Page 44 of Someone Else's Wolf

"And what do you know about it?" I scowled at my partner.

He crushed his juice bottle one-handed. He was way too strong and cool. He didn't even have to try. "A great deal, I should imagine. Seeing from the outside."

He fixed me with a look. "I know you don't believe me. But I think he's very serious about you. I'm not saying that because he's a wolf and 'that's how they are' this time. I'm saying it because I've seen him with you, and whatever he tells himself, whatever he tells you, he can'tnotbe serious about you, even when he tries.

"He does care. Whether that's enough, or more real than his feelings for his mate, I couldn't say. But it would be a shame to ruin something good because you refuse to see it for what it is."

I took a shaky breath. He really needed to shut up. Instead of telling him that, I found myself saying, "Oh? And what is it, really?"

"A great deal of comfort to you both — and he hasn't dared admit to himself how much he needs it. He adores you, can't stay away, and you love him. I think you'd both better start being honest with yourselves, or this will end in tears."

Tears. What the fuck did he know about tears? It had already happened; I'd cried myself to sleep the night Peter told me. It didn't matter if I had a right to feel how I did, or if it was sensible, or if I should just be reasonable about the whole thing. It still fucking hurt.

#

"Shane. Are you awake?" There was a woman's voice at the other end of the line.

It was almost exactly two monthsafter I had broken up with Peter that I got the call.

"Yes? Who is this?" I asked cautiously. I didn't know many women who would call me in the early morning, much less sound so annoyed with me about it.Hey, lady, your fingers did the walking.

"Sue Honeycutt." She cleared her throat. "From the precinct. We used to work together." She sounded embarrassed about that.

Great. Just who I wanted to hear from. Not only was she annoying on her own behalf, but her voice reminded me of Peter. It still hurt a lot to think of Peter.

"Yeah, okay. I haven't forgotten you. What do you want?"

"My partner." She sounded like it cost her something to say the words. "He...needs help."

"What? What's wrong with Peter?" My stress levels skyrocketed.

The breakup had been hard. He'd been respecting my wishes by staying away, not contacting me, but he'd let me know he didn't want to end "what we had" as he put it. I was no longer sure we'd had anything in the first place. I'd walked away.

I hadn't heard from him since, and I'd been working hard to keep myself from checking on him to see how he was doing, if he missed me, if I'd left anything at his place, or any other stupid excuse I could find. I'd made a decision, and I was going to stick with it, even if the days were hard and the nights harder still.

One thing I knew for sure was that Sue wouldn't call me about him without a very good reason, something big enough to override her feelings about me. Was Peter hurt? What if he was... No, I didn't even want to think that. He wasn't the type of guy to do anything stupid, and he certainly wouldn't hurt himself over me even if he had been.

"What?" I asked Sue again, sounding stupid, still half-asleep enough to wonder bad things.

She sighed heavily. "Look, I thought you were a mistake all along. But Peter was a lot happier with you than he is with..."

He'd taken up with someone else. I knew it. Well, of course; why wouldn't he? He'd probably be happier since he didn't want anything serious, and someone new probably wouldn't be as serious and invested as I foolishly had been.

Or maybe he'd actually had that talk up front this time, and they knew what they were getting into.

"Who?" I asked, gritting my teeth. If it was someone else from the precinct, did I really want to know? But curiosity is a hard mistress.

"His so-called mate. He's out of jail on parole, and he's a lot worse than you were. Peter's not sleeping well, not eating right, and I can't get the guy to move out and leave him alone. Peter won't stand up to him, and he looks like he's aged ten years overnight. I need help."

It sounded like it. Knowing Sue, she'd tried a lot of other people first. I must be the last shot. It did sound like a horrifying situation, but what was I supposed to do?

"Yesterday, that piece of shit came into the precinct and made a scene. He gets a kick out of humiliating Peter, and I'm tired of it. Peter ismy partner. If he won't stick up for himself, then I have to do it — and I need your help."

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and told myself it was none of my fucking business. "How long has this guy been out?"

"Two weeks, but it seems longer. Why couldn't they throw away the key? Peter's a good guy. He doesn't deserve this chain around his neck." She sounded like a woman considering homicide. She probably knew several ways to accomplish it.

"What do you expect me to do? I'm not seeing Peter anymore. He's made it clear where his loyalties lie. If the guy makes him happy, just stay out of it."