PacksBrokenHeart by Gwen Campbell Read Free Book Online Page A

symmetry of the box. The ash inside would be preserved forever.
    “I’d like to apologize for my deputy’s behavior.” Cutler’s sigh was ripe with released tension. “If you want to press charges—”
    “No,” Owen interrupted adamantly. “You’re all under a lot of stress and maybe I went out of my way to provoke her. A little.”
    Cutler shot him a discerning glare then the corner of his mouth quirked up. “Just don’t do it again while she’s on the job. Jeez, what is it with you two? You’re like oil and water and you don’t even know each other.”
    “Must be my charming personality.”
    “Must be.” Cutler sighed again. “You were right to come down on Suzanne like you did but there’s only room for one Alpha in a pack. I’m sad to say this again, Owen, but at some point I’m going to have to ask you to move on.”
    Owen’s mouth tightened but he nodded in agreement. “I don’t want to fight you.” He sighed, much like Cutler had. “I don’t want your pack or your position. And I definitely don’t want to wreck Fina’s or Ryan’s lives. They’ve been through enough upheaval for two lifetimes.”
    “Agreed.”
    The weres sat across the desk from each other, not saying anything for a moment, just watching each other and taking the measure of each other’s strength.
    Eventually Cutler spoke again. “I pegged you for a natural leader when I met you in Tennessee last summer. Guess you got good at hiding what you are while you were in the military. I did too. I also think you’ve gotten good at hiding what you are from yourself.”
    Owen’s instinct was to argue the point. But he realized he didn’t actually disagree with what Cutler said, he just had an inborn need to win. So he kept his mouth shut and accepted the cup of coffee Cutler poured for him, along with one of the apple fritters the Alpha pulled out of the bag on his desk. While they ate Cutler told him what he knew about the neighboring packs and the few out-of-state ones he was familiar with.
    When Owen left maybe fifteen minutes later Cutler’s message, while veiled in layers of politeness, was clear. It was time Owen started thinking about where to live next.
     
    Suzanne smelled the approach of the big annoying-as-hell were even before the door to Cutler’s office opened. She glared at Owen when he walked past her desk and he glared right back. Owen Wells was terrifyingly handsome and she hated him even more for it. His face was all hard edges and stark intensity. The background check she’d run on him a few days before hadn’t turned up anything. Bastard had an exemplary military record, filed his taxes on time and had only one traffic charge—a speeding ticket back in Tennessee when he was seventeen.
    She loathed the sight of him and would have trussed him up, dropped him in the trunk of a squad car and dumped him over the state line if she could get away with it.
    When the outer door closed behind him she stood up and turned to face Cutler.
    “I’m volunteering to work in Pinebridge.”
    Behind her, Wally inhaled so sharply he actually hissed.
    “Shut up, Pierce,” she barked over her shoulder. “And I’m not going there as any damn dispatcher either,” she told Cutler without bothering to temper her tone. “And now that we’re on the subject, I’m not going to work as a dispatcher here anymore either. Hire a civilian. It’s a waste of my skills and taxpayer money to pay a deputy sheriff to field 9-1-1 calls from old ladies who can’t remember where they parked at the bingo hall.”
    The corner of Cutler’s mouth twitched. “As your sheriff, I don’t have a legitimate reason to refuse. As your Alpha…” The pitch of his voice dropped into that firm, confident undertone only Alphas ever really mastered. “I also have to consider the needs of my pack. You’re a healthy, young, unmated female in a pack with more males than females. I send you to Pinebridge for three months and I can damn well