“My name is Jamie Roberts, and thanks but no thanks,” she said, and his eyes widened in shock. One of his companions actually gasped.
“What?” she said to the hot guy’s friend. “This can’t be the first time anyone’s turned him down. He really doesn’t have much game.”
She could feel waves of anger radiating off Mr. Tall Dark and Sexy, and his brows drew together in a glower. “You’re Jamie Roberts? Is this some kind of joke?” he demanded.
“Is my name a joke? No. I like to think I have a better sense of humor than that,” she said, getting annoyed now.
He looked her up and down. “You’re female.”
All right, so he was gorgeous but stupid. “My goodness, I can see why you’re Alpha Prime. Your powers of observation are simply amazing.” Oops. She’d meant to stop smarting off. She really had.
“They sent a female.” He shook his head in disbelief.
“Uh, yes, you may not have noticed this, but there was a whole bus full of females who just arrived. A couple of dozen.”
“No, I mean the Montenegro pack actually sent a female to death-challenge me. Did you not hear me when I said I was the Alpha Prime? Miles Williams. I killed your cousin Shaun last week when he stole tools from our job site.”
Dakota felt her heart stutter in her chest.
Death challenge? What the hell? What had Tina gotten her into?
And apparently word had spread among all the other shifters – which would explain why they’d been staring at her with pity and amazement. And it explained why everyone kept giving her food. They really did think it would be her last meal. Maybe they were right.
She took a deep breath and tried to think. What would her father do in this situation? Whatever he would do, she’d do the opposite. Her father would bully and attack. So she’d stay calm and use reason. Well, she’d fake being calm; right now her heart was beating so fast she thought it might burst through her ribcage.
“Well then. What proof do you have that he was stealing?” she asked.
“Proof?” He stared at her in astonishment.
“Yes, proof. If you were going to kill a man for stealing, you’d want to have proof of it. Otherwise you’d be a cold-blooded murderer. And I don’t think you are, or you’d have killed me already.”
Miles’s lip curled in a sardonic smile.
“Proof? Me and my Omega, Baldwin here, caught him in the act. So unless you’re calling me a liar…”
“No, you have no reason to lie.”
He shrugged. “So. Death challenge is off, then, unless your pack defends thieves.” Obviously, no pack would openly defend a thief. Challenging another pack for territory, women, or property was acceptable – whether it was two Alphas going up against each other or all-out pack war. Sneaking in and stealing in the middle of the night was viewed as cowardly and weak.
“Of course we don’t,” she said indignantly.
“Then I guess you’ll settle for the other half of your mission.” Wait, there was more? “Taking custody of your nieces and nephews. Since nobody else is claiming them, and frankly they’re a real pain in the ass and I’m sick of tossing food their way.”
Oh God. What had she gotten herself into?
“Keeping in mind I have absolutely no experience taking care of kids and all that…”
“The sooner the better,” he continued as if he hadn’t heard her. “While we’re at it, the head schoolteacher told me she needs an English teacher. I think it’ll be you.”
Ha. That would be easy to get out of. “One little problem with that. I don’t have any experience as a teacher.”
“You speak English?”
“Last time I checked. But I’m pretty sure there’s more to it than—”
“It’s settled. Be at the schoolhouse Monday morning at seven a.m.”
As Alpha Prime, he certainly had the right to assign any job in the territory to anyone he wanted. But he looked like he was enjoying this far too much.