Chapter 15

Cooper wandered into the admin building at the compound a little after seven the next morning. For the second time in his life, he was late for work. Not that he could give a damn. He had more important things to worry about. Like how fucked up last night had been. How the hell had everything with Everly gone to crap so fast?

When she’d run out of her apartment in tears, his first instinct had been to chase after her. But of course, her asshole brothers had moved to block the doorway, telling him he’d done enough damage and to leave their sister alone.

“The only reason you aren’t dead already is because you saved Everly’s life during that bank robbery,” Armand told him. “But if you go after her again, we will kill you.”

It had taken everything in him not to rip those four jerks to pieces. But he restrained himself, partly because they were right. He had caused enough damage already.

So, he’d stood there glaring at them for fifteen minutes until they finally left. He’d thought about putting out a BOLO on Everly’s car, but then realized that was stupid. What the hell would he do if a cop found her and pulled her over? If she was still in the same emotional state she’d been in when she left her apartment, the officer would probably take her into police custody for her own good. He hadn’t wanted that, so instead, he prayed she’d be okay.

In the middle of the night, when she’d shown up at his place, her eyes red from crying and full of fresh tears, he’d wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and never let her go. But she couldn’t even stand to be near him. Things had just gone from bad to worse after that. Why the hell had he agreed to shift in front of her? That had to be the dumbest thing any werewolf had ever done.

He had followed her that time, but at a safe distance so she wouldn’t see him, just to make sure she made it home okay. Then he’d sat in his Jeep a couple blocks down the street for the rest of the night, both to make sure she didn’t go out again and to figure out how to fix the mess.

He hadn’t come up with anything. All he’d done was berate himself for not telling her his secret earlier. Not that it would have helped. What kind of cruel fuck was fate to let a werewolf fall in love with the one woman on the planet whose mother had been killed by one of his kind?

So much for love conquering all and her being The One. Then again, maybe she was The One for him, and he’d just fucked it up. The folktale only said every werewolf had that one perfect soul mate out there. It didn’t say they were guaranteed to be together. Quite obviously, he was so good at fucking things up that he’d even screwed up a fairy-tale romance.

Unfortunately, even though Everly was completely sickened by the mere sight of him now, Cooper was still head over heels in love with her. Nothing that happened last night had changed that one bit. If anything, it only made him want to protect Everly and keep her safe even more than before. That meant for now he needed to stay away from her. At least that way, one of them would be happy.

For the short term, this was the best he could come up with. Beyond that, he had no idea what he was going to do. It was strange. He was the one all the guys in the Pack came to when they had a problem. But now that he had a problem, he couldn’t think of a single good piece of advice to give himself.

Becker looked up from his computer and did a double take when he saw him. “Whoa, dude. I know you and Everly can’t keep your hands off each other, but good God, mix in a nap now and then. You look like shit.”

The rest of his squad was all staring at him from where they sat at their desks.

“Becker’s right, man,” Alex agreed. “You look like one of the zombies in the comic books you read.”

Any other time, Cooper would have laughed and flipped his pack mates the bird, but today all he did was let out a snort as he pulled out his chair and sat at his desk. Shit. He’d had his share of bad days before, but they were nothing compared to this. The woman he loved thought he was a monster, and one of his best friends was probably a killer. He should be out looking for Jim, not sitting here pretending his life wasn’t in the toilet.

At the desk across from his, Becker sat back and swigged coffee out of a mug with the words Either You’re SWAT Or You’re Not on it. “Jayna and I are doing dinner and a movie Friday night with Zak and Megan. You and Everly want to come?”

Cooper’s hand stilled on the mouse, the cursor hovering over the email icon on his computer monitor. It suddenly struck him that he and Everly weren’t going to see any more movies, or go out to dinner, or kiss, or make love. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath.

“Cooper?” Becker said. “What’s wrong?”

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Everly and I broke up.”

Shit, even saying the words hurt.

“Broke up?” Alex sat forward at his desk. “I thought she was The One?”

Cooper clicked on the email icon with more force than necessary. “Yeah, well, I guess sometimes that’s not enough.”

“What happened?” Khaki asked.

Cooper didn’t want to rehash last night, but for some reason, he ended up telling them everything, from how her family knew he was a werewolf to her brothers beating him up with baseball bats, then stabbing him last night, and finally, to Everly running out.

“I don’t think she’s ever going to get past the fact that I’m the same kind of creature that killed her mother,” he said quietly.

He knew Khaki and the guys would have hung out with him the rest of the day and talked if he’d wanted them to, and he might have taken them up on it, if the calls hadn’t suddenly started rolling in.

“We’ve got a domestic dispute on Randel,” Alex announced when he hung up. “Guy holding his girlfriend and her sister hostage.”

Cooper got up to head out with the rest of the squad, but Xander pulled him aside.

“Maybe you should sit this one out,” his squad leader said. “You had a tough night.”

Cooper snorted. “Yeah, well, something tells me they aren’t going to get any easier. I can’t sit on the bench every time an incident comes in.”

“I know,” Xander said. “But you can today.”

Maybe Xander was right. He wasn’t at his sharpest right now. If he didn’t pick up a scent or hear a bad guy coming, it could end up getting one of his teammates killed. Besides, he needed to look for Jim anyway.

Xander turned to catch up with the rest of the squad, but Cooper stopped him.

“This stuff Everly’s brothers said about the magic frigging mirror and hunters out there who spend their whole lives killing werewolves? Did Gage ever tell you anything about them?”

Xander shook his head. “No. But maybe that’s because he’s never heard of them.”

Cooper wasn’t sure what worried him more—the thought that there might be hunters out there looking to kill him and every other werewolf, or the idea that Gage might not know anything about them.

* * *

When he left the SWAT compound, Cooper had every intention of going from one cheap motel to another looking for Jim, but instead, he found himself at Delacroix’s office. It was barely after eight thirty, and she didn’t come in until nine, so he stood outside her office door and waited. He wasn’t exactly sure why he was there or what the hell he was going to say when she got there.

My girlfriend dumped me because she found out I’m a werewolf, and I really need to talk to someone?

Yeah, probably not.

He was just thinking he should go when Delacroix showed up, a cup of coffee in one hand and a stack of folders clutched in her arm. She took one look at his face and told him to come in.

“Sorry to show up without calling first,” he said as she unlocked the door.

“No worries. My first patient doesn’t arrive for an hour.” She gestured to the chairs in front of her desk. “Have a seat.”

Cooper did, then waited for her to do the same. She folded her forearms on the desk, pinning him with that sharp gaze of hers.

“So, what’s on your mind?” she asked.

He didn’t answer because he wasn’t quite sure what to say. It wasn’t like she was a drinking buddy. He wasn’t going to cry in his beer and sob about Everly dumping his ass. He was a dumb shit to even come here.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” he mumbled.

“You came here because you obviously need to talk,” she said when he started to get up. “So, talk.”

He dropped back down into the chair with a sigh. Oh, what the hell? “Remember that amazing woman I told you I was dating? The one who seemed to fit me so perfectly?” Delacroix nodded. “Well, about the time I realized I’d fallen in love with her, she decided to bail. I’m not dealing with it too well.”

Delacroix frowned. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out between the two of you. There aren’t many people out there who could handle the world in which you live, you know. It’s not for everyone.”

Cooper regarded Delacroix for a moment. Did she mean because he was a cop, or a werewolf? He still couldn’t get a read on how much the good doctor knew.

“I guess not,” was all he said.

“Just because you broke up doesn’t mean there’s no way for you two to get back together. Have you talked to her about what’s coming between the two of you?”

Cooper had spent most of last night and this morning asking himself that same question. If this had simply been about him being a cop, the answer would have been easy. But it wasn’t about him being a cop. It was about him being a werewolf. And while he would have gladly walked away from his job on the force for Everly, he couldn’t walk away from being a werewolf.

“I wish there was, but I just don’t see it,” he said quietly.

It hurt like hell to admit that, but it was true. He and Everly were never going to get back together.

The emotionless mask Delacroix normally wore slipped a little at that. She actually looked sad. “I’m sorry. As hard as it is for you to talk about what happened between the two of you, I have the hour free, and I’d be more than happy to listen.”

Cooper sat back in the chair, but didn’t say anything. He’d already talked to his pack mates. Why rehash everything with a complete stranger? It wasn’t like he could tell Delacroix the real reason he and Everly had broken up. But he could tell Delacroix about how much more amazing his life had been with Everly in it…and how he felt now that she was gone. And if a few tears misted his eyes, he and Delacroix both did their best to ignore them.