Chapter 2
It was her first day on the job and Purgatory was slowly revealing itself to be more interesting than Nicole had given it credit for.
She started the day the way she expected to, with Sheriff Nedley showing her the ropes and giving her the rundown on the standard everyday happenings at the station. It was boring, but it was protocol and Nicole was ok with that. Nedley promised she could ride-along on anything that came up but had sent her to her desk—yes, her desk—to do paperwork until such an occasion arose.
Nicole was over by the dismal little corner the staff used for their coffee machine when she felt—no, smelled—something peculiar approaching her from behind. The hairs on the back of her neck weren't standing up, so she turned around normally as if she was already in the process of doing so.
Immediately, she was assaulted with the strange scent of...lighter fluid? that clung to the dark-skinned man that stood several feet in front of her. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt, a pair of dark wash jeans, and a perpetual frown. There was something unnaturally unsettling about him and it wasn’t his imposing stance.
He wasn't one of the officers Nedley had introduced her to that morning, but the badge that hung around his neck and the gun holstered to his side told her he was some kind of government employee. Yet, she'd never heard of 'BBD' which was what was engraved onto the badge's golden surface.
"Excuse me," Nicole tried to move around the man, nearly growling when his hand came up to grasp her arm. She didn't like the way his dark eyes were almost looking through her as if he knew her.
"You must be Officer Haught."
So, he did know who she was. He let his hand drop back to the side but didn't lose the hard look he was fixing her with. It made a shiver run down her spine as he refused to break eye contact.
"You would be correct," Nicole's fingers tightened around the white mug in her hands, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. If his strange scent wasn't concerning, then his demeanor definitely was. "Is there something I can help you with?"
He flipped his badge, "I'm Deputy Marshal Xavier Dolls with the Black Badge Division."
Deputy Marshal Dolls straightened his shoulders and Nicole noticed his chest puffing out, the purposeful show of dominance setting her even more on edge. "Do you know what the Black Badge Division is?"
Although she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of her not knowing what it was, he must have caught the flicker of curiosity that crossed her face at the name because he explained.
"Black Badge is a division of the US Marshal's dedicated to..." Deputy Marshal Dolls looked over his shoulder quickly before turning his gaze back onto Nicole and lowering his voice, "dealing with out of the ordinary cases that normal departments aren't equipped to handle."
There's no way he could know what she was. Nicole had done everything in her power to keep her secret. She'd been so careful. No one had ever seen her, and she hadn't told anyone—well, apart from Calamity Jane, of course. So, he couldn't possibly know, even if the thinly veiled meaning behind his words said otherwise.
Nicole could feel the sweat beginning to bead at the base of her neck as she placed her hands on her utility belt. She decided to play dumb because if he did know then she had nothing left to lose. "That's great and all Deputy Marshal, but why are you telling me this?"
"Because Nicole Haught, we at Black Badge know exactly who you are," she didn't miss the implied what that the Deputy Marshal had meant to say, "and that if you so much as breathe the wrong way, I won't hesitate to bring you in, werewolf or not. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"
Momentarily, Nicole was too taken aback by the man actually saying the word werewolf to reply. Her mouth hung open for a few seconds before she composed herself enough to rise to his challenge. Nicole wasn't afraid of whatever this guy was, supernatural hunting government agency or not. Her newfound nature wouldn't allow her to back down, especially when she was openly being threatened. She dropped the aloof act and squared her shoulders.
"I don't care who you work for. If you think threatening me is a smart move, then you're sadly mistaken." Nicole stepped closer to him, letting her eyes flash gold for a split second before returning to their normal brown. "From the smell of it, I'm not the only one hiding things because you smell like a gas station threw up on you," she smirked when his eyes widened a fraction of a millimeter before composing himself, proving her theory that he wasn't all that human either. "So, if you want to keep your secret, then you'll let me go about my business and I'll let you go about yours."
Deputy Marshal Dolls clenched his jaw and for a moment, Nicole thought she'd royally screwed up. Maybe he'd put a silver bullet in her right then and there. Her fingers on her right hand near her holster twitched at the thought.
Thankfully, there wouldn't be a shootout in the Purgatory Sheriff's Department that day as the Deputy Marshal gave her a stiff nod before stepping aside. "I'll be holding you to that, Officer Haught.
Nicole moved to step around him once again but paused. “I’m not here to cause trouble, Deputy Marshal. I took an oath to serve and protect and that’s all I plan on doing. So, despite whatever you think you know about me, I’m not a bad person.”
“I’ll hold you to that, Officer,” he said. “Don’t make me regret it.”
“I won’t.”
She started walking back to her desk, her fear at the possibility of nearly being taken down by a secret government employee finally catching up with her when a dark-haired woman with piercing blue eyes that smelled heavily of whiskey brushed past her, heading in the direction Nicole had just come.
“Dolls!” the woman yelled, coming to a halt in front of the Deputy Marshal. “We’ve got a situation down at the old lumber yard that needs our attention about two hours ago.”
Nicole subtly watched from her desk as the two of them walked past her and exited the bullpen, taking a right down the hallway leading to a number of smaller office spaces.
They didn’t discuss the topic any further as they went, so Nicole couldn’t listen in on whatever the ‘situation’ was, but she did hear the woman ask ‘Dolls’ if Nedley hired a ‘ginger intern’ to help the rest of the deputies get their ‘thumbs out of their assholes.’
There was something strange about Purgatory. If what Dolls said was really true and he was a member of some supernatural hunting force, then that probably meant that she wasn’t the most dangerous thing roaming the streets of the small town.
“Haught,” a gruff voice shook her from her thoughts. Nedley had managed to sneak up behind her while she was distracted trying to eavesdrop on Dolls and the strange woman. “You ready to go out of your first call?”
If she had a tail at that moment, it would have been wagging back and forth at the excitement of finally getting to go out in the field. But, Nicole remembered, she was supposed to be a police officer first and foremost, so she needed to rein it in a little bit.
She calmly stated, “Yes, sir.”
“Great,” Nedley scratched at his beard. “There was a little skirmish at Shorty’s—the local bar—late last night and one of the idiot regulars ended up breaking a table. I just need someone to get a follow-up statement. You think you can handle that?”
“You mean by myself?” Nicole thought he said she’d be riding along on her first day.
Nedley stared her down, “Unless you want me to hold your hand?”
“No, sir. I can handle it,” stuttered Nicole, pushing her chair back and standing up. “You can count on me.”
“Good,” the sheriff gave her a single nod. “I already have to babysit enough deputies as it is,” he jerks a thumb in the direction of the only other officer in the bullpen—Lonnie, Nicole repeated his name in her head. “I didn’t intend to hire another one who can’t follow simple instructions. Shorty’s is right down the street, so call if you need anything.”
“Will do, Sheriff.” Nicole was just about to leave but paused when something popped back into her mind. “Sir, who was that woman with the Deputy Marshal?”
Nedley let out a deep sigh, “That would be Wynonna Earp.”
Nicole wanted more than just her name. “Does she work here?”
“Sort of,” his response was too vague for her liking. Nedley talked about her with a mixture of fond annoyance. “Wynonna tends to spend more time in the drunk tank than she does working for Black Badge. Don’t pay her too much attention and don’t let her try and take advantage of you when she is in here.”
The more she learned about the people who lived there, the stranger Purgatory was beginning to seem. Tipping her Stetson to the sheriff, Nicole grabbed the keys to one of the police cruisers and began the journey to Shorty’s for her very first call.
Nicole took a moment to straighten out her uniform before stepping into the bar. It was unlikely that it had gotten wrinkled on the short ride over, but her inner need for her first-ever solo task to go perfectly had her running her hands over her top to make sure nothing was out of place.
As she’d walked through the double doors of the establishment, she politely removed her hat. Immediately, the typical smells of sweat and alcohol that clung to places like that assaulted her senses, but there was an undertone of something sweet hiding amongst them that she couldn’t quite distinguish.
Since it was around noon, there weren’t too many people around. Two older gentlemen were in the midst of a game of pool at the table in the far corner, while another man was seated with a beer in front of him in one of the many booths littered around the room.
Yet, none of them captured her attention quite like the woman cleaning glasses behind the bar.
It was her.
She couldn’t believe it. Nicole had spent the past several days wandering around town with her eyes peeled for the beautiful brunette she’d seen crying out on that homestead the other night. It’d been extremely hard for her to keep her mind off the woman no matter how short their one-sided encounter had been.
Now, she was standing not thirty feet away from the very person running circles through her mind for days on end and the sight of her was far better than she could have ever imagined in her mind.
From a distance, Nicole had described the woman as beautiful and an angel, but up close she found there wasn’t really a proper word that did justice to describe the true vision that the woman was, although goddess came pretty close.
Dressed in a red and blue quarter sleeve shirt with the bar’s name spelled out across the chest, the woman’s brown hair was carefully woven to the side in a French braid. Green eyes were focused on the glass she was wiping down, bottom lip caught between her teeth as she concentrated on her task.
Something stirred inside of Nicole at the sight, something she might have been able to define had she had the time to ponder the feeling, but suddenly those green eyes were focused on her standing awkwardly at the door.
“Um, hi, is there something I can help you with…Officer?”
The bartender was smiling at her warmly, the corners of her eyes crinkling in a way that stole the breath right from Nicole’s lungs. The lack of oxygen caused a sudden onslaught of lightheadedness. So much so, that it took her a moment to remember exactly what she was doing there.
Clutching her white Stetson to her chest, Nicole made her way down the steps and over to the bar top where she carefully set down her hat on the polished surface. A strange mixture of vanilla and wood invaded her nose as she closed the distance between them. It reminded Nicole of the one time she’d been forced to re-alphabetize the old books during an after-school detention in high school.
“I’m Nicole Haught,” she offered her hand out of years of cemented habit, praying it wasn’t clammy due to the wave of nerves washing over her. “Sheriff Nedley sent me over to follow up on that brawl that occurred here last night?”
Soft fingers clasped around her hand in a firm but gentle shake, causing a jolt to travel up the length of Nicole’s arm. It was like nothing she’d ever experienced before. She wondered if the other woman felt it too.
“Wow, you’re really warm,” the woman blurted out before quickly bringing her hand up to cover her mouth, cheeks flushing red in embarrassment. “Sorry, that was weird. I’m Waverly. Waverly Earp.”
Briefly, Nicole’s mind flashed to her encounter with Wynonna earlier that morning. She didn’t doubt that there was some kind of relation between the two. It was a pretty small town and Earp wasn’t a common name. Sisters, if she had to wager money on it.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Waverly.” Nicole enjoyed the way the name sounded coming from her own mouth. “And it’s not a problem,” she brushed off Waverly’s statement, “I’ve always been a little hot-blooded. I guess it’ll make the harsh winters here a little more bearable, huh?”
“I doubt that,” Wavery giggled and the sound made Nicole weak in the knees. “It’s going to take a lot more than that to keep you from freezing your butt off here. I’ve lived here my entire life and I’m still not used to it.”
Little did she know that Nicole just so happened to turn into a wolf and that her condition came with the helpful side effect of being resistant to the cold.
Nicole smiled, “I think I’ll manage.”
They stared at each other for a moment before she noticed Waverly shifting, probably uncomfortable at the silence, and remembered why she was there in the first place.
You can’t let a pretty girl distract you from doing your job, Nicole berated herself. Yet, something told her that Wavery Earp was more than just a pretty face. That there was so much sitting just under the surface and Nicole wanted to dive into the deepest depths of the other woman’s layers.
“So, the bar fight?” she prompted, pulling out a notepad from her jacket pocket.
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Wavery waved her rag absentmindedly. “Shorty said he isn’t going to press charges. It was just a little misunderstanding.”
Closing the pad, Nicole quirked an eyebrow. “You sure? I heard it ended with some damaged property.”
“Well, it was sort of my fault anyway,” explained Waverly. “I, um, just broke up with my boyfriend and he didn’t take it very well,” she frowned, a crease forming in her forehead. “Sorry, I’m really not sure why I told you that.”
That explained the altercation between Waverly and her ex-boyfriend—Champ, she reminded herself—that Nicole had stumbled across the other night. She assumed their breakup was why the man had left so angrily, which was cause for him to end up getting into a bar brawl.
Yet, the idea that Waverly would place the blame for his actions on herself had Nicole biting back a low growl. Everyone was responsible for their own actions and a broken heart didn’t give anyone a pass to break the law. Still, it wasn’t any of her business and she doubted Waverly would take too kindly to a person she just met pointing that out.
“I’ve been told that I have one of those faces that makes it easy to open up to.” That’s a lie, but Waverly didn’t need to know that. “Still, are you sure you don’t want to press any charges?”
Waverly nodded, “Yes, I’m sure.”
“Then, I guess I’ll be getting out of your hair then.” Nicole didn’t want to leave, but she couldn’t come up with a reason to stay no matter how much she wanted to.
Suddenly, an idea popped into her head and she reached into her the chest pocket of her shirt and pulled out a small rectangular card. Placing it on the bar, she slid it closer to the gorgeous woman on the other side.
“If you ever need anything, Waverly, just give me a call.” Nicole sent her one last smile as she picked up her hat and set in atop of her head, tipping it just the slightest amount in farewell and loving the way it made the other woman’s cheeks turn pink at her—hopefully—obvious flirting.
At the least, it had caught Waverly off guard because she awkwardly called out after Nicole as she was reaching for the door.
“I might just take you up on that, Officer…Haught.”
Nicole looked over her shoulder one last time before slipping through the door, her sensitive ears not missing the ‘of course’ that Waverly murmured after she’d said her last name. The soft tone of her voice gave her a little extra pep in her step during the walk back to the cruiser.
Apparent supernatural goings-on aside, Purgatory was turning out to be a lot better than Nicole could’ve hoped for and it had everything to do with a certain adorable bartender that smelled like vanilla and old books.