Blane, not Dad, Dante noted. He exchanged a look with Jaime. It probably shouldn’t be such a shock that the kid didn’t seem to consider a man who apparently hit him often to be his dad. But he hadn’t spoken the name Blane with fear or anger, as if he associated that person with bad, painful memories. Leif spoke the name with indifference, much like someone who was speaking of a person he barely knew.

“Are you sure you can’t take us on the tour?” Bitch Face’s sensuous smile was back. “Leif would love to spend some time with his uncle, get to know you and—” Jaime groaned. “Oh dear God, have some pride, woman!” It was impossible not to cringe for her.

Leif’s mouth twitched into a smile, which he hid by ducking his head. It was the same smile that every female, even Greta, was wearing as they all openly showed their disdain for this intruder who seemed intent on spending time with Dante.

Well, every female other than Taryn, who was snarling at Trey. “Only a man would allow a mated male’s ex-girlfriend to stay with the pack and stupidly think that everything will be fine.” Trey cuddled Kye against his chest as if his son could somehow protect him. There was no denying that his tiny mate could be scary at times.

“Well, I have to get to work.” Jaime didn’t miss how Bitch Face’s expression turned cunning, as if she was dreaming up a way to get Dante alone while Jaime was gone. That expression was replaced by one of frustration when he spoke.

“I’m coming with you again.”

Jaime didn’t object for two reasons. One, although she trusted Dante, she really didn’t like the idea that Bitch Face would have the opportunity to get him alone. Two, she had to admit that she liked it when he went along with her. She liked having him around her. Her wolf liked it, liked to be surrounded by his scent.

Although her wolf didn’t totally trust him not to harm her emotionally, she was happy with the bonding and acknowledged that he was her mate. Jaime had to wonder if her wolf would have been content with the mating a few months ago. Her wolf had been much more temperamental back then, so eager to distrust and avoid everyone around her. Now she seemed to be open to trusting Dante. She just didn’t feel that she could yet.

As Jaime wasn’t so opposed to him working with her occasionally, she didn’t overwork him this time. Just as when they were doing Beta duties together, they worked well as a team, tackled the work together and did it peacefully. That was, however, until a certain incident cropped up. One of the dogs that had been transported in a rescue van had gotten out of his crate and stood in the parking lot, growling at anyone who tried to approach.

“Jaime’s best at this,” Ivy declared, electing her for the job of calming and collecting the Doberman. “I’ll be ready with the tranquilizer gun just in case her charm doesn’t work on him.”

“No f**king way.”

Jaime narrowed her eyes at the giant who was suddenly planted in front of her. “Move, Dante.”

“You are not going near that dog. Look at him.” Dante blanched at the mere idea of her going anywhere near it.

“I see him,” she said patiently, understanding that he would feel so overprotective. “I see a scared animal who is feeling defensive right now, and I fully intend to help him.” He folded his arms across his chest. “I said no.”

Those words might not have rankled so much if it hadn’t been for the dominance that coated them. He was actually trying to pressure her into yielding to him, pulling the Beta act on her. Jerk.

“Haven’t we already established that you have no control over me?”

“This isn’t about trying to control you. It’s about keeping you safe from a vicious dog that would happily eat you.”

“Now you’re just being melodramatic.”

“I’m making up for your lack of a flight response.”

She rolled her eyes, losing her tolerance and not prepared to let her mate try to dominate her into giving in to him. It hurt that he would actually do that. “Step aside.”

“No, I will not let you near some traumatized animal that could easily go crazy and attack you!” Realizing what he’d just said, Dante squeezed his eyes shut. By insinuating that the dog behind him was beyond help and could easily snap and hurt people, he was insinuating that things were just as hopeless for Jaime’s wolf. In truth, he didn’t really believe that about her wolf, but his words had given an altogether different impression, and he hadn’t missed the pain that flashed across his mate’s face. He hadn’t had to see it, he’d felt it. “Jaime—” With anger dripping from every word, she spoke in a flat voice. “Move out of my way and let me do my job.” She shouldn’t really be surprised that Dante had never believed her wolf could fully heal, but it hurt all the same, because she had wanted to believe him.

Knowing that nothing he could say would make her budge on this now, Dante reluctantly stepped aside. He’d hurt her enough already, and he didn’t want to push her further and hurt her again.

But if that dog made any threatening moves, Dante would be on it before it could blink.

Blocking out Dante and shoving aside her emotions to deal with later, Jaime passed him and took the leash that Riley—who, along with Ivy, was scowling at Dante—was holding out. Jaime had been in this situation enough times to know what to do. Keeping a safe distance between her and the dog, which was in a challenging stance and baring his teeth, she knelt down. Towering over him would make him feel intimidated, and that would negate her chances of making him see her as no threat.

She spoke to him in a calm voice, hoping it would reassure him and that her sense of calm would, in turn, help him calm. She wasn’t fazed by his growls, as she knew that more often than not, growls were warnings as opposed to acts of aggression. Still, not heeding those warnings could result in a bite, and she didn’t want one of those. She’d been bitten a few times in the past. When the bulldog had locked onto her hand, it had hurt like a motherfucker.

Wanting the dog to understand that she posed no threat, she avoided eye contact, as that was something he would interpret as confrontational. Digging her hand into her pocket of her coveralls, she fished out a few of the dog treats she kept there. She threw some to the side of him and waited.

After sniffing the air, he eventually nibbled on one of the treats. Once he’d eaten each of those treats, she tossed a few more.

Turning to the side to communicate that she wasn’t challenging him, she slowly inched forward. After only a few feet, she stopped and tossed him some more treats. She waited patiently as he ate them, and then gently patted the ground before holding out her hand, encouraging him to come to her. At this point he had stopped growling, but his posture was still alert. After several minutes, he seemed to adjust to her presence and decide that she wasn’t a threat, because he began to approach her.

Jaime stayed totally still as he sniffed the back of her hand. Only when he seemed calm did she, still talking to him in a soothing voice, slowly take the leash from her other pocket. Without gripping his collar, she simply clipped the leash to it, all the while speaking quietly to him. Although she wanted to stroke him, she avoided it. There was no way of knowing whether he had what Ivy called “hot spots”—places he disliked being touched that could set him off.

Jaime’s entire body was a hot spot right now. If Dante touched her even once, she’d kill him.

As if he sensed that, he made no attempts to touch her or speak to her as they worked the rest of their shift. In fact, it wasn’t until they were almost on pack territory in the SUV that he reached across and placed his hand on her thigh. By that point, she had calmed down enough not to shake him off, especially since she could feel how mad he was at himself.

“You know I wasn’t talking about your wolf.”

“Really?” she drawled with skepticism heavy in her voice.

“I admit that my choice of words was bad and the whole thing came out wrong, but I do not think your wolf is beyond help.”

Although she sensed that he was speaking the truth, it didn’t improve Jaime’s mood much.

“This isn’t just about what you said. Yeah, what you said hurt. But it’s more than that. Since the very beginning, it’s been me who’s been giving all the support in this relationship. You lap it up, but whenever I need you to back up me on something, you don’t.”

“You wanted me to support you approaching a clearly dangerous dog?” She could see that he was genuinely missing the point. If he had been anyone else, she would have mistaken his response for pure ignorance. But it was like he once told her: he’d been on his own for so long that sometimes he could be self-centered without even realizing it. “I expected, no matter how much your instincts were telling you to protect me, for you to acknowledge and appreciate that I was doing my job.”

He didn’t respond until they were through the perimeter gate of pack territory. “You were putting yourself at risk, and that’s not acceptable to me.” In a mockingly sweet voice, she said, “I’m sorry. After all, your job isn’t at all dangerous, so I have no right to expect you to let me do mine without trying to hold me back and get in my way.”

“That’s different.”

“Why? Because it’s you?”

“Yes. No.” It was more yes than no, if he was honest with himself. Not that he was in any rush to tell Jaime that, though he suspected she already knew through their bond. Sometimes that link was a pain in his ass. “You have no sense of self-preservation, so is it really any wonder that I try to protect you?”

“But you didn’t try to protect me today. You tried to dominate me into doing what you wanted.

How is that fair? For a minute there, you were Beta, and I was just a packmate. Not Beta female, not your mate, just another pack member to whom you give orders.” His expression told her that now he got her point.

“That wasn’t what I was doing.” But it was. Maybe he hadn’t meant to undermine her and her ability to take care of herself, but he had. If she had gone all Beta female on his ass and tried to use that authority to boss him around or crush his opinions, it would have sincerely pissed him off. Unless it happened in the bedroom.

When he parked the car in the lot, Jaime turned to him. “Look, I know that this whole overprotectiveness thing is part of who you are and is so much worse now that we’re newly mated, but you can’t try to dominate me into doing what you want.”

“I’m sorry, okay.” He reached out and cupped her nape, rubbing it soothingly. “I believe we both agreed that I was going to f**k up a lot.” Pulling her to him, he gently meshed his lips with hers, relieved when she didn’t tense. “But I can’t apologize for wanting to protect you. I’ll always want to do that, and I’ll always try to, even when you don’t need me to.” Sighing, she relaxed into him. “I know. But I’ll still get pissy with you every time.”

“That’s okay. You’re hot when you’re mad.”

Growling, she shoved him away, ignoring his laugh, and hopped out of the SUV. He was at her side before she could progress more than three steps. Then, still laughing, he was kissing her, curling his arms around her. When she playfully struggled, he caged her wrists with his hands and backed her into the SUV, pinning her hands above her head. His cocky smirk made her growl.

“Now this looks familiar.”

“Yes, I remember that night when you used my lust to punish me.” He brushed his lips against hers. “No, baby, that wasn’t about punishing you. That was me losing control. I’d wanted you since the second you came here, wanted this mouth and this delectable body. The idea of you with another guy was torture, and I snapped.” Deciding to put him out of his misery, she said, “I wasn’t actually dating Shawn, you know.” He stilled. “What?”

“Well, I had years ago, and he wanted us to start things up again, but we didn’t actually do it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“Because it was more fun to watch you hyperventilate.”

Smiling, he nipped her bottom lip. “I should spank you for that, but I’m too glad to know you hadn’t let him touch you again to care.” The again part had his mood souring a little. He saw by her expression that she’d sensed it.

“What is it?”

He let his forehead rest against hers. “I wish I’d known who you were to me sooner. That way no one else would ever have had you. Because of the way my brothers always treated me, I erected some pretty tough emotional barriers when I was a kid. Not so much to protect myself, but as a way of fighting back. Building those walls meant that the a**holes could do whatever they liked, but they’d never break me, never hit me where it truly hurt. The hell of it is that if I hadn’t been so emotionally guarded, I might have been more open to you back then, might have recognized you for who you are to me.” He’d felt protective of her, intrigued by her, but he hadn’t ever considered that she might be his mate. “I’d have had you with me all this time. I’d have been the first and only person to ever touch or be inside you. Maybe I could have even protected you that night from those wolves.”

“Hey,” she said softly, “I didn’t realize either.”

“How could you have? My guardedness would have blocked you from sensing it. You might be a little walled off now, but you never were as a kid.”

“Did I give you permission to beat yourself up? Look, you’re not the only one who wishes we’d known back then. Just as you’d have been my first and only, I’d have been yours, which means you would never have half mated with Bitch Face and I wouldn’t be having homicidal urges. But… you would also never have become part of the Phoenix Pack. No matter how much you objected to Trey’s banishment, you never would have left with him if it meant leaving me behind. Can you honestly imagine never having been a member of this pack? Never being Beta?” He lowered his head, sighing. “Some things happen for a reason, Dante.”