PacksBrokenHeart by Gwen Campbell Read Free Book Online Page B

guarantee some stud over there is going to poach you away from us. What’s my guarantee you’ll come back?”
    She set her hands on her hips and shot a leg forward. It was the closest she could safely come to challenging her Alpha without being insubordinate. “Fine. If I meet someone I’ll drag his shaggy ass back here.”
    A couple of the other deputies, the older ones, chuckled. The younger ones just growled quietly.
    Cutler scowled but his brow didn’t furrow…a sure sign he wasn’t completely opposed to what she’d said. “Okay. You can go. But if you bring a mate back with you he damn well better be a plumber. I’m sick to death of having to call in a human every time the sinks in the town hall back up.”
    She stood up straighter and even felt her chin go up. “Thank you, Sheriff.”
    “ No ,” Wally blurted. He moved to stand beside her, shot her a hard look then glared at Cutler. “Equality be damned, she’d be a woman going into an unknown pack, a female deputy going into a community with a cop killer on the loose. It’s bad enough when a male cop runs into trouble on the job. When it’s a woman…” His voice trailed off.
    “When it’s a woman,” Bill Anderson, Cutler’s forty-three-year-old desk sergeant said. He stood and waded into the argument, bringing his calm demeanor and even calmer voice with him. “We feel it more. It’s not professional but men just hurt more when a woman gets hurt.” He laid his hand on Wally’s shoulder. “That doesn’t mean we should hold her back from doing the job she’s trained for. Suzanne’s one of the most dedicated, hardworking cops I’ve known. Chaining her to a desk just because we’d go ballistic if some guy punched her for trying to give him a ticket doesn’t give us the right to keep her from doing the job she was born to do.” He looked up at Cutler. “No offense intended, Sheriff, but I’m right.”
    “Well if she’s going,” Wally declared, “I’m going too.”
    Cutler leaned back on his heels. Suzanne looked up at him hopefully.
    “Looks like you’re going to Pinebridge, Young. You too, Wally. I’ll phone their interim sheriff and tell him to expect you tomorrow.” With that Cutler turned away and walked back to his office.
    “Young,” Sergeant Anderson said quietly. He gave her a brief one-armed hug then buzzed a quick kiss to her forehead. “Don’t get yourself hurt out there. Your daddy would kill me.”

Chapter Six
     
    The Saturday after Ed Timberman’s funeral Owen stormed into the barn, tracking the squeals.
    “ Hey .” He had to bellow to make himself heard. God almighty… Whoever thought two first graders could make such a racket? Ryan and his best friend Koby froze in place—leaning out of the hay loft overhead, just about to swing down a rope they’d looped over a rafter. “You two are a whole new definition of insane. The noise alone is going to drive every one of these animals berserk any minute now. The first thing they’ll do is trample the shit out of you just to shut you up. And you let go of that rope this minute, young man. If you think I’m going to let you drive that skull of yours through the floor when you fall, you have got another think coming.”
    Both boys shook—Koby more than Ryan—but they let go of the rope and backed away from the railing.
    “Better. Now get your skinny behinds down here and find something less suicidal to play at.” Hands on hips, he glared at them as they rushed down the ladder and ran past him, giving him a wide berth as they headed for the door.
    When he turned he saw Cutler and Fina standing side by side, watching him through narrowed eyes.
    “No, no, no,” Owen huffed. “You are not going to bust my balls for disciplining my own cousin.”
    “No. We’re not,” Cutler agreed then visibly relaxed his stance.
    “Good. Because as his only living relative I am his legal guardian, remember?”
    “Yes but you’ve never talked about wanting to take him