Cutler leaned back on his heels. Suzanne looked up at him hopefully.
“Looks like you’re going to Pinebridge, Young. You too, Wally. I’ll phone their interim sheriff and tell him to expect you tomorrow.” With that Cutler turned away and walked back to his office.
“Young,” Sergeant Anderson said quietly. He gave her a brief one-armed hug then buzzed a quick kiss to her forehead. “Don’t get yourself hurt out there. Your daddy would kill me.”
Chapter Six
The Saturday after Ed Timberman’s funeral Owen stormed into the barn, tracking the squeals.
“Hey.” He had to bellow to make himself heard. God almighty… Whoever thought two first graders could make such a racket? Ryan and his best friend Koby froze in place—leaning out of the hay loft overhead, just about to swing down a rope they’d looped over a rafter. “You two are a whole new definition of insane. The noise alone is going to drive every one of these animals berserk any minute now. The first thing they’ll do is trample the shit out of you just to shut you up. And you let go of that rope this minute, young man. If you think I’m going to let you drive that skull of yours through the floor when you fall, you have got another think coming.”
Both boys shook—Koby more than Ryan—but they let go of the rope and backed away from the railing.
“Better. Now get your skinny behinds down here and find something less suicidal to play at.” Hands on hips, he glared at them as they rushed down the ladder and ran past him, giving him a wide berth as they headed for the door.
When he turned he saw Cutler and Fina standing side by side, watching him through narrowed eyes.
“No, no, no,” Owen huffed. “You are not going to bust my balls for disciplining my own cousin.”
“No. We’re not,” Cutler agreed then visibly relaxed his stance.
“Good. Because as his only living relative I am his legal guardian, remember?”
“Yes but you’ve never talked about wanting to take him from us.” Cutler’s expression darkened. “And you won’t. He’s bonded with Fina like she’s his mother. He’s settled here, has friends and standing in this pack.”
The two males glared at each other.
“Oh will you two stop it already?” Fina interrupted with a snarl. “I’m drowning in testosterone over here. Owen—”
“What did I do?”
She silenced him with a look that reminded him way too much of his mother.
“We wanted to talk to you,” she said and it sounded like she was trying to rein in her anger.
Owen made an effort too.
“First,” Fina said, “thank you for stopping the boys from swinging down that rope. They know they’re not supposed to be out here without an adult.”
“You’re welcome.”
“But next time,” she added gently, “tell them the act is insane, not them.”
“Oh.” He thought about that for a moment then nodded in agreement. “Yeah. I suppose you’re right.”
“I need a favor,” Cutler said, stepping forward. “I need a man in Pinebridge. Somebody no one knows. Somebody with some training in covert ops who can move around outside of the official police investigation. Everybody out there knows who the cops and the pack leaders are. If whoever killed Ed is still there, if they’ve managed to keep their mouth shut this long, there’s no way they’ll let anything slip around anybody official.”
“What makes you think the killer’s still there?” Owen asked.
“The site of the murder, for one. It’s so isolated the road doesn’t show up on state maps. The time of day…it was chosen too perfectly. It was the one time a caller would be guaranteed to get Ed as the responding officer at that location.” Cutler bared his teeth. “Sheriffs don’t normally respond to low-priority 9-1-1 calls but he took it because it wasn’t too far off his route home.” Fina touched his arm and Cutler relaxed visibly. He rubbed the back of his neck. “We’re out of investigative options. It’s time to try something creative.”
“Okay, I’ll buy that. But won’t they turn me away?” Owen asked.
“Not Pinebridge,” Cutler assured him. “Their Alpha’s getting older. Almost too old now to do the job effectively. Over the past couple years he’s become more accepting of outside males. Whether consciously or unconsciously, whether the decision is his or his wolf’s, he’s opening up the field to newcomers who might be able to take his place.” Cutler shrugged. “After spending a few days there it was pretty obvious none of the younger weres have what it takes to take over as Alpha in a pack that large and spread out. Beta, maybe, but I don’t want to tell you too much. You’re more than capable of taking your own read on the situation and I don’t want to color your impressions.”
“Plus,” Owen added, “I can’t stay here much longer.”
“Yeah. Sorry about that. More than you’ll know.” He looped his arm around Fina’s shoulders, pulled her small body into his and kissed the top of her head. “I wish things had turned out different.” He straightened and looked Owen in the eye. “I like you. You’re a good man. Fina and Ryan, well, their lives are more complete with you here. But even though it’s the last thing our brains want we both know that instinct and the drive to lead will pit us against each other. My pack doesn’t need that kind of stress. It’s killing my ego to admit this,” he added with a wry grin, “but we’d probably wind up crippling each other in a fight, with no clear winner. Then where would the pack be?”
“Okay.”
At Owen’s simple, single word of acceptance both Cutler’s and Fina’s shoulders went down.
“Thank you,” Cutler said. “First thing Monday I need you to move out to Pinebridge. There may be one or two weres there who recognize you but they’ll believe your cover story about moving on and looking for a home. Their Alpha will set you up with a place to live, a job… Make it look like you came to him honorably and asked about joining his pack.”
“All right.” Owen nodded. “Where do I meet him?”
“Oh he’s easy to find. He’s the pharmacist.”
That afternoon, Owen carefully labeled packages of heirloom seeds in his neat, square script and stored the packages in numbered trays inside one of the refrigerator drawers in Fina’s greenhouse. Well, one of her greenhouses.
“How have your online orders been so far this spring?” he asked. As a teen he’d worked part-time in her father’s nursery back in Tennessee. His mother had been the company’s sales and merchandising manager. Now that their pack was dead Fina had re-created the company’s setup out here.
“Better than I’d hoped.” Fina was keying seed dates, lots and quantities into a laptop hooked up to the refrigeration units. “When I closed down the site last summer I redirected customers. But we had a good mailing list—thanks to your mother,” she added with a nod, “and most of them have come back. I did some fairly aggressive marketing aimed at potential Western customers over the winter and we’ve recouped those dollars already. Repeating the message next winter will be almost pure profit.”
“Whew. You sure are smart for such a tiny thing,” Owen teased. He hip checked her lightly, snapped off his sterile gloves and tossed them into a trash can.
“I wanted to ask…” Fina’s voice was tentative.
Owen encouraged her with a grin and a nod. An only child, he’d never had a kid sister. He liked to think if he had had one they would have had the same easygoing affection he felt for Fina.
She continued, “When you came back to the States you spent your first month in Tennessee.”
“Riiight.” He drew out the word, just a little.
“How was it? Back there.”
Owen exhaled slowly, considering his answer before he spoke. “Well, I spent time with two neighboring packs. First with the one our families split off from when they formed their own pack.”
“The one we weren’t told about growing up.” Her expression darkened, just a little. Like him she hadn’t liked finding out she had distant relatives a
fter the fact. Their parents’ split from their original pack had been so nasty they’d kept their children from knowing anything about the others. If those packs had been closer, if her family had been part of a bigger pack…
“Yes,” Owen continued. “Then with the other pack, the one that sent their Alpha and a couple of his men to help out when Cutler and Nath went back to wipe out the rogues.”
Fina fell silent. Like Owen, she was probably thinking about the friend who’d been kidnapped and almost killed when the rogues had tried to blackmail Fina into returning to them.
“I took your friend Helen out to dinner while I was there.” Owen changed the subject, hoping it would ease the darkness he sensed settling around Fina.
“You did? I hope you didn’t mess with her. She’s just a kid.”
“She’s two months younger than you are,” Owen blurted. “And no I didn’t try to seduce her. Although she is cute.” He laughed when Fina slapped his shoulder. “Don’t worry. She’s human. They’re too fragile for my tastes.”
“Eww. TMI.”
He laughed again. That was one of the best things about hanging out with Fina. Even as a kid she could always get him to laugh. “Anyway,” he continued, “the packs back East made me feel welcome. They gave me space and time to think.”
“But you didn’t ask to join?”
“No.” He shrugged, locked up the refrigerator drawers and reset the thermostat controls. “It was too soon to commit myself to a pack. I’m not even sure I’m that kind of wolf anymore.”
The look she gave him clearly said, “Oh yeah, tough guy?” He’d seen her flash Cutler that same look, Nath too. It might bring them to heel but the effort was wasted on him.
He grew serious. “The houses are all torn down now.” Even to his ears his voice sounded unusually deep and somber when he talked about the small community their pack had lived in. “They’ve laid the foundations for the first four geared-to-income homes. When I was there I paid for new surveys. The county adjusted the street addresses for the lots. With so much death there, I didn’t want families to live at the same addresses where people had died.”
They fell silent for a moment. Owen blinked then returned Fina’s hug when she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her cheek on his chest. Dropping his chin onto the top of her head, he held her for a moment then released her and dried her tears with the pad of his thumb. He closed up her laptop and trailed after her when she left the greenhouse.
Just after noon on Monday Owen stepped out of a Wyoming Department of Transportation office with a shiny new set of Wyoming license plates in his hand. Cutler had said he wouldn’t stick out so much if his truck had Wyoming plates. Like that was going to help. He was six-two, weighed two-twenty and when he let it loose scented like a werewolf with a case of large-and-in-charge that made other weres piss themselves.
The nice lady behind the counter had also given him an application for veterans’ plates. Owen was pretty sure he wouldn’t fill the application out. Custom plates just felt too permanent. That same nice lady had reminded him he no longer qualified for a military exemption on his driver’s license renewal. She’d issued him a temporary Wyoming license; he’d given her a chunk of the cash in his wallet. Great. This favor for Cutler was feeling more like a lockdown assignment by the minute.
Grabbing his toolbox from the back of his truck, he started bolting the new plates in place. They sported a big silhouette of a guy in a Stetson, riding a bucking horse. What was this obsession with horses out here? The whole thing smelled like a state-sanctioned conspiracy. Why couldn’t Fina have gone just a little farther west before settling down? Like California. Hmm. Babes in bikinis. Now that he wouldn’t mind sporting on his license plate.
When he was finished he climbed back in his truck, rechecked the GPS and continued on his way to Pinebridge.
About an hour later he was driving down the main street, slow. His windows were open enough to let his scent out and let the town’s scents in. No sense in springing his presence on a nervous community without giving them a whiff first. The place was big enough to support two supermarkets, a number of shops, a large hardware store, some fast-food joints and an interesting-looking diner. The smell that rolled out from there when the front door conveniently opened as he drove past was enough to make him salivate…and he’d already eaten.
He parked a couple of blocks past the pharmacy. Walking back through town gave him an opportunity to scope out the locals up close and let them check him out as well.
And speaking of checking out… A couple of local lovelies gave him the once-over as he crossed the street. Hmm. This assignment might not be so bad after all. A few of the men watched him too. Owen knew they’d be trying to get a read on his confidence level. He kept that carefully neutral. There was nothing he could do about the confidence in his walk or the way he was able to move among an unknown pack without cowering though. If the weres watching him had any discernment, he was counting on them reading him as a strong male but without agenda or design on their position or women.
He walked into the pharmacy, held the door open for a young mother, tipped his head and wished her a good afternoon then made his way to the dispensary.
Even without the name tag he would have recognized Cory Amos. The Alpha gave off that calm, confident vibe Owen had expected. Somewhere around sixty years of age, Cory stood maybe an inch shorter than Owen. His gray hair was receding and his blue eyes were warm and intelligent as he spoke in hushed tones with the woman standing near Owen.
Although she was obviously listening, she looked up at Cory with that slightly blank, timid look lesser pack members showed higher-ranking ones.
After she moved over to the waiting area Owen walked up to the counter and held out his hand.
“Hi. I’m Owen Wells. We spoke on the phone.”
Cory’s grip was surprisingly firm, considering his age. His smile was broad and welcoming. “Owen. Good to meet you.” He spoke loud enough for everyone in the pharmacy to hear, even the two humans looking over the greeting cards. “Welcome to Pinebridge.” Cory’s smile widened. “You mentioned you just got out of the military.”
“Yes sir.” Owen snapped to like he was talking to a superior officer. “Did three tours in the Army. I joined up when I was eighteen so my pack, well, the best way to describe it is it’s moved on without me.” The lie didn’t sound too blatant to Owen’s ears. “Besides, it’s small. Real small and I’m related to just about every female in it.” He grinned sheepishly, mostly for the benefit of the few weres in the pharmacy who were now getting real interested in whatever merchandise was close to where Owen was standing. “A pack on the other side of the state line said Pinebridge was a healthy, thriving community and was tolerant toward outsiders.”
Cory nodded sagely. “That’s true enough, son. So what kind of work do you do?”
“Well…” Owen flashed that sheepish grin again. “That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? I’ve got some cash put aside so I can afford to figure things out for a little while before I commit myself to a line of work. The VA will help me with reeducation expenses and training. Trouble is, I’m not sure what I want to do. I’ve been a soldier all my life and I don’t know anything else. Fieldwork and I got along just fine but with my years of service and rank, I was looking at a promotion into administrative work.”
“Were you good at it?” Cory asked. “Being a soldier.”
“Damn good.”
“Well, that’s a start. Any man who can succeed in the military has good character and the kind of attitude I like.” He looked Owen over like he was sizing him up for a suit then nodded. “Listen, there’s a house for rent not too far from here. Nothing fancy but it’s furnished. The bank owns it. Damn subprime meltdown,” he huffed. “The bank manager’s a friend of mine so we can get you a good rate on the rent.
“As to a job,” Cory added with a sure nod. “My wife works for the Department of Education. They’ve got aptitude t
ests they give to students. Don’t see why you can’t take one.” He gave a wry shake of his head. “Her office has information on just about every job known to mankind. I’m sure you’ll find a couple of occupations that interest you among those eighteen filing cabinets her office keeps stocked.”
“Sounds good,” Owen replied and his enthusiasm wasn’t feigned. “And thanks.”
“My pleasure. This is a good pack. Good people. Adding another strong, young male to the mix will only make us stronger.” Cory’s expression grew serious. “As long as you’ve got your head on straight—and you strike me as a fella who does—we’ll be pleased to consider having you join us. Now, let me finish filling Mrs. Sandroff’s sinus infection script and we’ll get you settled in. How about you join the missus and me for supper?”
That evening, in the Amoses’ house, Owen leaned forward in his chair and accepted the platter of baked chicken pieces Piper Amos was passing around. She was younger than her mate, maybe forty, with brown hair and warm brown eyes. Owen had been surprised to learn she wasn’t top bitch. One of Cory’s cousins was. Cory had promised to introduce Owen to her and her mate later.
“I still can’t believe he’s gone.” Cory swirled the wine his wife had served with dinner around his glass then set it down. “Ed Timberman and I grew up together. He was my best friend going on fifty years. This afternoon some kids came into the pharmacy after school and they were teasing each other about the girls they thought were pretty. Reminded me of how Ed and I used to bust each other’s balls. My hand was reaching for the phone to call him when…” Cory’s voice trailed off. He finished the wine in his glass then wordlessly started stabbing his fork into the chicken and mashed potatoes on his plate.
“Ed was our Beta,” Piper said, filling the silence. She offered a basket of rolls to Owen. “His death’s left a big void and he was so well-liked we’re all stumbling around the issue of replacing him.”
“Sounds like a man who’d be hard to replace.” Owen was moved by the looks of gratitude Cory and Piper gave him.
PacksBrokenHeart Page 5