone beeping snatched him from his thoughts. He reached over to his jacket, which was on the ground beside Jaime’s, and dug out his cell. Seeing that he had a text message from Trey summoning him to his office, he gave her an apologetic smile. “Training’s over for today, baby.”
Hiding her disappointment, she smiled and rose from the floor so that he could get from underneath her. “No worries. I’ll see you later.” He stood upright, shot her a smile, and then the playful, tender look on his face disappeared and the Beta mask slid right back on. Her Dante was gone. Without a second look at her, he grabbed his coat and jogged away.
Slipping her arms into her jacket, she fought off the chill she felt at the loss. Not just of his body heat, but of him— Dante the person as opposed to Dante the Beta. Intending to go for a quick shower before breakfast, she began making her way back to the caves. Halfway there, her cell phone rang. She smiled when she saw that it was Ivy. “Hey, bitch, what’s up?” A pause. “Um…Jaime, I…”
The croaky sound had Jaime halting in her tracks. “Ivy? Ivy, is everything okay?”
“One of the dogs, Jaime…”
Ivy didn’t have to say any more for Jaime to understand. No matter how prepared they were for the dogs being put down, it always hit them hard. “Who?” No answer. That said more than words could, but still Jaime persisted, hoping that she wrong. “Who was put down, Ivy?” A long pause. “Ben. I’m so sorry, honey.”
Emotion clogged her throat, but she held back the tears. “What happened?”
“He attacked one of the staff last night. He hurt him really badly, Jaime.”
“But Ben wasn’t a violent animal.”
“You know as well as I do that just because he never hurt you doesn’t mean he’d never hurt anyone else. If we don’t know their histories and what’s traumatized them, we don’t know what might trigger them to snap. I really am so sorry, Jaime.”
“I’m fine,” she lied, her voice unsteady.
“Take today off. You really don’t want to be here today.”
No, she didn’t, because although she understood that the staff member wasn’t to blame, she would undoubtedly find herself wanting to kill him. “See you tomorrow. Take care.” It was only a second after she ended the call that the tears came. Yeah, she should be used to this by now, but it was always a blow to her system when one of the dogs she cared for had to be put to sleep. At some point the same thing could happen to her—something could act as a trigger for her wolf and give her enough strength to surface. And then God knows what her wolf would do. Jaime just hoped that someone dealt with her before she could hurt anyone.