Chapter Sixteen

Holden

T he night we told the pack about our changing relationship, we ended up sleeping in Rian’s bed with Cindy curled up above our pillows. She purred for a long time before falling asleep, so I supposed she was happy with the proceedings.

Everything returned to normal as it always did. I was so damn relieved when we hit January, and the holiday mayhem was officially done for the time being.

My job went back to being mostly about traffic-related things, domestic calls, and checking up on various people when others called in welfare checks. And paperwork. Piles and piles of paperwork.

Of course, just as things settled a little, we got a call from the Michek boys’ neighbor and that ended up with arrests and even more paperwork. We didn’t end up finding a meth lab, but I was pretty damn sure they had one somewhere.

The next day, one of the Micheks blurted out that Levi Hall had been at their house, so at least there was now confirmation.

I immediately told the deputies to make sure they drove past the trailer park whenever they had any sort of reason to be around there. I had a feeling something bad was going to happen and we could only be vigilant right then.

Most nights, I went back to the pack house, and Cindy lived there more or less permanently now.

Depending on the time I got off shift and needed my rest, I either went to curl around Rian—Cindy was often already there—or went to my room to sleep alone.

I couldn’t deny the fact that I’d gone from a lone man to a lone wolf, and I was changing again. The support from the pack seemed vital. The warmth I felt in the house made me understand that both me and the wolf inside needed these people.

We’d all been through a lot, and I thought maybe that was the reason why we clung to each other and had collectively decided to make the Victorian the best home it could be.

Most days when I got back to the pack house, I could hear sounds of renovations still going. There was less noise now, because Brodie and Lina had decided not to take on the sunroom until the snow melted, as so much of it had rotted through and they didn’t want to deal with it during the winter months.

There were other things to do, still. They built bookcases and other furniture—Lina was ecstatic for the knowledge she was getting straight from someone talented—and kept finding little projects here and there.

Rian was responsible for making sure the pack had everything they could wish for. It would’ve been easy to think he bought things willy nilly because he could, but that was far from the truth.

Rian’s wealth was an asset and he used it to make sure we had all the creature comforts and then some, but he never bought anything truly outrageous.

Whenever a package showed up that Brodie hadn’t ordered, he sighed resignedly, but never complained, because how could he? He would’ve done the same exact thing had he been even remotely as wealthy as Rian.

Carys and Kye took care of the kitchen stuff, but Max and Ben helped out where they could. Max mostly, because he was home every day. He’d taken on a lot of the cleaning. Ben was thriving at work and had started to talk about studying the newer tech in the vehicles he often saw at the garage these days.

O ne night, I was on shift, having taken on a transfer job for some busier colleagues a couple of counties over. The guy had been arrested in town, but we didn’t have much space to hold anyone, and Warren was also full, so I’d decided to make the hour and a half drive to take him to Coudersport.

I was almost back in Luxton, when my phone rang.

I pressed my hands free button. “Drumm speaking.”

“Deputy Drumm, we have a situation at the Hall residence. What’s your ETA?” The dispatcher asked.

“I’m about… fifteen minutes out if I gun it.”

“You better do that. It’s not looking good.”

I ended the call and wracked my brain on who was working tonight. Aw, shit. Both Fischer and Pearce were. They were young and somewhat inexperienced, but Mikayla had been a cop for longer than Jonah.

If something was wrong, she’d jump to it and Levi Hall didn’t really like women much.

“Shit, shit, shit!” I hit the steering wheel with my palm as I accelerated as fast as I could in any sort of safe manner.

My phone rang ten minutes later.

“Go for Drumm.”

“Chief, it’s Penny. I assume dispatch called you?” At my affirmative grunt, she continued, “He has Val and the kids in the trailer and he was caught by a neighbor pouring gasoline around it. Mikayla got there just in time, she’s trying to talk him down.”

“I’m almost there, tell them not to send anyone else, it’ll only set Levi off.”

“Done.”

I drove like a maniac to the trailer park. Rarely did I get this kind of an adrenaline rush anymore, but there was so fucking much at stake here.

As I barreled onto the snowy road leading deeper into the park, I could see flashing blue lights where Mikayla had parked. I stopped my car out of the way of any potential emergency vehicles and ran around the corner of the closest neighbor’s trailer, listening to the incoherent yelling from Levi.

“No, Levi, you don’t need to do that. I told you we can all walk away from this,” Mikayla said in a calm, if a bit shaky tone.

“’M not gonna let her leave!” Levi screamed and I heard something else.

The telltale sound of a Zippo lighter being opened.

“Levi, don’t—” Mikayla’s desperate plea was cut by the sound of her gun.

I got there in time to see him crumple into the ground. I ran past Mikayla, checking on where the Zippo had fallen in the snow.

The stench of the gasoline was overwhelming, and I shook my head to clear it. The lighter was next to Levi’s hand, and I kicked it further away, noting where it landed, then yelled at Mikayla.

“Come check on him, I’ll get the door!”

She had frozen on the spot, and jerked into motion, putting her gun away and ran to Levi.

I went to the door he had nailed shut.

“Everyone okay there? Val?” I called out.

“We’re fine, we just can’t open the door!”

“Okay, back away. I have to get a tool to get you out. Did he pour gasoline inside, too?”

The coughing fit of someone who sounded really young gave me the answer before she could confirm.

I wished I’d had a crowbar and I knew there were tools in our vehicles, but I needed to get them out faster.

“Did you see where he put the hammer?” I asked Mikayla over the rushing in my ears as I tried to keep the gasoline from making me dizzy.

“N-No, I don’t think so,” she answered, still looking dazed.

“Call it in. Mikayla!” Her hands were still where she’d checked Levi’s pulse, but I could tell he was gone by the way she was acting. “Deputy Fischer!” I roared. That did it. “Call it in.”

She grabbed the radio off her shoulder as I forced my fingers between the door and the first board.

Grateful for my wolf strength, I pulled the board, then another one, and another one. He’d truly done a number on the door. Some of the wood was old and splintered in my hands, cutting into my skin and tearing my nails.

By the time I wrenched the door open and grabbed the first kid I could see, my hands were covered in blood.

“Kids, close your eyes,” I told sternly, knowing my tone would make them do as told.

Val’s lip wobbled when she realized why I had said it. “Do as Sheriff Drumm tells you,” she added firmly.

I lifted another kid onto my other hip, wincing at how hard she was coughing. All of them looked worse for fear, and at that moment I was happy their father was gone.

I marched out in front of Val and the two others she was awkwardly carrying with her ready-to-pop belly in the way.

“Follow me,” I told her, and led them around their house and toward Barb’s grandson Robbie’s place.

He had been watching the situation unfold as much as he could and opened the door before we got there.

“Come on in,” he said immediately, holding the door and wincing as he took in the state of Val and the kids.

We barely made it to Robbie’s living room when the EMTs were there.

I knew all the emergency service people, so I grabbed the closest. “Hey Diego, I’ll go check on Mikayla. Can you keep an eye on them and tell me if you need to take them?”

“Yeah, sure, Sheriff.” Then he grabbed my arm. “Your hands—”

“Are going to be fine. I’ll rinse them off. They’re already healing.”

“If you’re sure…?”

“I’m sure.” I gave him a curt nod, then walked into Robbie’s kitchen to open the tap.

He took one look at me and winced. “That doesn’t look great.”

“I’m a wolf, I can deal with it. By tomorrow morning it’s all better.” I hissed when the water ran over the cut fingertips and broken nails.

He tossed me a clean kitchen towel, and I did what I could to dry my hands. “Thanks.”

I marched out of his house and around the Halls’ to the commotion in the front yard.

Ignoring everything else, I searched out Mikayla and went to pull her into a hug. She was barely holding it together, and as soon as I got her, she slumped and burst into tears.

She’d been talking to a couple of our other deputies who had come in on their night off. They gave us space, and I took Mikayla to the side and let her weep.

“You did everything you could,” I told her when her sobs started to subside. “You did everything right. If he’d lit the lighter and even just fumbled it… There’s so much gasoline everywhere, it would’ve practically exploded into a fireball even with all the snow. And there’s a propane tank in the back.”

“There is?” she asked, finally pulling away and looking a bit sheepish for having taken comfort from me.

She was a human, so I understood. Technically I was her superior, but the wolf in me wanted to give her immediate comfort for what she’d had to do.

“Yeah, the fire department is gonna have fun cleaning the place. I think the house is basically unlivable. I saw a few empty canisters when I grabbed Val and the kids.”

“Jesus Christ,” Mikayla breathed, mopping her face with a napkin she’d found in her pocket.

A moment later, she looked at me and asked the two questions I’d been expecting.

“Have you ever…?”

“No, but my partner had to the day that led to me being turned. I supported him through that experience after I was stabilized.”

“What h-happens now?” she asked, tears welling in her eyes again.

I began to explain the procedure to her. Technically she knew it, we all did, but living the reality of having to shoot someone was a whole different ordeal.

About an hour later, she’d gone with a deputy from Warren. She would be interviewed at their station and they’d go through the motions of her part in this shit show.

I watched as a detective I didn’t know got out of her car. The crime scene tech who had showed up half an hour ago was still taking pictures.

“Detective Reeves,” she introduced herself. “You must be Deputy Sheriff Drumm.”

“Good guess.” I shook her hand. “I assume you need my statement?”

“Yes. If you could write something down as soon as you can, that would speed things up for the family.”

“Val and the kids were taken to the hospital in Warren for starters.”

“Can you fill me in on what happened here as far as you know?” she asked, then explained, “My partner is talking to Deputy Fischer right now.”

“Well,” I started, took in a deep breath, and told her what I knew.

By the time she was done taking notes, the crime scene guy approached us.

“Hey, did you find the lighter?” I asked him.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Let me show you where I kicked it.”

It had rolled inside a snowbank, there was only a tiny hole to show where it had ended up.

“Thanks. We would’ve had to look for this with metal detectors. It’s gonna snow more tomorrow.”

“No problem.” I grimaced at the bloodstain where Levi’s body had been.

I looked at the sad little trailer and sighed.

Detective Reeves frowned at it, too. “It’s a shame when things like this happen.”

I nodded in agreement. “Oh, and just so you know, Levi Hall’s father? He’s a big shot lawyer in Erie.”

She let her head fall forward and sighed. “Great. Thanks for the heads up.”

“Even with all this snow, they wouldn’t have made it,” I mused as I glanced around everything Levi had managed to soak in gasoline.

There was stuff by the walls and the lip of their porch extended enough that there was dry grass, too. It was clear the family had used the spot for extra storage, and the cardboard boxes and plastic bins were soaked in gasoline. It would’ve gone up incredibly fast.

“No. If the inside is drenched too….”

“Oh, it is. There’s no way anything in there is salvageable.”

“I’m going to do my best to figure out help for her and the kids.”

“She’s also very, very pregnant.”

“Of course she is.”

I snorted softly. Then yawned. “I’m gonna go home and sleep a bit, then go to the station to write that report for you.”

“Absolutely. I’ll let you know if we need anything more.” She handed me her card.

“I’ll have my report for you by midday tomorrow at the latest. Call me if you need anything in the meantime.”

“Will do. Good night.”

“Good night.”

I turned to trudge to my cruiser and felt the exhaustion hit me.

I was fully on autopilot as I navigated to the pack house. My emotions were trying to bubble to the surface, but I couldn’t let them.

It was closer to four in the morning when I finally parked next to Brodie’s truck. I got out of the cruiser and walked toward the front door. To my surprise, or maybe not, it opened, and Brodie stood there like a beacon in the dim night time lighting.

“You’re a couple of hours late,” he explained quietly. “I made everyone else go to bed, but I assume Rian will be downstairs imminently.

“I’m here,” Rian said and reached around our alpha to take my arm. “Give Brodie your gun and badge. He’ll put them in the safe.”

Holding onto my last reserve of self-control, I did as he said. Letting them take care of me now would pay off tomorrow when I would need to work again. When I’d have to be in charge and make sure everything continued to run smoothly while Mikayla wasn’t there.

Rian walked me to the utility room and stripped me to my underwear.

“No offense, but we need to get these cleaned immediately. You smell like gasoline,” he murmured as he piled my clothes on top of the washer.

“Let me,” Kye said gently and pressed his hand on the small of my back as he went past.

Somehow, that was what started to break me. The fact that my alpha’s mate was here, offering comfort, taking charge of getting my clothes cleaned, while Rian was going to take care of me and—

“Okay. You, come with me.” Rian took my hand and tugged me toward the stairs.

Brodie got to us halfway up. “I put them in your gun safe. I’m gonna go take your boots and jacket and put them on the porch. See if it helps with the smell or if we need to wash the jacket, too. The boots might be done, though,” he said apologetically.

I waved a hand, dismissing his concerns, but unable to speak in the moment. He squeezed my shoulder and continued down the stairs.

Rian pulled me into the bathroom he shared with Carys and turned on the water.

“Do you want me in there with you?” he asked quietly.

Tears flooded my eyes as I nodded. “Yeah. Please. ”

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