Page 26 of Handcuffs & Honey

When his phone rang, Dominic saw it was Deputy Denali Davis calling him. “Yeah?”

“We got an issue,” Denali said. “Got a guy here filing a missing person report for Robert Martin.”

Shit. Ezekiel was already at the station. The guy moved fast. Dominic needed to defuse the situation before Ezekiel unleashed his wrath. “On my way.” He turned to Julian. “Please go inside.”

“First you tell me why you sound so urgent,” Julian said. “What was that phone call about?”

Dominic told him what Ezekiel was doing. “The last thing the situation needs is for you to show up. Ezekiel will pounce on you.”

“Literally?

“Figuratively, but possibly literally too.” And then Dominic would have to maul the bastard for touching his mate. It would be legitimate, since the Ultionem forbade anyone from interfering in a mating. And since they were newly mated, Dominic would rip Ezekiel to shreds.

“Fine,” Julian huffed, “but you better come back to me in one piece.”

“I promise you I’ll be back in one piece as soon as I handle this.”

So much for starting their honeymoon period.

Chapter Seven

Dominic hadn’t seen Ezekiel when he’d driven by. He’d been too busy making out with his mate, and he was pissed that he was interrupted. All Dominic wanted to do was take Julian home and show his mate his stamina, and now he had to deal with this bullshit.

When he stepped into the station, he saw the guy right away, because there wasn’t anyone else there that wasn’t an employee. The guy had a build to him, a head full of thick, dark hair, and an air of arrogance that was palpable.

He could see why someone like Julian—a human who was small and defenseless—would fear the wolf shifter.

“This is Mr. Martin,” Deputy Wyatt Birch said. “He’s here to file a missing person report for his son.”

Dominic looked him over and then extended his hand. “I’m Sheriff Dominic Harper.”

Ezekiel looked at Dominic’s hand but didn’t shake it. Instead, he rose from his seat at Wyatt’s desk and faced Dominic. “The last time I spoke with Robert, he was in a bar called Fearless Fox. He said he was here to win his boyfriend, Julian Sanders, back. Now his cell phone is dead or turned off, and I haven’t talked to him since.”

Win Julian over? Attacking Julian in wolf form was one hell of a way to win him over. If you asked Dominic, Robert wanted to kill Julian in that attack. He wasn’t sure if Ezekiel was lying or if Robert had been lying to his father.

“The situation isn’t that cut and dried,” Dominic said. “Follow me to my office.” He turned to Wyatt. “Grab that report for me.”

Then Dominic noticed that Deputy Denali Davis, who was across the room, was looking at Ezekiel. Denali had killed Robert, and Ezekiel wasn’t going to take that news lightly when he found out.

Wyatt nodded and started typing on his computer, more than likely sending the report to the printer.

Sure enough, before Dominic even reached his office, he heard the machine kick on. This was not going to go well. When Dominic reached his office, he waved for Ezekiel to enter first. Ezekiel did, but instead of taking a seat, the guy stood behind the chair offered to him, his arms crossed, a deep scowl on his face.

“You have a police report, so I’m going to go out on a limb and say something happened,” Ezekiel said as Dominic stood behind his desk, refusing to sit since Ezekiel was still standing.

There were actually two reports. One didn’t list Robert as a wolf shifter. Even Dominic had people he answered to, and they were human, so he didn’t want them to know that bit of information.

The other report did state that Robert was a wolf shifter, and none of the details were omitted or fudged in that one. The second report was for their records only in case the Ultionem got involved.

Dominic believed in leaving a paper trail, even if some of those papers weren’t for everyone’s viewing.

“Your son didn’t come here to win Mr. Sanders over,” Dominic stated calmly, choosing his words carefully. Even so, he had a feeling that anything he said was going to set Ezekiel off. The guy wasn’t the type who took bad news and internalized it.

“That’s exactly what he told me,” Ezekiel argued. “Are you calling him a liar?”

“I never met your son,” Dominic admitted. He hadn’t met Robert when he was alive, so he wasn’t technically lying. “Since we never met, I can’t comment on his character.”

Wyatt walked in, handed Dominic the report, eyed Ezekiel, then walked out. The report was thorough, stating everything that had happened once the deputies were on scene. This wasn’t the official report. This one—for their own purpose only—even declared how Robert had shifted into a wolf and was relentless in harming Julian. Even after Deputy Cannon Lowry had told Robert to stand down.

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