Pack Balance

by Crissy Smith

  “I’ll let the cap know we’re headed in,” Cooper offered.

  Fisher grinned at him. “Sure, man, let your girl know it’d be best if she went home for the rest of the night.” He slapped Cooper on the back. “Have one of the boys drive her, so you know she gets there safely.

  Cooper ignored the teasing and walked quickly over to Julie and his boss. “Hey, Cap, we’re heading back to the station. The warrant came through,” he said.

  “Good.” Captain Martinez nodded. “I’ll follow you in.” He turned to Julie. “You take care and I’ll see you soon.”

  She smiled at him before turning her attention to Cooper. “You’ll catch these guys?” she asked when they were alone.

  Cooper stepped closer to press against her side. He leaned into the SUV so he could touch her. “Already did,” he told her.

  “Yeah?”

  “With the gun in hand,” Cooper said. “Now we’re going after the big dog. We’re going to hit him tonight before he learns about this arrest.”

  “So it’ll be over?” she asked.

  He nodded. “There might still be some shit on the street. We’ll try to get the names of the dealers that have some. We have the two from earlier that we’ll still work at getting intel from, but hopefully that’s the last batch. I know the Bradleys, though. We have to wrap everything up air tight or they’ll slither through.”

  “Don’t let them!” She gripped the front of his shirt. “You put those bastards behind bars and keep them there.”

  “I will do my best,” he promised. “Why don’t you head home? I’ll have an officer take you. The ambulance should be released soon but you don’t need to stay for that.”

  “Yes, I want a shower, cold beer and soft bed.”

  “I have all of those things at my house,” he whispered, as he lowered his head closer to hers.

  “Then it’s a good thing that’s where I plan on going.”

  The happiness that burst inside him at hearing those words made him lightheaded. He’d been concerned that the events of the night might be too much for her. This was the second time that they’d been together and he’d put her in a dangerous situation. The night he’d first shifted and now. He wouldn’t blame her if she needed time to think.

  “Hey.” She cupped his face. “I’m not going anywhere. I came back for you and I am sticking around. You can’t get rid of me after one screwed up night.”

  He kissed her. Dropped his lips on hers and pressed hard. He demanded that she open for him, nipping her bottom lip, and thrusting his tongue inside. He couldn’t mark her like he craved, but he wouldn’t deny either of them this small connection.

  Julie moaned as she slid her arms around his neck. He pulled back slowly.

  “I wish you could come home with me,” she told him.

  “Me too,” he responded. “But I’ll be there as soon as I can. We’ll have your barbecue this weekend, and the next time we both have a few days off, we’ll lock all the doors and spend the entire time in bed.”

  She laughed, just like he’d intended. “You have yourself a deal.”

  Cooper gave her one last quick kiss before he backed off and waved one of the uniforms over. “I need you to take both the EMTs home. Make sure they get there safely.”

  “Yes, sir.” The young officer hurried over. “Are you ready, ma’am?”

  “Where’s Shawn?” she asked, glancing around for her partner.

  “I’ll find him. Just go with him,” Cooper ordered.

  Julie walked away, and Cooper spotted Shawn heading toward the ambulance. Shawn looked exhausted and ready to collapse at any minute. Cooper knew how it could feel once the adrenaline from a shooting wore out. It wasn’t fun and often left people sick after they slowed down. Shawn should go home to his family. He jogged over to send the man on his way. Shawn glanced up as he approached.

  “I have a ride for you and Julie. I’ll get your rig back for you,” Cooper said.

  “That’d be great. I talked to our supervisor. We’re off the rest of the night, so they have another ambulance already covering for us.”

  Cooper gripped his shoulder and turned him toward Julie and the officer. “No problem. Now go. You and Julie can start planning the cook-out for this weekend.”

  “Cool. I’ll bring the beer and juice boxes,” Shawn told him.

  Cooper patted his shoulder and released him. Julie hurried toward her partner to drag him to one of the patrol cars.

  With the two of them on their way, it was time for Cooper to find his own partner and get to work. He was not going to miss seeing the expression on the mayor’s face when the warrant was served. Cooper knew the man was a bigot, but to actually target shifters to die? That was something out of a Hollywood movie, not typical behavior for Clear Creek.

  He was going to take the mayor down, along with anyone else who was involved. He’d make sure that his streets were safe once again then he’d go home and celebrate with the woman he loved.

  * * * *

  “You sure you don’t want me to stay until Cooper gets home?” Shawn asked, catching her hand as she exited the patrol car.

  “Go home to your wife and kids. I’ll be fine. I promise.” She pulled away before closing the door.

  Shawn waved and she returned the gesture.

  Julie turned and started up the sidewalk. It was weird to think that just that morning she’d taken these same steps, but she’d been scared to death that Cooper would turn her away. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours, but it seemed like a week—or maybe a month—had passed. So much had happened. What if she hadn’t been back? Cooper could have been killed or seriously injured and she’d had never shown him her love.

  With her knees shaking, she sat on the top step of the deck. Even though it was dark, she always loved being out there. Little by little, she and Cooper had started to make his house into their home. She knew that so why she’d even thought to put off moving in with him she didn’t know. She’d tell him as soon as he got back. No more wasting time that they could be spending together.

  She needed to call Garrett and tell him what had happened tonight and her decision with Cooper. Julie hoped that her brother would still visit, so she could work on him moving there. When she’d left, he’d looked so sad. Garrett had lots of friends but she was family and that had to be reason to at least consider moving. She knew the fire station had openings, so he could easily transfer. He hadn’t been truly happy in Kermit since his last relationship had ended, and that was over three years ago. Lily hadn’t been the right girl for him, but Garrett had loved her. It hadn’t come as a surprise when Julie had learned Lily had been cheating on Garrett for months. He’d never really gotten over her. Julie knew he could be happy in Clear Creek. She pulled out her phone to start to work her magic.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, bro, how are you?” she greeted.

  “I’m good. I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. Did you work things out with Cooper?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she laughed. “I guess I should say you were right and I had nothing to worry about.”

  “I thought he was smart. Of course he wanted you back,” Garrett said.

  “He wants to meet you,” she told him. “We’re having a barbecue this weekend to celebrate the end of a big case for him, and I wanted to see if you could drive down?”

  Garrett was unusually quiet for several moments.

  “Garrett? You okay?” she questioned.

  “I would love to come. Would you mind if I brought a couple buddies?” he asked.

  “Of course not! How is Tom doing?”

  “Better, he woke up and shifted. He has to be off work for a while, but he should recover fine. I’m actually heading to the hospital to pick him and Steve up. Tom is being released. Well, he demanded it against his doctor’s orders, but they can’t keep him there if he wants to leave.”

  “That’s great and I would love to have them come too. Actually it works out good with my nex
t bit of news.”

  “Cooper proposed?” Garrett guessed.

  “No!” she shouted. “Are you crazy?”

  “What?” he asked before laughing. “Don’t sound so shocked. You both love each other and it will happen eventually.”

  “He didn’t ask me to marry him. He asked me to move in,” she said, ignoring the thrill that went through her at even talking about marriage.

  “And you said yes?”

  “Well not initially, but I’m going to. So my house will be empty and it has plenty of room for you, Tom and Steve. It’s actually not in a bad location either. It’s only six blocks from the central firehouse. You know, if you wanted to stay longer.” She held her breath waiting for Garrett’s response to that.

  “Stay for how long?” his voice deepened.

  “Forever?” she answered.

  “You want me to move to Clear Creek?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I really do. You’re miserable in Kermit. We’re not too far away from visiting Mom and Dad, but it could be a fresh start. I miss you already and I’ve only been back a week.”

  “I miss you too. I hated you leaving, again, but I understand why you had to. I’ll talk to Tom and Steve about this weekend and think on the other.”

  “Is everything else going okay there?” she questioned. There was something off about her brother’s tone but she just couldn’t figure it out.

  “Some shit is going down at work. Some of the guys are giving Steve a hard time about being a shifter, now that Tom’s not there. It pisses me off. Both Tom and Steve have busted their asses to help out every member of the team. I didn’t even realize that there was a problem. I was talking to Steve earlier because I saw him get into it with Frankie. I don’t know what to do,” Garrett explained.

  Julie wished she knew what to tell him to help. “What did Steve have to say?”

  “He told me to forget it. He’s used to being treated differently. It’s not right, though,” Garrett said.

  “Stick by their side. Show them that they have at least one friend that has their back,” she suggested.

  “I will,” he assured her.

  “And bring them with you. They can meet Cooper and some of the wolves here.”

  “I think that might be just what they need. Kermit has such a small population of shifters. Maybe seeing Cooper and some of his friends will help.”

  “I’ll bring it up to Cooper,” she told him.

  “Thanks, so I’ll check the schedule and see when we can all come. Tom is still off due to his injury and I’m free, but I’ll check with Steve.”

  “Okay, I love you, bro. Be careful,” she said.

  “You too.”

  Julie hung up the call, knowing she should have told her brother about earlier but it had sounded like he had enough on his plate. She wanted to get inside anyway. She was in desperate need of a shower. She braced her hand on the ground to stand when she saw a car pull up to Cooper’s house. She tensed as the headlights washed over her. Was this someone else coming after Cooper? She gripped her cell in her hand ready to call for help if it was trouble.

  She recognized the vehicle as soon as the lights were turned off. She smiled and rose to her feet. Shelby climbed out of the car. Julie rushed forward to hug her dear friend.

  “Hey! I thought we were meeting for lunch tomorrow,” she said as she released Shelby.

  “My producer called me to cover a scene of an officer-involved shooting and I ran into Josiah and Cooper. Cooper tells me that you were there too. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” She waved away Shelby’s concern, not wanting to cause her to worry.

  “Why are you sitting out here then?”

  “I was just enjoying the night. I called my brother and was about to go inside. Want a drink?” she offered.

  “Yes,” Shelby agreed. “It’s been a long day.”

  “Come on.” Julie headed toward the house.

  “When the call came in over the radio, he didn’t have anyone else available. There’s a big party at the mayor’s fundraiser event and I was free. I agreed to cover it and now I’m glad I did. You weren’t even going to call me, were you?” she asked.

  Julie wouldn’t have. It would have never crossed her mind. Plus, she was planning on having lunch with Shelby the next day. “I was just really tired and wanted to get home.” She pulled out her keys and unlocked the door. Cooper hadn’t changed the locks while she’d been gone. It was a good thing he hadn’t because she hadn’t even thought about it when he’d left the house earlier.

  She pushed open the front door and flipped on the light switch. “Let’s go to the kitchen,” she suggested.

  Shelby followed behind her as she turned on the rest of the lights. When they got to the kitchen, Julie opened the fridge. “We’ve got beer or wine,” she offered.

  “I’ll take a beer,” Shelby replied.

  Julie pulled out two bottles. “It’s good to see you.” She grabbed the bottle opener off the hook beside the fridge and popped off both lids. “Thanks for coming to visit me while I was in Kermit. You’re the only person I saw from here.”

  “You needed to see a friendly face. I always suspected you’d come back. I just didn’t think it would take so long,” Shelby said.

  “It wouldn’t have had my dad not had the cancer scare. I’m glad I was there for my family, but I’m even happier being back.”

  “And obviously things worked out between you and Cooper.” She waved her hand around the kitchen.

  “Yes, I knew I overreacted and was scared, but I couldn’t get past what I saw. It helped after the shifters became public. I could talk to my family about Cooper, the real reason I left, and they supported both of us. They’d always loved Cooper.”

  “You have questions? That’s why you wanted to meet tomorrow. Do you want to go ahead and ask them?” Shelby offered. “Although I still want lunch tomorrow. I’m putting off my yoga class for you.”

  Julie laughed. Shelby hated yoga. Something about not being able to focus and keep her mind from racing. She didn’t understand it but for some reason, Shelby was determined to master the craft.

  “I guess I just wanted to see if you had any books or websites you could recommend. I don’t even know where to start.”

  “I’ll send you some links. I’ve probably got more than anyone else that I know about. As soon as I found out shifting was really possible, I went a bit overboard. I just find it so fascinating,” Shelby said. “Is there anything in particular that you’re worried about?”

  “Cooper asked me to move in,” Julie replied. “That got me thinking about starting a family and all the next steps. I don’t know any more about shifters than what the news has said, and there are conflicting reports there.”

  “Yes, the shifters are the biggest hot button in all of the media. While most polls show that humans accept shifters and are happy to have them out in the open, it seems like the biggest opponents always happen to be the loudest. I’ve been tracking all the forced registration bills that have been introduced and it surprises me every time. But living here in Clear Creek? Cooper is already known as one of the good guys. He’s respected on the police force and you have a strong Pack behind him. I’ve met with the Alpha and he is a very nice man.”

  “Alpha,” she repeated. She’d not gotten there yet.

  “Relax.” Shelby pushed Julie’s beer toward her. “Take a drink.”

  Julie followed Shelby’s advice. The cold brew was refreshing and gave her time to get her thoughts in order.

  “Just take things one step at a time. Cooper is a patient man—obviously, after waiting for you this long. He’ll help you through learning everything you need to,” Shelby assured her.

  “I know,” Julie agreed. “But after tonight? Watching someone take a shot at him… I want to be able to protect him. I need to be more informed so I can make sure no one tries to hurt him again.”

  “He’s a cop. That’s part of his job, but I understand.
I’ll get you the links tonight. If you have any questions, you can ask me.”

  “I promise to talk to Cooper about anything serious, but I just want to know more,” Julie said. She drank more of her beer, finally feeling more relaxed.

  “Loving Cooper will only make you stronger. From everything I’ve seen, the Pack is just one extended family. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone there wouldn’t also be willing to speak with you,” Shelby said.

  “I get nervous when I think about meeting them,” Julie confessed.

  “You’re going to have to accept the shifters. Otherwise, it won’t work between you and Cooper,” Shelby told her.

  “It’s not that.” Julie waved her hand. “I’m scared they won’t think I’m good enough. I love him but if his Pack doesn’t accept me, I don’t know what will happen.”

  “They’ll accept you. You were meant for Cooper. Even I can see that and I don’t have any special abilities. I can see you and Cooper being together for a long time.”

  “Thanks.” Julie smiled. She sure hoped so. “Let me ask you one question, though.”

  “Shoot,” Shelby replied.

  “When we have children… Will they be shifters?” she questioned.

  “Does it matter?” Shelby responded quickly.

  Julie nodded. “Yes, but not for the reason you probably think. I would love them either way. But will I be able to keep them safe if they are? Would it be better if Cooper was with another shifter?”

  Shelby grasped her hand. “That’s where you’re lucky. You have awesome friends and family and will have an entire Pack that will have your back. Any children of yours would be treasured and looked after.”

  Julie took a deep breath. She hoped Cooper’s people were as accepting as her friend.

  “To answer your question, I’m not really sure. The wolf shifters haven’t discussed that with me. They are very protective about their kids. That is going to be a question for Cooper,” Shelby said.

  Julie laughed. “If it doesn’t scare him away.”