Then the back door of the cruiser banged open hard enough to rattle what was left of Wade’s patience.
Deputy Roderick, who looked like he bench-pressed trespassers for fun, leaned in. His canines gleamed, lips curled, eyes fixed on Alex. The bear shifter’s scent screamed aggression.
Wade didn’t so much as twitch. “Alex is my mate. Unless you want a front-row ticket to my bad side, you’re going to back the fuck up and keep your hands to yourself.”
Roderick’s eyes sharpened then immediately lost their edge. All that cop bravado slunk out of his shoulders like someone had yanked the rug. He stepped back an inch then two. If he’d had a long enough tail, it would’ve been tucked.
Griffin, the other deputy, hovered behind Roderick in the doorframe, peering past his partner at the scene. Wade, six-three and muddy, half-cuffed to a guy who looked like his last meal involved a juice box and trauma, must’ve made quite a sight. The rain slicked Griffin’s hat to his hair, water dripping into his eyes.
“Shit,” Griffin muttered. “He okay?”
“He passed out,” Wade said. “He hates handcuffs. And cops.”
Griffin hesitated and then, with all the ritual of someone handing off a live grenade, dug a bottle of water from his belt and held it out. “For him. When he comes around.”
Wade nodded, the gesture curt. “Thanks.”
Griffin walked to the other cruiser as Wade glanced back down at Alex.
A scuff and a grunt then Bayne and Liam were herded alongside, both cuffed and huddling under the overhang. Bayne shot a look toward Wade that managed to say, “thanks for the backup, asshole” and “don’t let the bunny die” all in one twitch of his eyebrows.
Wade fished his phone out of the muddy mess on the backseat and thumbed Zeppelin’s number. His hand was wet, rain and blood mixing into a sticky mess. The phone slipped twice before he managed to get it up to his ear.
Zeppelin picked up on the first ring, voice the calm of a guy who’d seen everything and regretted none of it. “What’s your status?”
“We’re in the back of a cruiser,” Wade said, voice pitched low. “Not a party bus. Four of us picked up outside the murder house. Alex passed out, might need med attention.”
A pause. He could practically hear Zeppelin’s jaw flex through the phone. “I’ll be there in five. Don’t escalate.”
A dry laugh threatened, but Wade swallowed it. “Too late. I already broke their cuffs and threatened to rip the deputy’s arm off.”
Wade hung up as Alex blinked, eyes rolling a little before finally focusing on Wade. The tension eased just a notch, but he didn’t let go. Not with his mate so off-balance.
“Did we get caught?” Alex slurred, eyes blinking at different speeds.
“Not as Olympic trespassers, no. Just as garden-variety idiots,” Wade replied, knuckling a clump of wet hair off Alex’s forehead. “You fainted like a Victorian maiden. Want smelling salts or is water good enough?”
Alex’s lips twitched, then he groaned, turning his face against Wade’s chest. “Kill me now.”
“Sorry, I don’t do mercy killings in police cars. Departmental policy.” He ran a hand up and down Alex’s arm, feeling the tremor tapering off. “Hang tight, honey bunny. Zeppelin’s inbound.”
Wade squinted through the wet glass as Zeppelin strode up the sidewalk, jacket clinging wet to his arms, his stride the kind that parted trouble like Moses with an attitude problem.
The alpha ducked down, peering into the car. The hard lines around his mouth softened when he saw Wade holding Alex.
“Anyone hurt?” Zeppelin asked.
“He cut himself on a nail,” Wade replied, keeping his tone low and gentle. “Alex just got a little overwhelmed and passed out when we were shoved into the cruiser. Nothing we can’t handle, boss. Just need to get my mate home.”
Zeppelin’s gaze cooled as he turned to the cops. “Evening, deputies. I’d like to clarify what’s going on here before anyone loses their job for a wrongful arrest.”
Everyone moved to stand under the awning, but despite the downpour, Wade could hear them with his heightened senses.
“If you’d shown up two minutes earlier, you’d have caught the guys actually committing a felony,” Bayne said as if he was born with confrontation embedded in his DNA. “Drug deal not ten feet away from where we’re standing.”
“Pretty steep prices if you ask me,” Liam chimed in with a low whistle. “Dude got ripped off.”
If Wade had been able to pick up their scents, he would’ve tracked them down later. But the heavy ozone smell and the winds made it impossible.
