Purr For The Alpha (A Paranormal Romance) (Timber Valley Pack) Read Free

legs scissoring impatiently.
    Her body was rigid as she sat down, nodding at him curtly. “Mr. Battle. How have you been?”
    “Mr. Battle?” he scoffed. “I think we’re past formalities, aren’t we, Karen?”
    “Ty,” she conceded, with a pained smile.
    “Long time no see, Karen,” he said. She flushed, looking away. Good, she should be embarrassed.
    “So, we both know why you’re here,” he continued.
    She nodded.  “Yes. The Battle family had my father arrested on the flimsiest of charges, and you’ve been holding him for two days now,” she said.
    “He was trespassing on our land.”
    “H e’s a lynx! He was roaming in the forest, and accidentally wandered on to your land, where, might I add, there are no signs up or fences indicating a property line! Since when do you care where shifters roam? When was the last time a shifter actually pressed charges for trespassing?”
    Ty shook his head at her chidingly. He had to give her credit for trying, but he wasn’t letting her wriggle out of this one. “He also stole tens of thousands of dollars worth of property from us, and he caused thousands of dollars to our building when he broke in.”
    “You haven’t charged him with that, so I am assuming that there’ s no evidence proving your claims.”
    Ty shook his head. “You’re assuming incorrectly. Sheriff Battle went out to the site, and picked up your father’s scent inside our shop.  He is certified in Scent Evidence. His testimony is legally admissible in court, if it gets that far.”
    A faint frown creased her forehead, and then vanished.
    “He’s a member of your family,” she said curtly. “Your cousin Steele, isn’t he? Vince Battle’s nephew? No offense, but that makes him less than impartial. I could challenge that in court.”
    “You could try.  Sheriff Battle has an excellent reputation in these parts, and your father’s reputation speaks for itself.”
    She let out an impatient breath, and shifted in her chair. He could see the tension radiating through her body; she was clutching the arms of her chair so hard her knuckles were white.  “If you’re so confident of your case, why haven’t you charged him yet?”
    Because I wanted leverage against you , he thought. “I wanted to see what you had to say, before we proceed with a full-on criminal trial.”
    She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. “Well, Mr. Battle, I believe-”
    His phone rang, with the ring tone that told him it was his cousin, Sheriff Battle, calling. Puzzled, he rose from his seat and walked out of the room as he answered the phone.
    “ Hey, I’m in a meeting,” he said, shutting the door behind him. “Can this wait?”
    “I know you’re meeting with her. I wanted to fill you in on what we just found,” Steele said.
    Ty listened for a minute, thanked him, and then hung up. He walked back in to the room and sat down. Karen raised an eyebrow questioningly, but he was sure that she already knew what the call was about.
    “So, where were we?” She looked considerably more confident. Yep. She knew.
    “The most amazing thing just happened,” Ty said. “Sheriff Battle got an anonymous phone call a little while ago, leading him to our stolen property, which had been left outside in a field in our property.” He wondered who had made that call. Her brother? He was a little young. Probably her best friend Isadora, a troublemaker if he’d ever met one.
    “Great!” she said brightly, relief in her voice. “So, I guess we can let bygones be bygones now, and release my father from custody, right?”
    “Wrong. First of all, there’s the damage to our property that occurred when your father broke in. Secondly, while some of the saddles were covered in plastic, two of them weren’t, and they were damaged by rain and are now unusable. Two very nice hand tooled ladies reining saddles. You’re welcome to inspect them if you question their condition.”
    The smile faded from her face . “No,