Alpha's Claim

by Alexis Davie

  Although her attention was focused on the fountain, she kept typing nonsense sentences into a Word document so if anyone happened to glance in her direction, it looked like she was doing something.

  Despite the other people around her and the way she had covered her tracks, blending in and pretending to do some sort of work, Piper felt as though she were being watched. She could feel eyes on her, and twice, she had turned around quickly and spotted someone moving behind one of the shelves of books. She told herself she was being paranoid, that it was just someone looking at the books. She wasn’t certain that was the case, but she told herself to let it go.

  Who would be watching her? It wasn’t like whoever was really selling those drugs knew she was looking for them. And her life wasn’t interesting enough to attract any attention for anything else. Except for that one scandal she had ended up a part of, but the locals here didn’t seem to care about that. Most of them hadn’t even recognized her. Levi had, but as the chief of police, he likely made it his business to look into any new residents, and she hardly thought he was likely to be stalking her through the library, trying to work out if she was a vampire or just had a great skincare routine. And if it was a reporter who had somehow tracked her down, they’d have just approached her. Plus, the whole sideline about her really was a non-story and she didn’t think any reporter would bother trying to find her.

  Piper sat up straighter, forgetting about the eyes she could feel on her for a moment. A woman had sat down on the bench beside the fountain. She didn’t look like Nancy, and she was at least ten years younger than her, but she had black hair and at a quick glance, the same description could cover the two women. Piper watched as the woman glanced around, furtive eyes looking left, right, and then left again.

  She’s definitely up to something, Piper thought to herself. And surely the fact that she had similar hair to Nancy couldn’t be a coincidence.

  Piper got up and stretched, feigning a break from her fake work. She had her hand on her cell phone inside of her jacket pocket, the camera app already open, ready and waiting to take the incriminating photo if her suspicions were correct. She moved closer to the window, moving slowly so that a casual observer would think she was just stretching her legs.

  As she stood inside of the window looking out, she saw a young man moving toward the woman on the bench. A quick glance at him told Piper everything she needed to know about him: his pasty, spot-riddled skin, the black bags beneath his sunken eyes, the way he moved, his gaze everywhere like he had something to hide. He was an addict looking for his next fix. There was no doubt about it in Piper’s mind.

  Her heart was racing as adrenaline flooded her body, but she forced herself to stay calm and focused. The young man approached the woman and Piper pulled her cell phone out. She moved her fingers back and forth over the screen as though she were typing out a text message, but she was really taking a series of photos.

  She watched as the young man handed the woman a twenty-dollar bill. The woman pushed the money into her pocket and held her hand out as though to shake the young man’s hand. Piper could see the small baggie in her hand, filled with powder. He shook her hand and when they unclasped their hands, the baggie was gone. The young man put his hand into his pocket and disappeared. The woman sat back down for a moment, and then she, too, got to her feet and disappeared.

  Piper went back to her laptop, adrenaline still coursing through her body. She flicked through the photos she had just taken. There was no mistaking what she had captured. A drug deal. She had plenty of useless photos, but she also had one of the young man giving the woman money, and a perfect shot of the baggie of brown powder in the woman’s outstretched hand. There was no way Levi could wriggle his way out of this one.

  Piper shut down her laptop, impatient to get moving now. She couldn’t wait to see Levi’s face when he learned what she had on her cell phone and had to drop the charges against Nancy.

  The second her laptop clicked off, Piper closed it and dropped her cell phone back into her pocket and gathered her things. She was almost running by the time she got to her car, and she had to caution herself not to break any traffic laws as she drove to the station.

  She arrived at the station and parked in the same spot as yesterday. She went inside. The same desk sergeant sat behind the front desk. She smiled when she saw Piper.

  “Ms. Lee, right?” she said.

  “Right,” Piper smiled. “Is Chief Carter in?”

  “Yeah, he’s in his office,” the desk sergeant replied. “I’ll go and let him know you’re here. If you would like to take a seat?”

  Piper thanked her and sat down. She didn’t have long to wait before the double doors opened and Levi stood looking at her with a smile. It wasn’t a particularly welcoming smile, but Piper didn’t let that bother her.

  “Ms. Lee. You’re back so soon. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Levi asked.

  Piper ignored the sarcasm in his tone and stood up.

  “Let’s go and talk in your office,” she said.

  Levi nodded and led the way. Piper could feel the static electricity in the air again as she followed behind Levi, but she was determined to ignore the attraction. She didn’t want to find the man attractive. Not only was he arrogant, he was everything she hated in a cop. He was one of those cops who was quick to point a finger at the nearest suspect, no matter how unlikely a suspect they were.

  “What can I do for you?” Levi said once they were both seated in his office.

  “You can drop all of the charges against Nancy Maynard,” Piper said.

  “Really? And why would I do that?” Levi asked, that smug little smile on his face again. The one that made Piper want to slap him.

  She smiled back, knowing she probably looked as smug as him but not caring. At least she had something to be smug about. She pulled her cell phone out and brought up the incriminating photos.

  “Because that’s the drug dealer. Not Nancy,” Piper said.

  She watched as the realization hit Levi and his shoulders slumped slightly.

  “Well, Ms. Lee, it looks like you were right and we made a mistake with Ms. Maynard. I’ll have her charges officially dropped. I’ll let you call her with the good news,” Levi said. “Can you please send me those photographs as evidence?”

  Piper nodded and emailed the photos to the address on the business card Levi pushed across the desk to her.

  “Maybe you should call Nancy and give her the apology she deserves,” she said.

  “Piper… can I call you Piper?” Levi said.

  Piper nodded and Levi smiled, a genuine smile that caught her off guard a little.

  “Then you should call me Levi. Piper, you seem to be implying that I purposely wrongfully accused Ms. Maynard of a crime. I merely went where the evidence led me,” he said.

  “I just feel like maybe you didn’t let it lead you very far. I mean, it took me less than twenty-four hours to find the actual dealer,” Piper said.

  “And I thank you for that, but I’m not about to start apologizing for doing my job,” Levi said.

  “Then maybe after I call Nancy, I should call the local paper and let them know about this,” Piper said.

  “Yes, you do seem to have quite the rapport with journalists, don’t you?” Levi smiled. Piper ignored his dig and he went on. “But I must caution you against that, unless, of course, your raging social justice issues trump Nancy making an honest living.”

  “What are you saying?” Piper asked, raising an eyebrow. “That if I do this, you’ll get Nancy sacked somehow?”

  “Not at all. What I’m saying is that if you do this, you’ll likely get Nancy sacked. She’s a high school teacher, Piper. The board won’t take too kindly to this kind of story coming out about one of their teachers. It won’t matter that she’s innocent. There’s always the ‘no smoke without fire’ crowd, and they’re always the loudest. The board will cave under the pressure and Ms. Maynard will be let go,” Levi said.

/>   Piper opened her mouth to argue the point, but she knew Levi was right. That’s exactly how this would go down. She sighed loudly.

  “Look, you just saved an innocent woman the stress of a trial. Isn’t that enough for you to be happy for one day?” Levi said.

  “I suppose it’ll have to be, won’t it?” Piper conceded.

  “Well, then, as Shakespeare would say, all’s well that ends well,” Levi grinned.

  Piper felt her body responding to his grin, the way it lit up his eyes. She stood up abruptly before she could start blushing and give herself away.

  “I trust you will arrest the actual dealer?” Piper said as she left.

  “Not that it’s your problem, but yes. I’ll be heading over there as soon I have a search warrant. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

  Piper left without replying. She didn’t know what it was about Levi that got under her skin, but something did. Her instincts told her there was something going on here. Something that she was somehow caught up in the middle of, like Levi had it in for her.

  She tried to tell herself she was being paranoid, but somehow, it didn’t sit right with her, and she felt like she was being anything but paranoid. She knew she would have to watch her back with Levi and not let herself get disarmed by his stunning smile and gorgeous eyes. And she certainly couldn’t trust her bear instincts to guide her on this one, because her bear side seemed to think Levi was hot shit, that maybe he could even be her mate.

  Piper left the police station and called Nancy with the good news from her car. Nancy said all of the right things, but Piper got the impression she was just going through the motions, that somehow, she wasn’t really happy to have her charges dropped. She ended the call, telling herself she was letting her paranoia about Levi affect her far too much.

  She headed back to her office, determined to put Levi and Nancy and all of this out of her mind and concentrate on the parking ticket case she was trying to get thrown out.

  6

  Levi realized, too late, that he had underestimated Piper. He had known she would fight in Nancy’s corner and that she would start looking for alternative suspects, but he really hadn’t expected it all to happen so fast. He had hoped that he could use this to keep eyes on her for a few weeks and get this whole hunter thing sorted out, but it seemed she had other ideas.

  He was starting to think maybe the best way to keep Piper safe was to offer her a job and keep her right under his wing, and it wasn’t like he couldn’t use someone like her on the force, someone that got things done quickly and efficiently. And, of course, it really wouldn’t hurt to be able to spend some extra time with her.

  He sighed. Of course there was no chance Piper would ever agree to work for the police force. He shook the thought away and stood up. Now that Piper had found out who the dealer really was, he would have to act on that information or she would become suspicious. It was bad enough having to act like one of those bumbling cops he hated who arrested the first person to even slightly match a description, let alone to be seen ignoring actual help in finding the real criminal.

  * * *

  Levi pulled up outside of the property he knew the drug dealer lived in. While he was worried about Piper now that he had no way to watch her, he was also kind of relieved that he could finally arrest Sarah Newcomb, the actual drug dealer. He double-checked that he had the search warrant on him and nodded to his deputy, Officer Craig, a good officer with plenty of experience.

  “Let’s go,” he said. “Once I’ve made the arrest, you can wait here for the rest of the search team to arrive and then complete the search with them.”

  “Got it,” Officer Craig nodded.

  They got out of the car and knocked on the door to the property. The door was answered quickly by Sarah.

  “Can I help you, Officers?” she asked.

  “It’s Chief, actually,” Levi said automatically. “Sarah Newcomb, I am placing you under arrest on suspicion of dealing in class A narcotics. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can’t afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you—”

  Levi broke off as a loud bang sounded. He recognized it instantly as a gunshot. Within a half second of the noise startling the three of them, Sarah’s thigh was bleeding through her white cotton pants. Levi turned to Officer Craig.

  “Find the person who did that and arrest them. Go!” he shouted.

  He reached out and caught Sarah as she collapsed. He lowered her to the ground and pulled his cell phone out the second she was lying down. He dialed the dispatcher and then he got to his knees beside Sarah. He held his cell phone between his cheek and his shoulder while he tore the leg of Sarah’s pant to get a better look at the wound.

  His call was answered quickly and after requesting an ambulance, he identified himself and requested urgent backup to help Officer Craig search the area. He hung up while the dispatcher was still talking. He knew enough first aid to deal with this wound himself and holding the cell phone at such an awkward angle was only hindering him. He pushed the cell phone away and began to apply pressure to the wound, ignoring the insistent trilling of the cell phone, knowing it was the emergency services operator trying to call him back.

  When he pressed down on it, he felt something hard in Sarah’s thigh and he knew he had found the bullet. He moved his hand slightly, noting that Sarah had been lucky—although the bullet had gone into her leg, it had missed any major arteries or muscles and it really was just a deep flesh wound.

  Levi pinched the hard object between his fingers and his thumb and pulled out the bullet. His heart sank when he saw the bullet. It was silver with no markings. This was no ordinary bullet and the shot hadn’t been meant to hit Sarah. The bullet was a hunter’s bullet and it had been aimed for him. If it had hit him, he would likely have been dead within the next ten minutes, succumbing to silver poisoning once the metal came into contact with his blood. He dropped the bullet into his pocket, not wanting anyone at the hospital asking any questions about it.

  He put his hands back over Sarah’s wound as Officer Craig came back.

  “I lost him,” he said, panting. “He got into a car and he was gone before I was even close enough to read the registration plate. It was a blue sedan.”

  Great, Levi thought. So are nearly half of the cars in the town.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ve got backup out searching the streets for the shooter. Please relay the information about the car to dispatch.”

  “What do you think the shot was all about?” Officer Craig asked.

  “I don’t know,” Levi lied. “But if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it was someone higher up the sales chain than Ms. Newcomb here who wanted to make damned sure she stayed quiet.”

  “Makes sense,” Officer Craig said. He started to walk away. “I’ll go and call in the information about the car.”

  * * *

  Levi felt even more glum as he stood before the gathered pack than he had last time he had called a meeting and the pack had been reluctant to help protect Piper.

  “So, Piper is quite a character, huh?” Nancy laughed before the meeting got under way. “In less than a day, she solved your little drug dealer problem. She really made you look quite inefficient, didn’t she?”

  “She found out the truth quicker than I expected her to, but it’s not like I didn’t know who we were really looking for. You make it sound like I had no idea who the criminal was.”

  “You realize that’s exactly how it will look when this story comes out, right?” Justin put in.

  “The story isn’t coming out. I made it clear to Piper that if she talked to any journalists and the story ran, all that would happen is that Nancy would likely lose her job due to the parents putting up a fuss. She’s not going to talk,” Levi said.

  “So, what’s the meeting about, then? We can find another way to keep an eye on her wi
thout needing a meeting about it,” Marley said.

  “The meeting isn’t about Piper. At least not directly,” Levi said. He steeled himself for the outrage he knew would come from the pack. “There is at least one hunter in this town and we need to find him or her. Now.”

  “We’ve done some digging and I’ve talked to a couple of friends of mine within the state area,” Mal said. He pulled out several photographs which he passed around. “These are the hunters that have been spotted in the area over the last few years, so if we have a hunter, chances are it’s one of those. Their names and the snippets of information we have about each of them are on the back of the photos.”

  “Right. Up the search. Start going around local stores, restaurants, anywhere you can think of, and asking the business owners if they’ve seen any of these people,” Levi said.

  “Wait,” Federico said. “Yesterday, you said you thought there might be a hunter in town. Today you sound like it’s a certainty. What changed?”

  “I was coming to that,” Levi said. His admiration for Federico’s attention to detail was surpassed only by his irritation that this had come up a bit sooner than he had been planning to reveal it to the pack. “When I was arresting Sarah, she got shot in the thigh. She’ll be fine; it wasn’t too deep and it didn’t get her artery. I passed it off to my deputy and in my official report as likely to be someone higher up the drug supply chain than Sarah that wanted to keep her quiet. But the bullet wasn’t meant for her. It was meant for me.”