by E A Price
Chapter Five
Carly pulled the baseball cap down over her face. After last night she had slept better than she had since this whole mess with Carlton started. She felt refreshed and energized, ready to take on the world! Or at least ready to go on the run for a murder she didn’t commit... minor detail.
She surveyed the crowd at the bus station. She guessed the easiest way to get out of town was on a bus. There wasn’t the hassle of needing a passport or the security restrictions you found at airports and train stations. As far as the authorities were concerned nobody important rode the bus.
So far without problem she had purchased a one way ticket to San Francisco, eaten a breakfast burrito at the fast food chain restaurant Hola Sunshine! And now she was leafing through magazines.
She was a little self conscious about being out without a bra, in her haste she had picked up the wrong size from the Stop ‘n’ Go, but she could deal with a little awkwardness for a few hours.
Carly had arrived early and blended in seamlessly with the other tourists sporting backpacks and baseballs caps. No one gave a second thought to the plump young woman... well almost nobody.
After the disaster of yesterday things were finally looking up for Jackson. After being ditched at her apartment he had taken her belongings back to his place and pored through them. He checked out her phone numbers, address book and was elated to see how few male names there were in there. He’d chosen the person she rang the most and staked out their house all night.
He’d sat in a very uncomfortable tree all night outside the house of a woman called Ling Ma and all he had to show for it was a sore ass and a bad temper. After scaring away two courting squirrels he sat for hours outside the dark house waiting for some sign of life. He couldn’t scent that Carly hadn’t been there in the past few days, but he was hopeful that she would show up.
On the plus side he hadn’t been craving a cigarette. Since the moment he met Carly they’d lost all appeal. He was craving something much more satisfying instead...
A little after 2am a Beemer pulled up. A curvy Chinese woman he assumed to be Ling got out; she was some kind of shifter although curiously not a species he recognized. She must be a rarity in Playa Lunar. She was swiftly followed by a fleshy older looking man. He was clearly a gorilla shifter. Not his favorite species.
After two torturous hours listening to some very wild gorilla sex the man left and Ling went to sleep. Jackson was about ready to rip out his ears. He was no prude, he didn’t enjoy perving on other people’s bedroom antics but usually it didn’t bother him. Maybe because it reminded him of his own lack of progress with Carly in that area, that and the fact that since meeting her he’d been painfully hard. Even sitting in the cold tree hadn’t cured him of that.
He’d waited until 8am before giving up, sick to death of listening to his whining wolf. The beast had been howling at him all night. He was annoyed that Jackson didn’t seem to be making any progress in finding Carly, and found listening to her friend’s sexual escapades frustrating as hell.
Walking back to his truck he considered going home, taking a shower and a nap. But he was too agitated; he needed to be doing something. Before leaving he pulled off his shirt and grabbed a spare out the trunk. He winked at a couple of joggers as they gave him appraising looks.
At least if he was out and about he had a good excuse for dodging calls from Alma, which had been coming through at regular intervals since 7am.
Jackson stopped and picked up a few dozen Happy Heart donuts and made a few copies of Carly’s mugshot, before making his way round the bus and train stations, starting with the bus station on Blackstone Street.
If you look hard enough you can always find a homeless guy at the bus and train station who, for a box of donuts, will happily give you a call when the skip you’re looking for turns up, the trick is finding the one who owns a cell phone.
Jackson had just finished giving his new friend Jesus, (a guy who honestly thought he was the messiah), the donuts, the picture of Carly and his cell phone number when he caught sight of a set of curves he’d know anywhere.
Jackson quickly ducked into a shadowed doorway. Her scent was fainter than it had been the day before, masked by artificial lily of the valley. His beast growled in disapproval, she’d used soap to cover her natural mouth watering scent. He just wanted to throw her in the shower and scrub her body all over until he washed the unnatural smell of soap away, he wanted to run his hands all over her from her ripe full breasts down to her juicy... mental head slap.
He observed her for a few minutes. She was wearing a tight pair of jeans and an oversized t-shirt, her generous breasts swinging. Fuck, she wasn’t wearing a bra! He looked around wildly, making sure other men hadn’t noticed. Thankfully to everyone else with her baseball cap and backpack she just looked like another average tourist, how wrong they were.
A few tendrils of her rich red hair escaped the cap she wore, curling round her creamy neck. He had an urge to run over to her and thrust his fangs right into her. But that seemed a bit too intimate for the Blackstone Bus Station. And he didn’t really feel like getting arrested.
He’d never marked a woman, he’d always considered it to be an intimate act shared by people who loved each other, it usually led to bonding. His wolf perked up at the thought of bonding, but Jackson was quick to tamp that down.
No, there was to be no love, no marking and definitely no bonding. She was a job, a skip, a bounty. An aggravating one at that. He was angry at her for yesterday, and he was going to pay her back by catching her and delivering her to the cops where she belonged. No matter how he dressed it up, no matter how attractive he found her, first and foremost he had to be professional.
Not to mention she was on trial for murder. For all he knew the dead guy could have been her boyfriend that she murdered for leaving the toilet seat up! She’d already proven to be a little devious, so above all he needed to be cautious. God if he did get her into bed she might kill him in his sleep! Although part of him, the part driven by his wolf and his libido, thought it would be worth it...
Jackson held still as her back stiffened. She turned her head to the side and sniffed the air. Swiftly she began marching toward the back of the station. Not missing a beat he followed at a reasonable distance.
Head down Carly walked as quickly as she could without arousing suspicion. She couldn’t be certain but she thought she had caught a hint of her wolfy bounty hunter. Well not hers exactly, just the one assigned to hunt her down and bring her in kicking and screaming.
She sniffed again. Mmmmm cinnamon and arousal. Crap she was in trouble! She quickened her steps and gladly ducked in the ladies bathroom. Whew! At least she had a few minutes to think...
Carly squealed as strong arms encircled her and a large rough hand clamped itself firmly over her mouth. She started struggling before an all too familiar tingling sensation drifted through her body. Jackson.
She relaxed a little, at least she wasn’t being attacked by a complete stranger... just a stranger she met yesterday, who she’s unbelievably attracted too and is determined to drag her back to jail... Oh yeah that. She started twisting in his arms, determined to get free.
Jackson panted with the effort of holding onto the spirited little fox. If Logan could see him having so much trouble with such a little shifter he’d wet his pants laughing. Jackson almost did when he watched Carly going into the bathroom. She was naive to think he wouldn’t follow her in there.
She squirmed in his arms, pushing herself up against him. The wolf loved the feel of her body even more than he had loved chasing her.
He knocked the baseball cap off her head, allowing her silken red hair to tumble free. She felt his warm breath against her ear. “No point in struggling foxy, you ain’t going anywhere.”
Carly gave a muffled yell in his hand that sounded like some very unladylike curses. Lifting up her leg she stomped it back down on his foot. He growled in pain but didn’t release her This
was getting him nowhere. Slowly he pulled her down to the ground. Her first thought was ‘yeuch’; he was going to make her lie on a bus station bathroom floor, who knew what was on it?! Her fox however was yipping like a lovesick cub. They were going to have sex!
Carly was still revolted by where they were, but was overtaken by feelings of lust. He spun her round and straddled her stomach, his knees on either side of her body. He leaned over pinning her wrists to the floor. She puckered her lips waiting for his kiss and was more than a little disappointed when he just chuckled.
Jackson’s beast practically flipped out at seeing the fox prone on the floor beneath him, straining to kiss him. He growled at the man who was allowing his mirth at the situation to get the better of him.
Yes he wanted her, more than he wanted air at that moment, but he wasn’t going to take her on a bathroom floor where anyone could just walk in. He wanted to savor every luscious inch of her body; he wanted to spend hours caressing every dip, every curve... He wanted her not to be on the run for murder.
Carly screwed up her face and squeezed her eyes until tears started to spring forth. “Don’t even bother.” He grouched. “I’m not falling for that again.”
She scowled at him. “How did you find me anyway?”
Jackson smirked. “Pure skill.” Dumb luck.
She tried to buck her hips against him but it was to no avail, he was far too heavy and way too strong. Her struggles were only serving to heighten her arousal. And his. Okay so crying and playing the sad little fox wasn’t going to work a second time. Now it was time for a different tactic. She wasn’t an idiot; she could scent his desire for her not to mention the blatant, and quite frankly enormous, bulge digging into her stomach.
She moaned seductively. Or at least what she hoped was seductively. Her experiences had been kind of limited to lights off, fumbling in the dark, silent sex where she was grateful if she even came close to orgasm. She had a feeling he’d make her scream like a banshee.
Carly bit her lip and thrust her breasts out as far as she could given her entrapment. Her fox was rolling over, figuratively begging him to scratch her belly. She felt a wave of triumph roll through her as he groaned lustily.
His wolf whimpered at seeing her helpless beneath him. “You’re not making this easy foxy.”
“Not trying to wolfy...” She teased.
“I have to take you in...” Even he didn’t believe the conviction in his voice.
“But that’s not what you want is it?” She drawled huskily. Man where had she been hiding this side of herself? She was both scared and excited by this newfound sensual Carly.
Jackson inhaled and exhaled slowly. In and out. In and out. Just stopping himself from ravishing her was taking up all his energy.
He had to take her to the cops... didn’t he? He knew where his soppy wolf came down on that question so completely ignored him. He just didn’t have to take her right away...
In spite of her obvious reaction to him he couldn’t escape the niggling doubt that she was actually just flirting with him to get out of going back to jail. Would it make him a bad man to take advantage of that? Yes, definitely. Did he care? Well...
His inner debate was cut short by the arrival of middle aged tourist. Her socks with sandals and visor were a dead giveaway. She stood gaping at the sight of Jackson straddling Carly on the floor of the bathroom. The room was silent for a couple of beats before Carly let out an almighty wail.
Jackson almost leapt away from her in surprise. She began bawling exaggeratedly. “Help me!” She cried. “He’s robbing me!”
The tourist’s eyes went wide and giving Jackson a fearful look she screamed and ran out of the bathroom screaming ‘police’ over and over. He roared and roughly pulled Carly to her feet, dragging her behind him he made for the door only to collide with two very big, very burly security guards. A bull and a bear.
“Help me!” Whined Carly.
The bull gave him an alarming smile. “Let go of the girl.” He rumbled, secretly hoping Jackson wouldn’t.
Luckily for the bull Jackson didn’t take orders very well. He clutched her arm more tightly. “She’s with me, I gotta take her...”
Carly interrupted him. “He said he was taking me back to his compound to become wife number seven! He said my new name would be Sunday and that I was going to give birth to his pups!” She screeched. Watching TV really did pay off, if she didn’t watch so many cop shows she’d never have come up with that on her own.
The bear started waving a baton with wild abandon. “Attempted kidnapping eh? Maybe we ought to teach you a lesson.”
Jackson and his wolf were now snarling. There wasn’t much point in arguing, not that Jackson would have, these guys were angling for a fight and it was going to happen no matter what. These were the guys who were too brutal to make it into the police force, so instead they took their violent natures out on pickpockets and drug pushers who hang around the bus station.
Jackson grunted at the bear. “Fuck you! I’d like to see you try wide load.”
The bear roared in fury and lunged at him. Jackson pushed Carly out of harm’s way and went down under the weight of the huge bear. They rolled around the ground wrestling. The bear was a lousy fighter, preferring to rely on size and strength. Luckily Jackson was a good fighter. He had to be, growing up in his pack.
The bear flailed around trying to get Jackson in a head lock but the wolf was too fast. Jackson gave him a few short punches to the kidneys before slamming his knee into the bear’s stomach. The bull edged around them keen to get into the fray but worried about hurting his partner.
Finally at seeing the bear coming down on the losing side of the fight he rammed a taser toward them. Jackson dodged it and instead the taser made contact with the bear. The bull’s eyes went wide as his friend juddered and drooled.
“Jesus! Shit! Christ!” Yelled the bull dropping the taser. It was the first time he’d used it; it was brand new out of the box that day!
Furious the bull threw himself over the other two men; they were a tangle of arms and legs twisting together. A third security guard ran in and groaning began trying to pull them apart.
Carly cast Jackson a look of regret before grabbing her backpack and slinking out of the bathroom. She hurried through the bus station to the exit, keeping her head down. Thanks to him she’d missed her bus, and now he would be looking for her at all the bus stations. Damnit how had he found her so easily? Still, he wasn’t exactly having a good time of it right now...
She felt bad, really she did. She didn’t actually want Jackson to get beat up, but her life was at stake here! Her beast yowled in fury at her as she quickly made her way back to the motel. Maybe one day she could find a way to make it up to him...
Chapter Six
Jackson scowled as the bear and bull smirked at him. Two hours they’d been holding him. Two long fucking hours. God only knows where Carly was by now!
The security guards quickly turned their expressions blank, to match their brains thought Jackson nastily, when their boss entered the room. Jackson was being held in their generously named ‘control room’. It was a dingy windowless room with a few flickering monitors, some fold up chairs and a mini fridge.
Their boss Aaron was significantly smaller than the two monsters in his employ but they were terrified of him nonetheless, and rightly so. He was a witch. Luckily one who belonged to the same circle as Alma otherwise things could have been a lot worse.
Jackson had been beating the two monsters when he had noticed Carly slinking away. Man and wolf were enraged that she was getting away again and he was distracted. It was then that the witch blasted him with a spell and knocked him out.
The wolf was whining about losing Carly again. Jackson was just mad as hell.
If he wasn’t so mad he would actually laugh. She was a lot more slippery and had a lot more ingenuity than he gave her credit for. Either that or he really was just a lot dumber than he realized. In his defense ev
er since he met her there really had been insufficient blood in his head, it had migrated south and seemed to be there to stay...
When he came to he had found himself handcuffed to the radiator waiting Aaron’s decision on what to do with him. He had found Jackson’s bounty hunter license and decided that he must be telling the truth. That being said Aaron was still pretty pissed about the fight.
In the end Aaron had called Alma. As she strolled into the laughable control room the bear and the bull, taking in her long legs and taut body, both straightened up and tried to look intelligent. Waste of time in their cases.
Alma ignored them disdainfully, which made them want her even more. Alma had that effect on boorish men. She gave Jackson a look of displeasure before snapping her fingers, the handcuffs snapped off. The bull and the bear jumped before looking at her in adoring awe. Jackson rolled his eyes; he wasn’t impressed by Alma’s parlor tricks.
She held up her car keys jangling them as if he were a baby. “Go and sit in my car, don’t touch anything, don’t try and take the car, just sit there. Do you think you can manage that?”
“My truck...” He growled.
Alma gave him a patronizing glance. “Has been towed because you parked in a loading bay.”
In irritation he snatched the keys and stomped out. “See you soon wide load.” He spat out as he left, the bellows and roars following him.
When he got to Alma’s Pepto Bismol pink jeep he surveyed the damage in the mirror. All just superficial, a few cuts, a few bruises, two black eyes, he’d heal soon enough. Not that it mattered; even two broken legs wouldn’t keep him from chasing that devious little fox. When he found her there would be no more tears, no more flirting, no more of his damn wolf whining over her, she was going straight to jail. End of story!
Alma calmly got in the car and breathed deeply. She glowered at him. “You owe me for that.”
