Pack Bonds, page 16
part #4 of Amarok Series
“Strange, huh. It’s definitely gotten more complicated.” Katherine walked over to one of the parked patrol cars, leaning against the hood as she settled in to wait for the scene to be released so she could move on to the next crisis.
-
“We’ve got another on the corner of 4th and Lincoln. Nonviolent.”
Viktoriya grabbed a green pin from a bowl and stuck it into the large map in front of her. Pruella’s people had made another delivery early that morning and Viktoriya turned the living room into her monitoring room.
The strays at the center kept up their end of the bargain. Every hour, the chat she’d set up got anywhere between three to twenty messages from her little army of scouts. She’d even drafted the members of the Salvatore family into helping; Jerome called out sightings while Clementine and Rudolph printed out the usable mugshots, posting them on the wall.
Viktoriya separated the sightings by type; green for nonviolent rogues simply making sure people noticed them, blue for those who seemed to be investigating properties connected to the Freewood pack, and red for violent rogues or those involved in some sort of crime.
Between her map and the wall of photos, Viktoriya had a pretty good idea about the enemy pack. Her data confirmed what Dugen suggested about them dealing with an alpha who had recruited the rowdier rogues.
Most of the pins on her map were green and focused downtown, where they would be most visible. Red was sparse but growing more common. Alpine had too many forces to control properly. He appeared to be acting in good faith, but rogues would be rogues.
She was surprised by how little blue there was. Only three pins marked her map and she believed they’d wandered to those areas by chance. Tradition ran strong. Changers fought head to head on an open field. Even in the modern age, most alphas weren’t thinking about any other kinds of tactics.
The front door opened, and Rachel walked in with her mother, carrying pizza boxes. “Dinner.” They set their burdens on the coffee table and Rachel came to stand beside her mate, leaning on her back as she observed the map. “Progress?”
“Some.” Viktoriya gestured to different areas as she spoke. “Seems this Alpine is pulling his people back. There are fewer sightings than yesterday, but they’re making sure we know they’re not going anywhere.”
She circled a thick grouping of pins with her index finger. “Most of their activity is focused here. Something’s drawing them. Either their hideout is close by or a favorite restaurant. Something.”
“I’m guessing you want to check it out.”
“Ehm. Soon. A few more tools would make the job a lot easier. I’ll have to talk to Addison again tomorrow.”
“That means work’s over for the day.” Rachel wrapped her hands around Viktoriya’s waist and tugged her backward until they fell onto the couch. Viktoriya made a brief attempt to move from her lap but the smaller girl held her in place easily and she settled in place with a huff. Rachel grinned at the victory. “Dinnertime.”
The others had already opened the boxes, filling up paper plates Rosa brought from the kitchen. The red-headed woman was slumped in the corner of the couch, her suit jacket thrown over the back and her arm over her eyes. “Rough day, chief?” Viktoriya asked.
Rosa sighed, waving a hand in the air lazily. “Unlike Dugen, I have a full-time job that requires my attention. That on top of this…” She moved her arm, smiling at Viktoriya. “Sorry I haven’t been much help. Here we are in the middle of a crisis and I’m not present.”
“No problem. Between me and Dugen, I feel like we’re managing the situation.”
“That you are. The rest of you better be helping out.”
“Give me a break,” Clementine growled. “I’ve spent the last couple of hours printing and color-coding pictures.” She jerked a thumb at the wall behind her. “You won’t believe how many ink cartridges we went through.”
“Pru’s paying for that right?”
“She paid for the printer too.”
“Gods, I love having a rich friend. Jerome, fix me a plate huh?” He piled it high with half a dozen slices and handed it over. Rosa gobbled down two before she spoke again. “Where’s your third, Rachel? I haven’t seen much of her.”
Rachel hummed as Viktoriya passed a full plate back to her. “…Dean’s taking special lessons at the school.”
Clementine snorted. “Knew she was a muscle head.”
“I don’t think they’re talking about lessons. She’s meeting with Tobias. The last time he came to see her, they were involved in something deep that I’m still not sure I understand. Or maybe she’s finally taking the idea of studying seriously. What she said was that he was helping her with her control.”
“A changer going to a halfling for control. Pathetic.”
Rachel sighed. “Claw, you need to calm down. You picking fights with Dean isn’t helping anyone. In fact, you’re only causing problems.”
Clementine dropped the slice she was carrying back onto her plate as she stood up, hands balled at her sides. “I know you’re not talking about me right now, Rach. Because the only one causing problems is that stranger.”
“Claw—”
“All of this crap started happening when she showed up. And don’t tell me none of you see how she’s pushing at the chief. Are you still going to support her when she kills your mother to take her place?”
“Clementine, enough!” Rosa snapped.
“No! Dammit, she’s going to ruin everything because she can’t control herself and I’m sick of pretending that I’m okay with it!”
Viktoriya opened her mouth to respond but Rachel stopped her, gently pressing against her waist until she moved over. Rachel stood with an uncharacteristic serious expression on her face. “Come on, Claw. Let’s go for a drive.”
Several eyes widened at the declaration. Rudolph made to intervene, but Jerome caught his arm, holding him in place.
“Red.”
Rachel looked over to see Viktoriya staring at her with laser intensity. She waggled her fingers. “Keep eating, love. We’re going to have a little heart to heart.”
“Fine then.” Clementine moved across the room, snatching up a set of keys before wrenching open the front door, holding it open. “After you,” she growled.
Rachel walked out and the blonde followed, slamming the door closed with enough force that it rattled on its hinges.
Chapter 11
“Lake! Hey, hold on!”
Katherine dashed forward, grabbing Morgan’s arm before he could walk out the door. She smiled tightly at the passing officers that gave them knowing looks. “We need to talk.”
“What are you doing, Meadows?” Morgan sighed. “Why are you getting involved in this?”
“Why am I, are you kidding me? I don’t know if you’ve noticed partner but there are a group of men running wild on the streets. We’ve had reports of three armed robberies and the day isn’t over. What the hell is going on?”
Morgan ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “There were some developments yesterday. A small group is running rampant, but they’ll be taken care of soon. They’ll be taken care of soon enough.”
“That doesn’t tell me anything.”
“No, because you don’t need to be involved.”
“I don’t need to be involved? The city is in chaos. These, what did you call them? Rogues? They’re escalating. How long before they started taking out cops responding to these crimes? And how many people are going to get caught in the crossfire when your people ‘handle’ them? What’s going to stop the next gunfight in the streets?”
“It won’t come to that.”
She snorted in disbelief. “Suppose I’ll have to take your word for that.”
“Yeah, you are.” Morgan stared at her with narrowed eyes. She had the impression that he was trying to look at something inside her or something just beyond her. “Since when was that not good enough?”
“…When I found out that you have no problem lying to me.”
“Gods. You—” He pressed his lips together as he noticed his raised voice, smiling at the people now watching them discretely as he pulled her further into the corner. “I had a very good reason for keeping that secret. Why? Because I don’t want you involved in this. This isn’t a game. You can get killed.”
“If something like that was enough to stop me, I wouldn’t be wearing a gold shield,” she snapped back, struggling to keep her voice calm.
“This isn’t drug addicts looking for a fix or some angry husband slapping around his wife. You can’t handle this.”
“Why, because I’m a cop or because I’m…human?”
“Don’t say it like that. Don’t make it sound like I’m trying to put you down or something. This has nothing to do with who is what. This is simply a problem that you’re not equipped to deal with. Why can’t you see I’m protecting you?”
“Are you, Morgan? Or are you protecting yourself?”
“You can’t be—” Someone shouting his name made him look over his shoulder. “I got to go, partner. Do yourself a favor and stay out of this. I mean it.”
She glared at his retreating back as he hurried over to the uniform beckoning him.
Lies. More and more lies. She could forgive, or at least understand, him hiding the truth about what he was. But now, there was no more reason. The wolf was out of the bag. More importantly, she still had nightmares about those red eyes. How did he expect her to let it go?
If he didn’t want to help, she’d find her answers.
“Seems like you’re arguing with your partner.”
Katherine turned to see a detective she faintly recognized standing behind her. Years on the job talking to thieves, liars, and killers had given her the ability to read people. At the very least, the ability to recognize negative intentions. The look in his eyes screamed negative intentions and Katherine’s shoulders stiffened reflexively. “You’re Amos, right? Out of robbery.”
“Yeah. You work under my father.”
She flinched as the only way she could remember her boss was him pointing a gun at her. “You’re Captain Rodriguez’s son.”
“I am. And I’m looking for my father. Something your partner should be doing too but funny enough, I can catch up with him.”
“Sounds like a conversation you need to have with him.”
“I’d rather talk to you about this.” Amos held up a large file, waving back and forth. “This is my Dad’s copy of the color gang case. He made some notes about your involvement, particularly that you were still investigating.”
“I turned everything over to the feds.”
“Don’t try to play me. I may not be a member of the esteemed Homicide department but I’m a cop. No one takes your case away. You always hold a little something back, a little key detail you follow up on when no one’s looking. Be straight with me Meadows. What do you know?”
“I don’t know anything.”
Her attempt to end the conversation by walking away was halted when he grabbed her arm. Katherine scowled over her shoulder. “You want to start a scene here?”
Amos followed her eyes to the crowd moving around them. Then he released her. “I’ll see you later, detective.”
“Sure thing.” She walked away with a huff. “Hypocrite,” she muttered under her breath as she stepped into the elevator. A part of her recognized that it was exactly what Morgan had done to her and she’d done it for the same reasons.
She didn’t want Amos involved with the circumstances surrounding his father’s death because it was way out of his league. The man only wanted to find his father. The last things he needed to find were werewolves and magic.
Katherine didn’t what she was doing. If it was too much for Amos to be involved with, she was most definitely out of her league. This wasn’t about protecting the city. Otherwise, she would take what she knew to somebody important and get the entire department moving.
No matter how tough these creatures were, they were flesh and blood, which meant a spray of bullets would eventually put them down…she hoped.
However, that was the last thing on her mind. Even with the little information she had, she recognized getting the authorities involved would have irreversible consequences. Morgan had to have realized that too when he confided in her. He trusted her and, damn it all, that still counted for something.
All of a sudden, she realized what it was that was driving her and shook her head with a self-deprecating chuckle. She wanted to help.
That’s why she had ripped the page out of her notebook and refused to let the case go. She wanted to help her partner and being told she couldn’t aggravated her into moving beyond the realm of common sense.
The elevator doors opened but she didn’t get out, hitting the button to go back down to the first floor. “Screw it. If I can’t let this go, then I’ll have to see it through to the end.” Morgan wouldn’t tell her anything, but there had to be another way of finding her answers. Someone out there knew something.
As she walked out of the station, she didn’t notice Amos’ narrowed eyes as he followed after her.
-
Clementine parked the car, jumping out the second the engine cut off. Rachel opened her door more sedately, following the blonde across the dimly lit parking lot.
They paused in front in the shadow of a building where it would be the most difficult to spot them from the street. “You’re a ball of tension.”
“Shut up,” Clementine snapped. Her hands flexed as she stared Rachel down. “What are you doing, Rach? You’re not a fighter.”
“Mmhmm. I’m like my mother. That’s why you’re so comfortable around us.” Dominance amongst changers usually correlated with strength but not necessarily aggression. Rosa was a passive dominant. Though she had the physical power to subjugate the strays who wandered into Freewood, she won them over with compassion. “But you know there are times when we don’t back down.”
“You’re choosing your mate over your family. I guess the bond must be something.”
“It is, but that’s not what’s happening here. I’m choosing both.” Rachel sighed. “You mean well, I know you do. If you think it’s to save Mama, you’d challenge someone you have no hope of winning against.”
“Rosa’s the only one. The only dominant I’d ever trust.”
“Dean isn’t a bad person.”
“Dean is a bumbling idiot with more brawn than brains!” Clementine paced angrily. “She’s ready to wage a war in this city. Rogues are screaming our existence to the world right now. Instead of trying to help, she’s trying to use it as a platform to gain control and scheming with halflings. She’s invited one of them into the house. Who does that sound like?”
“She isn’t Franklin.”
“Of course you would say that. You’re going to be the alpha’s mate and nothing’s going to get in the way of that.”
Rachel shook her head as she kicked off her boots. “Before we do this, I want you to understand something,” she said as she shrugged off her shirt. “I’m doing this for you. You say Dean can’t hold herself back but that’s all she’s been doing. But instead of trying to talk with her, you keep ramping up your aggression. If I leave things as they are, she will seriously kill you and no one could blame her.”
“I’d like to see her try.”
“Are you nuts? Did you temporarily go blind the night Pruella Blood was hurling bolts of lightning around our yard? Dean took that and kept trucking. You going after her would be like a kitten trying to take down a bear.”
“I don’t care! Never again. No dominant is going to walk into my life and ruin it.”
Rachel braced herself as the blonde rushed her, gritting her teeth as blows were rained on her. A lucky punch rocked her head backwards, but she grabbed the offending wrist. With a burst of strength, she turned Clementine around, kicking the back of her knee to send her to the ground.
“Settle down.” When the command didn’t work, she wrapped an arm around her neck. “If you keep struggling, this is going to get ugly.”
“...Like…hell!”
Rachel yelped as the hands gripping her arms morphed into claws. She was forced to let go unless she wanted it torn off, but she kicked the blonde away from her. A growl radiated from her chest as the deep cuts slowly mended. “Fine. We do this your way.”
The roar that burst out of her caused the blonde to instinctively flinch. Rachel used the opening to rush forward. Clementine brought her arms up to stop the charge, but it meant nothing. She was lifted off her feet and slammed into a dark sedan several feet away.
