Officer Wolf (Sizzling Shifter BBW Romance) (With Bonus Book) (5 page)

When Chris got to the flaming houses, the firefighters were already there in full force. He parked his car some forty feet away at a safe distance and then ran towards them. Mike was there, a wolf shifter, along with Chris, Evan, Tim, and Nicholas. They looked relieved to see him. The flames were dissipating and Chris had high hopes that they’d be all put out shortly.

Mike was holding the firehose and spraying the force of it into the roof of a building that looked like it was on the verge of collapsing into the ashes. The fire weakened and finally went out, but there were still more houses burning.

“What’s going on now, Chris? Someone
set
these flames! There are four houses burning in a row, the fifth and sixth houses are virtually untouched. Then the seventh house is up in flames along with the tenth house. It’s a
man-made
fire – I think the son of a bitch Isaac is back in town.” Mike yelled.

Chris took hold of a hose and began to spray its vicious stream into another house that was up in flames. He nodded his head, “He sure is, Mike. And I aim to stop him.”

“Where’s the Sheriff? And McKinney?” Mike asked.

“Sheriff’s dead, Mike. It’s a very long story, but he was working with Isaac.” Chris had to scream to make sure that his voice was even audible. The sound of the flames roared along with the water hose that sprayed so loudly as it fought them. Mike stared blankly at him for a moment with a shocked look on his face, and then turned his attention back to the problem at hand – the torching flames spreading throughout the neighborhood.

Villagers stood on the street some hundred yards away, safe from harm and yet wearing distressed looks on their faces, and although the next hour passed like a blur of a dream, Chris couldn’t get his mind off of Lana. He had a bad feeling, and he knew he needed to go back to the house. The fires had been almost put out since he got there and he felt like it was safe for him to leave. Besides, he had another thing to worry about – the fire starter himself.

Chris wiped the ash from his face after sitting down in his car, along with the sweat. He wanted to pull out his cell phone and call Lana, but then he remembered that she’d said the Sheriff trashed it. Besides, even if she had it it might be risky to call her. If someone
was
in the house like he was currently suspecting with his wolf instincts, then the noise of its ring would alert them. His best bet was to hurry over there and make sure she was okay. He tried to reassure himself by repeating that she was indeed okay.

“She’s fine. Stop worrying, you put her in the safest place possible. Lana is perfectly fine and safe.”

But his wolf instincts wouldn’t let up, and he felt like
something
was off. Something
terrible
was about to happen, so terrible that he could almost smell it.

****

Lana heard the door open a few minutes later and thought that it was Chris. She began to start crawling up the ladder and when she opened her mouth to speak she suddenly stopped herself. Something about the way the footsteps were moving disturbed her.

Wait a second. That’s not Chris up there
.

She held her tongue nervously and felt her heart thumping like a jackhammer in her chest.

Okay, so it’s not him. Then who is it? Will they know I’m down here? I have to keep quiet
.

She crawled back down the ladder and held her head up in the air. She could see the footsteps moving over the cracks between the floorboards and it sounded like whoever was up there was wearing big heavy boots. By that time she knew that it was most certainly not Chris because he would have said something. The footsteps stopped again, and this time they had stopped directly over the rug which hid the trap door that led down into the bomb shelter.

Lana’s heart jackhammered in a pulsating manner even harder than it had been. She gulped softly and even the sound of
that
seemed to be extremely loud in the dead silence of the house.
Who the hell is up there and what do they want?

The answer to that was something she guessed, and it terrified her. They either wanted Chris, or they wanted her. She suspected that it was the man himself that Chris had told her about – the one who’d set the flames; the fire starter. The heavy boots began to move again and Lana was swept out of her thoughts by the sound of the door opening and then closing. The footsteps were gone, and she heard a car start up outside the house and then she thought she heard it drive away.

She took a deep breath and then crawled up the steps and when she got to the top step she lightly pushed the trap door open and peered out. There were dusty black boots standing right in front of her eyes, and then she felt the trap door swing violently open and she was grabbed by the hand of some unknown intruder.

“My name is Isaac Jones,” A voice said, and then Lana looked up as she was tossed back onto the hardwood floor, “And I’m here to find my friend Chris.”

He was tall, dark, and ugly. His hair was wet with sweat, and his face was scarred and pale. He wore raggedy clothes and part of his body was covered with dry blood. His clothes looked almost charred as if he’d been in some kind of explosion or fire. He smiled at her politely and then stepped forward and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt.

“I was hoping that maybe
you’d
be able to help me find him.”

“I don’t know where he is.” She began to crawl backwards on her hands and feet as Isaac strode calmly towards her.

“You don’t….
Know – where – he – is
.” He mocked her in a sickeningly high pitched squeal, “And
why
don’t you….
Know – where – he – is
?” He stopped and knelt down directly before her, the same twisted smile still stretched across his battle scarred face.

“I just don’t.”

As he reached forward slowly with a large hand Lana seized the opportunity to once again use the knife she’d slid up her shirtsleeve before peeking through the trap door of the bomb shelter. In a matter of one second she’d let it slide down from her wrist to the palm of her hand. She’d gripped it firmly between her fingers and then raised her hand, and then slid it across the cheek of Isaac Jones as he reached for her.

He toppled backwards as he rose to his feet and let out a deep pitched animalistic sounding moan, “You
bitch
.” He roared.

Lana sprung forward with the blade once again as he clutched his bleeding cheek, and this time she wasn’t so gentle with it. It slid deeply across the flesh of his fingers and then went up the side of his nose and to his forehead. It would have gone even further if he hadn’t fallen backwards with a screech
.

“Damn you
.” He howled and sprung back up to his feet.

He wasn’t quick enough for her. The third cut of the blade wasn’t a slice, but a jab. She rammed it into his stomach as he gripped onto her neck, and then his grip weakened and his eyes bulged out in shock as he felt the sharpness of the blade twisting into his abdomen. He fell backwards again and at the very same moment the door swung open and a police officer entered the room with his gun pointed forwards.

“Freeze! Both of you!” McKinney roared.

Lana threw her hands up and dropped the knife at his command. Isaac Jones smiled and began to mutter something before McKinney rushed forward and silenced him with a kick to the head. His neck loosened and his raised head crashed to the floor with a dull thud, and then he was knocked out. McKinney kept the gun raised on Lana as he stared at her cautiously.

“Who are you, and why are you in my boss’s house?”

“I am his girlfriend, Lana. I just moved to town.”

“Ma’am, I just found a dead Sheriff on the side of the road. Excuse me if I’m exercising a little extra caution tonight.” He lowered his gun and took a deep breath, and then walked across the room to Isaac and twisted him onto his stomach. He handcuffed him and left him lying there as he walked to the couch and plopped down on it.

“Are you okay, officer?” Lana asked worriedly.

“Yes, just tired. I’ve been through a lot tonight.” He eyeballed her and placed his gun beside him.

Lana felt strange about the officer. She stared at him cautiously and felt like something was
off
about him. How he’d walked in and kicked Isaac in the face so casually as soon as he started to say something. How he’d hobbled over to the couch and sat down on it and closed his eyes. Something wasn’t right, and she didn’t know what it was.

By the time the door opened a few minutes later McKinney’s gun was raised and aimed directly at Lana. He wasn’t afraid, and he’d damn well kill her if he had to in order to save himself. He wasn’t that bad of a guy, he told himself, he was just out for himself.

It’s a  dog eat dog world,
he’d always say.

Chris turned the corner and already had his own gun out. Lana stared at Chris and walked forward excitedly, happy to see him. She also happened to be oblivious to the fact that a gun was being pointed at her.

“
Hold it missy
!” McKinney snapped suddenly.

Lana turned and her eyes bulged out as she saw what was going on. She’d been right about him, after all. There was indeed something not right about him, and now she knew what it was. He was on the other side of the law… Just like the Sheriff had been.

“McKinney,” Chris growled, “Don’t get too excited, don’t do anything stupid that you’ll regret. Do you understand?”

“Fuck you, Chris,” McKinney laughed and tightened his finger on the trigger, “Wow, that felt good. I’m going to say it again.
Fuck – you
. I’ve been sick of taking orders from you since the day I started… So when this guy got around to me a while back, I just had to take him up on his offer. After all, he said he’d give me so much money that I could retire and move to Mexico,” McKinney paused and seemed to reminisce, “Never been there, always wanted to go. Said I could live like a king down there on five hundred grand. You think he was bullshitting me? I saw his bank account and he even typed out a form for me and signed it. He was going to pay me. That is, he was going to pay me until you fucked up. But you know what?” McKinney’s face twisted into a mischievous smile, “I’ve got a plan. I’m going to kill the both of you and the girl too. Then I’m going to take this bastard’s ATM card, Identification, everything. I’m going to
become
him, and gain access to his bank account. Hell, I’m going to be
rich
, Chris.”

Chris stared disgustedly at McKinney and nodded his head. He tried to force a smile to calm him down, but the smile wouldn’t come. He couldn’t make himself smile at a man so repulsive as McKinney had turned out to be just within the past couple of hours.

“Why don’t you let the girl go, McKinney? Let’s just make this about you and me, okay champ?”

“Why, she special to you or something?” McKinney grinned and aimed the gun higher. If he pulled the trigger the shot would’ve gone straight through Lana’s chest. Chris knew this, and he knew that he couldn’t let that happen. He
wouldn’t
let that happen. He’d die before anything happened to sweet Lana, his mate. He had to think of something, and he had to think of something quick. He had a good aim on McKinney, but he couldn’t risk the shot not killing him before he popped one off on Lana. Sometimes fingers do that impulsively after someone’s been shot in a standoff. Chris knew this because he’d seen it happen before.

He was in a standoff once against a drug dealer, him and two other cops. One of the cops shot the drug dealer in the chest and the drug dealer immediately fire as well; the bullet missing Chris by a centimeter. He realized that the same thing could happen, and if it did… He might as well be dead. He had to think of something to say, and he had to think of something quick. He decided to lie, and he came up with the first thing that popped  into his head.

“Turns out Isaac was planning to take you out, McKinney. I didn’t know you were working with him until now, but I’m surprised you didn’t know
I
was working with him. We could’ve been a
team
, man…”

“What?” McKinney grinned curiously.

“
I’m
the one who hired Isaac to start the fire years back. God damn, man. Where are your investigative skills? Couldn’t you piece it together? The Sheriff was working with him too; the three of us were a team. We had it worked out where we’d get a lot of insurance money from the station burning down because it was a historic site that the Sheriff had actually invested in. The Sheriff’s folks grew up in this town and left him a lot of money, as well as a lot of property investments. If they went up in smoke, he’d get a lot of cash. But he needed me to help him plan it out, as well as the fire starter himself,” Chris used his foot to nudge Isaac’s unconscious body.

Chris was so convincing that Lana herself began to feel shaky and terrified.
Was he telling the truth, or was this some kind of reverse psychology plan he was coming up with on the spot
? He was such a good actor that she didn’t know, and she hoped to god that it was a trick.