Free Rebel Wolf (Shifter Falls Book 1) by Amy Green Page B

do you know. I don’t like him either,” Ian said.
    “Then this is the perfect time for you to get the hell out of town,” Heath had said.
    “I just got here,” Ian had replied, “and I don’t intend to leave.”
    That was all it took. They’d ended up in the parking lot out back, trading punches. Heath was a good fighter, strong and vicious, but Ian had been training in the cage, and after living homeless for three years he was tougher. Heath was living the good life, high in Charlie’s favor and spending his days scoring women, and he hadn’t been bloodthirsty enough.
    After Heath had backed off, everyone left Ian alone.
    Now Ian walked down Howell Street with the Tucker brothers behind him and Anna at his shoulder. He could smell nervousness coming from her, and tension, and her relentless curiosity, but he couldn’t smell fear. That was good. He was glad he’d given her the knife.
    They wound their way past the aftermath of the grizzlies’ fight: the overturned car, the smashed shop windows, the broken street lamps. Ian gave the brothers a glare back over his shoulder, and they both looked sheepish, even Quinn. The mess led to the doorway of a bar called the Black Wolf, where workmen were picking up glass from the sidewalk and trying to repair the splintered doorframe.
    This was the right place. He could smell Heath here. He led the others inside, where more workmen were carting away broken furniture and cleaning up splintered dishes. In the middle of the room stood a man in a police uniform, his thumbs hooked in his belt. Will Oliver, Shifter Falls’ human chief of police.
    Chief Oliver caught sight of them and frowned. He was a tall, powerful man, thick and heavy with both muscle and fat, his uniform pulling at his shoulders. He was about fifty, his gray hair thinning, and Ian had never known him to do a damn thing to actually keep order in Shifter Falls. “What are you doing here, Donovan?” the chief asked.
    “Where’s Heath?” Ian asked, ignoring his question.
    “Haven’t seen him. Who’s the woman?”
    Ian opened his mouth to answer, but Anna beat him to it. “Hi,” she said politely, holding out her hand to Chief Oliver. “I’m Anna Gold.”
    Of course. Anna was human. She saw a police officer, and she saw law and order, justice done. She was still thinking like a human.
    Chief Oliver ate it up, shaking her hand and smiling into her pretty eyes. “It’s nice to meet you, Miss Gold. Are you visiting the Falls?”
    “Yes, for a research project. I wonder if I could interview you—”
    “Don’t talk to him, sweetheart.” The voice came from across the room. “Talk to me.”
    Heath came out of the stairwell that led to the apartment upstairs and walked toward them. His honey-brown hair was worn longer than Ian remembered, though his face was still the same—high cheekbones, a manicured scruff of light brown beard, gray eyes with dark lashes. He was tall and long-legged and muscled, wearing a brown suede jacket that came to his hips, a white button-down shirt, and a pair of worn jeans. He looked like a rock star, down to the earring in one ear and the leather bracelets on his wrists. He gave Anna a blinding smile. Ian rolled his eyes.
    “Hi there, Anna Gold,” Heath said, taking the hand Chief Oliver had given up and shaking it warmly, holding it a little too long. “Welcome to my bar. You’re gorgeous, but you smell like my brother, which is unfortunate. Ian, stop growling at me. Chief Oliver, go away.”
    Ian watched Anna, who was staring up at Heath in that amazed way that women usually stared at Heath. It pissed him off, which of course Heath would know. Because of the smell Ian had put on her, Heath wouldn’t actually touch Anna. But he would use all of his charm on her, partly because it would make Ian angry, and partly because that was simply what Heath Donovan did.
    Chief Oliver didn’t like being dismissed. “You want me to arrest them?” he asked, pointing to the