Read an Excerpt
Copyright © Crissy Smith 2015. All Rights Reserved, Totally Entwined Group Limited, T/A Totally Bound Publishing.
“Stop! Police!” Cooper Grainger shouted as he followed his suspect down the fire escape.
Of course, the idiot didn’t stop. Instead, the skinny moron glanced over his shoulder at Cooper, stumbling when he saw how close Cooper was. His eyes widened almost comically, and if Cooper wasn’t trying to intimidate the man he would have laughed. At six foot tall and a solid mass of muscle, Cooper felt like he was chasing down a kid instead of the thirty-five-year-old junkie. The drugs and alcohol Kenny had consumed most of his life had taken a toll on his physique. He couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred twenty pounds. He was severely underweight.
“Come on, Kenny!” Cooper yelled. “You know I’m going to catch you.”
They were almost at ground level. The four flights down hadn’t affected Cooper but Kenny was rasping and panting. Cooper stomped down in his black, beat to hell combat boots. He wore his usual uniform of faded jeans and a black T-shirt. Tonight he’d included a tactical vest, just in case someone decided to take a shot at him.
He knew his appearance sent fear into the men and women who were dragging his city into the gutters. He used it to his advantage as often as possible and the full impact when dressed like he was added to his dangerous stature. The creeps that he’d been dealing with lately needed a good scare. Cooper was determined to bring them all down.
“You’re just making this harder on yourself,” Cooper shouted at Kenny.
“Screw you, Grainger!” Kenny screeched. He turned his head again, causing him to miss the next step. Kenny shrieked as his arms flailed, and he went crashing down.
Cooper slowed, watching him fall. It wasn’t far enough to injure Kenny, but it would put an end to his stupid escape attempt.
Cooper stopped following and stood with his hands on his hips as Kenny lay sprawled on the ground at the feet of his partner. Josiah Burns looked up at Cooper with a familiar smirk.
“He ran?” Josiah asked in his deep southern drawl.
“He ran.”
Shaking his head, Josiah reached down and hauled Kenny to his feet. “Really, man? Every time?”
“I didn’t do nothing,” Kenny claimed, but his eyes were darting all around nervously.
Cooper had worked too long in the narcotics department of the Clear Creek, Missouri Police Department not to know the signs of a lying suspect. “Three dead.” Cooper stepped closer to where Josiah was holding Kenny up. “We want to know what new shit has hit the streets.”
“I don’t know!” Kenny wailed. “I swear!”
“Then why did you run?” Josiah asked, shaking him.
“I see cops and I run. It’s like…built in,” Kenny claimed.
Cooper met his partner’s gaze. The look that passed between them was one that had been practiced over many years. Kenny wasn’t being completely honest and they both knew it. While Josiah just had a really good ability to read people, Cooper used his wolf shifter senses to pick up on the signs that Kenny was showing and trying to hide. The nervousness and desperation was a bitter scent to his nose. They’d busted Kenny many times over the years, and while he did always try to escape, he was more anxious this time. Sometimes Kenny even gave them tips. The fact that he hadn’t even hesitated before taking off told Cooper a lot.
He growled, leaning his face closer to Kenny’s.
“Okay, okay. Maybe I heard some stuff,” Kenny said as he held his hands up. “But I don’t have nothing to do with any of it.”
Cooper didn’t bother correcting Kenny’s grammar. Kenny was actually more together than most of the poor souls that had given their lives over to drugs. “Why don’t you tell me and I’ll decide how involved you are.”
“Sure, man, I’ll do that,” Kenny promised.
Cooper didn’t like the way his eyes rolled from side to side. Breathing deeply, he concentrated on the scents around him. Not an easy thing to do with the stink of the dumpster mixed with piss and vomit from the back of the bar.
There… He could smell someone approaching. He jerked his chin at his partner. “Backup?” Cooper asked Kenny.
Kenny’s eyes widened even more and his jaw dropped open.
