Sharpened Claws: A Gay Werewolf Romance

by Peyton Bogue

  Rhys sighs deeply, giving Sage one last kiss on his forehead. Sage pulls back, smiling softly, before he and Kai disappear behind the front door with a baleful click.

  PART TWO

  CLAWS

  SEVEN

  When Sage and Kai pull up to the precinct fifteen minutes later, the entire block is swarmed with squad cars and black SUVs. Sage steers the Camaro into a spot adjacent to the brick building, and he and Kai quickly unbuckle their seatbelts and step out of the car.

  Sage can feel his adrenaline beginning to build inside of his body as his heart picks up speed in his chest. He’s antsy and excited that they’ve finally seemed to have gotten somewhere on this case.

  Kai opens the glass door to the precinct quickly, holding it open for Sage as they both walk through the doorway, and immediately they’re both hit with the full extent of chaos and the rush of motion of the first floor of the precinct.

  Hazel is waiting for them at Sage and Kai’s desks, and Grayson and Richards are standing with her, clearly ready to get a move on. Richards is nervously twisting his fingers, already wound up tight with anxiousness. Sage pats him on the shoulder when they walk up, hoping to get him to relax.

  “Hey, boys,” Hazel says to them, smiling in greeting as Sage and Kai settle next to the two agents.

  Sage nods back at her in acknowledgement, crossing his arms.

  “Where’s Mikalina?” Kai asks, motioning with his head towards Mikalina's office at the other side of the precinct.

  “She’ll be here in a second,” Hazel replies, nodding her head toward the second level. Sage looks up towards the railing, where Mikalina is leaning against the metal with her phone nestled against her shoulder. Sage can’t see her face, but she looks incredibly tense and agitated as she taps her fingernails against the railing. “I think she’s talking to the D.A.,” Hazel continues, and Sage looks back down at her.

  “She better be quick,” Kai says, his eyes flickering up to the railing. “We’ve got to get this guy, like, now.”

  “We will,” Sage says, patting him on the shoulder. He crosses his arms again and looks at Hazel. “Is Newsom still driving?”

  “According to my broadcast,” Hazel says, motioning to the tablet in her hands, “our guy’s at a truck stop for the night. It’s only about ten minutes away from here.”

  “Do we have a plan?” Sage asks, glancing at Richards and Grayson.

  Grayson just moves to nonchalantly place his hands in his dress pants pockets, not shrugging but looking decidedly desolate, and says, “Figured we’d leave the majority of that up to you two. We’ll go with you to back you both up, but this case is yours, and we don’t want to take the arrest away from you.”

  “That’s mature of you,” Kai says, raising an eyebrow. “Is Newsom going to be in our custody after we make the arrest?”

  Grayson does shrug this time, nodding his head slightly. “For a few minutes. This man has infringed on national security. I’m sure my superiors would like to have him in federal custody.”

  “He’s all yours after we get a confession,” Sage supplies, looking to Kai for agreement. Kai nods in response, leaning forward against the desk.

  “Sounds fair,” Grayson replies, smiling politely. Richards nods in acquiescence, looking resolutely at the woodwork in front of him.

  Kai nudges the lanky agent to get his attention, and Richards startles before he looks up, his eyes bleak.

  “Are you up for this, kid?”

  Richards stares back at Kai blankly before he sighs softly through his nose. He's clearly still nervous, but his eyes harden, and he shrugs, replying quietly, “Yeah. I’m just a little anxious.”

  “You have every right to be anxious,” Sage tells him honestly, his tone soft. “The important thing is that you’re here with us, and that you’re not going to back down if things get rough.”

  “I won’t,” Richards says. He doesn’t say it confidently, but his words have weight behind them, as if he’s trying to wish them into existence. “I’ll back you both up. I promise.”

  “Good,” Kai says, smirking, before he brings his hand up and pats Richards’s shoulder a tad forcefully. “Because if you chicken out, someone could get hurt, and that someone could be you.”

  “I’m not going to chicken out,” Richards mutters, shrugging Kai’s hand off of his shoulder. Kai chuckles, moving to fully lean his weight on the desk again.

  “Why are you all standing around for?” Mikalina’s voice asks shrilly a few seconds later, and both Sage and Kai stand up straight, turning to her.

  “We’re just waiting on you, Lieutenant,” Kai replies, flashing her a pearly white grin. Mikalina rolls her eyes and turns pointedly to Hazel.

  “The truck stop is located at a pretty public place,” Hazel says. “It’s also nine o’clock at night, so it shouldn’t be that crowded with civilians.”

  “I still want each of you in protective gear,” Mikalina says, pointing at both Sage and Kai, then rounding on Grayson and Richards. “That includes the two of you.”

  “Already on it, Lieutenant,” Grayson replies, smiling.

  Mikalina gives him a stern look again, but she yields, turning back to the group at large. “I don’t want any surprises with this,” she says, her blue eyes sharp. “I don’t care who gets to the truck stop first, but you all need to wait for back-up before engaging. We don’t know what this guy will do once he’s caught, and I’m not willing to risk anyone’s safety to find out. You find the truck, you hold the perimeter, and you wait.” Everyone nods in agreement at her, and she relaxes. “Hazel’s going to ride with one of you, and she’s going to be in charge of recovering the guns until we hand them over to you guys,” she continues, nodding to the two agents. “So, I want you to suit up too, Hazel. If everything goes according to plan, tomorrow, after everything has been collected and processed, and the suspect has been interviewed, everything will be released into the FBI’s custody.”

  “Affirmative,” Grayson replies, nodding.

  “Let’s get suited up,” Mikalina ends, and everyone springs into motion. Sage and Kai make their way over to the weapons locker, entering it swiftly. Sage grabs two bulletproof vests, handing one to Kai, and removes his jacket to put it on. He’s left standing in his white cotton t-shirt, and Kai hands him a NYPD jacket to put on top of the vest. He removes his detective’s badge from the buckle on his belt, grabbing a chain and clipping the badge to it before slinging it around his neck.

  The badge clacks against his dog tags, and Sage looks down at them briefly before tucking them into his t-shirt.

  Kai watches him, putting his own badge around his neck, and gives him a quick once-over, asking, “You good?”

  “Yeah, are you?” Sage replies, watching as Kai untucks his t-shirt to fit better underneath his vest.

  “Yep,” Kai responds, his lips popping. “Let’s go get our bad guy.”

  Sage grins, chuckling, before he grabs two clips for their service weapons, tossing one to Kai, and placing the other into his pocket.

  They head back out to the lobby a few seconds later, nodding at Richards and Grayson, who have their own FBI vests and jackets on, and Hazel, who looks out of place clutching her tablet against her chest, sans bulletproof vest, but sporting a jacket matching Sage and Kai’s wrapped around her petite figure.

  Grayson and Richards look back at them curtly, turning to head out the front door. Sage, Kai, and Hazel follow after them, and Hazel moves to grab her forensic case as they all step outside into the warm air of the night.

  The two agents turn back to Sage and Kai once they’ve stepped down and onto the sidewalk and Grayson says, “You guys take the lead. We’ll follow you.”

  Sage nods, and the five of them split apart—he, Kai, and Hazel heading towards his Camaro, and Grayson and Richards towards one of the many black SUVs parked less than legally against the curb.

  Sage unlocks his car, and Kai shares a brief look with him, his eyes flickering over to Hazel,
as if to say You knew she was going to come with us, right?, before he moves to the passenger side, sliding into the seat with practiced ease.

  Sage watches Hazel as she opens the back door and sets her forensic case down into the opposite floorboard before she elegantly slides into the seat and sits, and he closes the door behind her once she’s situated. She looks at him through the window and smiles, her eyes tracking over his body in a quick once-over before her smile turns coy.

  Sage feels his cheeks heat slightly in discomfort, and he can’t help but feel mildly irritated as he’s reminded yet again of her slight flirting. It’s no surprise she would decide to ride with him and Kai. Why would she want to drive with two FBI agents she hardly knows?

  Above all, though, Sage knows that he needs to have a talk with Hazel eventually about her flirting and the lingering looks she gives him. Its surpassed flattering a while ago, and now he just feels uncomfortable when she looks at him for too long or gives him a flirty smile. That conversation is going to have to happen soon, but he pushes it to the back of his mind now as he climbs into his car, presses his key into the ignition to start it, and begins backing out of his parking spot.

  “Did you guys have a nice night before we all got called back in?” Hazel asks them as they pull away from the precinct, and Sage’s ire swells in his chest. They’re actually going to make small talk while they drive to arrest a murderer?

  Kai turns around to look at Hazel smugly, but his voice takes on a joking lilt as he says, “As a matter of fact, we did. We were having a nice family dinner before you called and ruined it.”

  Sage bites the inside of his cheek so he can hold back a snort at that. The dinner had been nice, sure, but only after Rhys had made them aware of another werewolf encroaching on his territory, and nearly wolfed out because of it.

  Hazel chuckles lightly, and Sage sees her roll her eyes exasperatedly in the rearview mirror. “Sorry,” she says, but the tone she says it with implies she’s anything but. “Maybe if you would have invited me, I wouldn’t have been in such a rush to get you guys back into the precinct.”

  Sage glances at Kai out of the corner of his eye. He knows that Hazel is joking, kidding around with her colleagues, but family dinner is a tradition between him, Rhys, and Kai. The thought of Hazel wanting to intrude on that makes Sage’s insides churn.

  “We haven’t known you nearly long enough for you to receive an invite, Hazel. Mik’s not even invited,” Kai says pointedly, his voice kind but his words exacting.

  “It’s a bit of a boys club,” Sage says, looking at her in the mirror again briefly as he stops at a red light.

  “How misogynistic,” Hazel says, but she smiles at him cheerily, and Sage turns his eyes back onto the road.

  “Wouldn’t you have something better to do besides eat with a couple of cops on a random Wednesday night?” Kai asks, turning around to look at Hazel with a raised eyebrow, and Sage appreciates his deflection.

  That is, until Hazel coyly replies, “Depends on who’s asking,” and Sage can practically feel her eyes drilling into the side of his head. He feels himself blush deeply at the attention, embarrassed.

  His hands tighten on the wheel, and he stifles a cough, trying not to feel awkward under her unwanted gaze.

  Sage sees Kai’s eyebrows shoot up, and he looks at Sage with a cautious look, as if he’s trying to gauge Sage’s reaction.

  “Who gets invited to these dinners, anyway?” Hazel continues.

  “Sage and I have been having dinners together since high school,” Kai shrugs. “Just the two of us. In recent years, Rhys has been coming, too.”

  “Oh, yes, the boyfriend,” Hazel responds. Her words are a little clipped, cold. She’s still grinning when Sage risks a glance at her in the rearview mirror again, but her eyes are narrowed. “Who I have still yet to meet.”

  Sage gives her a little shrug, stopping at another red light, and doesnn't offer Hazel any of what she wants to hear. “He’s pretty busy throughout the week, Hazel.”

  “He’s got to be if he’s never come around to see you at work,” Hazel replies offhandedly. Sage’s jaw hardens.

  Kai clears his throat lightly, eyeing Sage’s clenched jaw before he turns his head towards the back seat to say, “Work’s a professional place. Nobody should really be coming around to bother us.”

  Sage nods, flicking his indicator down and checking his blind spot as he bites the inside of his cheek again, grateful for Kai’s save as he says, “If we get distracted on the job, we could get hurt. Rhys understands that.”

  “No, right, of course. I didn’t mean to assume anything,” Hazel says. It’s a quiet for a moment, the conversation seeming to taper off, before Hazel asks as she looks somewhat shyly out of the window, “What does he do again?”

  “He’s a mechanic. He’s got his own garage down not too far from Classon,” Sage replies as a warm feeling spreads out over his chest. He’ll never not feel happy when he talks about Rhys.

  “A grease monkey,” Hazel says teasingly. “That’s hot.”

  Sage feels his cheeks redden again. He’s well aware of Rhys’s sexual appeal.

  “How long have you both been together?” she continues, curious. Sage feels himself relax a little, having not realized how stiff his body actually was. This is familiar territory—talking about him and Rhys.

  Something niggles in the back of his head though, like he’s remembering talking about all of this stuff before with Hazel. He doesn’t really understand why she’s asking him again.

  “Three years,” Sage responds proudly, grinning nonetheless.

  Hazel meets his eyes in the mirror again, a small smile on her face. It doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

  “That’s sweet,” she replies quietly. Kai gives him another look, and Sage meets him with a small shoulder shrug.

  “What about you, Hazel? Got any hot dates?” Kai asks, and Sage feels relief course through his veins, happy to have the subject changed.

  Hazel shakes her head. “No, not really. Not since that flight attendant. I don’t really have time these days to go out on dates with the amount of cases we’ve been going through.”

  “It’s not always like this,” Sage offers, turning at a light to merge onto I-495. “This past month has been brutal, especially from a case point of view.”

  “I’ve worked a lot of cases before,” Hazel starts, “but it’s a lot busier here than it was where I was at before. The workload is just a little different.”

  “You seem to be keeping up with it alright,” Kai says, offering her a smile.

  “You’re a huge help to the precinct, Hazel,” Sage tells her honestly, glancing back at her again. “We’re lucky to have you.”

  That earns him a blush and a private smile, and he looks away quickly, worried he might have accidently hinted at a double meaning in his words. Sage is in a happily committed relationship, but the last thing he wants to do is lead anyone on.

  Maybe that conversation he’s been meaning to have with Hazel needs to happen even sooner than he’d been intending.

  “I hope we end this case tonight,” Hazel says after a moment of silence, her cheeks still rosy.

  “You and me both, dude,” Kai replies, leaning against the passenger side door.

  Sage nods his head in agreement. “I can’t wait to sleep.”

  Kai raises his head and nods enthusiastically, dramatically groaning, “Amen, brother.”

  Hazel chuckles, and the three of them lapse into silence a few seconds later. They all must be tired, having already dealt with a homicide previously just a few hours prior to their late night rendevous, and Sage is anxious to get this night and case over with.

  The three of them are quiet for the next few minutes, but Sage can feel the energy in the car shifting from relaxed to anxious and feels the way they’re all beginning to buzz with anticipation as they get closer and closer to the truck stop.

  Only a few moments later, Sage is steering the Camaro off of the
highway, exiting up the ramp and stopping at the stop light. The last thing he or the two FBI agents—or the many other squad cars behind him—want to do is enter the truck stop parking lot with their lights and sirens blaring and end up spooking Newsom into doing something drastic, not when he has the power of those guns at his hands.

  Sage takes a deep breath, turning right off of the ramp and beginning to maneuver the car into the truck stop parking lot.

  The truck stop itself is pretty generic and bland. There are thirty or so semi-trucks parked on either side of the pump stations, and the lights flicker poorly as Sage steers the Camaro past the adjacent building.

  There aren't any civilians outside of the station, and the place looks empty except for the resting trucks. Sage continues to steer deeper into the parking lot, his eyes searching in the low light for the semi they’re after.

  He risks a glance behind them, making sure he’s not lost Grayson and Richards or the other officers they’d come with, but all he sees is darkness behind him as dirt and gravel is kicked up from beneath the tread of his tires.

  “We’ve lost everyone else,” Sage says, and both Kai and Hazel look behind them themselves before they sigh deeply.

  “Let’s just find the truck,” Kai suggests, his eyes turning to look back out of the windowshield. “We’ll call them once we find it.”

  Sage nods, slowing the Camaro slightly so he has time to look out of the window properly. There isn’t any movement around them, and there isn’t much light except for the whites of Sage’s headlights, and it’s quickly becoming darker as they continue to meander fully into the rows of parked semis.

  A few tense seconds pass where the three of them carefully assess each of the semi-trucks, and then Hazel perks up and sits up fully in the backseat, saying abruptly, “Sage, it’s this one.”

  Sage stops the Camaro immediately, turning his head to look at the semi she’s pointing out. It’s definitely beige, but it doesn’t look all that different from the many other semis resting innocuously next to it.