had looked all night. Far be it for her to ruin the prick’s cozy reunion with the female who had once betrayed and left him. If he actually stupidly preferred someone so disloyal and fickle, they deserved each other.
Fifteen minutes had gone by since Dante first noticed that Jaime wasn’t beside him. He’d guessed that maybe she’d gone to get another drink or use the restrooms, but she still hadn’t reappeared. She could have just gotten to talking to someone, but both he and his wolf had the feeling that that wasn’t it.
“Excuse me,” he muttered to Laurie, who was jabbering on about something or other. He’d forgotten how vain and superficial she was. Or maybe he just hadn’t noticed before. He hadn’t taken more than four steps before he heard her calling him.
“Dante, wait.”
He turned. “I can’t, I need to find Jaime. I don’t suppose you saw which way she went, did you?”
She studied his face and then her smile fell. “She’s more than just a packmate to you, isn’t she?” She bit her bottom lip, suddenly looking nervous. “Could we go somewhere to talk? Alone?”
“About what?”
“I just wanted to clear things up. I know the decision I made, leaving you for Blane…I know it must have hurt you and—”
He quickly cut her off. “Laurie, you chose to be with your mate. I can’t blame you for that.”
“I heard that you stopped dating after I left you.”
And that had flattered her, he realized. “What happened made me hesitate to get involved in a relationship again, yeah.”
“But you’ve made an exception with Jaime?” She didn’t sound too happy about it. As if she thought he should be still pining after her.
“Yes. Look, I need to go find her.”
“Wait.”
“What, Laurie?” he asked impatiently. She flinched at his tone.
“You hate me, don’t you? Please don’t, Dante. I couldn’t bear it if you hated me.” Why did he get the feeling that this was all an act to get him to stay with her and comfort her?
“I don’t hate you. It was a long time ago. Say bye to Leif for me.” He moved away before she could say another word and headed to where Josh stood only a few feet away. “You haven’t seen Jaime, have you?”
He chuckled. “I’m the one person you can be sure she’d avoid.”
“So you haven’t seen her?”
“No. I’m surprised you let her leave your side.”
“You could have warned me that Laurie was here.”
Josh had the grace to look sheepish. “I actually hadn’t expected any of you to come and—”
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter.”
“Well, if you’ve been distracted so much by your ex that you neglected Jaime, you can bet your ass that she’s left by now.”
Dante was thinking the same thing. Nodding, he delved into his pocket and retrieved his cell as he walked away, continuing to scan the crowds. To his surprise, she answered on the fourth ring. Oh.
He’d sort of expected the silent treatment. Maybe she wasn’t pissed after all. “Hey, baby, where are you?”
“What the fuck do you care?”
No, she was definitely pissed. “Where are you?”
“I’m in a cab, and I’m about five minutes away from pack territory.” He picked up his pace until he was practically marching to the SUV. “I’m on my way back now.”
“Oh don’t leave on my account! Stay with your precious Laurie and have a for-old-time’s-sake fuck! I hope she strangles herself with those damn pearls!” It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to tell her that her jealousy was making him hard. “Keep giving me attitude, baby. I’m looking forward to fucking it right out of you.”
“I don’t think so, Popeye! You stay the fuck away from me! We’re done!” He was pretty sure his heart stopped for a second. “What do you mean, we’re done?”
“We’re done, over, finished!”
His wolf growled angrily. “Like hell we are. We’ll talk about this when I get back. I’ll be there soon.” She’d already hung up on him.
He was going to spank her ass so damn hard.
That plan was unfortunately foiled by the fact that she wasn’t in their room. Going by how faint her scent was, it was obvious that she hadn’t been in there since earlier. It was easy enough for Dante to guess where she was hiding. He stalked through the tunnels until he came to her old room and turned the knob. The door didn’t budge, and he almost smacked his face on it. Motherfucker. She’d locked him out. “Open up, Jaime.”
“Fuck off.”
He might have snapped at that if