Smash

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Joe

“f**k,” Joe hissed.

His bear was frantic and urging him to shift. She was beautiful. He never dreamed he’d find his mate in a police station of all places, but he definitely hadn’t planned on her being so beautiful. Her blonde hair hung at her shoulders and her green eyes had been vibrant and captivating. Even now, just imagining them he felt like he was drowning in the vast green pools.

Her smell had made him lightheaded with pleasure. Even now as she stood across the room, it was assaulting his senses, making his bear almost feral to rush to her side and inhale the beautiful vanilla scent. Joe felt his eyes begin to glow again. He shook his head, trying to focus on tracking down the rest of the witnesses. The only thing he wanted to do, though, was be with his mate.

She was a human. He struggled to digest that information. What if she were married or engaged? Joe growled then, knowing full well he’d kill any man who tried to stand in his way. One of the witnesses he had been asking question to for the past few minutes heard him growl and took several steps away from him. Joe snaked his hand through his hair. He wasn’t going to get anywhere with anybody in the state he was in.

“Rocky, think you can handle the rest of them by yourself? I’m not feeling right. I need to dip out,” Joe stated, earning himself a weird look from his clanmate.

They had all been working around the clock since the overdoses a week before. The total death count from that night had landed at twenty-five. A staggering number for a city the size of Wheeling. Their instincts had paid off with the small group of witnesses they had hustled. The young man had in fact ended up giving them the name of the dealer that had sold the laced drugs at the party.

When they had finally gone in to bust the dealer, luck had been on the clan’s side once again. The i***t had been having a party of his own, earning everyone present their own special seat in the counties holding cells. Some of them were just minors which meant they would probably end up at the worse on probation, but some of the arrestees had been well known local druggies.

The clan was especially pleased with their work, but they were all knee deep in the after effects of such a big bust. Joe felt bad dipping out on Rocky, but his mind was a blur of emotions.

“Yeah man. What’s going on with you? You look a little crazy?”

“Uh, nothing. I just picked up a weird scent. See you back at the compound.”

Joe wasn’t sure why he hadn’t just told Rocky the truth. As he made his way out of the police station, he saw her again. She was sitting by herself with her head in her hands. The sadness and guilt was rolling off of her. Joe couldn’t stop himself from going over to her to comfort her.

“No luck?” he asked tentatively.

When her eyes came up and met his, all the air left his lungs. Tear’s brimmed her eyes and Joe immediately reached out and cupped her face in his hand. The mate bond flowed like electrical currents through his body just by touching her. She gasped and pulled back. Joe knew his eyes were glowing, again. His damn bear couldn’t contain himself and would probably have her running for the hills before he even got a chance to learn her name.

“My name is Joe Darmafall,” he said, clearing his throat.

“Hi,” she whispered, her eyes still wide.

“Do you have a name?” he asked with a small laugh.

“Oh, yeah sorry. I’m Chelsie Reid.”

“Nice to meet you, Chelsie.” Joe loved the way her name rolled off his tongue. “So they didn’t let your brother out?”

“Well, they would if I had forty-five hundred dollars to get him out,” she said as the sadness crept back into her face.

“What’s his name?”

“Jeff Reid.”

“Okay, hold on a second, okay?”

Joe wasn’t sure what he was going to do for her, but he had to try. He skipped ahead of the line still forming for the bail out. After their giant drug bust, he assumed the line was going to be busy for the better part of the night. When he got to the window, he saw it was Linda working for the evening. Luck must have been on his side because Linda happened to have a thing for shifters.

“Hey, Linda.”

“Joe! How are you tonight? Great job on the bust,” she said, her face flush over his singular attention.

“Thanks. Hey, I need a favor. Can you check on a Jeff Reid for me? I need to know why he’s in here and who the arresting officer was?”

“Jeff Reid, I feel like I just heard that name,” Linda said as she began tapping away on her keyboard.

“His sister is here and she’s pretty upset. I thought I’d see if I could help her out.”

“Okay well, Mr. Reid is in here for obstruction, breaking and entering, and assault charges. The arresting officer was Mike Bodwell. He’s up for bail, though.”

“Yeah, I heard. Do you have the police report handy?”

Joe regretted telling Chelsie he would try to help. From the sounds of things, her brother deserved to be in lock up. Linda handed him the report and they said their goodbyes. When Joe turned around, he found himself on the receiving end of a glare from the woman he had cut off. He shot her a smirk and made his way back to Chelsie.

“Wow, your brother got himself in some s**t. Is that normal for him?”

“This is the first time I’ve had to bail him out of jail, but it’s not his first pile of s**t,” she said, looking defeated.

“I happen to know the arresting officer. I’ll call him and see if I can’t let him out under my care or something. I’m not making any promises and there would be contingencies as well.”

“Thank you!” she said, hope blooming in her eyes as she grabbed his hand with both of hers and held on tight.

Joe’s skin tingled all over and his bear rumbled with pleasure at her touch. Chelsie looked down at their joined hands and immediately let go.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, tucking her hands behind her back.

Joe dialed Mike’s number and waited for him to answer. The conversation was short, but ultimately Joe had been able to get Chelsie’s brother released. He hoped her brother didn’t take advantage of his generosity. When he turned back to Chelsie, she must have picked up on the fact that he had managed to get her brother released. Even though she had tears in her eyes, a breathtaking smile bloomed on her face.

“Thank you so much!”

“There are contingencies,” he warned her.

“I’m okay with that. Whatever they are, he’ll do them. I can’t thank you enough for getting him out.”

Before he could continue to the contingencies, she launched herself into his chest and hugged him tight. Joe hesitated for a second, blown away by the amazing feeling of his mate against his body. Then he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tighter than was probably customary for a stranger to hug a woman. She didn’t seem to mind so he held her for a few more seconds.

“Thanks,” she whispered again as she took a step back.

“Contingencies,” he said sternly. “He will be under my care, so he’ll be staying with me. You’ll be welcome to visit him. He’ll be expected to work and keep his nose clean until his court date. Once the judge gives him a sentencing, there will be nothing more I can do. I’ll also be giving him random drug tests. The last thing I need is a druggie living under my roof.”

“Joe Darmafall?” an officer called out.

Joe waved his hand in the air without taking his eyes off of Chelsie. The officer shoved her brother over to them and then held up the paperwork for Joe to sign. Chelsie hugged her brother.

“Thank you for bailing me out.”

“I didn’t. He did,” Chelsie said pointing to Joe.

“Who’s he?” her brother asked, annoyance clear in his voice.

“He’s the guy that saved your ass, so say thank you and don’t be a d**k,” Chelsie said, poking him in the chest.

“Why, what is he your boyfriend?” Her brother’s agitation growing.

Joe felt like grabbing the punk and shaking the s**t out of him. Not only had his sister just spent her entire night in a police station trying to bail him out, but Joe had put his name on the line to get him out of jail. The i***t was inching closer to landing himself back in the holding cell until his day before the judge. Joe didn’t have the time or energy to deal with a prick like Jeff.

“I’m not her boyfriend. Either accept my help or go back into the holding cell. Your choice,” Joe finally said.

“I’ll go back to the holding cell.”

With that, her brother walked back to the officer that had just dragged him through the police station and started talking to him. Chelsie ran after him. Joe already regretted getting involved, but seeing his mate in distress wasn’t something he could tolerate. He approached them and asked the officer to give them a minute before doing anything. The officer nodded.

Joe led Chelsie and Jeff outside of the police station.

“I’m not f*****g going anywhere with some rent-a-cop. I thought you were going to bail me out?” her brother whined.

“I can’t afford the bail, Jeff. It’s not like I have forty-five hundred dollars just lying around. You’re lucky Joe offered to pull some strings. He’s not a rent-a-cop. You’re not a rent-a-cop, are you?” She turned, directing her last question to him.

“No, I’m not a rent-a-cop,” he supplied.

“Call Mom and Dad and see if maybe they could loan you the money. You can’t tell them it’s to bail me out, though.”

“Damnit Jeff, I’m not getting money from Mom and Dad by lying about it to them. Quit being ungrateful. Take the deal and let’s go. Some of us have to work tomorrow.”

“Oh yeah, I see. I’m just a waste of your time, right!” her brother said, his voice rising to a level that was agitating Joe’s bear.

“Hey buddy, don’t raise your voice to her,” he growled, his voice low.

“Dude, I don’t even know who the f**k you are. Why don’t you just go back inside until my sister and I are done talking,” her brother yelled before turning back to Chelsie, dismissing Joe altogether.

Joe grabbed his arm to turn him back around. When he did, her brother turned and started swinging. Joe’s bear forced the shift. He had been on the edge for too long. The punk threatening him had been the last straw. Joe rose to the full height of his bear and roared.