Cooper opened the door and shoved him inside. “Like your frigging life depends on it, because it does.”
When they walked in, they found Gage, Xander, and Coletti talking to the two betas and the kid.
“Xander will take you upstairs and show you around,” Gage said. “We have some cots up there you can use until we find you a place to stay. There’s a small kitchen up there stocked with food, if you’re still hungry.”
As Xander led the small pack upstairs, Max couldn’t help noticing Coletti’s shrewd, gray gaze following them.
“I’ve heard you’ve been putting people up here,” the dark-haired IA detective said. “You know the department frowns on that kind of stuff.”
Gage didn’t so much as blink. How the hell did his commander stay so cool, Max wondered. Coletti was such a rule-following d-bag it was all Max could do not to pick him up and throw him off the compound.
“They’re people in trouble who need some help,” Gage said. “I’m making sure that no department resources are being used.”
Max expected Coletti to be a dick about it, but he merely watched the two women and the kid as they disappeared up the stairs, then nodded. “Keep it low key. If Chief Curtis finds out, he’ll pull a hamstring running over here to can your ass.”
With that settled, both Gage and Coletti turned their attention to Max. While Gage’s jaw tightened, he was calmer than Max expected.
“I’ll leave you two alone to talk,” Gage said, going back into his office and closing the door.
O-kay. Max hadn’t seen that coming. He fully expected Gage to be present for the ass-chewing Max was sure was coming his way. Instead of focusing on Max, however, Coletti was eyeing Cooper. His pack mate returned the IA detective’s look with an expression that suggested Coletti wouldn’t be making it onto Cooper’s Christmas card list anytime soon.
“Cooper,” Coletti said with a little lift of his chin that guys did when they wanted to acknowledge the other person existed but didn’t want to shake their hands. “How are your anger management classes going?”
“Not bad.” Cooper smirked. “I can look at you right now without giving in to the overwhelming urge to kick your ass, so I guess they must be working.”
With that, Cooper dropped the mic and headed upstairs to join Xander and the small beta pack.
Coletti grunted, then looked at Max. “Can we go somewhere we can talk in private?”
“Not sure what we have to talk about,” Max replied. Regardless of what Cooper said, he wasn’t going to play the game. That wasn’t his thing. “You’re here to suspend me, right?”
“That depends on you,” Coletti said quietly. “Nick Wallace called a lawyer right after you left, saying you broke into his house and assaulted him. Given the number of domestic violence calls the DPD has made to that address, I don’t see this making it into court, but IA views this as a valid complaint, so if you decide you don’t want to talk to me, you’ll be suspended until the investigation is complete.”
Max came damn close to saying the hell with it and let the suspension stand, but that would piss off Gage, Xander, Brooks, Cooper, and everyone else in the Pack. So he swallowed his frigging pride and nodded.
“We can go next door to the training building,” he told Coletti.
Max led the way, expecting Coletti to lay into him the moment they grabbed some seats in one of the classrooms, but instead, the IA detective merely regarded him in silence, his face unreadable.
“I know what happened with your family,” Coletti said suddenly.
Max clenched his jaw. He wasn’t thrilled the IA detective had poked around in his background, digging up dirt, but he wasn’t surprised by it, either. And he sure as hell wasn’t about to let this dickweed have the satisfaction of knowing how much it bothered him.
“And?” he said flatly, almost expecting it when he felt the sharp edges of his fangs grazing his tongue. He was losing control every five minutes these days; why not now?
“And I understand why you reacted the way you did.” Coletti leaned back in his chair. “Given the circumstances, I probably would have done the same thing. Hell, in these circumstances, I have done the same thing.”
Max frowned. “What the hell are you saying? That you’re okay with what I did?”
Coletti shook his head. “Definitely not. You screwed up and let your emotions get the best of you. You took a bad situation and made it worse. Not only did you not get anything the DA’s office can use to stop that bastard Wallace, but you also gave his lawyers a possible wedge they can use against the DPD if we’re ever lucky enough to get this into a court. If that’s not bad enough, you embarrassed Wallace in front of his kids. More than likely, he’s going to take that out on them.”
Max cursed silently. Like he needed the reminder. The idea that those kids might get a beating because he’d screwed up tore at him like a serrated knife blade.
“So what the hell am I supposed to do?” he demanded, not caring that his voice came out as a low growl.
Coletti didn’t seem to notice. He leaned forward and locked eyes with him. “You have to stop being an idiot. Put some distance between yourself and the situation and accept that you can’t save people from themselves. You have to simply be there to offer a hand and hope the mother or that boy takes the first step and reaches out to take that hand.”
The IA detective made it sound so simple. “I’m not sure I can stand by and wait for something to happen.”
