Wolf Pack (2 page)

Even with his doubt, the two reasons he’d taken the job still existed. He enjoyed working with other shifters and not having to put up with the bullshit in the FBI any longer. The second reason was that he knew his partner Jade could really excel with the Coalition. Jade was brilliant and had some great ideas when it came to building a solid training program for shifters going into the military or law enforcement.

Jade had been the only person on his side in the last year. When he’d been partnered up with Jade, he’d figured she wouldn’t last long. Humans didn’t want to work with him. But Jade hadn’t been like anyone he’d ever met or worked with before. Jade had been determined to become friends with him, and when the others in the office had made snide comments or degrading remarks, she’d stuck up for him. He’d told her not to bother, but Jade had only rolled her eyes and would scorch the offender with her own words. Little by little she’d gotten under his skin until he’d looked at her as one of the best friends he’d ever had.

So after the temporary assignment at the Coalition had finished and had brought down some high-powered people in the FBI for targeting shifters, Cole had known he would never be able to return to the organization. With no plans for what he’d do instead, and not wanting to leave Jade, the request from Commander Green to head up the Wolf Shifter Division had come at the perfect time. His decision had also kept Jade close to the coyote shifter she was falling in love with. Jade would remain his partner and they could still fight to protect others. All in all, he’d had a good reason to accept the position. He just wasn’t sure what the hell he was supposed to do with his new unit.

Cole wasn’t used to leading an entire team. He worked by himself or with one partner. The Coalition did things so differently that he was still trying to figure out how to be the boss. There were three cases that his group was currently working on, so that was keeping Cole busy, but there was still something missing.

A quiet bark caught his attention and he stepped out of the batter’s box, glancing back at where his two Labrador retrievers lying outside the chain-link fence. Cocoa, the big seventy-five pound chocolate male, had raised his head at the approaching figure. The smaller, fifty pound, black female Chloe hadn’t even bothered to move. She knew that her two males would take care of her. Another ball launched from the machine but Cole was out of range and in no danger of being hit.

Cole recognized the man strolling toward him in long confident strides. Zak Lewis had become a good friend in the past few weeks, and out of everyone Cole had met in the Coalition he’d felt an instant connection to the tiger shifter. They were both more loner types than the others and Cole had a feeling a lot of things in Zak’s past that would give Cole’s own history a run for its money.

“Hey, man,” Cole greeted before he walked over to the control box and hit the stop button of the ball machine, then dropped his bat on top of the bag he’d brought along.

“Hey, Jade said I could probably find you here if you weren’t at your house,” Zak said.

“Yeah,” he agreed. Jade knew his routines.

Zak leaned down and rubbed his large hands over the dogs’ heads, so Cole picked up his faded-gray T-shirt and pulled it on. He liked to take the dogs for a ride in his old truck and let them hang out at the park while he worked off some of his energy by hitting some balls. He’d played a little college baseball in Texas before he’d gone into the FBI academy. He kept his gaze on Zak as he hefted his bag, wondering what the agent wanted.

“So what’s up?” he asked Zak.

“I needed to talk to you and I wanted to do it away from the office,” Zak said.

Cole nodded. “Sure.” He pushed the metal gate open and let it smack closed behind him as he walked over to Zak.

Cocoa, who had been leaning heavily against Zak, perked up and came to his master. Cole held back a smile. The lab was pushing ten years and had gray hair sprinkled throughout his thick coat but he was the most loyal dog Cole had ever had. He patted the male’s head a few times before gesturing for Zak to head toward his truck, which was sitting in the parking lot. Chloe was slower getting to her feet but it wasn’t so much due to age but the fact that Chloe didn’t move fast unless it was because she wanted to. The seven year old didn’t seem to think much was worth moving quickly for.

He strolled forward, knowing the dogs would stay by his side. Zak turned with him and walked a few steps. “You’re not part of a pack here, are you?”

“No.” Cole didn’t hide his lone shifter status. His reasons for not joining the pack, however, were his own and he would not be discussing those.

“My case is leading me to look at some wolf shifters,” Zak explained. “I don’t believe they’re part of the pack—I have a meet tomorrow with the Alpha to make sure. Have you met the Alpha?”

Cole nodded. “Taylor Rosas. He seems strong, loyal and smart. I don’t think he’d be involved in anything illegal.”

“And still you decided not to join the pack?” Zak asked.

He shrugged in reply.

Zak didn’t push. “If my case points to the Alpha or inner circle there’ll be trouble. Do you know anyone in the pack that might help?”

Cole wouldn’t get involved in the politics of a pack but he had made many friends over the years. The Alpha even had a good section of the woods reserved for rogue wolves to shift and hunt in. Cole really did find the man more than fair. After Taylor had extended his invitation for Cole to join the pack and Cole had declined, Cole had expected trouble.

Taylor had appeared disappointed but never angry. The older man even called Cole on occasion and they’d shared a beer a time or two. “I would go directly to the Alpha. Taylor would have eyes and ears all over the pack. If you try to go around him it’ll just piss him off.”

They reached Cole’s truck and he swung his bag into the back before he dropped the tailgate. The two dogs jumped up and went straight to their padded mat toward the front. Cole took a seat beside the cooler he kept stocked. He motioned for Zak to sit on the other side.

Cole pulled out two cold bottles of beer and passed one to Zak before he twisted the top off and took a long pull. The refreshing brew cooled him down and helped relieve some of the stress of talking about the pack. Zak wasn’t pushing him but Cole still felt discomfort and the loss of not having pack mates. He hadn’t thought about what he’d given up until he’d seen Taylor with his pack. And Cole didn’t want to think about that right now.

He downed half his beer before he leaned back and nodded to Zak. “That’s my suggestion,” he said.

Zak shook his head. “I haven’t ruled out the Alpha or his inner circle. If he is involved I can’t take the chance of letting him know we’re on to him.”

Unease balled in his stomach. “What kind of case is this?” It had to be bad if Zak was coming to him and wasn’t willing to talk to the Alpha about it.

Zak sighed before he looked around. He leaned closer to Cole. “There’ve been a couple attacks on rogue wolves in the safe zone.”

He jerked back out of reflex. “When?” he asked. Cole spent a lot of time in that area.

“The last couple of weekends,” Zak told him.

It had been about three weeks since Cole had been out there. He hadn’t heard anything about the attacks and he would’ve thought that one of his friends would have called him. “Why hasn’t any one informed me before?” Cole asked, fishing for more information.

“They’ve been really late at night and the shifter has always been alone,” Zak said. “We’ve kept it quiet, trying to close it down quickly, but I’m not getting anywhere.”

And why would he? Feline shifters operated differently from wolf shifters. Felines were more solitary and they rarely shifted in a group. “Why weren’t we given this case?” he asked. Wasn’t that why he’d joined the Coalition? To help his own kind. If anyone should be poking around the pack lands it should be him and his team.

“We were on call when the first attack happened,” Zak replied. “Commander Green and I talked about transferring it over or bringing you in but you’d started and we didn’t know how close you were to the Alpha.”

They hadn’t trusted him. “You thought I might be involved?” Anger welled up. It was one thing to be treated like shit by the humans in the FBI but he wouldn’t put up with it at the Coalition.

Zak scoffed. “No way. We were actually thinking long term. In case we needed you to go in undercover for us. Act like you wanted to join the pack or get further involved and nose around.”

His shoulders eased back as he relaxed. Cole needed to stop letting his insecurities from the past get in the way of his future. “Sorry,” he mumbled. He wasn’t certain that Zak had followed his line of thinking but as observant as Zak was, Cole wouldn’t be surprised if Zak knew exactly what Cole’s issues were.

“Listen, man,” Zak said. “I know the feds gave you a hard time and you’ve had to overcome that but the Coalition is a good agency. You need to give it a chance.”

Here was an opportunity to open up to someone other than Jade. And Zak might know exactly how he felt. Cole drank the last of his beer then set the bottle down. He peered over at Zak as the tiger shifter leaned against his old truck, staring back at him. “I’m not sure what to do,” Cole admitted.

The smile that broke out on Zak’s face transformed his hard-looking features into an open and friendly expression. “Hell, man, I still feel that way.”

Cole laughed bitterly. “That doesn’t help.”

Zak nodded and slapped him on the shoulder. “One day at a time.”

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“I’m going to take what you said about the Alpha into consideration. You might be right about approaching him. I’ll run it by the commander,” Zak said as he stood. He handed Cole his empty bottle. “Thanks.”

“Not that I did much,” Cole commented.

“You listened, you let me talk it out,” Zak said. He tilted his head toward the batting cages. “I play on a weekend softball league. We’re looking for more players.”

Cole considered the invitation. It would get him out of the house and he could make some more friends. “Human or shifter?” he questioned.

“Shifter,” Zak said with a grin. “It gets pretty intense.”

That sounded good. “Okay, count me in.”

“Awesome. Just to warn you, Luca joined and he is terrible,” Zak told him.

Cole snorted. The wily coyote shifter thought he was tough shit and Cole would love to see something he wasn’t good at. Cole enjoyed trading barbs and they gave each other a hard time, but it was all in good spirits. Since Jade was quickly falling in love with Luca, that gave Cole a bigger reason to act protectively. Even if deep down Luca had become important to him. “I can’t wait,” he said.

Zak grinned. “We practice on Monday and Wednesday nights at five-thirty at the Liberty Park on Grant Street. I’ll email you the schedule of games.”

Cole stuffed his hands in his jean pockets. “I appreciate you asking me.” Cole missed the friends he’d made over the years. Of course, most were human and as soon as Cole had announced his shifter status they’d been gone. Apparently he needed better friends.

“Hey, we’re family,” Zak said.

Choking up a little, Cole turned and closed the tailgate back up. He took a deep breath to gather his control. He wasn’t some young pup who needed approval and love. So why did Zak’s words feel like someone had grabbed a hold of Cole’s heart and squeezed?

Once he was sure that his usual blank expression was back on his face, he turned to Zak. Zak had his back to him and was looking out across the park. Cole guessed that he’d scented Cole’s emotions and was giving him privacy. Cole actually wanted to reach out to him but couldn’t.

“Well, I better get home to Abilene,” Zak told him. “It’s my turn to bring home dinner.”

The sound of Zak’s domestic night made Cole long for the same. He’d go for a run later. While he was at it he could sniff around for any trouble. Maybe he could help Zak out unofficially. “I need to get the dogs settled for the night,” Cole said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Zak reached out and shook his hand before gripping Cole’s shoulder. Cole met Zak’s hazel eyes and found himself unable to look away. “We take care of each other,” Zak said quietly. “You’re one of us.”

Cole nodded.

“Good,” Zak said. He let go of Cole’s hand and took a step back. “We’re having a cookout Saturday. I expect to see you there. Cody and Aubrey will be back and we’re celebrating.”

Cole smiled for his new friend. “Anything you need me to bring?”

“Just yourself. We’ve got everything else handled.”

As Zak left Cole standing next to his truck, Cole watched him go. After he’d dropped the dogs off he was going for that run. He didn’t want to see Zak get hurt. This was a wolf shifter issue and Cole was the best man to figure out how to stop the attacks. He understood how the pack worked and he’d be able to get more of a feel for what was going on in the safe zone.

With his plan settled, Cole reached for his truck handle. Time to get to work.

Chapter Two

Cole stared in awe and disgust at the cake on his desk. He didn’t know whether to toss it at the grinning and smug Luca Perez or actually try it. Since the beginning of his new job with the Coalition, almost weekly either Luca or Jamie Ward left him some kind of
treat
. Today there was a large bone-shaped cake with pink and purple frosting in front of him. In pretty white writing the words
I WOOF YOU
were spelled out in cursive. Cole had finally figured out where these gifts were coming from—the brand new doggie boutique that made homemade food and treats. He kept meaning to stop by and pick something up for his Labs but he hadn’t had time yet. Luca obviously had way too much time on his hands.

“I’m not a fucking dog,” he growled out.

“Come on, big guy,” Luca taunted. “Bark for me.”

Cole lunged forward but Jade wrapped her arms around his waist to hold him back. He could’ve easily moved his human partner but he wasn’t mad. He’d never admit it out loud, but the joking made him feel welcome. He secretly looked forward to what the bakery owner and his two friends could come up with next.