In the Company of Wolves (SWAT, #3)(22)
Becker jerked his head at his apartment building. “I’ll tell you about it inside.”
He led the way up to his fourth-floor apartment, dropped his keys on the table just inside the door, and headed for the kitchen. He opened the fridge and started to reach for a couple beers but grabbed two bottles of water instead. Cooper was on duty, and while werewolves couldn’t get drunk, smelling like beer wasn’t a smart thing to do when you were in uniform.
He tossed one of the bottles to Cooper, then cracked open his own. He leaned against the counter and took a long pull before getting his friend up to speed on the situation. Between the Albanian mobster with the serial-killer underboss, the mercenary omegas, a jackass alpha, and Jayna’s pack of betas, even Becker’s head was spinning by the time he was done, and he already knew the story.
“Oh yeah,” he added. “There’s one other thing. The sadistic underboss I told you about, Kostandin, is gunning for us. Guess he figures they won’t be able to focus on what they want to do in Dallas until we’re out of the picture.”
Cooper nodded. “I’ll make sure the Pack knows. So, Jayna’s a beta, huh? And the werewolves who run without a pack are called omegas? Gage should really give a class on some of this stuff because there’s obviously a lot we don’t know.”
No kidding. Then again, maybe Gage didn’t know betas existed either. “Yeah, well, she and her pack are in deep crap if we can’t come up with a way to help them.”
“And there’s no way you can convince them to walk away from this * Liam?” Cooper asked.
Becker shook his head. “Not a chance. Her pack won’t leave, and Jayna won’t leave without them.”
“Huh.” Cooper’s mouth edged up. “You got to respect that.”
“No, I don’t have to respect it,” Becker snapped. He swigged the rest of his water and angrily threw the bottle in the recycle bin. “The Albanians are dangerous. She’s going to get killed.”
Cooper raised a brow, clearly surprised by the vehemence in Becker’s voice, but didn’t say anything. Becker ground his jaw. He rarely got pissed, especially at his best friend, but he was worried as hell about Jayna.
“So, what did you tell Xander and Gage about why I didn’t show up for work today?” he asked, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction. When he’d texted Cooper yesterday to tell him he wouldn’t be in, his friend had said he’d come up with some reason Gage would buy.
Cooper shook his head. “I told them your sister was having problems with her pregnancy and you were spending most of the day on the phone trying to figure out if you needed to go to Denver.”
Becker frowned. As lies went, that was a good one, except… “My sister isn’t pregnant.”
“But no one knows that,” Cooper said. “And if you need to disappear for a few days to help get Jayna and her pack out of the mess they’re in, it’s the perfect cover.”
Becker couldn’t argue with that. Now he just had to figure out how to make it happen.
“So, what’s the plan?” Cooper asked.
“I’m not quite sure yet.” Becker told him about his original idea to raid the loft when Jayna’s pack wasn’t there and why that wouldn’t work. “Other than staking out the place to make sure they’re safe, I got nothing.”
Cooper regarded him thoughtfully. “How far would you go to keep her safe?”
“That’s a dumbass question. I’d go as far as I have to.”
“I thought you’d say that.” Cooper sighed. “Then it’s obvious what you need to do.”
Becker frowned again. “It is?”
“Yeah,” Cooper said. “If you can’t get Jayna out of the situation, you need to get yourself into it, so you can protect her.”
Becker shook his head. “I don’t think sitting on the place is going to work. Not only would one of the werewolves pick up my scent sooner or later, but I also wouldn’t be close enough to protect Jayna when it really matters. If the Albanians send her out on another job like that warehouse gig, I wouldn’t even know it was happening until it was too late.”
“Then you need to be closer,” Cooper said. “So close you’d be right under the other werewolves’ noses…and you can go on those jobs with her.”
Becker’s heart started to thud as he realized what his friend was getting at. Shit. Leave it to Cooper to come up with a plan that verged on suicidal. “You’re suggesting that I go in undercover?”
“Yeah.” Cooper grinned, as if he thought his plan was foolproof. “You said her alpha is bringing in omegas to fill out the ranks. You can go in as one of them and keep Jayna safe from the inside.”
Becker snorted. “That’s insane. You remember how shitty my first, last, and only undercover job turned out, right?”
“You weren’t a werewolf back then,” Cooper pointed out. “And the second one is always easier.”
How the hell would Cooper know? He’d never done any undercover work. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to be any better at it now.”
“You’ll be better now because you have to be. The life of the woman you think is your soul mate depends on it.”