by E A Price
Marcus buttoned his suit jacket and smoothed back his slick pale blonde hair, dark green eyes shining. He nodded shortly at Jackson.
Alma quickly answered in the affirmative and slammed the phone down. She handed Marcus a piece of paper with the details, an even more bored expression on her face. She waited until Marcus left and then went back to her nails.
Jackson returned to the file. He read through every detail twice, committing it to memory, before just staring at her photo. The phone shrilled again, he almost leapt out of his skin. Alma said a few terse words and then hung up.
Alma clucked her tongue. “Good news for you, one of our ‘bondees’ has missed their court date. It’s that one you’ve been reading for the last half hour – the fox. Good news for you and for me – now you can get out of here and quit bugging me, take the file and shoo!”
Jackson smiled and walked out the door with the file in hand waving a goodbye to Alma as he went. She ignored him.
Apparently today was going to be a good day.
Chapter Two
Carly sat staring at the Howling Moon Motel wall. The wallpaper was brown with pink flowers, although most likely it was once cream with red flowers. Maybe back in the ‘70’s when it was new. It was peeling and dark brown wall was peeking out in places.
Her fox paced restlessly in her head. Carly was glad the fox was doing it; she didn’t really have the energy to do the pacing herself. She had the news running in the background. She had been due in court that morning but hadn’t shown up.
She’d planned to, heck she’d wanted to. She’d wanted to go and set everyone straight about how this was a huge mistake, about how she was innocent, but she’d lost her nerve. Running away had seemed like the better option.
It was a sad fact that things had only been getting worse ever since the cops had burst into her bedroom and taken her away. Yes, things had actually gotten worse since she woke up in bed with a corpse, cue shudder.
She’d been questioned about Carlton for hours by two stocky, hard looking detectives. How well did she know him? What were they doing last night? How did they end up at her apartment? If she hadn’t been able to scent their disbelief at her answers it was obviously written all over their faces.
The older of the two detectives, the one with the square face, bushy eyebrows and who was constantly chewing nicotine gum, repeatedly asked her if it had been a lover’s quarrel that got out of hand. No matter how many times she told him there was nothing going on between them he just sighed and asked her again.
Finally, the older detective had left the room leaving her with the younger guy, a lion shifter with a buzzcut and muscles struggling to be contained by his polyester suit. He softened a little and advised her to get a good lawyer.
They arrested her.
Things after that were kind of a blur. Being arrested was so surreal to her. Things like this didn’t happen to her. She’d grown up in a boring suburban neighborhood, with boring blue collar parents and belonged to a boring skulk full of boring foxes who wouldn’t know what fun was if it bashed them over the head. She wasn’t prepared for this!
She considered calling her parents or her sweetheart of a younger sister but ultimately decided they would get distressed unnecessarily. Her family were kind, gentle people who were easily shocked; swearing on TV was still a bit too much for them. She would figure out what the hell was going on first. Then she would panic and call them.
Instead she had called her friend Ling, a red panda shifter. Her family came over from China in the ‘60’s. The two of them had been friends since school. In a school where the big cats, wolves and bulls ruled the small furry red creatures tended to stick together.
Ling was a little more adventurous than Carly and had over the years been involved with the cops once or twice. Such as for being found in possession of her boyfriend’s marijuana, twenty six unpaid parking tickets and indecent exposure. The last one wasn’t really her fault, they had been coming home from a club and Ling was kind of drunk. She had to pee real bad so she had gone behind a trash can in an alley. Unfortunately the patrolman hadn’t found it that funny, especially since Ling had made fun of his name. Well if your last name was Hymen surely you would have heard all the jokes before right?
But anyway Ling recommended a lawyer to her, a possum shifter she met in college with a perpetual runny nose. Carly didn’t have much money but apparently the possum was happy to do the case pro bono, partly because he said murder was a good advertisement for his practice and partly because he was besotted with Ling. Carly had an overwhelming urge to tell him to play dead.
Things had gone okay at the hearing; her lawyer had fidgeted, shuffled around awkwardly, dropped his briefcase and finally managed to get out the words ‘not guilty’. He had argued admirably for her to be allowed bail, despite the intimidation tactics of the hyena district attorney. Her smile alone could be considered threatening.
Bail had been set at thirty thousand dollars. Thankfully Ling had swept into action and found her a bail bond agent willing to use her car as collateral. She only spent about three hours in a cell waiting to get sprung. Although she still shuddered at the memory. A few of the other prisoners had not been particularly kind...
Trite words like ‘you’re dead meat girl’, ‘I’m gonna get you good’, ‘your ass is grass’ and ‘you’re going down’ were liberally thrown around. Carly feared that they were serious too. But the biggest blow came when a particularly vicious looking white shark shifter came toward her and told her there was no way she would live to see the end of her trial, she was told she would be seeing Carlton again soon.
She’d been in shock as the guard had banged on the cell door and shouted that she was to come with him. She was so relieved about getting out she almost hugged him.
Out in the free world she almost kissed the ground in relief. Alright so she’d only been in captivity for a couple of days but seriously it was awful.
Her court date had been set for a week later. Her lawyer was amazed and pleased it was happening so quickly, he said it usually took months. Apparently someone was keen to get the trial underway. Carly was kind of hoping it would take a few months; it would give her chance to fully come to terms with what was happening. But it wasn’t to be.
That morning Carly had put on her smartest outfit, a grey skirt, white shirt and moderately high black pumps. She had set out with the best intentions. She drove to the court house and had been circling the car park a few times waiting for a space to be free. The words of the cops and her erstwhile cellmates flitted through her mind. Arrested. Murder. Dead meat. Grass.
The longer it took to find a free space the more agitated she became until finally she snapped and tore out of the lot like there was no tomorrow. She promptly parked her car half a mile away from this cheap motel, walked the rest of the way and booked herself in under a false name. She didn’t think Melissa McCarthy would mind her borrowing the name.
So now here she was, sat staring at the walls, wondering why her name hadn’t yet been mentioned on TV. She was on the run; she was a suspected murderess, so surely she was considered dangerous enough to have a mugshot on TV and a warning about what to do if you’re approached by this individual. But no, there was nothing.
Her fox yowled at her. Yeah getting miffed about not being one of America’s most wanted was pretty dumb.
She was actually kind of surprised that the murder wasn’t being covered more thoroughly by new broadcasters. Carlton had been a pretty rich and influential guy, but it was almost like nobody cared that he was dead. She wondered briefly how people at work reacted to the news of his death, or that she supposedly killed him. She certainly hadn’t tried to go into work to find out.
Carly exhaled loudly and switched off the TV. Kicking off her heels she curled up into the fetal position on the bed. The big question was what should she do now?
The sensible part of her said she should just go to the cops and tell them she was sorry for missing
her court date, yes they’d probably have to arrest her but at least she would be back on the right side of the law. Sort of, she would still be accused of murder. Falsely though she though hotly.
The fearful part of her just said one word. Run. She’d woken up with a corpse and with very little memory of the night before. The women she had been incarcerated with had threatened to kill her and her lawyer was kind of hokey. Was there any part of her that actually thought she could come out a winner in this situation?
Her fox was also drawing a blank, neither option seemed particularly palatable.
She considered calling Ling. She’d switched her phone off after she made the decision it hightail it away from the court, and fearing anyone being able to track it she had left it switched off. No, she’d save Ling for an emergency. Well a bigger emergency.
If she went on the run she’d need a new identity, a new name, she’d need to change her appearance... quite frankly it sounded exhausting. She had absolutely no idea how to go about getting a fake passport. She doubted Ling would be able to either, and she’d dated some real scuzzbags. The alternative was to go to prison and get killed.
What she wouldn’t give to go back to her life three weeks ago. Back then her biggest problems were the fact that her job was boring and she had no sex life. Yes life had been pretty dull and repetitive but it hadn’t been scary.
She needed more time to think. Well she’d paid for the motel room for three nights so she might as well use it. She thought it might seem suspicious to only rent it for one night. She didn’t consider the fact that she didn’t bring any luggage with her might look odd.
All she needed to do was slip home and grab a few items of clothes, not to mention make-up, her toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, body lotion... yeah she wasn’t really built for roughing it.
Feeling a new sense of purpose she slipped her shoes back on and brushed her wavy red hair. Slipping on a pair of sunglasses she left to find the nearest bus stop. She couldn’t risk using her own car, she’d seen enough cop shows to know they put out APBs on license plates.
Walking down the street she adjusted the sunglasses self-consciously. She didn’t really think they would hide her identity, but thankfully people rarely noticed her. As a chubby girl she tended to blend into the background. Usually that pissed her off, today she was thanking god.
What could her new name be? She had her chance to choose something a bit more becoming. Angelina? Halle? Megyn? She sighed as her fox growled in disapproval. She would always be a Carly at heart.
Chapter Three
Jackson went through the bedroom draws one by one. Socks, cosmetics, lotions, t-shirts, underwear.... He slowed down and moved more slowly through that draw. Carlotta Columbo owned a lot of underwear, and most of it was small, wispy and revealing. He picked up a turquoise thong. He smiled imagining the color clashing with the soft curls of her....
Damn it! He was actually pawing through her underwear draw and getting a hard on! Fucking perv. His thoughts turned angry. Why would she have this kind of underwear? Who had she been wearing it for before he came into her life? Whoa stop right there. He had to rein in his wolf. There was no question of him being in her life. He would catch her, take her to the cops and pick up his pay check. That would be it.
Although.... He picked up a very small lacy black thong and smiled. Perhaps he could get her to wear this for him when he caught up with her. No reason why they couldn’t have a little fun together before she went back to jail. His wolf huffed and snarled at him. Damn beast.
First thing he’d done after leaving the bail bond office was come to Carlotta Columbo’s apartment to have a root around. Not strictly legal, but he could have sworn he heard screaming inside when he jimmied her window open. At least that was what he would tell the cops.
He’d been a little jarred at finding her place in such a mess and the faint scents of some humans, a jaguar and an elephant shifter. For all he knew they could just be scents from her friends though. It looked like she’d been burgled but her TV and laptop were still there and he’d actually found some cash just lying on her kitchen table. Sure it was only twenty bucks but if someone went to the trouble of breaking in wouldn’t they take everything they could get?
Jackson considered that maybe she had made the mess herself. More than once in a fit of rage he had torn apart his own furniture. He hadn’t enjoyed the clean up afterwards but it sure had been enjoyable at the time. He hadn’t interacted with foxes very much. They were generally quite a gentle species who were easily offended by brusque, aggressive wolves. But maybe even they had anger issues.
Searching her apartment hadn’t been overly helpful. But then so far he’d spent most of his time pawing through her underwear. He was exceptionally pleased to see only her clothes in her closet and only her toothbrush in the bathroom. No live in boyfriend.
He looked round hoping to find some sort of diary or address book. Nothing, she probably just used her phone for that. As a last resort he would get Mia to track her phone. Mia was a bit of a whiz with computers. That is if Carlotta hadn’t turned it off, if she really was on the lam and if she had any sense she wouldn’t be trying to use it.
Although he was pleased to note that very little appeared to be missing. She hadn’t left the apartment that morning intending to run away. If she had planned to run she probably would have packed a suitcase. Maybe she just forgot about her court date, although you’d have to be pretty damn absent minded to forget about your hearing for murder.
He sniffed at her perfume and lotions. His wolf barking in satisfaction. He had been wagging his tail the moment they set foot in the apartment. A sweet lavender like aroma pervaded the air, which was undoubtedly her lingering scent. His arousal had risen terrifically on being there.
He pawed through her belongings, choosing which items he should take. If it came to it he could ask Alma to try and scry for her. Not something he particularly liked, as far as he was concerned it took the fun out of the chase and more often than not scrying brought about false results. For one thing it depended on how much the person liked the object being used to scry with, and then there was the fact that they could be using magic to cover themselves anyway.
He was a little gun shy of scrying ever since he and Logan had be sent to a warehouse on the trail of a pair of jackals only to end up in the nest of crocodile shifters using the warehouse for gun running. They’d barely made it out alive; crocs are pretty damn nasty...
His wolf rumbled as his ears pricked up. He could hear soft footfalls coming down the hall toward him. Someone was coming his way. He ducked behind the bedroom door, thinking of a good excuse for whoever turned up. His mind went through the possibilities, cops, neighbor, relative, friend, boyfriend... he soured at the last one, if it was a boyfriend he’d be tempted to knock him out. His wolf wagged his tail at the idea.
The lock clicked and the person padded into the apartment. He groaned imperceptibly as the sweet smell of lavender intensified. Holy crap it was her! Unbelievable, this was the quickest catch he ever made. Great, now he could take her to jail... ugh that didn’t sit right.
Carly threw the mail down on the counter. She’d gotten off the bus two blocks away and walked the rest of the way. Now her feet were killing her. She’d carefully approached the apartment block, trying to scope out the place for cops. It was dead, no one was around.
Moving with confidence she didn’t really feel she went into the lobby and picked up her mail before making her way to her place. She didn’t meet a single soul along the way. It was her lucky day, apart from the small matter of being on trial for murder...
She sighed and sat back in an armchair kicking off her shoes. Just being home, around her familiar possessions made her feel better.
Carly tensed as her fox growled. The apartment was so quiet, too quiet. Gingerly she sniffed the air and almost moaned at the delicious scent of cinnamon. Involuntarily she licked her lips. She needed to get a cinnamon danish
and fast. But wait a second, what else was there... oh shit she smelled wolf!
She leapt to her feet and started for the door. Jackson hurtled out of the bedroom and collided with her just as she reached for the handle. He covered her body with his, pushing her against the door.
“Just relax.” He ordered gruffly. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
She squirmed under him, her arms and legs flailing. “Says you wolf!” He ‘oofed’ as a knife like elbow connected with his stomach. She’s a lot stronger than she looks.
As he growled at her flapping arms his wolf roared with delight at feeling her lush body trapped against his. Her wriggling pushed her ass against his sex; her soft plump buttocks making it harden and grow outrageously.
He caught her wrists and pinned her arms over her head, trying to calm her. He angled his lower body away from hers, willing his erection to go away. The last thing he needed was her knowing how turned on he was by her struggles. Although sniffing the air he wasn’t oblivious to her own arousal, her scent sweetened even more. He smirked and his wolf wagged his tail knowing she was stimulated by the nearness of his body.
Carly panted heavily. She’d hardly gotten a good look at the wolf squashed against her body and yet her desire was mounting at a rapid rate. The feel of his big, hard body crushed against her soft curves was delicious. Jolts of pleasure raced through her body as her fox whimpered.
She stilled under him. Struggling was only serving to heighten her arousal. He was a hell of a lot bigger than her; there was no way she was getting away from him.