All Kinds of Tied Down

Praise for
M
ARY
C
ALMES

Parting Shot

“I think her old fans and new fans alike will enjoy this story. If you haven’t read anything by Mary Calmes, then stock up today! This author is simply one of the best authors I’ve ever read.”

—World of Diversity Fiction Reviews

“I quite simply couldn’t put this down! I loved every single moment!”

—Confessions From Romaholics

Old Loyalty, New Love

“…this is another book by Mary Calmes I’ll be adding to my re-read and all-time favorites lists.”

—The Blogger Girls

“If you haven’t read this one yet, it is a must add to the TBR pile.”

—The Novel Approach

“Shifters are a passion of mine, and Mary Calmes gives a new type of shifter and a freaking hot alpha male to lead them.”

—Mrs. Condit & Friends Read Books

Change of Heart

“The story draws you in from the first scene and never releases its hold until the final sentence.”

—Literary Nymphs

“With secondary characters that are just as strongly written and a story that runs smoothly, this engrossing story will keep the reader’s attention till the very last page.”

—Rainbow Reviews

By
M
ARY
C
ALMES

Acrobat

Again

All Kinds of Tied Down

Any Closer

A Brush of Wings (DSP Anthology)

with Cardeno C.
: Control

with Poppy Dennison
: Creature Feature

Floodgates

Frog

Grand Adventures (DSP Anthology)

The Guardian

Heart of the Race

Ice Around the Edges

Judgment

Mine

Old Loyalty, New Love

Romanus

The Servant

Steamroller

Still

Three Fates (Multiple Author Anthology)

Timing • After the Sunset

What Can Be

Where You Lead

Wishing on a Blue Star (DSP Anthology)

C
HANGE
OF
H
EART
S
ERIES

Change of Heart

Trusted Bond

Honored Vow

Crucible of Fate

A M
ATTER
OF
T
IME

A Matter of Time Vol. 1

A Matter of Time Vol. 2

Bulletproof
•
But For You

Parting Shot

T
HE
W
ARDER
S
ERIES

His Hearth • Tooth & Nail • Heart in Hand

Sinnerman • Nexus • Cherish Your Name

Warders Vol. 1 & 2

Published by
D
REAMSPINNER
P
RESS

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com

Published by

D
REAMSPINNER
P
RESS

5032 Capital Circle SW
Suite 2, PMB# 279
Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886

USA

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

All Kinds of Tied Down

© 2014 Mary Calmes.

Cover Art

© 2014 Reese Dante.

http://www.reesedante.com

Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/.

ISBN: 978-1-63216-064-5

Digital ISBN: 978-1-63216-065-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014939163

Printed in the United States of America

First Edition

July 2014

This paper meets the requirements of

ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

For Lynn.

Nothing happens without you.

Lisa, thank you for reading and answering

questions and stemming the flood of worry.

Cardeno, thank you for checking on me

and staying up late and for the endless support.

Jessie, thank you for being my bright spot.

R
UNNING
.

All our interactions with suspects ended the same way. I would say, hey, let’s wait for backup or a warrant. I’d mention we didn’t have probable cause, and sometimes I would even go so far as to point out we weren’t armed because it was our damn day off! Not that he ever listened. The chase was always on seconds after I spoke. The fact that he even stopped to listen to me before acting stunned most people who knew us.

“Please,” I would beg him. “Just this once.”

And then I’d get the head tip or the shrug or the grin that crinkled his pale blue eyes in half before he’d explode into action, the velocity of movement utterly breathtaking. Watching him run was a treat; I just wished I wasn’t always following him into the path of whizzing bullets, speeding cars, or flying fists. Since I’d become his partner, the number of scars on my body had doubled.

I considered it a win if I got Ian Doyle to put on a Kevlar vest before he kicked down a door or charged headfirst into the unknown. I saw the looks we got from the other marshals when we returned with bloodied suspects, recaptured felons, or secured witnesses, and over the years they had changed from respect for Ian to sympathy for me.

When I was first partnered with him, some of the other marshals were confused about it. Why was the new guy—me—being partnered with the ex-Special Forces soldier, the Green Beret? How did that make sense? I think they thought I got an unfair advantage and that getting him as a partner was like winning the lottery. I was the newest marshal, low man on the totem pole, so how did I rate Captain America?

What everyone missed was that Ian didn’t come from a police background like most of us. He came from the military and wasn’t versed in proper police procedure or adherence to the letter of the law. As the newest marshal on the team, I was the one who had the book memorized the best, so the supervisory deputy, my boss, assigned me to him. It actually made sense.

Lucky me.

Doyle was a nightmare. And while I wasn’t a Boy Scout, in comparison to my “shoot first, ask questions later” partner, I came off as calm and rational.

After the first six months, everyone stopped looking at me with envy and switched to pity. Now, going on three years, marshals in my field office would bring me an ice pack, pass me whatever pharmaceuticals they had in their desks, and even occasionally offer advice. It was always the same.

“For crissakes, Jones, you need to talk to the boss about him.”

My boss, Supervisory Deputy Sam Kage, recently called me into his office and asked me flat out if there was any truth to the rumors he was hearing. Did I want a change of partner? The blank stare I gave him hopefully conveyed my confusion. So it was no one’s fault but my own that I was running in the slushy melting snow down the forty-seven hundred block of Ninety-Fifth Street in Oak Lawn at ten on a cold Tuesday morning in mid-January.

Arms pumping, Glock 20 in my hand, I saw Ian motion to the left, so I veered off and leaped an overturned garbage can as I headed into an alley. I should have been the one on the street; my partner was better at leaping and running up walls like a ninja. Even though I was younger than his thirty-six by five years, at six two and 185 pounds, he was in much better shape than me. While he was all lean, carved muscle with eight-pack abs and arms that made women itch to touch, I was built heavier at five eleven, with bulky muscle and wide shoulders, more bull than panther. Ian had a sleek, fluid way about him; I was all sharp angles and herky-jerky motion. We were as different as we could be, though people often commented that we had a really similar
irritating way of carrying ourselves when together, an
unmistakable strut. But I would have known if I was doing that, if I puffed up when I walked beside my partner. No way I swaggered and didn’t notice.