PacksBrokenHeart Read Online Free

challenging another were. Not a law-enforcement officer doing her job.”
    Color rose in those smooth cheeks of hers. The sight of it satisfied him…and made him ease off. A little.
    Owen continued to bark at her though. “So unless there’s some other reason you’re sniffing around me the way you are, we’ll be going.” The pointed up-and-down look he gave her made the corners of her mouth lift in an unmistakable snarl. “I’d wish you a good day but I’m not feeling that charitable all of a sudden. I wonder why.”
    He stepped around her, took Ryan’s hand and headed for the café.
    “ Owen ,” Ryan called out. He sounded as outraged as the woman had. “You were mean to her.”
    “Yeah well she started it.”
    “Cutler says men are supposed to treat women nice.”
    “She’s not a woman,” Owen growled as he opened the door for Ryan. “She’s an anti-personnel device in a D-cup.”
    “What’s a D-cup?”
    “I’ll tell you when you’re older.”
     
    That evening, after Ryan was in bed, the adults sat around the living room. During a break in the hockey game on the flatscreen, Cutler stood. “I need to talk to you, Owen. In private. It’ll only take a minute.”
    Owen followed the big sheriff into the room they used as an office.
    Cutler was the same height as Owen. Two years younger, Cutler had regulation-short brown hair…which he was running his fingers through so hard Owen worried he was about to yank a patch of it out.
    “This investigation into Ed Timberman’s murder is making me crazy,” Cutler said as he crossed over to an antique cabinet set against the wall.
    “Any leads?”
    “Nothing,” Cutler answered with a harshness that was unusual for him. He was an Alpha and could be as volatile as any of them but he was also calm, centered and confident. “Some partial tire tracks, a voice recording from a disposable cell and a chewed-up bullet fragment.” He swore under his breath then opened a drawer. “Not to change the subject but I wanted to personally invite you to our next pack run. Two nights from now. The day before Ed’s funeral.”
    Cutler reached into the drawer. From where he stood Owen saw the neatly stacked cardboard boxes inside. They were small, each maybe four inches square. Cutler lifted one of the boxes out, opened it and pulled out the silver case inside. “The pack needs a run,” Cutler added absently. “I hope you’ll come.”
    The boxes were arranged in three different stacks and when Cutler opened two more boxes Owen realized they each contained a different style of silver case. One was ornate with fine filigree work and scrolling, one simple, one in between.
    “I remember my time in the military.” Cutler was looking over the silver boxes in his hand like he was trying to decide something. His expression was tense, making it obvious he wasn’t enjoying what he was doing. “How hard it was to find opportunities to run in my fur. For me, that was on furlough mostly.”
    Owen nodded.
    “I met some weres in the military,” Cutler continued. “Not many but some. Good men. We’d get together and run whenever we could, which wasn’t often.” He glanced back at Owen, smiled thinly then resumed picking over the silver boxes. “Some of them I still count amongst my best friends.”
    Finally Cutler chose the plain box and put the others back. “Ed was a simple man. He was fierce about what was right and wrong and I’d like to think he died because of those beliefs. Whoever killed him has got nothing to worry about from human justice. It’s pack justice that’ll take him down in ways that redefine pain.” Cutler snarled and the muted voices in the family room fell silent. With visible effort he lowered his shoulders, closed up the cabinet and turned back to Owen. His eyes, an aqua Owen had always thought way too pretty for a man, reflected anger and pain. “There are a lot of things about being an Alpha I love. This is one of the things I hate.”
    He