Plainclothes officers and some uniforms were milling around the sidewalk, and a few cruisers and unmarked cars were parked along the street. Police tape blocked a nearby alley and the front of the bar from public access.
I noticed there was a coroner’s van but no ambulance, which didn’t bode well. No one at the scene seemed to be in any particular kind of rush, as if there wasn’t any urgency to the situation.
We got out of the car and approached the police tape, where a young woman in a uniform was standing. She let out a yawn, barely paying attention to her guard position, since there were no busybody bystanders nearby.
“Hello?” I waved.
She glanced up, her long black bangs hanging directly in her eyes. I put her age at about twenty. Considering the dark purple bags and ashen skin tone, I was betting she was just wrapping up her overnight shift and didn’t get to see much daylight on her normal rotation.
“Can I help you?” Her fingers hovered over her side arm but didn’t undo the clip. Little jumpy. She gave the three of us a look like we were a distraction she wasn’t willing to give much time to.
I glanced over at Magnolia, who had more of the necessary details than I did, feeling vaguely stupid for not getting more information before we arrived.
“We’re here for Emmett Hardy and Mason Terrell,” she supplied.
“Are you their lawyers?” the officer asked, bored again.
“I’m their Alpha.” Now it was my turn to jump in.
“Oh.” She paled for a moment, then rebounded by giving me a dubious expression. “Really?”
Ugh, this crap. “Yes.”
“No offense, but you look more like a college girlfriend trying to use the Alpha legal loophole to get access.”
Uh, offense taken, lady. Wilder stiffened next to me, and Mags might have been ready to shift right there and tear the girl’s head off. Personally, I wasn’t any more impressed with the treatment than either of them, but the fact of the matter was, I was only twenty
-one. I resembled a college student because four months ago I’d been one.
But I was also a motherfucking Alpha, and I wasn’t going to be talked down to in front of my subordinates.
“Can I speak to someone in charge? Or if you’d prefer I can call your captain and let him know you didn’t provide me access to my pack members upon request.”
Now she went extra pale as the realization sank in I hadn’t been lying. With that one demand, she knew I was exactly who I claimed, and I was also about to repeat her insult to her boss.
“The c-captain isn’t at work yet.”
“I can wait. I need to get his number anyway,” I replied coldly, pulling my cell phone from my bag. I had no desire to call the captain, and I knew she didn’t want me to either, but I had to let her know how serious I was so she would put up a reasonable counteroffer. The officer wanted me out of her face, and I wanted my wolves. We had to be able to find a common middle ground that didn’t cost her her job.
She glanced over her shoulder, as if hoping someone would appear and miraculously save her. Spotting someone who fit the bill, she said, “One of the detectives in charge of supernatural offenses for the precinct is still here. Would you like to speak to him?”
I bristled at the idea that supernatural offenses was the name of a department, as if werewolves and vampires were extra offensive somehow, but I didn’t bother complaining about it. She was human, and at this point I’d made her so uncomfortable she was willing to let me speak to someone with authority. I’d take it.
“Please.”
She waved to a man exiting the alley. “Detective Perry, can you come here for a minute?”
I heard him mutter, “What fucking now?” under his breath.
Werewolf hearing was super fun sometimes.
When he spoke at a volume we were meant to hear, he said, “What is it? I’m just about to head back to the station.”
“There’s a gir…a woman here about those two werewolves in custody.”
“A lawyer?” His gaze brushed over me, but the question was for the officer and not me, so I didn’t answer.
But seriously, way to bury the lede, lady.