Mal walked in to the 8th Precinct and went straight to his desk. He dropped Everett's bag by his chair as he sat down. Sighing, he looked at the stack of paperwork he had to finish.
He hated when Everett was mad at him. He'd seen him shot, as a wolf, naked and going down on him. He'd seen him in so many aspects. How could he not know how he felt? Mal wasn't the kind of person to lie about his feelings, but he wasn't sure how to express them with words.
"Hey, Danvers." He looked up as his partner sat at his desk across from him. "Has Everett been 'working' again?"
Mal looked at the bag briefly. "What do you want, Carver?"
"I just brought you coffee is all." Glenn Carver sat the large cup of coffee on his desl. "And the bag smells like that kid and your house. It's easy to tell where it came from."
Carver had been Mal's partner since he'd made detective three years ago. He'd only been in town for six months when he'd gotten the promotion. Carver had come with the whole thing.
Not only that, but Carver was a part of Mal's pack. He was older than he looked which was why he'd been paired with the younger man. He was also one of the few who knew Mal was gay and was sleeping with Everett.
"What does he get out of it?" Carver asked.
"He says he uses it to come up with new ideas for his games, but I think he uses it to get back at me sometimes," Mal replied. He looked down at the bag with fondness. It gave him something to do when Everett pushed him away to work.
Carver smiled. "That boy loves you. Don't be an ass to him. Tell him how you feel."
"To do that, I'd have to tell Donovan that he already knows about us and other strange things that go bump in the night."
"New flash, Malcolm. Donovan already knows Everett knows."
Donovan Sandoval was their Alpha, but not only that, he was also police chief. He hired Mal as aoon as he drove into town and had accepted him in the pack without too many questions. He had only two rules: do your job, and keep the secret. Mal had let the secret out by accident, and things could be shaky with him doing his job.
If Donovan wanted to get rid of Everett, he would have done so by now. But somehow that little shit was still alive and grating on people's nerves with his pickpocketing.
He passed off the bag to a uniformed officer to make the calls to the owners of the wallets. He had paperwork to finish. They had no open cases but there was plenty of paperwork to do even when it was quiet.
He was elbow deep in several when his desk phone rang. He glanced at it as he typed on his computer, not answering it immediately. It stopped ringing as he reached for it. He went back to his paperwork.
"Danvers," another detective called. "You'll want to take this."
Mal put his pen down and reached for the phone. He picked up the receiver and hit the hold button.
"Danvers," he said.
"Mal, it's me. I need you to come down to Club Tails." It was Everett on the other end, and he sounded winded. Underneath it all, he sounded scared.
The hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. "Where are you?" He stood as he spoke, dread filling every fiber of his being. He saw Carver look up at the tone of his voice, mouth slowing its chewing as he waited.
"I'm in my house with Eliza. We went downstairs to get the money from the safe and there's a body pinned to the wall." His voice cracked, and someone else hiccuped beside him. "We think it's a regular but we're not sure."
"Don't go downstairs. We'll be there soon." He hung up and grabbed his jacket. It was purely fashion since he didn't need it, but his blood was running cold.
Carver fell in step behind him. He didn't have to ask because he understood. His daughters had seen a murder several years ago. He'd been just as wound up until they'd found the culprit. It was a different relationship but the same emotion.
Mal let Carver drive because he would have wrecked by now. The 12th Precinct was three miles from the club. It was on the border of the 10th Precinct and either station could have taken the call. He hoped if Everett had called the 10th that someone would have called him.
Unit cars were already on scene as well as the medical examiner. Carver stopped to get the details, but Mal went inside and upstairs. He knew exactly what door to go through, not by memory but by smell. He could smell Everett everywhere, but right now he smelled fear.
He knocked on the door and waited. The door didn't open. Mal remembered when he first told Everett what he was that he needed to be cautious of anyone coming to his house unannounced. So Everett had come up with a knock.
Mal rubbed his knuckles along the wood then rapped quickly three times. He did that twice more before the door jerked open. Everett flew out and slammed into him. Mal wrapped him up, tucking his face in his shoulder. He felt him shutter several times, his breath sticky against his neck.
"Are you okay?" he asked. He pushed the smaller man away to take inventory. "You're not hurt?"
"We're fine." Everett's voice shook almost as much as his body. "We went downstairs to prepare the deposit and do inventory and found the guy on the wall."
Mal forgot Everett owned the club as well as various other places. It was another reason the man being a thief was weird. He made enough money between his video games and the clubs he shouldn't have to do this.
"Do you have cameras?" Everett disappeared back in the small apartment only to return with a second laptop. "Give it to me. Go pack your bag. Eliza, do you have a place to stay?"
"My sister is coming to get me," the girl said. She was pale and frightened. Mal didn't blame her. Not everyone was cut out to see a dead body.
Mal waited as the two did as he said. His emotions were rampant, and with it being the full moon, his nerves were shot. He'd have to hunt tonight, but that meant he'd have to leave Everett alone.
The two came out with a backpack apiece. Mal noticed the computer bag in Everett's hand. He was bringing his life with him. All that he had was in those two bags. He didn't have much because he had been alone in life. Until now.
He followed them down into the club. Eliza's sister Ella was already there. Uniforms led her in to be with her sister. Everett didn't have any family except Mal aso he sat on the bar with his laptop to pull up his camera feed. He looked small at that moment. Something he couldn't control was happening, and he had to ask for help. Now he was put out while things went the way they were supposed to.
Carver crossed the room to Everett. Mal's hackles rose, but an eye from the older man silenced the raging wolf. The other detective wasn't a threat to the wolf's person.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"All the camera feed is saved to my computer. I'm burning the last twenty-four hours off for the investigation," Everett said.
The detective nodded. "May I ask where you were last night?"
Mal caught Everett's gaze. Wide-eyed and terrified, he asked for permission. Carver knew about them and knew their type of relationship. He'd keep it quiet until he had to turn it in. After that, only Donovan could decide what happened.
He nodded. He wasn't going to ask the man to lie to protect him. If he had to, he'd step away to make sure Everett was safe. It would hurt him deeply, but if that's what it took, that's what he'd do.
Everett straightened his back and lifted his head. "I was with Detective Danvers until eight this morning," he said.
Carver wrote quickly, face stoically calm. "And what is the nature of your relationship?"
Everett's face turned red as he swallowed hard. Mal wished he could step in, but he had to let Everett answer for himself to secure an alibi. He wasn't lying because the time of death was between three and six am. Everett had been with Mal at that time because his call log said he'd called him at quarter to two.
"We're partners," he heard Everett answered. There was a slight pause beforehe said, "We've been sleeping together for the last several months." He swallowed hard. "We were having sex last night. I left his house at eight this morning so he could go to work."
He was embarrassed. Everett wasn't sure who all knew about him, and he was concerned about people finding out. Mal guessed he didn't want the detective judged for his sexual preferences.
But he told Carver, one of two people who already knew about his preferences. Now that he knew that Donovan had known all along, he didn't feel so bad having Everett talk about it. The only thing that could potentially get him in trouble was if he let his relationship interfere with this investigation.
"How often do you spend the night with Detective Danvers?" Carver was good at questioning witnesses. He was non threatening with a gentle voice. He could get them to talk comfortably.
"Two or three nights a week. Sometimes he comes here. It just depends on our schedules."
"Have you had any trouble with your regulars lately?" Mal's partner was flawless in his questioning. Mal would have preferred to do it, but it would be considered a conflict of interest. So he had to make due with letting Carver do it.
"Usually the only people I have any issues with are drunk gay men who get handsy. If they fight, they take it outside. But their attire usually keeps them from fighting in public for too long. If anyone had any issues, they didn't bring it here." Everett pulled a jump drive from his computer and handed it to Carver. "This is the footage from ten pm to eight am. It encompasses the hours of operation, the two hour clean up, and the times when no one should be in before I come down for inventory and take the till to the bank."
Carver took the device and tucked it in a bag. "You'll have to close up for several days."
Everett nodded. "I know. I have a place to go."
The second detective nodded and went to his partner. Mal waited on him, curiosity written on his face. He'd heard the entire conversation with his wolf hearing, but there was more going on in the head of his partner.
"Did you smell it when we walked in?" he asked.
Mal nodded. "Vaguely, but I was preoccupied. It's a wolf but not one of ours."
"Exactly. Whoever it was should have made himself or herself known to Donovan. But Donovan was hunting with the pups last night."
"You'll have to call Ezra. Maybe he heard something." Then he immediately shook his head. "No, Ezra would have told Donovan by now."
"Could it be someone you knew from Spokane?"
Mal inhaled deeply, taking every scent into his lungs. There were hundreds of different smells, but the only ones he recognized were Everett's and Eliza's.
"I don't recognize anyone other than those two," he said.
Carver sighed then nodded. "All right. Take Everett home. I'll take this back to the station and have one of the techs look it over. Everett will have more answers than we will soon, but he has to stay out of this case. I'm afraid it will only get worse."
"Do you think someone is targeting me?"
"I don't think it's you. I think it's him." Mal looked at Everett. His face was scrunched up in worry. "I think something happened in his past that he doesn't remember. Now it's come to find him. One thing is for sure. Nothing human killed that man."
Mal groaned as Carver walked over to the uniforms. If something was after Everett, they had to find out before it killed him. Mal wouldn't be able to take that if it happened, and he'd go lone wolf until he got his revenge.
He walked over to the man on the bar and ran his hand down his back. Everett didn't look up, eyes glued to his computer. He was watching CCTV footage from yesterday. From the looks of it, he was looking from closing hours to opening. He would look at business hours of last night later.
"Ev, let's go home," Mal said. The other man didn't move, eyes watching the screen intently. So he got right by his ear. "Baby, let's go."
Slowly, Everett looked up. His eyes were wide with shock as he spoke endearments. Mal didn't want to embarrass him further so he didn't say anything.
"Why are you talking like that?" he asked. "You've never spoken like that even during sex."
"We need to get you out of here. You'll be staying with me until we solve this." Everett squinted up at him. "You don't have anywhere else to go. I'll be damned if I leave you alone."
"Mal…"
"No." This time it was part man, part beast talking. Everett's eyes widened. "Get your shit together and let's go. I'm not asking again."
Everett looked at him with a darkened face. "Were you asking before?"
Mal watched him pack his stuff then helped him slide off the counter. He took his bag and escorted him out the back door. The uniforms were dusting for prints and the powder got in his nose. He pushed on one nostril to clear it then did the same with the other. He inhaled to reset his lungs.
"Mal?" He vaguely heard Everett's voice as his nose picked up a scent that definitely shouldn't be back there. "Mal? What is it?"
"Wait here," he ordered.
Mal wandered down the hallway a little further until he reached the stairs that led to the apartments. He found Eliza's and Everett's, but there was someone else he didn't recognize. He cursed himself for not seeing it earlier but getting to Everet had to come first. His wolf wouldn't be quiet if he didn't.
Now as he separated the scents, he could tell one didn't belong and it was fresh. So fresh that he knew they had been here only moments before Everett had returned. He had literally just missed him. He pulled out his phone and dialed Carver.
"There's a scent that doesn't belong on the stairs," he said. It took everything he had not to lose his temper. "It goes straight to the apartments above the club."
Carver cursed on the other end. "Get Everett out of here. I'll take a look at it. Don't be surprised if you get some visitors tonight."
Mal went back downstairs and collected Everett. Luckily he didn't move so ushering him out the door was easy.
Everett handed him the keys and held his bags close. Mal waited until he was ready before starting the motorcycle and revving the engine. Once Everett was holding on tightly, the man peeled away to get the person behind him to safety.