Dead Man Running: Book Two - Supernatural Bounty Hunter Romance Novellas Read online

  Carly walked purposefully toward the ice-cream truck, and tucked the cuffs into the back of her jeans.

  She stopped ten feet away from the truck; a cold lick of fear suddenly coursed through her body. She knew she wasn’t really in danger, it was doubtful that Herbert would try to hurt her, but she was usually only brave because Jackson was stood next to her. It was hard to feel scared when a six foot two, heavily muscled wolf shifter was prepared to lay down his life for you. Not that she ever wanted it to come to that.

  Now, however, she was all alone, and she had to do everything herself. Sure, Jackson was in the car, and he’d bound over to her in a heartbeat if she really was in trouble, but otherwise she was flying solo.

  It was daunting but also, it gave her kind of a rush. This must be how Jackson felt before every skip he went after. It was thrilling.

  Carly steeled herself. She could do this. She marched right over to the truck and got in line behind a pair of squabbling siblings.

  Alright, maybe this wasn’t the way Jackson would do it, but she wasn’t Jackson. It was a hot day; she didn’t really want to deprive the kids of ice-cream.

  Her sexy wolf would probably push everyone out the way, and drag Herbert through the window of his truck. Jackson was masterful and dominant… hmmm. Carly gave herself a mental slap; this wasn’t the time to start swooning.

  She tapped her foot as the svelte girl at the front of the queue asked for the calorie content of the ice cream. Was she freaking kidding? If she has to ask, then there’re too many calories in it! Ugh, teenage stick insect.

  After waiting for what felt like forever, Carly was finally at the front of the line.

  The kindly, old face of Herbert Monk leaned out of the truck window and beamed at her from behind half-moon spectacles. He asked her what she would like.

  Every instinct she had told her to ask for an ice-cream sandwich, but she resisted. Instead, she cleared her throat. “Mr. Monk, I’m sorry but you missed your court date. I work for the Blau Bail Bond Agency, and I’m here because I need to take you to the cops.”

  The parents and children around her all gasped in surprise. Herbert’s face dropped and tears pooled in his pale eyes. The gasps soon turned to ‘aww’s.

  His voice quivered. “I’m an old man; I don’t deserve to be in jail…”

  Carly tried to protest. “I know but…”

  “If you know, then why are you trying to take me to prison?”

  “Yeah, why?” yelled one of the more aggressive looking moms.

  Carly shifted from foot to foot as the rest of the crowd murmured in agreement. “Well, you broke the law…”

  Herbert’s bottom lip trembled. “All I ever wanted was to make people happy, people like ice-cream.”

  “I know but…”

  “Do you not want these people to have ice-cream?” he asked innocently.

  “She’s a fascist!” called out a dad the crowd.

  “Yeah!” agreed another.

  Her fox let out a warning yowl. Things were going downhill fast. “It’s not that; I swear! It’s just that you broke the law, and then failed to turn up to court…”

  “Because I was busy, selling ice-cream. I’m an old man struggling to support my grandchildren.”

  Carly was starting to think he was a lot wilier than he looked. He didn’t even have kids! She folded her arms, thoroughly annoyed now. “Look Herbert, all you have to do is come downtown with me, and I’ll see what I can do about getting you rebonded, okay? That’s the best I can do.”

  “Boo!” The crowd started jeering at her.

  Carly was outraged; she was just doing her job! “No, not boo me! Boo him! He’s the one that broke the law!”

  “Loser!”

  Carly squeaked as a kid threw an ice-cream cone at her. “Hey! Not cool!”

  She dabbed at the squishy pink mess, all over her favorite t-shirt thank you very much, whilst staring daggers at the pig-tailed monster.

  “You’re a mean lady!” yelled the monster.

  “I am not!” denied Carly, hotly. Her fox was growling lowly at the crowd, eager to shift and… well, maybe bite a few ankles. Yeah, see how they’d like that!

  “Yes you are!” cried another devil-child. There must be something in the water round there.

  Seconds later, Carly found herself hit with a raspberry popsicle. “Why you little…”

  That was when the rest of the crowd also thought it was a good idea to start throwing their frozen treats at her. Carly screeched as she was pelted with ice-cream and popsicles, and informed of just how wicked she was for wanting to take an old man to jail.

  It was whilst she was under attack that she noticed Herbert was attempting to escape. He had retreated from the window and was starting the ancient engine of his truck.

  “Oh no, you don’t!”

  The truck started moving, and without any other option, Carly grabbed onto the edge of the truck window and hoisted herself up, managing to get her torso through. As the truck rumbled down the street, people stopped and stared as a pair of very curvy legs frantically waved at them from the window.

  Carly struggled to hold onto the inside of the truck as Herbert drove like a madman, swaying all over the road, in the hope of dislodging his unwanted passenger.

  “Stop this instant, Herbert! I’m warning you!”

  Herbert huffed and pressed the accelerator. Carly squealed as her fox whined incessantly. Holy crap!

  *

  In frustration, Jackson had been watching the whole drama unfold. His wolf had been howling at him constantly to end this, but he held fast. If the plan was to work he couldn’t run to Carly’s rescue, even though he secretly would have loved to be her knight in shining armor.

  It had been hell, both for him and his wolf, to watch as she was first of all verbally abused by those assholes in the park, and then it was downright torturous as they started throwing things at her. He wanted to run over to them and cram those damn popsicles down their throats; his wolf roared in agreement at that sentiment. But he didn’t.

  He needed Carly to be so annoyed and disheartened that she never wanted to try bounty hunting again. He wasn’t doing this to be mean; he was doing it to keep her safe. He’d caught Herbert Monk three times before. The guy was a compulsive liar; he wasn’t violent, just crazy and very good at getting people to feel sorry for him. He figured Carly would be so exasperated by Herbert that she would eschew any further bounties, and instead, would stay safe, back at the office, where the only danger was getting a paper cut. He loved Carly, more than anything in the world, but she had a romanticized idea about hunting that just wasn’t accurate, and damnit he needed her to be safe.

  However, as he watched the ice-cream truck careen down the road with his mate’s legs sticking out the side, he was starting to have a few doubts about his plan.

  “Fuck! Fuckity-fuck, fuck, fuck!” Jackson pounded his fists on the steering wheel before setting off in hot pursuit, and avidly ignoring the irritated grumbling of his beast.

  He raced after the ice-cream truck. Who the hell knew they could go so damn fast? He sucked in a breath as he noticed the luscious, wiggling legs of his mate completely disappear into the truck. The truck then started zigzagging all over the road; other drivers honked their horns as they skidded out of the way.

  His wolf howled. Oh shit! What had he done?

  *

  Carly held onto Herbert as he tried to shake her off. She was trying to pry his hands off the steering wheel and into her handcuffs.

  “Stop this vehicle this instant!”

  “Never!” he cried.

  They struggled; pushing and pulling at one another. She persistently told him to stop, and he persistently invited her to shove it.

  With a hard elbow to the stomach, Carly grunted and fell back, letting go of Herbert. He glanced at her, cackling in victory, and then plowed directly into a tree.

  *

  Jackson and his wolf roared in unison, as he screeche
d to a stop. Carly!

  Herbert stumbled out of the truck, blinking and looking around. He was a little stunned, and was trying to piece together what had happened. Carly didn’t give him much chance.

  With something akin to a war-cry, she leapt out of the truck onto Herbert’s back. At being hit with Carly’s less-than-petite frame, he fell to the ground with a resounding ‘oof.'

  Not wasting a second she pulled his arms round his back and slapped the cuffs on. Yes, she had him! Her fox let out a howl of triumph. Success!

  She was about to start singing ‘another one bites the dust’ when her anxious mate ran over to her. “Foxy, sweetheart, are you alright? Are you hurt?”

  Carly giggled and got up, jumping into his arms. “Oh my god! Did you see? Were you watching? Wasn’t I amazing? That was so much fun, I felt like I was in an action movie!”

  He couldn’t believe it; she actually thought that was fun!!!

  She locked her legs round his body and looked at him expectantly; happy excitement danced over her face.

  “Yeah foxy, you were… I’ve never seen anything like it!” That was the honest truth.

  She squealed gleefully and flourished kisses all over his face.

  Jackson noticed Herbert trying to stand up so he could get away; Jackson quickly placed a boot on his back, pinning him to the ground. Carly was probably up for round two, but Jackson sure as hell wasn’t, he doubted his heart could take it.

  “I can’t wait for my next one!”

  Jackson paled. Next one?! How the hell was he supposed to cope with her running around doing this all the time?

  Carly practically bounced up and down in his arms as her fox pranced around like a cub; she’d never been so thrilled, excited, turned on… She felt the fluttering of her arousal and blushed deeply as Jackson sniffed the air, and gave her a devastatingly wolfish grin. Feeling bold, she pushed her chest against his, smearing the remnants of ice-cream and popsicles into his tight t-shirt.

  “Oh dear, looks like we’re all dirty. Perhaps we should go home and take a shower together,” she purred in his ear, before nipping the lobe playfully.

  He chuckled as his wolf growled lustily, drinking in the strength of her desire for him. Then again, he could see that there might be a few perks to Carly being a bounty hunter.

  The end

  Hi there!

  Thanks for reading. I hope you liked it!

  Below is a list of other novellas already available. If you are interested in finding out about future releases please do visit my website to sign up for my newsletter. The website includes some free short stories I’ve written, info on all previous novellas, details of the novella I’m currently working on and also a list of ideas for the future: http://elizabethannprice.wix.com/eapricenovellas

  Best wishes

  Elizabeth Ann Price

  Grey Wolf Pack Romance Novellas:

  A Mate for the Beta – Book 1

  The Alpha’s Mate – Book 2

  The Librarian and the Wolf – Book 3

  Running from the Vampire into the Arms of the Wolf – Book 4

  Wolves for the Bears – Book 5

  The Witch, the Wolf and the Snowstorm – Book 6

  Patient Mates – Book 7

  Christmas for the Wolves – Book 7.5 (set of free short stories available from the website)

  The Omega’s Mate – Book 8

  Supernatural Bounty Hunter Romance Novellas:

  Foxy On The Run – Book One