She might have been the only one who asked, but everyone dug out their money along with her, clearly wanting to buy some too.
Over the radio, Rodriguez gave the call for the other cops to move in. Alex and Remy stayed where they were. Their job was to cover the UC cop’s back and make sure the dealers didn’t do anything stupid when the cavalry charged, like try to take out him and the rest of the junkies.
At the far end of the street, the distinct sound of a gunshot echoed in the night. The people on the corner jumped, turning to look that way.
“Shit,” Alex growled even as Rodriguez shouted for everyone to move in ASAP.
Lights flashed and sirens blared, but it was too late. The junkies and dealers on the corner scattered in every direction at the same time. One of the dealers headed for the car, jumping in and squealing out of the parking lot, leaving his buddies behind.
Alex swiveled his rifle to take out the tires and saw three cops already moving to intercept the vehicle. For a normal human, chasing a speeding car would be a waste of time, but two of those cops were Brooks and Max. Getting away from two werewolves wasn’t going to be easy. Although, he wasn’t sure what his pack mates were going to do about the female narcotics cop behind them. It wasn’t like they could shift in front of her.
As much as Alex wanted to hang around and see how the chase turned out, he didn’t have time. The other two dealers had given up going after their friend and instead turned and ran right toward the alley between the two-story building he and Remy were on and the one beside it. Alex jumped up and ran for the back side of the building, slinging his rifle over his shoulder as he went. Shooting the fleeing men wasn’t an option, so that meant getting off the roof and chasing them down on foot.
“I have a beautiful redhead waiting for me in her bed, and these assholes are going to make us chase them?” Remy growled when he caught up to Alex. “They’d better not resist, or I won’t be accountable for what happens.”
Alex didn’t answer as they both leapt off the building. The concrete of the alley rushed up to meet him in a hurry, and the impact made his teeth clack together, not to mention sent a brief stab of pain surging up both legs and through his spine into the base of his skull. Werewolves could absorb a lot of punishment, but jumping off a building still hurt like hell—werewolf or not. He and Remy were up and sprinting after the dealers without pausing to catch their breath, though.
Up ahead, Alex saw one of the dealers turn back and nearly crap himself at the sight of him and Remy running down the alley behind them when there’d been no one there mere moments before. The bad guys put on more speed as they cut across a dark, overgrown area, probably figuring they could easily outrun a couple of cops loaded down with weapons, tactical vests, and all the other crap they carried. Even with all their gear, Alex and Remy easily closed the distance between them and the men they were chasing.
There were almost certainly other police officers behind them, maybe even patrol cars racing to head them off, but this part of West Dallas was filled with abandoned lots, old buildings, and lightly wooded areas. With all the twists and turns they were making, he and Remy would outdistance anyone trailing behind them. They were on their own.
He and Remy had just jumped over the remnants of a building foundation when the two dealers must have realized what they were doing wasn’t working and that they needed a new plan. Without a word to each other, the two assholes split up, one heading away down the sidewalk, the other moving deeper into the shadows of another overgrown lot.
“Watch yourself,” Remy warned as he peeled off after the guy heading down the sidewalk, leaving Alex to chase down the big guy with the beard who’d been carrying the drugs.
The thrill of the chase took hold of him, and Alex let out a growl as he ran through the hip-deep grass. He felt his canines extend a little, quickly followed by his claws. He fought for control, trying to get the fangs and claws to retract, but he was crappy at staying under control in tense situations like this. He wasn’t the only werewolf in the Pack who had that problem, wolfing out frequently in the heat of a SWAT mission, but while he appreciated the extra speed and strength that came with a partial shift, letting a suspect see him with canines hanging two inches over his lower lip wasn’t exactly a good way to keep the existence of werewolves a secret.
Alex couldn’t focus on both the dealer and his out-of-control fangs at the same time, so he stopped thinking about the latter. They would take care of themselves when he calmed down, and catching this guy with a pocket full of fireball would definitely help him do that.
For a big guy, the dealer was damn slippery. He did anything and everything to throw Alex off his trail, but none of it worked. Finally, in desperation, he made a sudden left turn and came to a stop. Tossing the baggies of drugs as far away as he could, he picked up a two-by-four from the ground and grinned.
“You fucked up chasing after me, pig. You outran your backup.”
The words probably would have sounded more menacing if the dealer weren’t gasping for breath. Alex wanted to point out that he was carrying a rifle, a pistol, and a Taser—any of which trumped the piece of wood in the guy’s hands—but that would probably just be a waste of time. Something told him the man wasn’t too bright.
The dealer rushed him with a roar, swinging the piece of wood like it was a baseball bat. Alex caught the two-by-four in his hand and gave it a sharp twist, ripping it away from the guy and tossing it aside. The move fired up his inner werewolf a little more, and he felt his fangs and claws extend even farther. All at once, the whole area around him brightened, a clear sign his eyes had shifted as well.
“What the hell?” The dealer stared at Alex’s eyes like they were glowing, which they likely were.
While Alex’s eyes might have freaked out the dealer, it wasn’t enough to keep the guy from taking another swing at Alex, this time with his fist.
Alex stepped sideways, avoiding the blow and fighting the urge to pound the jackass into the ground like a tent stake. He couldn’t let himself get any more out of control. But he could sure as hell go far enough that this guy would probably need intensive therapy for the rest of his life.
“I’d stop fighting if I were you,” Alex suggested as he fought to shift back. “Before you embarrass yourself.”
The big man didn’t seem interested in taking that advice and only lowered his head and charged Alex like a damn bull. Alex sidestepped him, slamming his forearm into the man’s back as the guy barreled past. The blow drove the dealer to the ground, shoving his face into the dirt with a thud. Alex didn’t wait for him to get up. Instead, he bent over and cuffed him before the guy got his wits back together. Then he dragged the man to his feet and walked straight over to pick up the plastic bags he’d tossed.
“That’s not mine!” the bearded man claimed, struggling against Alex’s grip.
Alex snorted. “Right. Then I’m sure your fingerprints won’t be all over the bags.”
The dealer didn’t say anything as Alex led him back to the intersection where the chase had started. Either the man was thinking about whether he really had left fingerprints on the baggies, or he was stewing over the fact that he was screwed.
Alex got back just as Remy arrived, the other dealer slung over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. The man was out cold, a nasty bruise already developing across the side of his face.
“What the hell happened to him?” Alex asked as two uniformed officers came over to relieve them of their suspects and the drugs.
“He ran into a tree,” Remy said.
