She wasn’t naive enough to believe that any of the people Kos killed were innocent, not by a long shot. They’d been the worst kind of drug dealers, pimps, and gangbangers, and the Albanian mobster hadn’t done anything to them that they probably hadn’t done to others. But that knowledge didn’t keep her from seeing those dead people every time she closed her eyes. It didn’t stop the involuntary shiver that passed through her when she remembered the gleam Kos got in his eyes as he toyed with his prey either.
Beside her, Kostandin regarded her appraisingly, as if he could somehow hear what she was thinking. She frequently caught him looking at her like that. Sometimes it made her think he’d have happily put a collar around her neck so he could keep her as a pet.
Liam chose that moment to come into the lobby, and for the first time in a while, Jayna was glad for his presence, if for no other reason than it momentarily distracted Kos enough for her to put some distance between them. While not quite as tall or muscled as the SWAT werewolf, Liam was bigger than any of the Albanians and a couple of the omegas.
She gently nudged Megan and the guys toward Liam, falling into step with them.
“Jayna, you’re back!”
The concern in Liam’s voice seemed genuine, but the smile on his face didn’t quite reach his hazel eyes. He seemed more concerned with reading the situation, probably trying to see if her disappearance last night would reflect poorly on him.
“Liam.” Kostandin’s tone stopped her pack leader in his tracks. “I thought you said there weren’t any other alpha werewolves in this country.”
Liam looked shocked for a moment, but he quickly recovered. “There aren’t. I told you, Brandon made a mistake. Those SWAT cops might have been werewolves, but they sure as hell weren’t alphas.”
Kos didn’t answer for a long time, and the silence started to become uncomfortable. Finally, he turned and speared Jayna with a look. “You just said they were alphas. Were you mistaken?”
Liam grumbled something under his breath she couldn’t make out. But what was she supposed to do, lie and say that the werewolves who’d taken out the pack omegas had just been big boned?
She lifted her chin. “They were alphas.”
Liam opened his mouth to say something, but Kostandin cut him off. “How many alphas?”
Jayna didn’t answer right away. She had no idea how many werewolves they’d faced. She tried to remember how many different scents she’d smelled. She’d picked up at least five of them, including the woman. Not that she was even considering saying anything about her. If Liam had a cow about there being other alphas in Dallas, he’d lose his mind if she told him there was a female alpha too.
She opened her mouth to tell Kostandin how many alphas she’d seen when a sudden unexplainable impulse to drop the number by one hit her. Was she actually feeling protective about the SWAT guy who’d saved her life? Did she really think she’d be helping him if the Albanian thought there were less of them than there really were?
That was stupid. If the Albanians thought they were facing an overwhelming number of these SWAT werewolves, maybe they’d say the hell with Dallas, and she and the rest of the pack could be done with them.
“Well?” Kos prompted.
“Seven at least,” she said. “Maybe eight.”
Her answer earned a gasp from Liam and the rest of her pack. She couldn’t blame them. She was having a hard time imagining that many alphas all living together, much less functioning as a team.
Kos frowned. “All alphas? You’re sure of that?”
“Yes.” She jerked her head in Brandon’s direction. “As I’m sure he told you, they were all big, fast, and strong. I got away, but it was more luck than anything.”
She was hoping that last little part might convince Kos this was a no-win situation, but he merely nodded thoughtfully, then looked at Liam.
“Start figuring out exactly what we’re up against,” he ordered. “Find out if there are more alphas than Jayna saw, where they live, and when they’re most vulnerable.”
Liam’s eyes sharpened. “We’re going after them?”
Kostandin didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. All it took was one glimpse of the sick gleam in the Albanian’s eyes to know that he intended to kill every member of the other werewolf pack in the most vicious way possible.
Kos walked away with Liam and Brandon following closely behind. As they were leaving the lobby, she heard Brandon asking when they would strike and Kostandin saying something about patience. She could have kept eavesdropping on the conversation and probably heard the rest of their plan, but she resisted. The way her stomach was twisting in knots, she decided she didn’t want to know what they were planning to do.
Megan and the guys looked at Jayna as if they expected her to come up with a way out of this for all of them. They’d agreed to this job because of Liam, but none of them had signed up for killing anybody—not cops and especially not other werewolves. But the way this was shaping up, they might not have a choice. Kostandin and his Albanians wouldn’t think twice about going after those SWAT werewolves, and Liam seemed to be willing to go along with anything Kos suggested. Even Brandon and his omegas would be happy to help.