Read Online Lone Wolf Dawn (Alpha Underground Book 2) by Aimee Easterling - Free Book Online Page A

an effort to figure out the purpose of the bomb threat, and that lone sentence was now ominously etched across the insides of my eyeballs.
    You’re not welcome here.
    The gift note had been autogenerated in some distant warehouse, leaving no telling scents or handwriting to go on. But the box was addressed to my mother and the threat had been called in to her phone.
    The upshot was clear—someone was out to do Celia harm. But why? My mother seemed like the perfect fit for this small human community. Just looking at her, I could tell she mowed her lawn to the requisite height at the requisite times, that she bought food she didn’t want from school bake sales, that she never exceeded the designated speed limit on Main Street.
    Who could possibly want her gone?
    “Well?” the younger cop demanded, shaking me until my teeth rattled as he attempted to regain my attention.
    “I tried to tell you I don’t have anything to do with....”
    “Oh, so it’s just a coincidence that you spent all morning staking out the victim’s place of business?” the older officer interrupted. I flinched, and not because of being manhandled either. Nope, I was disappointed to find that the one-bodies weren’t as inept as I’d thought, having already pegged me as the stranger in town with an unhealthy interest in one of their own.
    “I was just hanging out,” I lied, then moved on to tell at least part of the truth. “I’m in town visiting family and didn’t want to get in anyone’s hair during business hours.”
    The older policeman spread his lips into what looked like a smile...but felt like a wolf playing nice moments before tearing out his opponent’s throat. “Who exactly is your family? We’ll give them a call and they can come pick you up.”
    My nostrils flared as I imagined meeting Celia for the first time while being marched home hand-cuffed like a truant teenager. I didn’t have high hopes for our eventual reunion, but that wasn’t at all the way I’d pictured the event. So even though I knew the evasion would highlight my supposed guilt, I replied with: “I’d rather not say.”
    The law-enforcement officers exchanged telling glances, then the younger cop took over with a not-really-question. “And it’s a coincidence that you’re the one we find when Celia calls in a bomb threat?” The officer still clenched my arms in a painfully tight grip, and now he turned that implied threat into actual violence as he shoved me aggressively into the porch-support post as punctuation to his words.
    Splinters cut into my cheek and I closed my eyes to prevent further damage. But the move was actually much appreciated because I was finally starting to get a handle on the situation that I’d accidentally fallen into.
    I hadn’t been able to decipher the emotions underlying the policemen’s brutality at first. But now my captor’s scent rose to the forefront, rich with both lust and protectiveness...neither of which was aimed in my direction. That, plus the younger cop’s use of my mother’s first name, suggested he had more than a professional interest in keeping Celia safe.
    My wolf growled beneath my skin and I had to work hard to stifle the sound before it emerged from my own lips. Sure, the young cop—Lambert read his name tag—seemed to be looking out for Celia’s best interests. But someone who would jump to conclusions and rough up an innocent bystander simply because she was new in town wasn’t a good enough mate for my mother.
    Match, I meant. Not mate. Grumpiness at my own mental slip had me barking back before my more rational side could remind me to keep sass to a minimum. “What are you? Her boyfriend ?” I demanded.
    Rather than answering in words, Officer Lambert shot a single look at his partner before frogmarching me down the steps so rapidly I nearly lost my footing. Pushing my head down with one large hand, he threw more than assisted me into the back seat of the police car.
    “Perhaps you’ll