Dead Man Running: Book Two - Supernatural Bounty Hunter Romance Novellas (14 page)

Alma held up her hands in a placating manner.  “Look, Mr. Harlot-Jenkins, I don’t know…”

The badger cut her off by savagely grabbing her arms and hurling her to the ground.  Alma let out a loud ‘
oof.’

The next few seconds were a blur as a vicious snarl pierced the air, and Viktor was holding the badger up by his throat.

Viktor’s claws and fangs had lengthened, whilst his eyes were deadly black, but when he spoke it was in an eerily calm voice.  “Alma, my darling, are you alright?”

Alma looked between her mate’s stony face the rapidly purpling face of the badger.  “I’m fine; honestly, it was nothing.”

She stood up and wiped her hands together.  Viktor growled furiously, increasing the pressure on the badger’s neck as he scented his mate’s blood.  Alma found a small cut on her hand.

The shifter gurgled in the vampire’s steely grip, before giving one last gasp and passing out.

“Get in the car,” ordered Viktor firmly.

Alma watched helplessly as her mate carried the shifter to the trunk of his Cadillac, and tossed the shifter inside, slamming it shut.

Viktor cast his hard expression in her direction, and she scrambled to get in the passenger seat.  She knew he wouldn’t hurt her,
but no way did she want to get in the way when he was on the warpath
.

Viktor slid into the driver’s seat and with seeming calmness started speeding away.

Chapter Nineteen

“Oh god, oh my god!  Is he dead?  Did we kill him?”

“No,” replied Viktor brusquely.

Alma bit her nails, spitting at the foul taste of the nail varnish.  “Are you sure?  How can you be sure?  Are you definitely sure?”

He gripped the steering wheel.  “He passed out, but his heart was still beating.”

She slumped back in her car seat mollified slightly, until a new and horrifying thought slapped her in the face.  “What if he suffocates in the trunk?  He could be dying back there right now!”

Muffled thumps and shouts started floating toward them.  Viktor raised an eyebrow at her.  “He’s fine.”

Alma’s eyes bugged out, when the hell had her mate turned into a crazy person?  Why the frak was he being so calm? 
Did he do this sort of thing often?

Alma rubbed her temples, trying to calm her frazzled nerves.  “Viktor, honey-bunny, unless I’m very much mistaken
, we’ve just kidnapped a member of the freaking Council of Supernaturals!”

Viktor reached out and patted her thigh.  “It’s fine; we’ll be fine.”

Alma was beside herself.  “Fine?!” she yelled. 

“Try not to worry…”

Alma stared at him incredulously, as he effortlessly maneuvered through traffic.  “Yeah, you’re right, with any luck they’ll give us adjacent cells when they arrest us for kidnapping!”

“It won’t come to that,” he said reassuringly.

Alma let out a frustrated grunt and stared out the window moodily.  She tensed as the banging in the trunk intensified. 
Jeez Louise!
  Could this day get any worse? 
Apparently yes, it could
.  They pulled up to a red light, right next to a cop car.

“Ah
, crap!”

“Just relax,” he said soothingly.  “Just act like everything is okay, and try to breathe normally.”

“Easy to say for the man who doesn’t need to breathe!” she snapped.

Alma looked at the cops out the corner of her eyes
, and almost screeched when she saw two pairs of sunglasses looking in their direction.  “They’re looking right at us!  They know!  They know what we’ve done!”

Viktor,
damn him
, actually chuckled at her flapping.  “The windows are tinted; they won’t be able to see you.”

Alma steeled herself and stuck out her tongue.  The cops didn’t change expression.  She sighed in relief; at the very least
, they couldn’t see her panicking. 
Which would be fine, except for one thing…

The banging from the trunk recommenced.  To Alma it sounded unbelievably loud; she was certain everyone could hear it.  To her dismay
, one of the cops cocked his head on one side, and his mouth quirked into a quizzical expression.

Fear crept over her skin. 
Why weren’t the lights changing?
  Could this possibly be the longest red light in the history of red freaking lights?

“Just calm down…” he murmured.

“Stop telling me to calm down!  Just get ready to floor it, okay?  They suspect anything we’ll flee to Mexico, I’m pretty sure I have a second cousin who would let us sleep on his floor.”

Alma tensed as one of the cops picked up the radio.  He spoke to the driver for a few seconds, before the siren blared, and they sped away. 
Oh, thank heavens!

Viktor started driving as Alma cast an accusing eye at the light.  “Oh!  Now you change?  Where were you five minutes ago?”

She slumped back into her seat.  “Seriously, what are we doing? Where are we going?”

“Back to my house, we’ll keep him in the garage; he won’t know where he is.”

Alma scrubbed her hands down her face.  “God, a week ago I was just an office worker, now I’m a felon!”

“Trust me; everything is going to be okay.  You do trust me
, don’t you?”

Viktor trained his searching gaze on her. 
She couldn’t have lied in the face of that look, even if she wanted to.

However reluctantly, she did have to admit that yes, she trusted him. 
In spite of mounting evidence that maybe she shouldn’t, she did.

“Yes…” she replied, hesitantly.

He almost groaned in relief.  “Then trust that I will handle this.”

*

When they arrived at Viktor’s house, he pulled into the garage and gave Alma a reassuring kiss before disappearing into the house, leaving her hovering around the car trunk, trying to ignore the disgruntled shouts of its occupant.

Moments later,
Viktor reappeared with a set of handcuffs.  “They’re laced with silver; he won’t be able to get out of them.”

Alma raised her eyebrows.  “You own handcuffs?”

Viktor pursed his lips disapprovingly.  “Yes, I do.  It may seem like a long time ago now, but before all this mess, I did used to be a bounty hunter.”

Alma furrowed her brow.  “You’re right; time flies when you’re having fun,” she observed wryly.

Viktor softened as he looked at his mate.  From the moment he knew she belonged to him, he knew she was in for some tough times. 
But even he had to admit that he hadn’t expected to involve her in this.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and rubbed a thumb gently over her skin.  “You don’t have to be here; you can leave now, and I will sort this out.”

Alma shook her head vehemently.  “Nuh-uh, we’re in this together, we’re a team.”

A small smirk played on his lips.  “Like
Starsky and Hutch?”

“I was going to say Cagney and Lacey, but sure.”

Viktor tenderly kissed her temple. “Are you ready?”

“Sure… but ready for what, exactly?” Alma hopped from foot to foot.

“To get him out of the car and ask him a few questions.”

Alma let out a low laugh of relief.  “Oh, yes, yes that’s… Yes I can do that.”

“What did you think I was going to say?”

“Nothing, I don’t know, nothing.”  She had visions of them killing Adrian, the badger, and burying him in Viktor’s yard. 
Not that she actually wanted to do that, no way, no how!
  It was just the first thought that entered her mind.

He pressed the cuffs into her slightly trembling hands.  “I’ll pull him out and hold him; you cuff him.”

“No problemo.”

Viktor swung the trunk door open and easily hurled the agitated shifter out.  The powerful vampire held him tightly as Alma, after a few attempts, managed to slap the cuffs on him.  Viktor dropped him to the floor and stepped a few paces away, pulling Alma with him.

The shifter flailed around on the floor for a while; he reminded Alma of a fish flopping about in the open air.   She almost let out a hysterical giggle.

When he finally pulled himself into a kneeling position he glared at Alma and Viktor.  “You fuckers!  I will have you put in jail forever for this!”

Viktor folded his arms nonchalantly.  “I don’t think so.”

“You see if I won’t!” spat Adrian.

Viktor sauntered over to his car like he had all the time in the world; he pulled out copies of the pictures they had found the previous night.  He carelessly dropped them on the floor near the badger.

“Unless you want those photos turning up at the trial as evidence, you won’t do a thing.”

The shifter’s face crumpled.  “Why can’t you people just leave me alone?  What I do in my private life is just that – private!  I don’t deserve this!”  He started openly bawling.  “Look, I’ll give them anything you want, just please keep the pictures a secret,” he choked out.

Alma started to feel her fear slip away as it was overtaken by indignant anger.  She marched over to the burbling shifter and gave him a firm slap to the face.  He soon quieted and stared at the witch in surprise.

She stood over him, hands on her hips.  “Look, your sexual proclivities are hardly a big deal, lots of people like a bit of kink.  But if you were so worried about your position on the Council, you should have thought of that before you cheated on your wife!”

Adrian sniffled pathetically.  “I could care less about the Council; I only bother with it because it makes Scarlet happy.”  A dreamy expression filled his features.  “I’d do anything for her.”

“Apart from stay faithful apparently…” muttered Alma.

She
rolled her eyes as he wiped some snot on his shirt sleeve.

“I only care about those pictures because if my wife found out she would leave me, and take my kids away.  I love her; I couldn’t bear to lose her or the kids.  I couldn’t live without them.”

He was a picture of misery, but Alma was unmoved.  “If you love her so much, why cheat on her?”

“You two wouldn’t understand,” he replied, sullenly.

“Try us!” barked Viktor, so harshly even Alma jumped.

He looked between the hard stares of the witch and the vampire uncertainly, before sighing in defeat.  “Not all shifters are supposed to be in a monogamous relationship… there are some that need to be with more than one partner…”

It was true that there were some shifters whose natures pushed them to mate with two or sometimes three others.  Usually there was one female to two or three males, it harked back to days when females were scarce, and males had to share.  Sometimes the males were intimate with one another too, but not always.  Viktor reflected that he already had more knowledge than he wanted about these kinds of relationships, having been in one before.

The badger shook his head sadly.  “Scarlet is my mate… but I also think that Cyrus is too.”

Alma’s expression softened.  “Can’t you just talk to your wife?”

“She wouldn’t go for that, she’s quite conservative.  Sneaking around with Cyrus is the only way we can be together, but I don’t know how much longer we can do it.”

“What’s wrong?”

Viktor listened in surprise. 
When the hell had this kidnapping turned into a therapy session?

The badger hiccupped.  “Cyrus wants to meet Scarlet; he wants to be with Scarlet too, so that we can all be mated together.”

Alma nodded in understanding.  “Well, if Cyrus feels a pull toward Scarlet, then surely she’ll feel it too, right?”

“I guess… it’s just so hard to know how to… how to broach the matter with her… This whole blackmailing mess has thrown me for a loop, I’ve just been worried sick about protecting Scarlet and keeping those pictures a secret, I have
n’t had time to think about it.”

Viktor sneered.  “So that’s worth killing two prostitutes over is it?  So you can have dirty sex with a snake shifter?  Two women are dead because you can’t keep it in your pants.”

Alma gave him an exasperated look, but Viktor ignored her. 
They were trying to clear Julian’s name, not dole out marriage counseling.

The shifter paled before taking offense.  “I have never killed anyone, and I would never have been involved with planning anyone’s death either.  I don’t want those pictures to be revealed, but I wouldn’t help kill anyone to do it, I’m not a monster!” 

Viktor snarled at the shifter, making the small man cringe.  “I am running out of patience,” he growled.  “What the fuck did they want in return for keeping the photos a secret?  And don’t you dare start crying again, or I will punch you in your sniveling mouth!”

“Viktor!” admonished Alma.

The badger tried to pull himself together.  “They just wanted my vote.”

“What vote?” hissed the vampire. 

“The vote for who will represent the vampire faction on the Council of Shifters, now that Julian is gone.”

Alma creased her brow.  “So who did you vote for?”

“A vampire who calls herself Celine Petit.”