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.”

“So he knows who you are? I mean, he knows you’re his mate?”

“He knows.” She took another swig of vodka. “I know it’s really unusual for someone to pick up on it within minutes of meeting someone, but I just knew. Maybe it’s because I was so eager to find him after seeing Taryn so happy with Trey that I was open enough to sense it. I saw a flash of recognition and then shock cross his face. I saw the way he watched me like a hawk. There’s no way I’ll believe he doesn’t know.”

“You didn’t try to talk to him?”

Her chuckle was humorless. “Oh I tried. You should have seen the way he looked at me. Or should I say, he looked through me. He’s made it obvious that he doesn’t want me.”

“He said that?” Jaime was ready to kill the guy already.

“That’s the thing, he said nothing. He doesn’t talk to me. Whenever he comes to our territory, he pretty much overlooks my presence. I don’t even stick around when he’s there anymore. I figure there’s no point if he’s only going to ignore me. It hurts, you know. It really f**king hurts.” Jaime could only imagine. “Why not tell Taryn?”

“She’d demand to know who he is, break his nose, and then force him to claim me. I want him to claim me because he wants to.”

“Maybe there’s a good reason why he hasn’t claimed you. Maybe you could try to talk to him again.”

“Give him a chance to dismiss me again like I’m a piece of shit on his shoe? No thanks. I’ve got a pretty good idea why he doesn’t want me. He looks down on me.” A surge of protectiveness shot through Jaime. “Why would he look down on you?”

“Because I’m submissive, and he’s so not.”

“Why should that be an issue? Just because you’re a submissive doesn’t mean your mate can’t be an alpha male.”

Another humorless chuckle. “He’s not just an alpha male. He’s an Alpha of a pack.” Shock made Jaime’s eyes widen. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope. So you see the problem.”

Yes, she saw the problem. Alpha pairs of a pack were exactly that—a pair of Alphas. A submissive wolf could never hold the position of Alpha female and would be constantly challenged if she tried. Trey’s mother had been an exception, because no one had envied her position as Rick Coleman’s mate, but she had never had the respect and support of the pack as every Alpha female should. Jaime wanted to say something comforting, but unlike her brother, she was so bad at this. “Oh God, Shaya, if I knew what to say, I’d say it.”

“Thanks. The whole thing would be a lot easier if he didn’t visit the pack.”

“Why does he visit?”

She shrugged before taking another gulp of vodka. “I’m guessing it’s to talk business stuff with Trey.”

“He can do that over the phone. Not many packs socialize with other packs. You don’t think that maybe the reason he goes is to see you?”

“If it is, he’ll be disappointed, won’t he? I’ll never be there when he is. Not ever. There was one time when he showed up out of the blue. I hid in my room.” After a short pause, she added, “I’m thinking of leaving the pack.”

Jaime twisted fully in her seat, gawking unattractively. “What?”

“Believe me when I say that I love it there, I really do. It’s so different from my old pack—

tight and family oriented and supportive. But it’s not a safe haven for me, because he goes there. He can invade my home whenever he likes, and that taints it. If things get too hard…I don’t see what other choice I’d have. No matter how bad things get, I’d never leave Taryn while she’s pregnant. I want to be there for the birth. But after that…Well, we’ll see.”

“Where would you go? Back to your old pack?”

“I’d go where I’d never have any chance of bumping into him. I’d make a place for myself in the human world.”

Jaime gawked again. “You can’t be serious. Shaya, the lone-wolf lifestyle is no joke.”

“No, it’s not, but there’s no room for me in the shifter world if I can’t have my mate, is there? I can’t exactly have a real relationship with another shifter. Even those who aren’t yet ready to find their true mate still want to find them eventually.”

“It doesn’t mean you can’t find a shifter who cares for you enough to imprint on you.” Shaya placed her empty glass on the bar and turned in her seat so that she was fully facing Jaime. “Let me ask you this: My mate might not want me, but do you think he’s going to let anyone else have me?”

“Hell.” No male would be okay watching his mate with someone else. An Alpha male? There was a pretty good chance he would kill any male who touched her, whether he wanted her for himself or not.

“My only chance of finding any kind of happiness with someone would be to leave the shifter community behind, leave him behind. Find a nice human guy who doesn’t come with baggage like Alpha shit and true mate bonds.”

“I hate to say this—really, really hate to say this—but you’re right, getting out of here does sound like the best option for you. I gotta say, though…Running from him wouldn’t be a good thing.

Running from a predator is like waving a red flag at a bull.”

“Yeah,” allowed Shaya, her voice so small and sad, “but if I told him I was leaving my pack, he’d try to stop me because it would suit him to know where I am and that I’m not with anyone else.”

“You’re probably right. Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Is it Nick Axton?” she asked cautiously. It wasn’t such a hard guess, since he was one of the very few Alphas who visited.

Shaya’s expression morphed into one of sheer, unadulterated pain. She sighed heavily.

“Yeah.”

“Can I kill him?”

“I’ve been tempted to do it myself plenty of times. Oh God, listen to me whining. I’m letting him depress me. I promised myself that I wouldn’t.” She jumped to her feet. “Come on, time to dance.”

“Dance?”

“Yes. You know how much I love to dance. Besides, if I don’t stop dwelling, I’ll end up crying. Now come on.”

Nodding, Jaime simply followed Shaya to the dance floor. Then, like Shaya, she gave herself over completely to the music, letting it invade her body, charge her soul, and steal all other thoughts from her mind.

Dante had just sunk two balls, leaving only the eight ball, when Marcus came inside the game room eating a bag of chips. Glancing around, Marcus asked, “You guys haven’t seen Gabe, have you?” Like Dante, Trey, Trick, Tao, Nick, and his bodyguard, Derren, all shook their heads. Dante leaned down, getting himself in position to pot the black.

“He went out with the girls,” revealed Dominic.

Distracted, Dante missed the black completely. “Which girls?” Delighted that he now had the chance to pot the black first, Dominic smiled widely and bent over the pool table. He took his shot and then scowled at Dante when he scooped up the black, holding it hostage. “Hey!”

“Which. Girls?”

Dominic rolled his eyes. “Jaime, Shaya, and Hope.”

“Shaya?” echoed Nick, earning curious looks from everyone.

Dante demanded, “Where are they, Dominic?”

“Why, what’s the big deal?” But Dominic knew exactly what the big deal was. Dante wasn’t in the mood for his little “let’s see how far I can push my Beta” games right now.

“Where are they?”

Dominic sighed. “The Rouge Bar.”

Twenty minutes later, with Nick, Derren, Tao, Marcus, and Trick close behind, Dante edged through a mass of gyrating bodies. His eyes scanned the bar intently, searching diligently for the reason he was in this damn place. He didn’t much like it here. It seemed that there was always trouble at some point between packs.

When he reached the far corner of the dance floor, he stopped dead as a sight captivated every muscle in his body. A female moving so in sync with the music, like her entire self, right down to her soul, was attuned to the rhythm.

Jaime. Her slender figure was sensual, graceful, and spellbinding. As usual, the temptation to have her slithered over every inch of his skin, taunting him. No, haunting him.

And now his dick was getting hard.

“She’s hot, isn’t she?” said Marcus, following Dante’s gaze.

Trick frowned at Marcus. “You don’t do tall women.”

“I’d do her.”

“No one’s doing her.” Dante almost cringed at the command in his voice. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know that the guys did this just to needle him; it was a regular thing. But damn if he could help reacting.

Tao’s lips curled in amusement. “You finally ready to stake a temporary claim, Dante? Come on, it’s obvious that you want her.”

“How about we just order our drinks?”

“So you’re telling me that we came all the way here and you’re not even going to approach her?”

“I’m just here to keep an eye on our females, that’s all. It’s my job. Gabe’s a submissive wolf; he can’t exactly protect them all.”

Each one of his enforcers gave him looks that said, “Do you really expect us to believe that?”

“Have you all forgotten about the Glory situation? Her brothers could be here, and if they are, they might feel happy to use our females to get to me.”

Trick cleared his throat. “D, sorry to disappoint, but it seems like the point’s moot anyway. It looks like a claim has already been staked on Jaime.”

At those words, Dante’s head snapped around and his eyes zoomed in on the broad male who was now pressing his chest against Jaime’s back with his hands settled on her hips. She turned her head, smiled, and settled herself more firmly against him. A menacing growl escaped Dante. Every cell in his body wanted nothing more than to charge over there and snatch her away. Only one thing stopped him, only one thing kept his infamous self-control from failing him—if he went over there now and did that, he would, in fact, be staking a temporary claim. He couldn’t do that. He couldn’t get involved with any female from his pack. He wouldn’t.

But he could watch her, could make sure the dance was nothing more than that—a dance. He admitted to himself that if it looked as though things were getting more serious than that, there wasn’t much chance of him restraining himself from interfering.

As if Jaime sensed his heated gaze, her eyes landed on Dante. For a second they widened, and then she gave him a smile. It wasn’t a flirtatious smile or one filled with sexual promise, though. It was one of recognition, the kind you would give to someone you knew but didn’t bother your ass with; it was polite and warm, but quick to disappear.

Motherfucker.

Trick blew out a rough breath. “Looks like you lost your chance there, D.”

“Nah,” Tao disagreed. “I’d say if he went over there and broke them up before things got too heated between them, he might have a shot. Of course we know he’ll never do that.” Dante didn’t even spare the guys a glance. He knew they were playing with him, knew they were trying to make him act on what he wanted. He also knew that if that prick’s hand crept any nearer to her breast, he’d snap the damn thing off.

What the hell was Popeye doing here? Jaime knew he didn’t like this bar, so she had to conclude that the others had urged him to go along. She didn’t dare look over at him, not wanting to see some female slinking all over him. And that was exactly what she would see. It was what always happened.

It made her sick to her stomach every time.

Ignoring his eyes on her—and she knew without even looking that they were still on her, she could feel the weight of his gaze—she continued to dance with the jaguar shifter behind her. He was easily a foot taller than she was, which was evident by the fact that his erection was level with her back rather than her ass. From her peripheral vision, she could tell he was a good-looking guy.

Rugged. She liked that. She threaded her fingers through his ruffled dark hair, and yes, it was as incredibly soft as it looked.

He trailed his free hand up her outer thigh, skimming ever so slightly underneath her silky turquoise strapless dress. “You ever been with a jaguar before, wolf girl?” She shook her head. Jaguar shifters came highly recommended by Riley, she suddenly recalled.