In the Company of Wolves (SWAT, #3)(31)

“We’re going to grab something to eat,” Megan said. “You coming, Jayna?”

“In a little while,” she said. “I’m going to show Eric to his room first.”

Moe frowned at that while Megan gave Eric a wary look. “Do you want us to come with you?”

Jayna shook her head. “Go get something to eat.”

“Are you sure?” Megan asked, and Jayna could see that her best friend was on the verge of panicking.

“I’m sure.” She smiled. “I’ll be fine.”

Megan looked like she wanted to argue, but instead she caught Jayna’s hand and pulled her close. “Be careful around him,” she whispered in her ear. “He’s freaky crazy.”

Jayna wanted to assure her pack mates they had nothing to fear from Eric, that he was there to help them out of this mess, but she couldn’t. So she simply nodded and gave Megan’s hand a squeeze, then told her and Moe that she’d see them later.

One of the Albanians tossed her a set of keys and gave her an apartment number a few doors down from the guys on the fourth floor.

Jayna tried to look casual as she led Eric upstairs. His apartment was almost a mirror image of hers and Megan’s.

“Sorry about Megan and Moe,” she said as he closed the door behind them. “They think you’re just another crazy omega who can’t be trusted.”

“I figured that.” His mouth curved. “Don’t worry about it.”

Jayna nodded, then frowned, her gaze going to his torn T-shirt. “Let me take a look at those claw marks.”

She knew from experience that ragged claw marks could hurt like hell and take a long time to heal.

“You don’t have to,” he said, but didn’t stop her as she pulled his shirt up over his head.

After the fight she’d just seen, Jayna expected to see a bloody mess, but the dozen or so ragged scratches took a backseat to the overall view she got of his truly spectacular upper body. It was hard trying not to stare—Eric was seriously buff. Broad shoulders, thick chest and arm muscles, and abs so ripped she had a crazy desire to nip at them with her fangs.

In addition to all those captivating muscles, there were a couple other things about Eric’s body that drew her attention. One was the big wolf head tattoo with the letters SWAT under it that dominated the left side of his chest. Clearly he wouldn’t be taking his shirt off anywhere near the Albanians or the omegas—their loss.

The other thing that stood out were the scars. All werewolves had a scar or two, including her pack mates. But Eric had more than a few. There was a big one with what appeared to be stitch marks on either side of it on the right side of his chest. There were two more just above his belly button, both bearing tiny marks on either side, like he’d been cut into, then stitched up again.

Beyond those three big scars, he had half a dozen smaller ones—at least compared to the others—and some of them looked relatively fresh. Compared to all the other damage Eric had obviously sustained in his life, the scratches Caleb and Brandon had given him looked like paper cuts. Still, she wanted to clean them a little.

“Stay put,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”

Taking his shirt, she went into the small kitchen and got it wet in the sink, then went back over to where Eric was waiting.

“You know you don’t have to do that, right?” he said as she carefully cleaned the blood out of each and every scratch.

She glanced up at him. “I haven’t seen Caleb or Brandon wash their hands the entire time they’ve been here. They could be carrying some kind of nasty biological crud under their nails for all you know.”

Eric’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t make a fuss as she continued tending to his wounds. He simply stood there patiently and let her work. She quickly lost herself in the simple task of cleaning the scratches, enjoying the feeling of his warm skin under her fingers. The fact that he smelled so damn good this close up may have had something to do with that. His scent was rather hypnotizing.

She knew she was taking longer to tend his wounds than absolutely necessary. But hey, it had been a long time since she’d enjoyed touching a man’s body. It seemed like another life the last time she’d done something like this, and she’d been nothing but a hormonal teenager back then. After what happened the night she’d left home for good, she’d feared she’d lost the ability to enjoy something like this.

Jayna was so caught up in the moment, she almost didn’t realize Eric was talking to her. “What?”

Maybe it was the midday sun coming through the window, but for a moment, it seemed like his eyes were glowing a beautiful, golden yellow. Then the color disappeared and he smiled at her.

“I asked if your alpha is always such an ass,” he said. “I think he was really hoping Brandon and Caleb would kill me.”

Jayna had to actually shake her head a little to clear it and get herself to focus on anything other than the broad expanse of muscles in front of her.

“Liam wasn’t always like that,” she said. “When I first joined the pack, I thought he was amazing. He seemed to go out of his way to find betas who needed his help, and he did whatever it took to get them to a better place. But lately, he’s changed. Suddenly, it all seems to be about power and money and respect. I don’t know where the old Liam went, but the werewolf who took his place is an ass. And yes, I’m guessing he hoped Caleb would go nuts and kill you. It’s almost certainly why he picked Caleb in the first place. The guy has major control issues.”