Free Howling Mad: A paranormal wolf shifter romance (Badlands Book 2) by Rebekah Blue Page A

Byron explained breathlessly. “Scares the crap out of the kiddies. He’s a good guy. Well, he cheats at cards, but he doesn’t deserve to be shot.”
    The sniper flopped onto his back. “How was I supposed to know? Literally everyone is trying to kill her. I’ve fired tranquilizer darts at half the shifters in the state tonight, trying to protect her.”
    Byron picked a piece of confetti out of his hair. “Yes. Including Naomi. Funny way of trying to protect her. You’d better start talking.”

Chapter Fifteen
     
    The next morning, Mae and James, Byron, Naomi and half a dozen others gathered in the office for the council of war – as Mae insisted on calling it. With her skin whorled with dark blue ink, Mae looked like a twin-setted Boadicea. Naomi was glad she was on their side. James was wearing the same conservative slacks and shirt he’d had on when Naomi had first met him, but he’d added yellow spotted suspenders, and she realized with shocked delight that he’d once been a clown. She would never have guessed, but when she thought about it, his gentle manner, gangly limbs and long, lugubrious face probably made him a natural.
    Byron’s folks had come ready for battle. They also had a pretty good collection of battered bounty hunters. The boar shifter had been cuffed and bound. She shuddered at the memory of his splintered yellow tusks, and in the confined space of the office, his rank piggy smell was overpowering. The man was sullen and silent now, but he glowered at her with an expression that let her know he wasn’t taking his humiliation well. If he was free, she was pretty sure he’d kill them all, or die trying.
    Three others hadn’t been as lucky, and their corpses had been dragged to one side and covered with pieces of tarpaulin. Mae had waved away Naomi’s concerns about the dead bodies bringing trouble down on the carnival. That seemed like something it was better not to ask about. Naomi only agonized about it very briefly – she got as far as feeling bad that she didn’t feel bad, and then she decided, fuck ‘em . They’d been trying to kill Byron and her. They’d got what they deserved.
    The wolf Naomi had kicked in the face was breathing with loud, ugly snores, curled unconscious on the floor at the boar’s feet. Blood was dried in dark scabs around his mouth and nose. Beside them, in the middle of the room where the coffee table had been, the sniper was sitting on a wooden chair. He wasn’t tied up, but he was the center of focus of maybe a dozen really pissed fugitives, acrobats, bare-knuckle fighters and not-very-reformed criminals. What was he going to do?
    Byron grabbed another chair and swung it into place in front of the sniper, straddling it with his arms folded across the upright back.
    “Okay,” he said. He nodded at the wolf and the boar. “These guys were after me and after Naomi, dead or alive.”
    There was a phlegmy wheeze of laughter from the boar. “Dead suits me better. Especially when it comes to the pretty ones. They don’t struggle so much.”
    Naomi shuddered.
    Very casually, without making a fuss, Gus put his big hand on the boar’s shoulder. His claws dimpled the flesh, just enough to make the point. “Mind your manners when there are ladies present.” He smiled pleasantly, and on his face, it looked like a threat.
    The boar wasn’t as stupid as he looked. He shut up.
    Byron continued, addressing the sniper. “But you…when you fired at Naomi, you were using tranquilizer darts, weren’t you? And you took down the wolf, and you tried to tranq Gus when you thought he was attacking her. I’m not surprised that didn’t work, by the way. We’re not even completely sure what he is . No offence, Gus.”
    “None taken,” said Gus amiably.
    “So,” Byron concluded. “Explain.”
    The sniper cleared his throat. “My name’s Felix,” he said, and as I’m sure you’ve guessed, I provide…special services for certain clients. Discreetly.”
    “You