Then there was the weird part about the omega protecting two betas. From what they knew about werewolves, a protective omega was an oxymoron. When Max pointed that out, Cooper shrugged.
“I had a hard time believing it, too, but Kari said the omega showed up out of the blue and started taking care of them. He seemed as shocked by his own behavior as they were. I’m trying to imagine an omega sacrificing himself for anyone, and I just can’t see it. But I think the rules are changing now that the hunter threat is growing.”
Max shook his head. The SWAT Pack still had no idea how word had trickled out that Dallas was a safe haven. All they knew was that scared werewolves had been showing up at the compound in ones and twos every few days since mid-August. Most of the new werewolves were betas, but there were also a surprising number of omegas and even a few alphas. They’d stop by to check in and make sure it was okay for them to be in the Pack’s territory. Gage would welcome them in and make sure they had a place to stay along with work and enough to eat. Gage was doing his best to keep a head count, but staying on top of the incoming was getting harder by the day. There had to be at least forty new werewolves in Dallas at the moment. That was insane.
Inside the admin building, Max heard Gage’s office door open. He sighed. Might as well go in and get this over with.
Cooper must have heard, too, because he smiled. “Remember. Look really apologetic. And no matter what, refrain from telling Coletti you’ll probably end up doing the same thing all over again next week. People like him frown on that kind of honesty.”
Max lifted a brow. “So in other words, lie to him?”
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 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 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.”
