Big Bad Bite (2 page)

With a smirk, Captain Nelson barked from the
front passenger seat, “Keep it down kids. ETA is in three minutes
so let’s go over the basics one last time.” As the Captain rattled
off the same information on the suspect that Jenna had just been
over in her head, she took the opportunity to get a subtle whiff
with her nose, testing the air. The inside of the van smelled like
sweat, leather, gun oil and anticipation. No one smelled scared,
just a little anxious. Good. No one here was a threat to freak out
and freeze in a dangerous situation. Having a super sniffer of a
nose sometimes came in handy. If one of these jerks started leaking
sweat out of his pores as if he was trying to help keep up with the
water supply at Niagara Falls, she would have had to worry about
him accidentally shooting her in the back. That would make it hard
to concentrate on the mission. Luckily this wasn’t the case.

The van rounded a corner quickly as Capt.
Nelson wrapped up the specifics. “O’Conner, you’ll be right behind
Kent, so third through the door. The entrance is a vacuum due to
the enclosed space so we have to break the door down quickly and
catch the bastard before he does something stupid. After O’Conner,
it’s the usual line up. Everybody ready?”

The team nodded their heads in consent as the
van jerked to a stop in front of the target’s temporary residence.
As one, they flew out of the van and raced towards the front door.
A few seconds later a group of bodies were piled up with Capt.
Nelson at the front, Kent behind him, and Jenna third in line with
the rest of the team at her back. Less than ten seconds later, the
Captain kicked down the door while screaming ‘Police’. Moving
quickly through the entrance hall, she used her nose to smell the
air again. There was a whiff of something out of the norm. Two
distinctly different male scents that filled her nose, and she was
positive they were not human.

Moving quickly through the house, the SWAT
team started clearing rooms as they spread out through the small
ranch home. She followed where her nose happened to lead her, with
Kent behind her, towards the back of the house where the scents
became stronger. Three doors were ahead of them, and she could hear
sounds of a struggle coming from behind the closed door at the end
of the hall. Pushing forward with Kent at her back, she kicked a
foot out, knocking the door halfway off of its hinges and barked,
“POLICE! FREEZE!”

Before her stood a massive guy with mussed
auburn hair that stuck up in almost every direction and rippling
back muscles. The blond hair, blue eyed suspect stood across the
room from all three of them facing Mr. Messy Head with a gun
pointed at his head. In the split second that Mr. Messy Head was
distracted, the suspect took the opportunity to tighten his finger
on the trigger. He was seconds from sending a bullet into his
rather large opponent who still stood between them. Dropping the
aim of her riffle from the suspect’s head to his hand instead,
Jenna squeezed off a round just as his finger started to compress
the trigger of his pistol. Mr. Messy Head jerked his body to the
side, avoiding the bullet by a hairsbreadth, before an explosive
spray of red misted the air where half of the man’s left hand had
been. A cry of pain filled the room as the gun thunked to the
carpet. The suspect stared at his remaining thumb and trigger
finger connected to the remnants of jagged bones and uneven ripped
flesh that was still bleeding profusely. The stranger shot into
action, leaping to tackle the suspect to the floor. In less than a
minute, he had their man belly down to the ground and hands bound
behind his back with flexi cuffs, while she and Kent stood blocking
the door with their guns aimed at the pair.

Kent yelled, “Freeze! Hands in the air,
now!”

Hands slowly lifted to the air as the red
head looked up at them. Bright amber eyes bored into Jenna’s as she
looked down the barrel of her gun at him. Caught slightly off guard
by his startling, strong, handsome face she dragged in a subtle
breath, but what she found there made her nervous. It was a smell
she hadn’t experienced in a very long time. A smell that she had
been taught most of her life to avoid at all costs. It was the
clean, fresh scent of the outdoors that was unique to shifters
alone with an underlying spice that could only be singular to Mr.
Messy Head. It wasn’t the latter of those scents that bothered her.
It was the other smell that meant trouble. This guy on his knees
with his hands held calmly in the air in front of her wasn’t human.
He spent his spare time in some kind of fur, whether it was cat,
bear, or wolf, she wasn’t sure. He was
Other
. Whatever it
was though wasn’t beneficial for her to be around too long. So she
needed to get this guy away from her, pronto.

She was praying however that Mr. Messy Head
hadn’t caught any of her scent. She’d been told by one of her
Uncles once that it was remarkably light, and hard to define, but
to an experienced shifter it could be figured out. Observing his
sudden, subtle flaring of nostrils she was guessing that he was
trying to do just that.
Damn.
Booted feet pounded the hall
behind them as a few of the other officers poured into the room to
apprehend the two men in front of her. After Mr. Messy Head had
been cuffed and pulled to his feet, along with the suspect, she
slipped out of the room and followed Capt. Nelson to the back of
the van. Jenna’s keen senses telling her that Kent was following
directly behind.

Watching as two patrol cars pulled up on the
street behind their van, the Captain ran his hand through his hair.
“What happened, O’Conner?”

Giving him a quick debriefing of the
incident, he watched Jenna with amusement, and a little bit of
surprise on his face. After ending her spiel with the arrival of
the rest of the team into the occupied room, Kent piped in behind
her. “You’re one hell of a shot, O’Conner. That’s impressive. Makes
me grateful that you’re on my side.”

Shooting him a smile over her shoulder, she
took in the respectful gleam in his eyes. He meant what he said.
This was a decent start to being accepted by her new squad.

The Captain clapped her on the shoulder.
“Nice work, O’Conner. Your Uncle said you were good, but damn that
was something else. Taking out his gun hand on the fly so that he
was immobile long enough not to shoot anyone was quick thinking.
Nice job indeed. Beer is on me tonight. The boys will want to go
out and celebrate after our shift. You’re coming, right?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,
Captain.”

“Good. You guys might as well stay here for a
minute. I’ll go check on the suspect, figure out who the mystery
guy is. Then we can load up and head out.” He clapped her on the
shoulder again before heading to the two patrol cars behind them.
Looking back, she saw that the suspect was sitting in the back of
the first patrol car, while the red head with his unusual amber
eyes held something out for Capt. Nelson to inspect. The rest of
the team started clambering around in the back of the van so she
couldn’t hear what was being said to him. But as much as she was
curious, Jenna was even more anxious to put some much needed
distance between herself and the tasty looking stranger whose hair
resembled a red porcupine.

Taking a second, she ran her eyes from his
booted feet back to his piercing gaze. He was just over six feet
tall and probably about two hundred and twenty pounds. His fitted
gray t-shirt pulled tight across his chest. Well-worn denim hugged
his thick thighs. He was pretty hulking with more muscle than most
guys carried in the arms or chest, followed by a trim waist. He cut
a memorable picture though, it was a shame she wasn’t the type to
do a little flirting, he looked like a prime piece of virile
male.

The Captain was handing the guy’s
identification back to him while explaining something. They shook
hands and then the Captain walked away from him, heading back
towards the van. The stranger looked directly at Jenna and cocked
an eyebrow as he crossed his arms over his chest. His stare was
penetrating and demanding. It sent shivers down her spine and a
rush of heat that spread though her entire body. The instincts
she’d come to rely on all her life where running amok, telling her
that instead of body burning arousal, she should be feeling fear
instead. She recognized the mannerisms of an Alpha exuding his
dominance. It was a damn good thing her logic was kicking her
body’s reactions in the metaphorical head, because she was barely
restraining the need to close the distance between the two of them
and cover his body with her own. Or worse, bare her neck to him in
submission.

Jenna snorted. They’d be serving popsicles in
hell before she’d bare her throat to anyone.

A memory of Jenna’s only paternal family
member, her Uncle Owen, flashed through her mind. Sitting on a
fallen log surrounded by the woods behind her Mama’s house,
patiently explaining the hierarchy of shifters. The expectations of
their pack mentality.

Ole’ Alpha boy here wanted Jenna to drop her
eyes and look away if she wouldn’t bare her vulnerable neck to him.
That way she acknowledged who and what he was. Giving him the
assurance that she understood who was in charge. Instead, Jenna
continued to stare back at him coolly. Silently telling him where
he could take his dominance and shove it.

But she had to admit that it took every fiber
of her being to fight her natural instinct to look down and away
from his piercing gaze.

He was just that damn dominant. Which was
kind of scary since she’d never felt the urge to show submission to
anyone before.

Kent’s hand landed on her shoulder from
behind. “Come on, O’Conner. Get your Annie Oakley wannabe ass in
here so we can go. We’ve all got paperwork to go back and fill out
now.”

With no choice left, she broke eye contact
and climbed in the van, closing the door behind herself to cut off
any view of the stranger. If she had any good luck left, this would
be the last she’d see of him. If only crossing her fingers would
help those chances she would do it. Jenna didn’t think the guy had
figured out what she was, or wasn’t for that matter. But her family
had tried their best to hide her and had taught her to avoid all
other shifters, she silently prayed their attempts would not be in
vain just because this guy got curious. Her Mama had always told
her that if certain shifters ever found who or what she was, she
was as good as dead.

Here’s to hoping she hadn’t just stumbled on
to the beginning of her funeral.

*****

Adam watched as the black police van pulled
away from the curb and sped down the street with its mysterious
occupant inside. He’d come here to track down his cousin’s killer
and drag him back to his turf for some pack style justice, but
instead ended up having his prey snatched right out of his hands.
That did not make him a happy predator. In fact, it made him kind
of snarly. Sure the asshole would be tried and convicted for his
cousin’s wife’s murder, but Adam had been looking forward to the
creep facing claws instead of steel bars. The douche bag was going
to get off easy in the joke that was called the human justice
system. It wasn’t fair. Adam stifled the growl that churned in his
throat.

But that was okay, because he just had
something else dropped into his lap. That little cop with midnight
black hair, bright arctic blue eyes that reminded him of an Alaskan
husky, and luscious little curves, had snagged his interest. From
the moment she kicked down the door, Adam had caught the almost
hidden scent of something
Other
in her. And after the way
she just stared him down, he was all but itching to find out what
she was.

No one ever stared down an Alpha without
ending up in a lot of bodily harm. Yet she hadn’t even smelled
afraid of him while she’d been doing it. Adam was betting a shit
ton of money that she knew exactly what he was. So the fact that
she’d openly stared down an Alpha had his blood heating in
preparation for the chase. Right now he couldn’t decide if he
wanted to catch her to punish her, or to her to pin her underneath
him. Either way, he would be catching her. Maybe he could do both.
Light up her pretty little ass to a nice shade of red with a
well-deserved spanking and then pin her down underneath him. He
kind of liked that idea.

Adam’s phone rang from his pocket. Digging it
out to look at the screen he saw that it was his Beta and best
friend Clay, the second in command of his pack. “What’s up?”

“Did you get him?”

He breathed out a frustrated sigh. “Almost. I
had him cornered in a room at the address you gave me, but before I
could cuff and drag him off the cops busted in. They just hauled
him away in a patrol car.”

Clay’s growl rumbled over the line. “At least
there will be some punishment for Ely’s death. I just would have
preferred it to have been us ripping him apart instead of the tiny
cage he’ll have to live in from now on. Will you be headed home
now? Perhaps I could arrange a hunt for us to burn off some our
frustration?”

Adam thought about heading home. As excellent
as hunting sounded at the moment, all he could see was a pair of
chilly blue eyes staring him down with a fierceness that couldn’t
be found in any of the other members of his pack. “I’ve got a hunt
of a different kind to do tonight. Tell me Clay, do you know of any
blue eyed black haired females of the
Other
variety in
Wilmington?”

Clay snorted in amusement. “So it’s that kind
of hunt is it? I gotcha. I don’t know of any female fitting that
description though. Are you sure she’s not human?”

“I’ve got no doubt she’s something Clay, but
it’s definitely not human. I just don’t know what she is.
Definitely not a vampire because it’s daylight out, but her scent
smelled off and I’m having a hard time figuring out what she is. I
want to say she might be some kind of shifter, but if she is, she’s
masking her scent somehow. Think I might follow her tonight and try
to figure it out. Do we have anyone we know at the Wilmington
Police Department?”