Shepherd's Moon (10 page)

“Evaluate the situation and fix the problem. Just do it without ending up on the ten o’clock news.”

As members of Richard’s “special team”, we were legally allowed to act as judge and jury in any capital crime.

Okay. Maybe not
legally.

I guess I’ve handled the responsibility so far because Richard never even hesitates in telling us to
evaluate
a situation. At least, not anymore. Not so long ago, he would never think of turning my pack loose in the streets. A lot can change in a year.

We even have a very accomplished cleanup crew solely responsible for concealing our work. If a suspect makes a critical error that places them on our radar, we’re fully justified in making short work of them, a job that Billy performs with enthusiasm—and just another reason why I am his partner when my other duties free me up for the job. Richard seems to think it offers Billy an outlet for excess energy, but I’m not so sure. Some days, I feel like I’m being paid to act more as a pet-sitter than a tracker.

Still, there is skill involved. Separating the true psychopaths from shifter who just go off the reservation once in awhile mostly comes down to instinct, but occasionally one slips past us. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. Regardless of how others feel about an occasional error in judgment—and they were indeed rare—we paid the price as much as the families of the victims. Maybe more, when you’re left with the knowledge you could have stopped a tragedy.

Billy likes to avoid the possibility of a mistake and dispatch the accused sooner rather than later. He’s always enjoyed his work.

If, however, the suspects wind up being human, we’re under strict orders to let the courts deal with them. The courts have never been Billy’s preferred method of justice, and I watched the muscle in his jaw twitch as his expression stilled. He was already preparing for a kill.

“We’ll keep it contained,” I assured my boss.

Richard cleared his throat and when he continued, his voice sounded hollow. “Alex—you remember I told you about that new hire named Tristan.”

Warned
is more like it. “Yes.”

“He’s en route and will be the lead on this case.”

I hesitated, not really knowing what response he wanted me to come up with. “Okay,” I said slowly, glancing at Billy and shrugging.

“Remember what I told you,” Richard said. “And keep Billy on a short leash until you know what we’re dealing with.”

“Hey…” Billy began the sentence in protest, but I ended the call with the push of a button. Before I could open my mouth to reinforce Richard’s warning, a single glance at Billy’s face told me he wasn’t in the mood to hear it, so I focused on the scenery that whizzed by at a dizzying pace.

“Who’s Tristan?” Billy asked a few minutes later, breaking the silence.

I shrugged. “I have no idea. Richard told me earlier that if I ran across him I shouldn’t piss him off.”

“He didn’t say anything about me pissing him off.” His voice was strained and I could already sense the anger in the air around us.
What would he have to be angry about?
No matter his reason, I planned to head this tantrum off at the pass. Coyotes were known as tricksters for a reason, and I didn’t need this situation going south because Billy was angry. Or frustrated. Or whatever he was at the moment.

“This isn’t a pissing contest,” I warned. “You know the rules.”

“Yeah, I know. Don’t kill him without your permission, don’t maim him unless I have too, and don’t let anyone know what we are.”

“And play nice. With everyone.” I reminded. “You know that it doesn’t always turn out that these guys are …unstable. I couldn’t think of another word to describe ‘inherently evil.’

His eyes narrowed and he gave an impatient shrug. “It doesn’t matter what they are. They are what they are at the time of the turn. The
justice system,
” he scoffed at the words, “doesn’t do what it was intended to do. You know that as well as I do.”

“If the justice system did what it was intended to do, you and every member of the pack would have been executed by now,” I argued.

“Not when you’re doing it under the Council’s orders.”

“
Especially
when you’re doing it under the Council’s orders.” I frowned.

But I knew he was right. Our justice system was sorely outdated and the prisons could have used a few shifters on the inside, a job that I know Billy would take in a heartbeat if it weren’t for his self-imposed position of protecting me.

“Just let me handle it this time. I’ll take the perp, you handle the hostages.” I smiled, touching his hand, which had the immediate effect of calming him. “Besides, you deal with hysterical women better than I do.” There was, after all, a female hostage in that house.

His smooth face relaxed against the glare of the streetlights that sped by, a smile curving his lips as he picked up on the calm energy I was trying to emanate. “Yeah, I suppose I do.”

It took six minutes to reach our destination instead of five, but I still figured that was pretty good. We pulled behind one of the four squad cars parked at the end of the street, its red and blue lights flashing in the night, unable to advance any further due to the large crowd of neighbors and journalists milling anxiously in the street. I climbed from the vehicle.

An officer intercepted me but I flashed my badge, a gesture that was largely ignored as he held up his hand to stop me. Before I could open my mouth to explain the situation, Billy exited the vehicle in one fluid motion that halted the officer. At six-foot-one, Billy commanded attention, and he isn’t even the alpha—that honor belongs to Brock. The rookie continued his approach towards me—the less threatening of the two of us.

“Just need a closer look,” the officer said cautiously, taking my badge. Obviously he was a new guy, or FNG, as Billy affectionately referred to them. They were the only ones in the department who hadn’t heard the rumors about Richard’s ragtag department, and we preferred it that way. Few who hear of us believe in our existence, and those who do figure we’re some kind of phantom military-funded group. It isn’t like we can make ourselves known to the general public, and any members of the force besides Richard would be terrified of us.

Either way, our unit is largely considered to be an urban legend. But legends tend to spread. So it was strange he hadn’t heard of us. He must be really new.

After he passed the badge back to me, he approached my partner. Billy held the badge in front of the cop’s face, playfully flicking it away when the man attempted to grab it from him, then offering it to him again.

“Because you’re a rookie,” Billy said, finally allowing the officer to evaluate it more closely, “I’m going to indulge you.”

As the young cop examined his badge, Billy nodded towards the unusually silent house. “Anyone make entry?”

The rookie shook his head and passed it back to Billy.

“Sort of quiet, don’t you think?” Billy prodded.

The FNG shrugged. “We’re under orders to let the negotiator handle it.”

Billy and I glanced at one another questioningly.

“The
Negotiator
…” I repeated.

The officer nodded. “Just transferred in from federal. I hear he’s a real bad ass.”

Billy snorted and I held up a finger in warning, “Is he any good?”

He stared nervously at Billy before answering. “From what I hear, he’s one of the best.”

“By
the best
, do you mean he’ll take a bullet for you, or do you mean he’ll take the credit for anything good you do and toss you under a bus for even the tiniest screw up?” Billy asked, not bothering to hide the sarcasm.

The rookie hid a smile. “I’m afraid I can’t answer that.”

“Alright, then.” I smiled back. “Who’s running point until your bad-ass negotiator makes an appearance?”

Billy knows most everyone in the department on some level, but it’s safe to say they won’t be forming a bowling team any time soon. At least it looked like he would be able to get us in before Tristan showed up. The rule for crime scenes is that each scene has a point person. So any pull that Richard may have, wouldn’t be put into play without a lot of work.

The FNG nodded towards the police line where officers were patrolling and keeping people from trying to pass. “Matt’s on tonight. At least until the new guy makes an appearance.”

Matt was by no means Billy’s favorite person. And I didn’t have a great history of working with the guy either.

“Matt’s an ass,” he mumbled.

Tame for Billy,
I thought. But I know my coyote well and understood the situation would escalate if I let it continue. The best thing I could do was walk away. Billy would follow. Without waiting for him, and disregarding the protests of the FNG, I moved towards the group of uniforms congregating on the residential street.

Ducking under the yellow police tape, I approached Matt who was busy giving directions to his men. An officer stepped towards me, but I flashed my badge without missing a step. Matt looked up and shook his head at my approach.

“No,” he stated, his voice sharp. “Not a chance.”

“You don’t even know what I’m going to say, Matt.”

“Oh, I know.” He watched Billy jog towards me. “And there’s no way you’re getting in there, so don’t even ask.”

“C’mon,” I smiled at him. “We’re just going to watch.”

“Like hell you are.” He adamantly shook his head. “Sorry,

Alex. Last time I let you on scene, you destroyed evidence and bodies ended up mysteriously disappearing. We have a team on the way — it’s their scene.”

“You’re not helping the situation, Matt. It would be easier to just let her in,” Billy’s voice rang out from behind me.

“He’s right. It would be in your best interest.” I gave the officer my sweetest smile, even as the words came out as a veiled threat.

Matt shrugged. “Do your worst, Billy. She’s not going in and neither are you. Hell, I couldn’t let you in if I wanted too. I’m under orders. There’s not a thing I can do about it.”

“The hell you can’t, you…” Billy started, but I put my hand on his chest and cut him short.

“Okay — you’re right, Matt. We’ll just wait.” My voice was calm as I evaluated the growing crowd of neighbors. “Mind if we have a look around?”

“Yeah, I mind if you have a look around. You’re welcome to wait outside the restricted area.”

I grabbed Billy’s arm and turned him around. “Appreciate the help, Matt.”

“Asshole,” Billy muttered as I grasped his arm a bit tighter and steered him towards the car. “Where are you going?”

“If you can’t go through it, go around it.”

He sniffed as we made our way through the crowd. “What — you think they won’t have the back covered?”

“I know they will. But, they won’t be looking for a dog.”

Suddenly, his mood changed from relaxed and joking to tense. A scream rang out in the night bringing the nervously milling neighbors to a halt. The air grew thick with a silent terror. Even I could detect the unmistakable fear that permeated the night.

Billy and I glanced at each other. Obviously we needed to get into this scene sooner rather than later. Breaking into a trot, we moved almost half a block down from the house and wordlessly slipped over the block wall of a neighbor’s home. A giant Rottweiler suddenly appeared before us growling and Billy instinctively pushed me behind him as he growled softly. The dog yipped once before retreating to a safer distance, rumbling its disdain from there.

Domesticated animals were becoming increasingly cowardly these days.

“Nice,” I whispered, although we both knew I could have had the dog under control within seconds.

“I’m not without skills.” His grin turned to something more serious as he scented the air. “We need to get in there.”

A news chopper whirled overhead, as one of the reporters caught site of us and brought the bird around for a closer look. Ducking into the shadows, I grabbed Billy’s arm and pulled him down as a second blood-curdling scream wrenched the darkness, dying out with a gurgle. We looked at one another.

It was already too late for someone. The question was who. Billy made a sudden move to scale the second wall that would deposit us into the alley, but I held his arm, anticipating the move. Closing my eyes, I raided his thoughts before he even knew I was in his head. We couldn’t have him shifting in plain view and I knew it would only take one sudden move for the helicopters to descend on us.

Eyes narrowing, he turned to face me, understanding what I was doing as he sensed me in his mind. His face clouded with rage.

Get out!
His thoughts lashed out at me, breaking the fragile hold I had on his mind.

“Just, wait a minute,” I hissed. “You can’t just run in there — we need to think this through!”

He pushed me away, jumping the wall in an easy bound as I pulled my way over. Billy had already disappeared into shadows and I could hear the rush of officers moving towards me as they realized they were no longer alone in the alley. It was something I had anticipated, but it didn’t stop the fear that wrenched my gut at the sound of that second scream. That was enough to take me off my game.

An officer reached towards me, but snapped his hand back when Billy appeared behind me and leveled a spine-chilling gaze at him. To the cop’s credit, he took a step back but he didn’t completely back down.

“We don’t move until we get orders.” The man’s voice held a tremor of fear, which was reason enough for me to ignore him.

“I don’t give a damn what—”

Billy’s words halted as I pushed him out of the way and took off at a dead run towards the house, losing my jacket and reaching for my phone as I moved. The little boy being held hostage didn’t give a damn about orders and right now, neither did I. Officers chased after me, reaching out to grab me as I quickly punched a code into my phone and prayed the men had all left their Tasers at home today.

Seconds later, I heard Richard’s voice over one of the officer’s radios as it cut through their earpieces, “Everyone stand down. I have a team in motion.”

Why hadn’t he made that announcement twenty minutes ago?