In the Company of Wolves (SWAT, #3)(20)

“None of us liked stealing, but we didn’t have much of a choice. No matter how much we worked, we never seemed to have enough to buy food and keep a decent roof over our heads at the same time.” She broke off another piece of cake but didn’t eat it. “Then a few weeks ago, Liam—that’s our alpha—admitted he’d had to borrow money to help us through some rough patches. And it wasn’t from a bank.”

“I’m guessing this is where the Albanians come in,” Eric said.

She nodded. “For some reason, Liam told the Albanians about our pack. When they got their hands on all of his outstanding IOUs, we had no choice but to work for them to pay off that debt. Either that, or they’ll kill him.”

Eric frowned. “You know if you and your pack stay with these Albanians, you’re going to get yourselves killed, right?”

“I know. But there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Jayna popped the piece of cake in her mouth and chewed in frustration. She could have killed Liam for getting the pack into this mess.

“Why the hell not?” Eric demanded. “If you know this is dangerous, why don’t you and the rest of your pack just leave?”

“They won’t leave Liam. He’s the alpha, and they won’t walk away from him.”

“And you won’t walk away from them.”

“I can’t,” she said softly. “They need me.”

Eric didn’t say anything for a moment. Then he sighed. “Okay, I get that. What I don’t get is why Liam doesn’t stand up to the Albanians. I know they threatened his life, but he’s your alpha. Where I come from, an alpha does whatever he has to do to protect the Pack.”

She stared down at her cup. That’s what she thought an alpha was supposed to do too. But how could she admit that to Eric? Worse, how could she tell him she thought Liam had been lying to the pack all along?

When Liam had told them about the Albanians holding his IOUs, she’d thought something had been off. It wasn’t until they’d gotten to Dallas and she saw how at ease Liam was with them that she began to suspect he’d lied about everything. She had no proof, but it just seemed like Liam had manipulated the whole pack to get them to work for the Albanians.

“We can still take down the Albanians,” Eric was saying. “You just have to make sure you get your pack out of the loft before the raid.”

Jayna’s hand tightened around her coffee cup as she fought to keep her claws from coming out. She knew she shouldn’t have trusted a cop. “Raid? I thought you said you weren’t interested in arresting us.”

Okay, that was semantics. Actually, he’d said he wasn’t interested in arresting her. He didn’t say anything about her pack. But they were a package deal.

If Eric knew how close she was to shifting, he didn’t let it show. “I’m not. And as long as you and your pack are far away from the loft when my pack and I go in, no one else needs to know you were involved in the robbery at the warehouse.”

She relaxed a little at that. “The Albanians never let all of us leave at the same time. They know that if they always keep one of us there, the rest of us won’t ever try to run.”

The muscle in Eric’s jaw flexed. “Dammit. Tell me about the Albanians, then.”

“What do you want to know?”

“How many of them there are, who’s in charge, what their routine is like—anything you can think of.”

Jayna started with Frasheri, then moved on to Kostandin. Eric’s eyes flashed gold when she said Kos was half a chicken nugget away from being a serial killer. She was about to remind Eric where they were, afraid he might shift right there in Starbucks, but his eyes were back to their normal color before she could get the words out. Well, that was unexpected. All she’d done was mention she and her pack mates were wary of Kos, and Eric looked like he wanted to rip the Albanian to shreds. She wished Liam were as protective of their pack.

“Want another?” Eric asked as she drank the last of her latte.

Jayna was tempted to say yes simply so she could hang out with him a little while longer. Despite talking about the Albanians and the mess Liam had gotten them into, she was having fun with Eric, which was something she hadn’t done in a really long time. But she’d already been away from the loft too long.

“I can’t,” she said. “They’ll think something is wrong if I’m gone much longer.”

Eric looked as bummed as she felt, but didn’t say anything. He knew as well as she did why she had to go. She couldn’t leave her pack behind, and he wouldn’t ask her to.

“Will you be okay getting back?”

Jayna could only nod. That was the first time anyone other than her pack mates had ever shown concern for her. It felt…nice.

She was halfway out of her chair when she remembered something crazy important she needed to tell Eric. She sat back down. He did too.

“Damn, I almost forgot,” she said. “Kostandin is planning to take out your pack. He doesn’t care that you guys are cops. He wants all of you dead.”

She expected Eric to freak out, or at least immediately pull out his cell phone and call his alpha, but he simply nodded and said he’d let them know, like he was used to people trying to kill them all the time.

He stood when she did. “You’re going to need to wash off my scent before you go back, or they’ll smell me all over you.”