Read To Catch a Snake: Book Three - Supernatural Bounty Hunter Romance Novellas Online

Authors: E A Price

Tags: #Occult, #Mystery, #Horror, #Thriller & Suspense, #Werewolves & Shifters, #Supernatural, #Genre Fiction, #Literature & Fiction

To Catch a Snake: Book Three - Supernatural Bounty Hunter Romance Novellas (14 page)

BOOK: To Catch a Snake: Book Three - Supernatural Bounty Hunter Romance Novellas
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Chapter Sixteen

Breakfast the next day was fairly similar to dinner the previous evening. Her family was still quite wary and tongue-tied around the snake shifter. Except now, her sister was smirking at her and her mother was glowering.
They both knew what she and Marcus had been up to during the night
. Her father looked the same. Ling looked at him fondly; he never knew what was going on.

“May I look at the newspaper after you?” Marcus politely asked her father.

He blinked owlishly and thrust the paper in Marcus’ direction. “Please, take it.”

Ling rolled her eyes in mock annoyance. “Daddy, he meant after you’re finished.”

Marcus graced her family with a killer smile. “Of course, I don’t want to impose.”

Fang clucked her tongue, and Ling was quick to reassure him it was no imposition.

Marcus’ phone chirruped, and he excused himself to answer. He came back a few moments later; at first glance, he seemed fine, but Ling detected the note of worry on his face.

“Has something happened?” she asked.

“I need to get going,” he replied, smoothly dodging her question. “Thank you all for your hospitality.”

Her father quickly twittered that it was their pleasure, and her mother reluctantly murmured her agreement.

Ling walked Marcus out and was surprised to see her bear cop guard had been replaced by a female coyote.
No wonder Shuang hadn’t been popping outside every five minutes.

She leaned against his car door. He reflected that she looked sexy stretching herself out under the early morning sun, but he realized she was only doing it to block his way. “Has something happened?” she asked again, a little more forcefully this time.

Marcus took her face in his hands and gave her a soft kiss; both she and her panda swooned. “We’ll talk later. I love you; I’ll call you and stay safe.”

Ling suddenly found herself watching Marcus drive away. Damnit! How the heck had he managed that?
Sneaky, hypnotic snake!

*

Marcus chuckled as he saw Ling’s irritated frown in the mirror. She wasn’t happy with being left behind, or being stuck with her mother all day, and he could understand why. He wasn’t happy about being apart either, but it was safer than her being with him.

He was sure they were making progress in finding the python, but it hadn’t deterred him. Detective Leeman had called a few minutes ago to inform him that someone set fire to Ling’s house last night. Whoever it was didn’t do a good job, the fire petered out in her living room. It might need some work, and she would probably have to get rid of a number of her possessions, but the damage wasn’t too bad.

Still, he could only be calm about it because Ling wasn’t in her house at the time. Surely the python shifter would have realized that at the time, but then maybe he was just doing it to piss Marcus off.
It was working.

The sooner he was found, the sooner Ling was safe and the sooner they could get married and bond. His snake hissed in happiness. Soon, she would be theirs.
He couldn’t wait.

*

The day was passing interminably slowly for Ling. She tried to persuade her family to continue on with their normal lives, as if Ling’s wasn’t in danger, but they wouldn’t hear of it. They were determined to stay home and keep her company.
It was torturous.

Marcus called a few times, and that was a welcome relief. He wouldn’t tell her anything about what he was doing, but hearing his voice was lovely.

She started wondering about their wedding. Would he want a big wedding? She doubted it. She was pretty sure that he would be happy with a wedding at City Hall and a wedding reception in their bedroom - where they were the only guests. Actually, she could get on board with that. Her wedding to Robert had been enormous; it had been a chance for him to show off to his business associates. The fact that she hadn’t even enjoyed her own wedding day really should have tipped her off that the marriage was not built to last.

Hmmm, would Marcus want to live at her house, or would she move into his apartment? She should probably get a look at it before she made a decision. It seemed unlikely that Marcus would want to live at her house; after all, it had been the house she shared with Robert. Marcus was the sort of guy who would get jealous about that. Not that she minded really. If the situation were reversed, she couldn’t promise that she wouldn’t react in the same way.

Well, even if they didn’t have a big wedding, she needed a new dress for the occasion.
Ooh, she couldn’t wait to go shopping for it.

Her phone rang again. She jumped on her bed and answered it. “Hey, sweetie, I was just thinking about you.”

“You were?” asked the hopeful voice on the other end.

Her panda growled in fury. “Myron! What the hell do you want?”

“Ling, I need to see you,” he pleaded.

“Tough, I’m hanging up.”

“No, please, if you don’t come to me I don’t know what I’ll do. I might just end it all!”

Jeez!
“Myron, don’t say that.”

“I can’t live without you, and I won’t live without you.” He started crying down the phone, and Ling felt her willpower crumble.

“Look, I don’t know what to say…”

“Come and see me, I’m at the Howling Moon Motel, room 217. Hurry!”

He hung up, and Ling stared at her phone.
Aww, hell.

Her panda was all for leaving him out to dry -
ruthless, little beast
. But Ling knew she couldn’t just ignore what he had said. She was mad as hell at him, her conscience wouldn’t allow it, just in case he was about to do something drastic.

Ling rubbed her temples. She considered calling Marcus, but she didn’t want to make him mad or worry him about the fact that her ex-boyfriend wouldn’t stop calling her.
He had enough on his plate.

All she had to do was get out the house, past her cop sentry, convince Myron to seek help, and sneak back in, all without Marcus finding out.
Easy peasy
.

*

Ling got out the yellow convertible and turned back to her sister. “Just wait here, I won’t be long.”

‘Whatever.” Shuang shrugged and went back to playing on her phone.

Escaping her house had actually been pretty easy, once she got the co-operation of her little sister. Thankfully, Shuang came pretty cheap; all she wanted was Ling’s red evening dress and matching pumps. Given that it had been Myron’s favorite dress, it wasn’t hard to part from it.

Shuang made a big deal about going out to the store; Ling shifted to her panda and scampered into Shuang’s care while she distracted the bear shifter cop who, luckily, had come back on duty. When they were safely out of sight of the house, Ling shifted and pulled on the clothes Shuang had hidden in her bag.

Ling braced herself and knocked on the door to room 217.

“Come in!” called Myron.

She entered the room cautiously and screamed at the sight before her. Myron was sprawled on the bed, buck-naked, in what she was sure he thought was a provocative pose.
Oh, her nausea started acting up again!

“Myron, for heaven’s sake! Put it away!” she cried as her panda yapped indignantly.

“Red!” he crooned, “I’ve missed you, come here, baby.”

She looked around the room at anything but the naked man and his waving penis. “What the hell, Myron? I rushed over here because you said it was a matter of life or death!”

Myron sat up on the bed. “It is! I can’t live without you; I left my wife to be with you.”

“Yeah, well, unless you cover yourself up, it will definitely be life or death because I will kill you!” she growled.

Stiffly, he pulled on a robe and Ling was able to relax a fraction.
Ugh! What had she ever seen in this arrogant asshole?
Her panda agreed vociferously.

“I left my wife so we can be together; I thought you’d be a little more grateful,” he said hurtfully.

Ling scowled at him. “No, we can’t be together. You lied to me about being married, and used me for sex; I can’t forgive that. And besides, I’ve met someone else.”

“What? Who?” he snarled, eyes flashing.

“It doesn’t matter.” She turned to leave, and Myron roared at her.

“So what? You’re just leaving me hanging? Do you have any idea how hard it was to get away from my bitch wife? Do you know what kind of hell my life is right now? How embarrassing my situation is?”

Ling turned on him; her eyes flashed to angry orange. “About as embarrassing as finding out you’re your boyfriend’s mistress and then having him fire you, I imagine.”

She turned and made it out the door before Myron grabbed her arm. “Please Ling, don’t go.”

Ling grunted and wrestled with him; her panda shrieked, and her tiny claws pushed forward, sinking into his arm. She wriggled for a few minutes trying to free her arm before she kicked him in the shin. “Never call me again!” she shouted over her shoulder as she quickly ran to her sister’s car.

She snapped at Shuang to drive, and, for once, her sister did as she was told.

Ugh! How could she had fallen for that?
He was the biggest dickhead on the freaking planet! How could she have ever been contemplating a life with him?

She closed her eyes and smiled as she thought of Marcus. Just the thought of him sent delicious warmth through every inch of her body. She wondered what he was doing right now…

*

Marcus drove away from the Howling Moon Motel with a grim expression. His snake thrashed around, rumbling in fury. He hadn’t meant to be there; he hadn’t meant to follow her - he just couldn’t help himself.

He had been a little concerned about knowing where Ling was so, in a fit of worry, he had dropped a tracking device into her purse before he left her that morning. Okay, so it was possibly a little creepy and controlling, but damnit, her life was in danger. Just in case she had to leave her parents’ house, he wanted to know where she was at all times. He found looking at the map and seeing the round, flashing, tracking dot at her parents’ house to be relaxing.

After trying to sort out Ling’s house, and visiting a couple of very unhelpful farms looking for the python, he had taken out his laptop and was alarmed to see the dot was at the Motel. Marcus had sped there to find Ling and a big, gorilla shifter roughly embracing outside a motel room. The gorilla had to be her ex, Myron. Clearly he wasn’t out of the picture like she claimed.

Marcus was furious, and his snake was even worse. While he was running around town trying to keep her safe, she was cheating on him. He couldn’t believe how wrong he had been about her.
He was so sure that they were true mates…

His phone rang, and on autopilot, he answered. The news he heard should have made him happy, but all he could think about was a barren future without the woman he loved.
What was he supposed to do now?

 

Chapter Seventeen

Marcus tensed as he saw Ling sitting on the porch, sipping from a glass. She waved at him. She looked beautiful in a blue sundress. More than anything, he wanted to run over to her and wrap his arms around her.
She would have been so perfect for him.

He tensed remembering the scene he witnessed outside the motel. He desperately wanted to pretend he never saw it, but he knew he couldn’t. It would fester and eat away at him, making him even more paranoid and jealous.

Ling smiled as she saw him coming. “Hey! Is something happening? My cop bodyguard just upped and left; my sister was devastated.”

Marcus eyed her warily. “Jackson and Logan found the python shifter; he was living with his new wife to the north in some kind of cult. He’s been brought back for breaking his parole, he’s in jail.”

“That’s wonderful!” she squealed before throwing herself at him. She kissed him soundly and was a little alarmed when he stayed rigid against her passionate onslaught. Her beast whined in worry.
Maybe he was just tired…

Ling smiled at him and led him over to the porch seats, and poured him a glass of lemonade.

Marcus tracked her movements. “What have you been doing all day?” he asked unemotionally.

Ling squirmed a little under his grim gaze. “Nothing, just hanging out at the house.”

“Is that all?” he demanded.

Ling’s bottom lip wobbled. There was something wrong. Her panda squeaked at her to tell him about Myron, but she was too scared. What if he didn’t believe her? What if he assumed she had slept with Myron? “Yes.”

Her nerves were on edge for lying, but the truth was too risky, she couldn’t lose Marcus. Lord, why hadn’t she just called the cops when Myron pretended he was going to kill himself?

His snake bellowed at him.
She was lying to them!
She had snuck out to see that fucker Myron and then lied about it! She was still seeing him; she was having sex with the fucking gorilla and laughing about how dumb Marcus was for trusting her.

Fuck, he should have stormed over there and ripped that gorilla to shreds! That would show her. That would show her who she belonged to.

Marcus closed his eyes and forced himself to breath in and out. No, he wouldn’t get angry, he wouldn’t get violent. He wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes he made with Kelly. His gut twisted at the thought, but Ling had cheated on him, and he had to end the relationship before things got worse.

“You’re lying to me,” his voice was laced with hurt and bitterness.

Ling bit her lip and, encouraged by her little animal, the truth came tumbling out. “Myron called me; he sounded upset and said he was miserable without me and that he was going to kill himself. I panicked, so I snuck out to make sure he was okay. When I got to his motel he was there waiting, naked. He… he tricked me. When I realized, I left straight away. I’m sorry; I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry or get upset.”

Marcus sneered at her, “You preferred for me to see the two of you in a motel parking lot?”

Oh, god!
Ling ran around the table and kneeled in front of him. “I’m sorry; it wasn’t like that. He was trying to grab me and I kicked him and ran off. Nothing happened. I only went to him because I didn’t want him to get hurt. I don’t love him, but I couldn’t have forgiven myself if he had hurt himself. I love you, Marcus, and I’m really sorry.”

He looked down at her big, tear-filled eyes, and a part of him flipped for her, but another remained stone cold. He’d heard too many lies before; he didn’t want his second marriage to be the same as his first. He couldn’t bear to become the old, angry, jealous Marcus again. He needed to be on his own.

Carefully he stood up and maneuvered Ling back into a chair. Her lips quivered hopefully, but he looked at her sadly. “I won’t be made a fool of again. This, whatever we had, is over.”

Her voice cracked as the tears spilled down her cheeks, “Marcus? Please don’t…”

He tried to drown out her sweet voice and made his way to his car. His animal was howling at him, but Marcus refused to listen.
This was for the best, wasn’t it?”

*

Ling clutched the cushion to her as she watched TV. It was some kind of nature documentary about bees or wildebeest or something. She was barely concentrating.

All she could think about was Marcus. After a fit of tears, she had come to her senses. She had hurt him; she needed to give him a little space to calm down and then she would go see him again. She was sure that he felt as strongly about her as she did about him, and she was certain that they would patch things up.
About 90% certain
. Besides, she’d made a little discovery that afternoon that might make a difference to the way he felt.

She frowned as her mother switched the TV off and ushered a rugged looking young man into the room. He was maybe ten years younger than Marcus, a couple of inches taller and broader than Marcus; his hair was a few shades darker than Marcus, his face was a little friendlier than Marcus’…

Yep, everything just came back to Marcus.

“Ling, this is Brent,” her mother proclaimed proudly.

“Ummm, hi, Brent.”

“Hi, Ling, it’s wonderful to meet you at last,” he said warmly.

“Uh, you too.”
Stranger I’ve never heard anything about.

“You ready to go?” he asked brightly.

“Ah, what?”
Alarm bells were ringing.

“She is!” cried Fang, “if you will just excuse us for a moment, we’ll fetch her purse.”

With a grip that belied her small stature, Fang pulled her daughter into the kitchen.

Ling looked at her accusingly. “What’s going on?”

Fang gave her an innocent, wide-eyed look. “Nothing, he is my friend’s son, he works at the zoo. As you recall, I told you about him, and you agreed to go on a date with him.”

Ling pursed her lips, “I don’t think that’s accurate, and it was before I met Marcus.”

Fang harrumphed. “Who has ended your relationship, and good riddance!”

Ling folded her arms. “We’ve had an argument and Marcus was upset. For which, I can’t blame him. I went to see an old boyfriend and then lied about it; he has every reason to be angry with me. But once he calms down, I’m sure we’ll get back together.”

“How sure are you?” asked Fang through narrowed eyes.

“Mother, I want to marry Marcus and I want to bond with him. I don’t want to go on a date with Brent. It might make things worse between me and Marcus.”

“Well, Brent’s here now, and given that you’re no longer in danger, you should get out and enjoy yourself.”

“So send him away,” said Ling firmly. It really was time she stood up to her mother.

“Well, couldn’t you just go out with Brent as friends, after all, you don’t want to hurt his feelings or his mother’s, do you?” Fang gave her a pleading look, and Ling felt her resolve start to waver. Fang noticed and continued to wheedle her, “His mother is quite wealthy and influential. I’m on the Board of the children’s hospital, and she gives a lot of money to us. If she were upset, that money might stop. You don’t want that to happen, do you?”

Ling inwardly groaned, and her panda huffed at her. “You know I don’t.”

Fang beamed. “Excellent, here’s your purse, have a nice time.” She thrust it into Ling’s arms and pushed her into the living room to find Brent waiting patiently.

He gave her a killer smile, to which she was completely immune. “Ready to go.”

“Yeah, sure,” she replied unenthusiastically. Who knows, maybe she would enjoy herself. Her panda growled. Yeah, okay, there was no way that could happen.
She just prayed Marcus didn’t find out about this.

BOOK: To Catch a Snake: Book Three - Supernatural Bounty Hunter Romance Novellas
11.16Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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