Pack Justice (Nature of the Beast Book 1) (29 page)

“Sit,” Ramirez hissed.

Marcello closed the door, slinking to one of the chairs in front of the desk. I planted my rump on the floor and ducked my head to guard my throat. “Ma’am.”

“I’ll call you back.” Hanging up, Ramirez planted her foot on her chair and rested her elbow on her leg. “I don’t suppose you’re going to give me a straight answer, Albano?”

Marcello lifted his hands in surrender. “I wasn’t present, ma’am. I handed him over to Alice and Vince just like you told me to. I had no idea they were taking him on a live run today until they had already left.”

“A live run.”

“Remember the anonymous tip about strong ammonia smells from an abandoned warehouse, and the caller saw a bunch of guys clearing out with a van? Alice and her team hit it, and they took him along for the ride.” Marcello scooted his chair back and propped his feet up on Ramirez’s desk. “Matt mentioned they didn’t do a thorough sweep before letting the dogs loose. Sir Spots found himself two perps and decided to take them out on his own. One of them got a shot off.”

“How bad?”

“Matt said it stopped bleeding a few minutes after Alice got the bullet out. All he’s going to have by tomorrow morning is a missing patch of fur. Matt also pointed out if Sir Spots was going to lose his shit and eat someone, he would have. You can probably clear him to go back to work. He didn’t lose it with the firecrackers yesterday, nor did he when he got shot.”

Captain Ramirez leaned her weight forward to glare at me. “You’re a serious pain in my ass, Sir Spots. You and I are going to have a very long talk tonight. Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused me this afternoon? Within twenty minutes, I expect a certain someone to be calling me again wanting to know if I had actually confirmed, with my own eyes, that you are all right. I had to tell her you were out doing some sort of training exercise and having the snot scared out of you to test your control.”

There was nothing I could do except meet her gaze and hope she didn’t come around her desk to take a chunk out of me. The way she growled didn’t fill me with confidence I would escape without her tanning strips off my hide.

“With all due respect, ma’am, he did a damned good job. Sure, the whole team can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’, but that’s not the point. He got the job done with minimal injury to himself.”

“I’m aware, Albano. The whole point of having a team is to rely on them to cover your damned back.”

“Maybe he was covering his team’s back by eliminating a threat. There were two of them and they were both armed. The perps got off a hell of a lot lighter than they should have. Our regular dogs do more damage than he did. He used just enough force to get the job done.”

“Good. I won’t have to cover that up at least. Did they confess?”

“Sang like canaries,” Marcello confirmed.

“You’re killing me here. I’m not going to have any hair by the end of the day, just you wait and see. I’m going home bald, and it’s all your fault.” Ramirez slapped her hand on her desk and glowered at me. The phone rang, and the captain glanced at the display. “Oh, look. Guess who’s calling? That’s right, it’s Andrea.”

Snatching up the phone, Ramirez answered, “Ramirez.”

A slow smile spread across Captain Ramirez’s lips. “Yes, Andrea, I can confirm I’ve seen the spotted mutt for myself. He’s in my office, in Marcello’s custody, where he will remain for the rest of the week. You’ll see him on Saturday. Now, go back to work before I change my mind and decide you’ll have to wait until Monday and hope someone sends him down to the courthouse so you can get a glimpse of him.”

Ramirez hung up. “Despite what she thinks, it really won’t kill the two of you to be separated for a while. Take the mutt home with you, Marcello, and don’t let Andrea convince you she’s going to die if she can’t see him.”

“Early? You mean now?”

“Yes, I mean now.
Someone
has to dye his fur black again, and you just volunteered. Consider it penance for him being shot. Make sure you feed him
and
both of his animals, too. Let’s not take any unnecessary risks.”

“And here I thought you were going to kill him for this stunt,” Marcello said, sliding his feet off Ramirez’s desk.

“I’m going to come knocking on your door tonight, and I expect him to be capable of speaking to me in English so I can thank him appropriately.”

“Thank him?” The surprise in Marcello’s voice had me perking my ears forward.

“Thank him. First, I had the pleasure of listening to Andrea come completely unglued on the phone. Her boss will want to meet Sean that much faster, and I love cutting through the red tape bullshit. It’ll solve a lot of problems. Second, he probably prevented someone else from getting shot—and possibly fatally. You all wear gear, but it only takes one lucky shot to the head to kill us. He walked away with the equivalent of a scratch. I can live with that. He can live with that. Andrea’s going to be spitting angry, but she can live with that, too. If someone else got hurt, do you think he would be able to live with it?”

Marcello sucked in a breath. “I see.”

“Good. Take him to your place and get him settled. I’ll be over later tonight with dye to cover up those spots and enough meat to feed him for the next couple of days. If Andrea’s lucky, I’ll even bring her along to say hi.”

“But you already told her Saturday.”

“Use your nose, Marcello. That’s what it’s there for. I lied. I do it from time to time to keep people on their toes. Get out of my office and take that scruffy, spotted nightmare with you.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Marcello rented a small house not far from the station, which made it an ideal place to hide a spotted wolf masquerading as a large dog. As soon as we were inside, he closed the blinds to keep anyone from accidentally catching a peek of me.

“Since your stalker took pictures of you and your house, let’s not take any chances. I’d have a pretty hard time explaining why I have a cheetah in my house.”

I bobbed my head.

“Dan came around earlier and filled the fridge with all the beef you can stomach. Us humans are having fried chicken for dinner in about two hours, so let’s find out how much you can choke down, shall we? And none of your ‘I’m not hungry’ excuses from yesterday. You’re going to eat even if I have to pin you down and cram it down your throat.” Marcello glared at me until I acknowledged him with a nod. “Good.”

I was too tired to fight with Marcello, so I ate everything he offered until I couldn’t handle even the thought of another bite. I shuddered and turned my head to the side.

“Go shift to your cheetah and let’s get him fed, too.”

While I appreciated the acknowledgement I wasn’t alone in my head, as did my spirit beasts, transforming on a full stomach was an unpleasant experience, one I endured in the privacy of his bathroom. When I emerged, I was disgusted I was hungry again despite having eaten enough to feed a family of ten plus a few extras.

“You’ll get used to it,” my friend told me without looking away from his cooking efforts.

I hissed and spat at him, lashing my tail back and forth. The temptation to take a bite out of something got the better of me, and I latched onto Marcello’s ankle, growling and beating his shoe with my paw.

Marcello sighed, pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, and took several pictures of me. “Last time he was over here, Dan suggested I get a cat. Get a cat, he said. It’ll be good for me to share my house with another living thing for a change. When I said no, he suggested I make some serious efforts into finding a mate. I would, except the pool of eligible ladies is rather shallow, and you happened to snatch the best prospect in the state. You’re a bastard for that, I hope you know. Regular males have to posture, flirt, and pray for a nip. You? You walked in the room, smiled, and had her wrapped around your finger. You have to help me find a mate now, you hear me?”

I growled and kept slapping the tile floor with my tail, although I made sure I didn’t break through his skin while keeping a firm hold.

Marcello’s cell rang. “Albano.” I heard Captain Ramirez’s voice, although I couldn’t understand what she was saying. “Yes, I’m home. Do you happen to know how to pry open a cat’s mouth? My ankle seems to have found its way into the jaws of a cantankerous feline. I think I’m going to need a new pair of shoes, too.”

A burst of laughter on the other end of the line was followed by a click and the dial tone of a disconnected call.

“I just can’t win, can I? Hey, look. I seem to have made more steak. I wonder how that happened? Why don’t you chew on this instead of on me?”

Both of my spirit beasts found the taste of steak more appealing than dusty jeans, so I turned my attention to my second dinner to ease the bite of my hunger.

I made the transition from cheetah to human without incident, although I didn’t last long before I slipped into a food-induced coma on Marcello’s couch. The awareness of people nearby roused me several times, but the instant my wolf identified them as members of our pack, I dropped off again without caring who was around or why.

If it was important, someone would wake me.

No one did.

The house was dark and quiet when I did wake up, still sprawled on the couch, although someone had covered me with a blanket. I had no memory of dressing, and the clothes were undoubtedly Marcello’s, because I didn’t own a pair of sweat pants in any color, and while I had a few t-shirts, his were far larger than mine.

My spirit beasts slumbered, and I fumbled for my glasses before remembering Captain Ramirez probably had them. Becoming a Fenerec had given me strength and an uncanny ability to heal fast, but it hadn’t helped my vision in the slightest.
 

Sometimes life wasn’t fair.

I hadn’t had a chance to eat as a human before the gorging I had done as a wolf and a cheetah had caught up with me. Yawning, I staggered towards the refrigerator. While my vision remained blurry, at least I benefited from my cheetah’s ability to see in the dark, which was far superior to my wolf’s.

There was no sign of the fried chicken, which I assumed had fallen prey to the appetites of voracious Fenerec. I drummed my fingers against the door, scowling at the selection of raw meats.

“I have you figured out. You’re a nocturnal feeder. Can’t you do anything normally, Sean?” Marcello shoved me aside, digging through the fridge for a Tupperware container. “We saved you some. Ramirez brought Andrea over. I warned them you were down and out for the count, but they didn’t believe me.”

“What time is it?”

Marcello pointed at his stove.

“I’m not wearing my glasses. I think we forgot them at Ramirez’s place.”

“Ah, we did. Ramirez sent one of the pack to fetch them while you were sleeping. They’re worried, by the way. During the ritual sickness, most health problems—including vision—are resolved. You’re different. They, the Inquisition, that is, are worried you haven’t finished the transition to full Fenerec. It might also have something to do with your shamanistic abilities.” After dumping the Tupperware on the counter, my friend headed into the living room and returned with my glasses. “Your timing isn’t too bad, actually. My shift starts in two hours, and Dan and I are on a special assignment.”

“Special assignment? What special assignment?”

“Despite the Inquisition’s worries, you’re cleared to make a human comeback. Ramirez talked to the uppers, and the general consensus is since you didn’t go psycho during a high stress situation after being shot, you’re probably not going to snap and eat a Normal. With the exception of your vision problems, you’re healing on par with the average Fenerec, too.”

I stared at Marcello, unable to believe what I was hearing. “You mean I don’t have to be subjected to more police station time?”

“Exactly. In two hours, we head to a private airstrip where I’ll put you on a plane that’ll be taking a very short flight to the main airport. You’ll cab home, and we’ll be shadowing you in an unmarked car to make sure there are no incidents on the way.”

Home was the last place I wanted to go. The last thing I wanted was to breathe in Idette’s scent, which undoubtedly contaminated the entire house. “Remind me to file charges so I can process legal separation from Idette. The first thing I intend to do is sell that fucking house.”