“Slowly,” she cautioned, reaching into her back pocket and yanking her cuffs free. Grayden’s expression darkened and he sighed. Rachel came forward, cuffs at the ready, and Grayden didn’t resist.

  Good thing. He may have been the hottest man she’d ever laid eyes on but he was her perp. And he was coming with her now.

  CHAPTER TWO

  GRAYDEN

  Grayden sat on the unforgiving slab of metal in the darkened depths of the police van, his head leaned back against the van’s wall. He blew out a breath, eyes on the scuffed ceiling. Even in the darkness, he could make out the scratches where prisoners past had left their marks. Probably out of boredom. The ride to the station was taking forever. It didn’t help that he was all alone with his thoughts back here. Officer Rachel Hawkins and her pimply-faced driver, Trent-something, were both up front and sealed away from him by a thin layer of metal that served as a partition.

  Grayden looked around as the tires rolled over a pothole, jarring him. He wondered if Rachel or the other cops thought the thin partition would stop him if he shifted and tried to break out of here. A scrap of metal or two wouldn’t hold his grizzly bear. Protocol would have been to call the Shifter Police and have them transport him using their reinforced titanium alloy cargo vans.

  Apparently they hadn’t wanted to wait for the necessary backup. Grayden wished they had. He wanted the added layer of protection when his alpha found out about this.

  Hunt was going to kill him.

  He’d promised no more fights. They were working on cleaning up their public image. This arrest—the story of him fighting in an illegal ring—was going to damage the little progress they’d made. Hunt was definitely going to go ape-shit when he found out.

  At least he’d won. Rachel storming in, gaze blazing fire, looking like a damned goddess in navy blue slacks, had been all the distraction he’d needed to take down Deacon in that last sucker punch. The asshole deserved every bit of it too. Sure, Grayden had gone there looking for a fight, but Deacon played dirty. Riling his opponents with a bunch of shit-talking before they’d ever come to blows. Grayden didn’t feel bad about knocking out the likes of Deacon Donnelly, asshole werewolf. He did, however, hate the idea of telling his alpha about it.

  Maybe Grayden could sweet talk Rachel into letting him post his own bail. And then no one would be the wiser to his little episode of midnight mayhem.

  Although, if he was honest, there were a lot of other things he wanted to sweet talk cute, curvy Rachel Hawkins into doing. Keeping his arrest a secret was nowhere near the top of that list. Ever since he’d seen her stroll into The Shifty Cat, his favorite bar, a few weeks ago all decked out in her cop uniform and that serious frown she wore to top it off… his bear had taken one look at her and wanted nothing more than to turn that frown upside down. He wasn’t sure what drew him. She was a cop. Not his favorite public figure. In fact, his past had solidified a deep dislike for cops, in general.

  But there was more behind Rachel’s honey eyes than a stiff-collared need to uphold the law and harass the underbelly of society. A pain that he recognized. The scars of mistreatment somewhere in her past. He knew it well. Carried it with him wherever he went and when the demons got too loud—when they shoved their way from his past into his present—the only outlet he had was to beat on something. It was the only thing that reminded his bear, and the demons that tormented it, who was in charge.

  Maybe seeing the same sort of pain in Rachel had drawn him but when he closed his eyes lately, he only saw her. She wouldn’t leave him alone. He’d even dreamed of her. The way her body might look underneath that uniform. Soft skin, curvy hips, her full breasts in his hands. How her entire demeanor lit when she smiled. He’d only seen her smile that way once and it had been for her best friend, Patrice, the owner of The Shifty Cat where Grayden liked to hang out after a long day. But since then, he’d spent hours concocting ways to make her smile for him. Only for him.

  His groin tightened at the thought and he growled at himself to shut it down. The attraction, the strange yearning, all of it. Hunt had made it very clear that mates were still off limits until he’d approved it. A case by case basis, his alpha had said. And after what Grayden had done tonight, he knew his alpha wasn’t going to deem Grayden ready for a woman anytime soon, much less a mate.

  A mate. Had he really thought that?

  Thinking of it now, he scoffed at the idea that his mating call might be awakened. His bear knew better than to want something like that. He was too damaged. Too wrong. Incapable. How could he take on a mate when he could barely take care of himself?

  The van jostled as the terrain underneath the tires changed, jumping and jostling as the pavement gave way. Gravel, Grayden thought, as the van finally rolled to a stop. They’d arrived.

  With his heightened shifter hearing, Grayden listened to the sound of the van doors opening and closing. A second later, the back door clicked and opened, letting in a shaft of yellow light from the flood lamp in the back corner of the parking lot. To his left, the Timber Falls police station rose up, a brick monstrosity that had seen better days. Several officers gathered around, a few yards back, peering warily into the darkness where Grayden still sat.

  Another figure stepped out of the shadows and planted themselves directly in the beam of light, a curvy shadow with guns strapped. Rachel’s hair looked haloed as she stared back at him with a frown.

  “Slowly,” she cautioned, motioning for him to come forward.

  Grayden obeyed without a word. Nothing he could say would make this less awkward. Not for him. He wondered at the way her cheeks flushed when he stepped out of the van only inches from her. She took a step back and seemed to gather herself, clearing her throat as she motioned him toward a side door.

  “This way,” she said. Her hand hovered above his restrained arm, guiding him without ever actually touching him.

  The pimple-faced cop, Trent, held it open and seven other cops lined the path from where Grayden stood to the doorway itself.

  He smirked at that. Did they think that’s how many it would take to keep him under control? He shook his head as he put one foot in front of the other, his work boots crunching over the gravel as he went. No amount of humans or their guns would stop his bear if he shifted and went into brawler mode on them.

  Not that he would do that.

  Grayden might have been a lot of things, including a brawler, but he never went after anyone innocent and he didn’t start shit without provocation. It might not seem like it to these judgy-eyed cops but he had a code, and he never broke it. Besides, he couldn’t bring himself to even imagine shifting here so close to Rachel. He would never put her in danger like that.

  So, instead, he glared at the cops one a time as he passed them and was rewarded to see them shrink back as he walked by. He stepped through the doorway with Rachel on his heels and was greeted with the scent of sweat and mildew and harsh fluorescent lighting.

  Rachel slid by him, alerting every nerve ending he had when her sleeve brushed his bare arm as she passed. Again, her face flushed, making Grayden wonder if he wasn’t the only one feeling the pull.

  “This way,” she said again, her voice wobbling as she led the way down the hall. He knew a slew of cops trailed behind him but his only view included Rachel’s rounded ass swinging back and forth as she led him down a long hallway.

  Huh. Maybe being arrested wasn’t the worst thing after all.

  He followed her through a short maze of lefts and rights and stopped short when the hallway finally emptied into a larger space. Not really a room. More like a lobby with stations set up around the edges. One for taking his picture. Another for fingerprinting, he noticed. And standing in the center of it with hands on his hips was Hunt Blackburn, Grayden’s alpha.

  “Fuck,” Grayden said, ducking his head under his alpha’s furious stare. He’d been right. Getting arrested was definitely not the worst thing.

  CHAPTER THREE

  RACHEL

  Rachel tapped her fingers against her folded arms and leaned against the wall next to the door to Interview Room 1. She stared down at her watch, counting silently as the second hand completed another circle—another minute down. She couldn’t hear anything through the thick wall that separated her from the two shifters inside. She was tempted to watch from the observation room but Hunt had made her promise. It was all he’d asked of her and she wanted this too much to lie or refuse him. It wasn’t like she couldn’t watch the tape later if she needed to. Everything said in that room was recorded.

  Five minutes alone was all she’d promised before she returned for Grayden’s statement. It was what she gave prisoners when they asked for their lawyer. She hoped Hunt would have the same effect on Grayden.

  Trent had complained about it but Rachel had ignored him. Already, she was breaking protocol by bringing him here instead of calling in the Shifter Police. But last time she’d dealt with them, they’d almost compromised the identity of someone in her Witness Program and she wasn’t going to let them screw this investigation up for her. Or worse, make her wait hours until they finally decided to show up and then swoop in and take all the credit. Luckily, Chief Bennett felt the same way about the credit for this one staying in-house.

  “Has it been five minutes yet?” Chief Bennett asked, marching up to her like he was ready to take a bite out of someone.

  “Three and a half,” Rachel said, tapping her watch.

  “He only gets five and no more,” Bennett said.

  “I know,” Rachel assured him.

  “The only reason I let Blackburn in with him first was to make sure he’s not going to shift the moment you walk into that room,” Bennett said, huffing.

  “I know,” she said again.

  Rachel didn’t bother defending Grayden. While she didn’t believe Grayden would hurt her, she needed Hunt in there with him for another reason. He was the only one who could convince Grayden to tell her what she wanted to know about the fight ring. If Bennett thought Hunt was here to keep Grayden’s bear at bay that was fine by her.

  “What’s the status of the other fighter?” she asked. “Have we gotten any updates?”

  “Name’s Deacon Donnelly. Came to but doesn’t remember shit,” Bennett said.

  Rachel sighed. “We need him to remember.”

  “Well, in the meantime, get all you can from this one,” Bennett said, pointing at the interview room.

  Rachel glanced down at her watch again. “Time’s almost up,” she said.

  “Well, when it is, get in there and get that name,” he said and marched off.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  GRAYDEN

  Grayden sat stiffly in the hard metal chair as his alpha slowly circled him and the scarred table that he was currently cuffed to. Hunt had been in here for over two minutes now and hadn’t said a word. They only had five before Rachel had promised to return for “answers or else.” Grayden had decided not to ask what “or else” meant specifically. Hunt looked scary enough as it was.

  Hunt finally came to a stop in front of the table, feet planted, dark eyes flashing. The air around them crackled with the power of the alpha’s fury. Grayden didn’t even try holding the man’s gaze. He knew he couldn’t, not when Hunt was like this, but he didn’t feel compelled to either. Hunt was more than just Grayden’s alpha. Hunt had taken him in when he’d had no one, helped vanquish some of the demons. Accepted him just as he was. Grayden hated disappointing him.

  “I don’t even know what to say to you, man,” Hunt said finally.

  Grayden nodded, eyes on the table. “I’m sorry for fighting,” he said quietly. “I know I told you I was done with it but⁠—”

  “It’s not just about the fight, Gray,” Hunt snapped and then inhaled a long breath, steadying himself. “Rachel says they need a name.”

  “Whose name?” Grayden asked.

  “The ringleader. Whoever’s running the shitshow you call a fight ring,” Hunt said.

  “I’m not exactly sure,” he admitted and Hunt scowled.

  “Fucking great. The name of the ringleader is the one thing that could get you out of this and you don’t know? How can you not know? You were there! When I told you not to be.”

  Grayden shook his head. “No one knows. A few months back, we thought we did. We heard a rumor that the fights had been raided and shut down. But then they began popping up again, same as ever. Whoever’s running it keeps their identity secret to protect themselves from future raids.”

  “Dammit, Grayden, this is bad,” Hunt said.

  “I know. I just … it was a rough day,” he said finally, wincing internally at how much of an understatement that was. His mother’s birthday. He always lost his shit on her birthday. It was a constant reminder of everything he’d lost. Everything that had been taken from him.

  “I know what day it is,” Hunt said, his tone softening. “Look, Rachel might have accepted my being mated to her best friend but that doesn’t mean she’s changed her mind about the Bad News Bears. Doesn’t mean any of the residents of Timber Falls have. We’re supposed to be cleaning up our act. City council is one fuck-up away from pulling our work permits. This, your arrest, might very well be it. Do you know what happens if we get our work permits pulled?”

  “No work means no money. No money means no place to live,” Grayden muttered, feeling more and more like shit with every passing second. “I’ll talk to Rachel,” he said before Hunt could lecture further.

  “It’s Officer Hawkins to you,” Hunt said and Grayden scowled at that.

  “I suppose now isn’t the best time to tell you I find her attractive,” Grayden said and Hunt’s eyes bulged. Grayden held his breath, scared his alpha was going to keel over right then. “Probably shouldn’t have said that.” he mumbled.

  Hunt placed both palms on the table and leaned down. “I mean it, Gray. She’s the gatekeeper right now. You want out of this mess, you have to go through her. Play nice.”

  “Fuck, Hunt. I got it. I’ll fix this,” he said through his teeth. He knew Hunt was pissed, that his friend just wanted to salvage what little good rep the crew had left in this town, but it grated on him that Hunt thought he couldn’t even talk to a broad without everything going to shit.

  The problem was, every time Rachel came around, talking was the last thing he wanted to do.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  RACHEL

  Rachel watched as the little hand on her watch finally crossed the five minute mark. She pushed off the wall, squaring her shoulders, and pasted on the frown she always wore when she fell into her interrogator role. Everything personal fell away. She was no longer anything but hard-ass cop when she walked into the room. No life, no personality, no hobbies or loved ones. Just a cop out for answers.

  With the emptiness firmly in place, Rachel shoved open the door to the interview room. Grayden and Hunt looked up at her, Hunt with eyes blazing. She could feel the tension in the charged air and suppressed a shiver. She’d known shifters were powerful, especially alphas, but this… wow. And Grayden just sat back in the metal folding chair, his hooded gray eyes staring back at her with a lazy sort of interest.

  “Time’s up,” she announced, her voice hard.

  Hunt sighed. “Can we talk in the hall?” he asked.

  Rachel bit her lip, impatient to get on with the questioning, but finally nodded and led Hunt back into the hallway. She shut the door behind them and wandered far enough away that she hoped Grayden wouldn’t hear whatever Hunt was about to tell her.

  “Will he talk to me?” she asked, impatient to get to the bottom line.

  “He’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” Hunt said. “Except for the ringleader of these brawls,” he added and Rachel’s shoulders slumped.

  She crossed her arms. “If he thinks he’s protecting someone, he should worry more about himself—” she began but Hunt held up a hand.

  “He can’t tell you because he doesn’t know,” Hunt explained.

  “Seriously? You believe that?” she asked.

  “I do. I’m his alpha, Rachel. I know that doesn’t mean a whole lot to you but he wouldn’t have been able to lie to me. Trust me, I know he doesn’t have that name for you.”

  Rachel blew out a breath. “Fine,” she muttered.

  “What will you charge him with?” Hunt asked quietly.

  “I don’t know. I was hoping we could let him off in exchange for the name.”

  Hunt nodded, his expression grim. “I won’t ask for special favors. Do what you have to do. I’ll be downstairs. Call me when I can post bail.”

  “Will do. Thanks for coming out,” she said grudgingly.

  Hunt nodded and left. Rachel watched him go, taking a few deep breaths to calm down before she headed back inside with Grayden. Dammit. She’d really hoped for that name.

  Halfway back to the interview room, Rachel paused when her cell rang. She grabbed it, intent on dismissing the call so she could focus, but the “BLOCKED” label that flashed on the screen piqued her curiosity. Who would call her and block the number?

  “Hello?” she answered.

  “Is this that bitch cop who just broke up my fight club?” rasped an angry male voice.

  Rachel’s shoulders stiffened. “This is Officer Hawkins,” she snapped. “And yes, I busted your fight ring for good tonight. What the hell is it to you?”

  The voice laughed, rasping and wheezing. “You have no idea what the fuck you just did but I can tell you busting my fights up for good was not it.”

  “Who is this and how did you get this number?” she demanded.

  “I know a lot more than your number, Rachel,” the voice said and she bit back a ripple of unease at the familiar use of her first name.