In the Company of Wolves (SWAT, #3)(67)

Megan set down the last plate, then came around the table to take Jayna’s hand in hers. “Sleeping with a guy isn’t the same thing as opening your heart to him. It’s about being willing to open yourself up and risk getting hurt for a chance at finding something real. That’s not you, Jayna. You’re really good at keeping people at a distance, you always have been. But I’m guessing Eric makes you feel things you’ve never felt for a guy, and it’s freaking you out. And when you get freaked, you run.”

“I’m not running from Eric,” she said stubbornly.

“Aren’t you? Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me the only reason you don’t want Eric to come with us if we leave is because you don’t want to make him choose between you and his pack?”

Jayna opened her mouth to tell her friend exactly that, but the words wouldn’t come—because they would have been a lie, and she didn’t want to lie to the only person in the world who really knew her and liked her anyway. Well, the only person besides Eric.

“Okay,” she admitted. “Maybe I am running. But I’m just so scared of getting hurt.”

Megan put an arm around her shoulders. “I know you’re scared. But why? I mean, I know your mom and stepdad weren’t the poster couple for happily ever after, but you and Eric aren’t your mom and stepdad.”

Thank God for that. “I know. But, Megan, Eric believes I’m this mythical soul mate that werewolf legends talk about. That we’re destined to be together. That he loved me the moment we met.”

“So?” Megan said. “I still don’t see what the problem is. You fell for Eric the second you met too.”

Jayna started to deny it but couldn’t. “Maybe. Probably. The first time we met in that warehouse full of werewolves shooting at each other, I couldn’t think about anything because I was too lost in those beautiful blue eyes of his.”

Megan shook her head with a laugh. “People are trying to kill each other all around you, and you’re losing yourself in some guy’s beautiful blue eyes. Sounds like a magical power at work to me. Again, what’s the problem? If you and Eric are magically destined to be together, what are you worried about?”

Jayna gave her a small smile. “I’m worried that there really isn’t any magical power pulling us together, that it’s all in our heads. What if I’m not nearly as wonderful as he seems to think I am and he figures it out a few weeks after he’s run off with us? What if he wakes up one morning and realizes he doesn’t love me at all and that he screwed up his whole life for nothing?”

“Okay, I’m going to say this as gently as I can—you’re an idiot.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“Jayna, I can promise you one thing for sure: Eric is never going to stop loving you. I’ve seen it in his eyes. He can no more stop loving you than he can breathe underwater. It’s impossible. You’ll never lose his love, but you can screw around and abandon it because you’re too stuck in the past to see what’s right in front of you.”

Jayna could only stare at her friend in awe. “When did you become so smart?”

Megan laughed. “I’m no smarter than I ever was. I’m just bright enough to know something good when I see it. The question is—do you?”

For once, Jayna decided not to overthink a simple question. She was just going to say what her heart told her to say.

But before she could, a sound from outside caught her attention. The horses were stirring in their stalls and neighing, like they had when they’d first gotten a whiff of her and her pack of werewolves. She glanced at the doorway to the kitchen, checking to see if the guys had gone out to the barn again. After Moe, Joseph, and Chris had spent most of the afternoon in there helping Ethan, she didn’t think the horses would still be afraid, but it was possible. All three guys were in the kitchen though, helping make dinner and laughing at some joke Ethan had just told them.

She headed for the kitchen before she even realized what she was doing.

“Jayna, what’s wrong?” Megan asked.

She didn’t know what was wrong. Something just…was.

Then, a scent she never thought she’d smell again hit her.

Crap.

Jayna ran the last few steps into the spacious country kitchen. “Ethan, do you keep a gun in the house?”

Everyone turned to look at her in confusion. She opened her mouth to ask again when the back door suddenly burst open. She whirled around with a growl to see Liam come sauntering in. He was followed by Kostandin and a whole bunch of nasty Albanians. They were all carrying weapons.

Liam didn’t say a word as he aimed his pistol at her chest and squeezed the trigger.





Chapter 15


Becker twisted the gas on the big Harley and it surged forward, but it didn’t help. The two trucks behind him were moving too fast. They were going to hit him.

He swerved to the side, avoiding one SUV a fraction of a second before it could smash into his rear tire. The violent maneuver almost put him and his bike on the pavement, but he got control of it just as the vehicle sped past him. He turned to shout at the idiots, but his words froze as he recognized the driver. It was one of the Albanians. He should have figured it out sooner, since both the cars were big, black Escalades.