Foxy on the Run: Book One, Supernatural Bounty Hunters Novellas (4 page)

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 h
e 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!”