Page 5 of Cuffed By the Wolf

She told me she couldn’t be tied to an alpha sheriff — couldn’t spend her life waiting to find out if today was the day I didn’t come home. She was gone within the week. Settled down with another alpha a few months after that, and from everything I heard, she was happier with him than she’d ever been with me.

I still don’t know if it was really the job. I never got the chance to ask.

Nine months later, some campers who didn’t know how to handle a rifle killed her on a run in the next county over.

I don’t run like I used to. When I do, it’s with Tyson, or Jax, never alone anymore. All I do now is work. I’ve stopped looking for a mate — stopped wanting to. There are omegas in town who know the arrangement during a rut and don’t ask for more than that. It’s enough. It has to be.

The town calls me grumpy. I’m not grumpy. I’m serious about the only thing I have left to be serious about. My career.

Sometimes I look up at the Moon Goddess and tell her not to bother sending my true mate. I’ll reject her on principle.

Then today I arrest a five-foot-four woman with honey-brown braids down her back, a diamond-shaped face, caramel skin, a stubborn mouth, and amber eyes I don’t want to think about twice.

I don’t think about my prisoner. Tomorrow I’ll put her back on the road to wherever she came from, and Morgan goes back to normal.

Walking past the holding cells, I keep my eyes forward; don’t look at her. Outside, something sweet catches on the air — gone before I can place it. Bakery, probably. Down the street.

Tomorrow I’ll question Walker, get my answers, and send her out of my town. I don’t like what I feel standing near her.

She has to go.

Chapter Three

SASHA

The ruggedly handsome, grumpy sheriff put me in jail.

Sitting on the bench in my solo cell, I pull my jean-clad legs into my chest. Thankfully, I’m wearing a form-fitting pink blouse with puffy sheer long sleeves. They provide some kind of warmth since the air conditioning in here is set to blizzard. I’d bet money that’s done on purpose.

Did Everett and Breann get locked up too? Or just me and my smart mouth? Bet they cooperated.

“If I have to work the secretary job and mine one more time, I will lose it,” a woman grunts, coming into earshot.

“Barb, we all have to chip in,” another voice says.

I remember the sheriff calling the woman who processed me Campbell.

“Well, I’ve got enough to do managing the calls coming in from residents,” Barb sighs.

Leaning closer to the bars, I glance at the two women.

Campbell puts a hand on Barb’s shoulder. “I’m sure the secretary position will be filled soon.”

Barb nods. “Yeah. I hope it’s a quiet night.”

She walks off toward another room.

This gives me a great idea. I need to find out who set me up. What better way to do that than working right here at the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department? It’s not like I have a job waiting back in Charleston. My business is temporarily shut down, thanks to whoever decided to gut it out from under me.

Hugging my legs, I rest my forehead on my knees and let myself grunt out loud, because my life is a mess and there’s no one here to judge me for saying so.

I should get some sleep. Lying down on the unforgiving steel bench, I curl into myself and stare at the beige wall, running through what happens if I actually get this job. I’d have to see and inhale Sheriff Drake every single day. How will I survive that?

Positive thoughts. This is about finding out who destroyed my business, then getting out of town as fast as I can.

Before things go horribly wrong.

When an officer sits me down in the interrogation room, I have no idea what time it is. I was half asleep when he walked me in here. I wish I could see a mirror, because the bags under my eyes have to be the size of sandbags by now. A good skincare routine keeps that youthful glow — I may be thirty, but that doesn’t mean I want to look it. I always lean toward youth.