Joseph had been shot while trying to help an elderly couple whose car had broken down on the side of the road. The shooters had been a bunch of teens out taking pot shots at road signs who’d decided shooting a person would be more fun.
Chris had been out celebrating with some old friends from high school when a cop had noticed their car weaving all over the road. His best friend in the world had been driving and tried to outrun the cop. After a long chase, during which Chris had begged his friend to stop, they ended up in a river after flipping the car over a dozen times. Chris had been thrown so far out of the vehicle, the police never even knew he was there, and he lay broken and bleeding for four days until his body had healed itself. He still moved with a noticeable limp thanks to a broken leg that had healed without being set straight.
And then there was Megan, whose story was worse than any of the others.
Yeah, they were a screwed-up collection of somewhat damaged people, but they were Jayna’s family, and she loved them completely.
Moe was the one to finally break up the hug fest, pulling back to nudge her. “We’ve been glued to the TV all morning, waiting for them to say you’d been arrested. When we didn’t hear anything, we really started getting worried. Where have you been?”
She was about to answer when a rough growl from across the lobby interrupted her. “That’s a damn good question. Where the hell have you been?”
Four pairs of eyes flared into bright color as her friends responded to the accusatory tone with a partial shift and turned as one to face the big, curly-haired werewolf who’d come into the lobby.
Brandon West was one of the first omegas Liam had brought into the pack, and he was the biggest asshole of the bunch, but somehow, he’d become the informal leader of the omegas. Worse, these days, it seemed Liam spent more time with this jerk than he did with his real pack.
“What the hell do you care?” Joseph demanded. “You were one of the shitheads who ran out and left her on her own.”
Brandon advanced on Joseph, clearly expecting the blond to be intimidated by his greater size and glowing eyes. It didn’t work. Joseph stood his ground and bared his fangs in a low snarl.
Brandon stopped short—probably because he knew Jayna and the rest of the pack would stand with Joseph. The same couldn’t be said of the few other omegas who’d drifted into the lobby. They didn’t have a loyal bone in their bodies.
“I care because I have to wonder how the hell she made it out when all those other werewolves—bigger werewolves—didn’t,” Brandon said. “How do we know she didn’t get grabbed by the cops and decide to make a deal with them?”
Jayna’s hackles rose. She might be alive because some SWAT cop had saved her life for reasons she couldn’t begin to understand, but those other omegas were dead because they’d been too stupid to listen to her when the raid had started. And only a dumbass omega like Brandon would think for a second that she’d betray her pack to the cops—probably because it was what he’d do.
She was just about to tear into the omega—figuratively, at least—when Brandon stunned her into silence by leaning forward and sniffing her.
“What the hell is that smell?” he muttered.
Jayna’s stomach clenched. Crap. He must smell the SWAT cop all over me. How could he not? The guy had pulled her against his body and slapped his gloved hand across her mouth. There had to have been a scent transfer, even with the gloves and tactical vest he’d been wearing.
Her mind spun a hundred miles an hour as she tried to come up with an explanation that wouldn’t paint her in a horrible light. But nothing came.
Brandon backed up a step, his lip curling. “You smell like you spent the night in a French whorehouse.”
Jayna’s mind faltered for a second. What the hell was this stupid jerk talking about? Then it hit her…the perfume.
She’d been sitting in the stuff for so long she barely smelled it anymore. But since Brandon had called her attention to it, she realized she did smell like a walking bottle of perfume. Thankfully, the potent fragrance overpowered every other scent that might be on her.