Wolf at the Door (18 page)

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Timber said with a
smile, but she felt slow. Out of touch. Good news? Her brain
couldn’t even begin to process what Brandt might be hinting at. He
paused at the doorway, holding the screen door open for her. His
hand brushed the small of her back and Timber felt her nerves flare
at his touch, heat expanding through her from that one touch. A
small comfort. She had to fight not to stop and lean into his hand.
“But I’m learning, and that helps.”

“On duty or off?” Shay asked as she walked
through the living room and into the kitchen.

“Off.” And he sounded pretty relieved about
it. Then again, the dark circles under his eyes were even darker.
“Decided to switch packs out at five to give mine a break. We’ve
been working practically round the clock for a while. We could all
use a breather.”

Brandt especially, she’d bet. Timber didn’t
doubt that he’d slept less than anyone else in his pack, since he’d
also been protecting her. They both sat on Shay’s couch, and she
leaned back, trying to relax. It felt weird having him this close,
especially since, for the first time, it didn’t seem to be about
work.

“Beer, then?” Shay held two long-necked
bottles in one hand, one in the other. “They’re cold.”

Brandt grinned. “Gladly.” He took two and
passed one to Timber. His fingertips brushed hers against the cold
bottle. “How you holding up?”

“Good. Shay’s made me feel right at
home.”

“We’re ordering pizza in tonight. Stuffed
crust, the works. Want some?” Shay had kicked one of the stools out
from her bar and was perched on top, watching them both. They
hadn’t actually talked much about Brandt, but Shay hadn’t missed a
beat since she’d met Timber.

“Love to.” Brandt took a swig before fixing
his gaze on Timber. She felt her stomach twist, a mix of unease and
excitement. Something flashed in his eyes, like a dog who’d just
spotted a rabbit and was poised to give chase. It was a predatory,
triumphant gleam. “We got lucky. Someone noticed that the house
kitty-corner to yours, behind the trees, had been vacant for the
season.”

“The Johnson’s house?”

“That’d be the one. Wolfe’s been parking
there to stake you out. Probably not every time, but often enough.
Neighbor called it in. She got a description of the vehicle and a
rather blurry picture of the license plate.”

“A lot of computer programs these days can
sharpen up a shitty image,” Shay said.

Brandt nodded. “We could already make out a
chunk of it. Have tech working to see if they can do better.”

“Very bad people have been caught for the
simplest shit wrong with a car. Could be your break.”

“That’s what we’re hoping.” Brandt set his
beer down on the table and leaned closer, close enough that she
could smell his cologne. “It’s not a smoking gun, but we have
something
, and that’s a lot better than what we’ve had up to
now.”

Timber just looked at him, hardly able to
process what he was saying.

“It’s not registered to him, obviously. That
was the first thing we ran when you gave us Wolfe’s name. The
vehicle described sounds commercial. Like a pizza delivery car. It
lets him blend in.”

“Well, whaddya know, and we’re ordering pizza
tonight,” Shay said, her grin stretched wide. “Stakeout?”

Brandt gave a low chuckle, amusement
flickering through his dark eyes, but he didn’t look away from
Timber. “I highly doubt he works for a specific company. More
likely, he snatched a junker and tossed something on the roof, keep
people from asking questions. Cars like those don’t raise
suspicions, but the license plate helps.”

“I was kidding anyway.” Shay hopped off her
stool and joined them on the couch. “But we were talking pizza and
a movie night. You in? I planned on watching that new Channing
Tatum movie. The White House under attack one.” She wiggled her
eyebrows at Brandt. “Man candy for us, but I think it’s got enough
explosions to hold your interest.”

“Count me in.”

“Perfect.” She slapped him on the back.
“We’ll place the order and I can go pick it up plus the movie. I
needed to run by Nathan’s, anyway. Small pack meeting, enforcers
only. I was going to skip, but this gives me the few minutes to pop
my head in and say hi. What do you like on your pizza?”

“I’m game for anything,” Brandt said.

“Anything except anchovies.” Timber scrunched
her nose.

Shay had the phone in hand. “Meat lovers,
then? Vegetables should not touch my pizza. Just saying.”

Timber felt herself smile. Brandt angled to
lean back against the couch next to her, his body relaxed,
comfortable. And Shay...Shay seemed to take the world in stride.
The woman was relentless, energetic, but most of all, she was
cheerful and friendly. She’d welcomed Timber into her home and life
with open arms.

They’d clicked, too. Timber had spent years
without having a real friend, but one day with Shay had opened that
door wide. Shay let her in so easily, Timber found herself wanting
to share, wanting to laugh, to be normal. Shay rattled off their
order over the phone, pacing across the smooth wood floors.

Tonight felt normal. It didn’t feel like
Charles was out there, lurking in the shadows. She didn’t know how
long it would last, but she would cherish the moment. She’d take
what she could get right now, no matter how small.

***

The credits for the third movie rolled across
the screen, thin lines of white cutting through the darkness. He
hadn’t intended to stay this long, but when he sank down on the
couch beside Timber he’d realized he didn’t want to leave.

Hell, she was safe here with Shay, but he
missed being around her. Missed the chance to make her laugh, to
touch her, hold her. She wriggled into his side, her breathing slow
and even with sleep, and the scent of green apples wafted up to
him. It was shampoo, the same one he’d smelled on Shay, but only on
Timber had he found it hot as hell.

He ran fingers through her long purple hair.
He got why she colored it now—it was an escape mechanism, a way to
remind herself that she was free. But it’d grown on him. A small
smile quirked his mouth. It was incredible how getting to know
someone could change your perceptions.

“You got it bad,” Shay murmured, her voice
soft, tired.

She was sprawled in her ugly burgundy chair,
one foot braced against the edge of the coffee table, one tucked
under her. Three empty beer bottles, an empty pizza box, and a
half-eaten bowl of popcorn littered the space between them.

He looked down at Timber again, at her hand
resting on his chest. Yeah. He had it bad. He’d thought he’d been
prepared, but it had never occurred to him that he’d fall for the
little wolf in his arms. Even when the emotions had surfaced, he’d
been confident he could push them away. Brandt tilted his head
slightly and laid a kiss against Timber’s forehead.

“For the record,” Shay said, her feet sliding
to hit the ground, “she likes you too.”

She was a job. Hell, she was
supposed
to be a job, but the moment he opened his mouth to say as much, the
words locked in his throat.
Shoulda-coulda-woulda
didn’t
apply. All that mattered was right now, and right now, Timber
mattered a
lot
more to him than any other victim ever
had.

And the woman in his arms was hardly a
victim. Oh, she was scarred—mentally, emotionally, and
physically—but she was fighting so hard to truly
live
again.
She’d done her best to make something of herself, to support and
save others.

Shay made a soft sound of sympathy. “For what
it’s worth? We can call the people we help ‘jobs’ all we want.
Sometimes, it doesn’t matter worth shit. The heart typically shoots
its own arrow, logic need not apply.”

Brandt smiled. “Fair enough. But I can’t walk
away from this case, and it’s a conflict of interest to be involved
with someone—”

“Been there, done that.” Shay leaned forwards
and braced her elbows against her knees, her eyes intent on his.
“Sometimes you have to choose. Sometimes you don’t. It’s up to you
to know which you need to do. Would it bother your pack? Would it
make the men underneath you trust you less?”

“No.” He was sure of that much. Overall, his
pack was solid. Most of them had joined him after they learned he
stood up for the shifters under his watch, not against them. The
transfers had come in droves then.

Shifter Town Enforcement was slowly waking
up, and Brandt had wanted to lead the change. Not because he wanted
to be some kind of revolutionary, but because he still remembered
the case that had slammed his feelings home for him.

He’d always thought it was wrong to turn his
back on
people
just because their beasts were wild animals,
rather than domesticated.

But there was one case that had cemented his
convictions and set his course.

The local STE had never had an issue with the
Boulder Pride lion-shifters. The Reyes family was big, but the
lions didn’t cause trouble. But when a rogue Hound came into town
and framed two of them for murder, one of the Hound’s own pack
members had fought to the bitter end to protect the two
lion-shifters she’d grown to love, as well as their family. Lennox
Donnelly had shaped how Brandt wanted to deal with the other
shifter groups just by watching her dedication to do what was
right.

It had taken a hell of a lot of courage. She
could easily have lost her job, or worse, wound up with a silver
bullet between her eyes for turning on her STE pack, or for aiding
and abetting the enemy. By then, though, Brandt had already seen
enough of their enemy to know they weren’t the enemy.

He’d seen lion-shifters who were mothers,
darn good mothers. He’d known one who’d even tried to be a teacher.
She was an incredible one, but the world was still changing,
prejudices still running high, and shifters were still deemed more
animal than human in most regards.

He’d also seen the bad people could do, and
it had little to do with the animal who might or might not share
their soul.

No. He’d built a solid pack here, one that
wouldn’t see Timber as an enemy, but as one of the many varieties
of people they served. They wouldn’t respect him less for falling
for a wolf. He just shouldn’t be doing it while he was on the
job.

“You’re still arguing with yourself,” Shay
pointed out, one eyebrow arched. “Why?”

“It’s not professional.”

“Eh. Bullshit. Come on, I could see it if you
were a human cop who had to bring this Wolfe guy into court. But
he’s not getting a prison sentence. STE doesn’t give shifters that
option.”

“But shouldn’t we?” In a nation that was
supposed to stand for equality, shouldn’t STE be striving to become
more than just a mass execution squad?

Shay shrugged.

“Maybe someday. I don’t know.” He watched the
muscle in her jaw work, her teeth grinding. She seemed to fight
with herself for a moment before she continued, “I don’t want to be
treated like a monster, and I’m thankful to be living in an area
where STE works
with
the packs instead of against us. But.
And this is a big but. Prison isn’t made for shifters. Put a man
like Wolfe behind bars with humans and he’d rip them apart.”

Brandt knew that. “There have been arguments
for shifter prisons...”

“And those seem a long way off yet.”

“That’s not the point, though. Shouldn’t I be
setting a standard for how Shifter Town Enforcement
should
handle things?”

That had been his goal up till now.

“Sure. But don’t forget, just because you
think something should be done a certain way, doesn’t mean everyone
else is going to follow. STE is still hung up in politics and it’s
going to be a long time before it settles. Don’t walk away from
someone you care about just because you’re hoping some law might
pass fifty years down the road.”

She collected the empty bottles and box off
the coffee table and rose. “And quite frankly, in the bigger scheme
of things, getting involved with Timber isn’t that big a deal. It
happens. Hound, cop, bodyguard,” the corners of her mouth nudged up
at that. “We’re all human. Sometimes things just happen. If you’re
that worried about it, don’t you have a second who can play alpha
for a while? You can still be on the case without having to be in
charge.”

Tate could do it, Brandt knew that. Hell, in
a way, Tate had been acting as the pack alpha for most of this case
already, just without Brandt actually making it official. It was
good experience for the other Hound, so Brandt hadn’t really felt
guilty.

He looked down at Timber still snoozing
peacefully against him. He could give the pack to Tate temporarily;
he’d do a good job with it, but would Timber believe he wasn’t
giving up? Shay came back into the room and reached for the popcorn
bowl.

“Everything good in life is worth a shot,”
Shay said softly. “You regret it once it’s gone.”

“Sound like someone who speaks from
experience.” Brandt looked up at her and he saw the sadness in her
eyes as she stared down at Timber. Her lips twisted in a grim line,
one he recognized. It was the look of someone who’d lost and didn’t
think she’d ever get it back.

“Yeah. And believe me, regret bites hard.”
She started for the kitchen and paused. “Her room is the first door
on the left.”

“No chance is ever gone for good,” Brandt
said.

Shay shook her head. “It is when they’re
dead. Life’s short, Brandt. If you think something, someone is
worth having, do it while there’s a chance, because tomorrow there
might not be one.”

Chapter Seventeen

A
street lamp flickered on the corner, off and on, a flash of light
that sparked annoyingly against a blue-black sky. Charles wiggled
deeper into the bush, his nails digging into the dirt. Most people
didn’t look twice at a large black dog lounging in a yard. Even
fewer gave him a second look and actually thought wolf. In a day
and age where shifters were outed and plentiful, he’d have thought
people would have more common sense than that.