Part 61 (2/2)

Cooper's features hardened as he stepped toward them. He turned his back on the crowd, and talked to the men, exchanging information in low voices. The men walked back to a police car. Cooper stayed where he was.

So what was he doing, looking for the portal that he'd said flat out he didn't believe existed?

Or did he think this convenience store had a tunnel in the back where drug smugglers were coming in from the next county?

Yeah, that was probably it! Logan gave a bark of a laugh. And the drug smugglers had sprayed the area with a hallucinogen, so Cooper thought they were invisible. That would work as a rationalization. Logan was sorry he hadn't suggested it to the detective instead of that wild story about alternate universes.

A crowd of people, including the clerk who had ratted him out, were standing in back of the yellow tape, staring at the store.

Cooper folded his arms across his chest and stared at the building.

As Logan watched the scene, he knew something was wrong. Something he wouldn't have been able to articulate even if he'd been in human form. He felt a thickening in the air, a building pressure that he didn't understand. But on a subliminal level, he knew something bad was about to happen.

Beside him Ross growled. Lance pawed the ground, and he knew that they felt it, too.

He looked from one of them to the other, then dashed out of the woods. Skirting the crowd, he ran toward the detective, who glanced up in astonishment as he saw a wolf-or maybe a German shepherd heading straight toward him. A wolf wearing a backpack.

Logan made a yipping sound.

As Cooper stared at him, he grabbed the man's sleeve, tugging at him, tugging him away from the building.

Come on. Come on, he silently shouted. But the words stayed locked in his throat.

Someone in the crowd gasped. Then more gasps and screams erupted as two other wolves joined the scene. One of them got behind Cooper and pushed. The other one grabbed his free arm and tried to move him away from the building.

Logan felt as though time had slowed down. Each second was like the frame of a movie held in suspended animation on the screen.

Somewhere in the neighborhood, he heard a dog howl, then another.

”Get the dogs off him,” someone shouted.

”Those are G.o.dd.a.m.ned wolves,” another voice called out.

Some people backed away. Others moved in closer for a better look.

”Turn me loose. What the h.e.l.l are you doing?” Cooper shouted, trying to wrench himself free.

Luckily Ross had his right arm, because that kept him from going for the sidearm in his shoulder holster.

A man left the scene and ran toward his truck, and Logan hoped to h.e.l.l he wasn't coming back with a gun. Would he be stupid enough to shoot into the middle of a crowd if he got to his weapon?

Every self-protective instinct urged Logan to turn and run. From Cooper. From the crowd. But he knew he couldn't abandon the detective, even if he didn't understand exactly what was wrong.

He found out in the next second as an enormous clap of thunder split the air.

Screams erupted from the onlookers, as the building exploded, sending a shower of debris into the sky, which rained down around the crater where the store had been.

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