The other males backed off while Owen’s opponent froze where he was. Accepting the male’s acquiescence, Owen released him and trotted back to the female with his tail held high. Again she sat, watched him, waited for him to reach her. This time her head tipped to the side. The big brown male approached Owen. Owen growled then growled louder and backed it up with a snarl and a mock charge. To his credit the brown male didn’t tuck tail and run but he did step aside, giving Owen a clear and unimpeded path to the female.
When he reached her Owen spronked up on his forelegs then let his chest rest on the forest floor. Head cocked, ears perked, he looked up at her hopefully. She jumped, all four paws leaving the ground, spun and took off for the forest. Owen, along with the six other suitors, ran after her.
Chapter Five
Owen’s wolf ran like the wind. It had been too long since it had been let loose, able to release the full potential of its strength. He caught up to the golden-brown bitch as soon as the trees thinned then reined in his speed so she could keep up. Trailed by her suitors, they ran side by side, dodging pines, leaping over fallen logs, scrambling over rough granite outcroppings.
The spring grasses grazed Owen’s chest as he ran. His tough paws found purchase against dirt and rock. The night air was sweet and heady. He had been born for this…this playing, the chase, the exhilaration that came from pitting himself against a worthy female.
In ones and twos the other males put on bursts of speed, caught up and ran beside them for a while. They turned their heads, joy in their expressions as they looked at Owen before falling back. He remembered this, the freedom, the easy friendships once hierarchy was established. Even though he was a stranger he was accepted. It had been so long he’d almost forgotten what it was like to be part of a pack.
When the golden-brown bitch pulled ahead, he let her. He let her take the lead like males of his kind had for millennia. When he ran beside her she bumped him now and then. Subtle nudges of her shoulder guided him through the unfamiliar terrain. She adjusted his direction so he ran parallel to a deep gorge instead of running straight off the edge. She steered him around a patch of wet, almost swampy ground hidden in the grass.
She led them to a stream where they drank, splashed around and lay with their chests in the cool, refreshing water. Not until every one of the males following her had stopped panting did she get up and resume the chase.
The half-moon rose higher in the sky then began to descend. Still racing, still playing and dodging the others, she led them up a steep rocky incline out onto an outcropping that overlooked the mountain valley below.
When she settled down to look out over the valley Owen stretched out on his belly next to her, never questioning his right to be beside her. Never questioning the appropriateness of the other males taking up positions beside yet slightly back from theirs. At the female’s side, he breathed in the night air. Tasted it for predators, competitors, danger or prey. The other males didn’t seem to notice his alertness or share it. The female did though. He sensed it in the way she watched him, the way she waited for his big body to relax before she sighed and laid her chin on her forepaws. The way she lifted her head after a moment, licked his muzzle then stretched out again.
With the others relaxing around him, Owen looked down over the valley. Now and then he spotted groups of wolves playing in the moonlight. They chased each other, wrestled, mock charged or simply rested like Owen and his group.
When the female beside him washed Owen’s face a second time the brown wolf whined quietly. She silenced him with a glare and a growl.
After a while she stood, led them back down to the valley and resumed the chase. They stopped by the stream once more then lifted their heads in unison when they heard the deep, powerful bay of the Alpha. Trotting in the female’s wake, they followed her back to the clearing.
When he caught sight of the dying fire through the trees Owen picked his moment and veered away from the others. His wolf preferred to be alone when it changed because it knew the man inside him preferred to be alone. Hidden beneath the trees, he sat beside his human clothes and peered out at the other wolves gathering in the clearing. He closed his eyes and bared his teeth at the slither of pain firing his nerve endings.
The transition from wolf to man wasn’t as traumatic or as painful as man to wolf. Owen’s wolf was tougher and experienced little stress as it shrank back to its normal dimensions, although his back itched like crazy after his fur retreated into his skin. Content and pleasantly tired after such a hard run, Owen dressed, walked back to his truck and drove off without anybody seeing him.
Suzanne Young’s wolf lifted its head and scanned the clearing. The six males who always trailed her were here with her. The seventh was nowhere to be seen. She made a quiet noise of distress and Wally Pierce’s wolf stepped up beside her and leaned his heavy brown shoulder against hers. He stayed where he was, supporting her body as it transitioned back to human form. Then he changed as well, wincing and grunting once in discomfort as his feet returned to their normal shape. Wally was her best buddy and another deputy sheriff on the police force. He was also wildly kid-crush in love with her. He had been since they’d hit puberty. Like he always did, he looked down at her body with open longing, sighed and turned away from her to hunt for his clothes.
Her wolf might have been distressed by the powerful golden male’s absence but the woman was not. Sure that male was something special…so special there could be no place for him here unless he challenged their Alpha.
Nobody wanted that kind of upheaval, especially from an interloper. And to leave her pack to be with him would be…untenable. She had a home, a position in this pack, a job she loved. She picked up her panties, slipped them on then reached for her bra, which lay on top of the rest of her neatly folded clothes.
That male might be everything she’d ever wanted in a mate but strays like him weren’t what she needed.
At work the next morning Suzanne sat up a little straighter in her chair when Sheriff Cutler Powell stepped out of his office. There was a time when she’d take every opportunity to flaunt her looks whenever the good-looking Alpha was around. The arrival of Fina Whitesage last summer put an end to that. Suzanne had been disappointed Cutler hadn’t chosen her for his mate. What healthy female wouldn’t have been? But now that she was no longer chasing Cutler’s tail all over the county Suzanne’s working relationship with him had improved, her dedication to her job had improved and she was, in many ways, happier and more content.
An established hierarchy would do that to a were.
“Listen up,” Cutler said in that booming, commanding voice of his. “You all know the sheriff’s office in Pinebridge asked me to step in there for a few days. Help them while they deal with the murder of their sheriff.” He sat on the corner of a desk, leaned his hands on his muscular thighs and looked around the open office. “Tomorrow’s going to be my last day there but they still need help.” Glancing down at the floor, he shook his head slowly. “They’re in shock and floundering. Their civilian dispatcher has fallen to pieces. I need two volunteers willing to transfer to the Pinebridge sheriff’s department on temporary loan. The assignment will last three months. More if it takes awhile for them to find a suitable were to send to the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy for training.” He stood and adjusted the gun belt hanging around his taut waist. “I’m going to the bakery. Talk it over amongst yourselves. If nobody’s interested I’ll ask the rest of the deputies, although they’re all mated and I can’t see any of them wanting to move away from their families.”
Suzanne watched Cutler’s broad back as he left then the top of his head as he walked past the front windows. She flipped the mic on her headset up and spun her chair so she could look at the rest of the deputies.
Owen stopped mid-stride about ten feet outside the front door of the sheriff’s office. Somebody inside was pissed. And bellowing.
“No way in hell are you going.”
“You’re not m
y father or my boss, Wally. So back off.”
Huh. Owen had no trouble recognizing that pissy female tone.
“You all seem to forget I wear the same shirt you do because of my skills and not just because I fill it out nice.”
With a sigh Owen resumed walking. Cutler was expecting him. The sooner he was in there the sooner he could get out. When he stepped into the sheriff’s office, his skin prickled from the tension in the air.
“I’m not your boss but I am your friend. I get a say when you do something stupid. And putting yourself in the middle of a disintegrating pack with a cop killer on the loose would be the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.”
“This gun isn’t for show,” Suzanne yelled back. She snatched off the tiny headset she was wearing, tossed it to another deputy and marched up to the humongous brown-haired cop she’d been arguing with. “You all seem to forget I’m a fully certified deputy sheriff just like the rest of you. Since when does wearing my reproductive organs on the inside prevent me from doing the job?”
“Aw, Suzanne, you know I don’t mean it like that.” The big cop spread his hands in a gesture of appeasement.
Owen could see it was wasted effort.
“And just how do you mean it? Hmm? Compared to me your marksmanship is so bad you shouldn’t be licensed to carry a cap gun. And what the hell do you want?” she yelled, turning to glare at Owen, who’d stepped up to the counter.
He let his brows draw closer together but other than that wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing how much she managed to annoy him.
“And what the hell are you doing with that?” she added, making a grab for the silver box Owen was pulling out of his breast pocket.
“Easy there, deputy,” Owen growled. He held the box out of her reach, uncharacteristically enjoying the fact he was able to rile her up so easily. She made another grab for the box but his height defeated her easily. When she resorted to huffing at him and planting her fists on that tiny waist of hers he admired the way her breasts pushed against her regulation shirt.
“This,” he said, tilting the silver box in his hand, “hasn’t been reported stolen nor is it going to be. I’m a citizen you’re sworn to protect and serve…not play snatch and grab with. So tone it down a notch.”
“Why you arrogant…” The pretty deputy sheriff launched herself across the counter at him, grabbed the front of his shirt with one hand and her cuffs with the other.
Owen held his ground and glared down at her. “I’m no expert but attacking a civilian is a chargeable offense, isn’t it? Is it just your blonde roots showing or are you always this dumb?”
“Suzanne!”
She flinched and snarled when the door behind Owen slammed. Cutler stepped up beside Owen and glared at his deputies. “Let him go and get back to work. All of you.” His voice boomed through the office.
He flipped up the little gate that led past the counter into the main part of the station. “Come with me,” he barked at Owen before heading for the door with his name painted on it. Inside Cutler dropped the small paper bag he was carrying onto his desk, releasing the scents of cinnamon and apples into the air. He sat down in his big leather chair.
Holding his tongue, Owen took one of the chairs across from Cutler. With quiet reverence he set the silver box on Cutler’s blotter.
Cutler picked it up and ran his fingers around the lid. Owen knew what he was checking for. The same jeweler who’d engraved the box had just finished soldering it shut. The man was an artist. There wasn’t a drip, ripple or ridge to mar the perfect symmetry of the box. The ash inside would be preserved forever.
“I’d like to apologize for my deputy’s behavior.” Cutler’s sigh was ripe with released tension. “If you want to press charges—”
“No,” Owen interrupted adamantly. “You’re all under a lot of stress and maybe I went out of my way to provoke her. A little.”
Cutler shot him a discerning glare then the corner of his mouth quirked up. “Just don’t do it again while she’s on the job. Jeez, what is it with you two? You’re like oil and water and you don’t even know each other.”
“Must be my charming personality.”
“Must be.” Cutler sighed again. “You were right to come down on Suzanne like you did but there’s only room for one Alpha in a pack. I’m sad to say this again, Owen, but at some point I’m going to have to ask you to move on.”
Owen’s mouth tightened but he nodded in agreement. “I don’t want to fight you.” He sighed, much like Cutler had. “I don’t want your pack or your position. And I definitely don’t want to wreck Fina’s or Ryan’s lives. They’ve been through enough upheaval for two lifetimes.”
“Agreed.”
The weres sat across the desk from each other, not saying anything for a moment, just watching each other and taking the measure of each other’s strength.
Eventually Cutler spoke again. “I pegged you for a natural leader when I met you in Tennessee last summer. Guess you got good at hiding what you are while you were in the military. I did too. I also think you’ve gotten good at hiding what you are from yourself.”
Owen’s instinct was to argue the point. But he realized he didn’t actually disagree with what Cutler said, he just had an inborn need to win. So he kept his mouth shut and accepted the cup of coffee Cutler poured for him, along with one of the apple fritters the Alpha pulled out of the bag on his desk. While they ate Cutler told him what he knew about the neighboring packs and the few out-of-state ones he was familiar with.
When Owen left maybe fifteen minutes later Cutler’s message, while veiled in layers of politeness, was clear. It was time Owen started thinking about where to live next.
Suzanne smelled the approach of the big annoying-as-hell were even before the door to Cutler’s office opened. She glared at Owen when he walked past her desk and he glared right back. Owen Wells was terrifyingly handsome and she hated him even more for it. His face was all hard edges and stark intensity. The background check she’d run on him a few days before hadn’t turned up anything. Bastard had an exemplary military record, filed his taxes on time and had only one traffic charge—a speeding ticket back in Tennessee when he was seventeen.
She loathed the sight of him and would have trussed him up, dropped him in the trunk of a squad car and dumped him over the state line if she could get away with it.
When the outer door closed behind him she stood up and turned to face Cutler.
“I’m volunteering to work in Pinebridge.”
Behind her, Wally inhaled so sharply he actually hissed.
“Shut up, Pierce,” she barked over her shoulder. “And I’m not going there as any damn dispatcher either,” she told Cutler without bothering to temper her tone. “And now that we’re on the subject, I’m not going to work as a dispatcher here anymore either. Hire a civilian. It’s a waste of my skills and taxpayer money to pay a deputy sheriff to field 9-1-1 calls from old ladies who can’t remember where they parked at the bingo hall.”
The corner of Cutler’s mouth twitched. “As your sheriff, I don’t have a legitimate reason to refuse. As your Alpha…” The pitch of his voice dropped into that firm, confident undertone only Alphas ever really mastered. “I also have to consider the needs of my pack. You’re a healthy, young, unmated female in a pack with more males than females. I send you to Pinebridge for three months and I can damn well guarantee some stud over there is going to poach you away from us. What’s my guarantee you’ll come back?”
She set her hands on her hips and shot a leg forward. It was the closest she could safely come to challenging her Alpha without being insubordinate. “Fine. If I meet someone I’ll drag his shaggy ass back here.”
A couple of the other deputies, the older ones, chuckled. The younger ones just growled quietly.
Cutler scowled but his brow didn’t furrow…a sure sign he wasn’t completely opposed to what she’d said. “Okay. You can go. But if you bring a mate back with you he damn well better b
e a plumber. I’m sick to death of having to call in a human every time the sinks in the town hall back up.”
She stood up straighter and even felt her chin go up. “Thank you, Sheriff.”
“No,” Wally blurted. He moved to stand beside her, shot her a hard look then glared at Cutler. “Equality be damned, she’d be a woman going into an unknown pack, a female deputy going into a community with a cop killer on the loose. It’s bad enough when a male cop runs into trouble on the job. When it’s a woman…” His voice trailed off.
“When it’s a woman,” Bill Anderson, Cutler’s forty-three-year-old desk sergeant said. He stood and waded into the argument, bringing his calm demeanor and even calmer voice with him. “We feel it more. It’s not professional but men just hurt more when a woman gets hurt.” He laid his hand on Wally’s shoulder. “That doesn’t mean we should hold her back from doing the job she’s trained for. Suzanne’s one of the most dedicated, hardworking cops I’ve known. Chaining her to a desk just because we’d go ballistic if some guy punched her for trying to give him a ticket doesn’t give us the right to keep her from doing the job she was born to do.” He looked up at Cutler. “No offense intended, Sheriff, but I’m right.”
“Well if she’s going,” Wally declared, “I’m going too.”
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