Holiday Mates: Supernatural Enforcers Agency Short Stories (19 page)

“I take comfort in the fact that they’d lose interest when they got to know me.”

Her bunny frowned.  “That’s not true.”

He grinned.  “Really?  How many times have you wanted to throttle me today?  A dozen?”

“No, it was way less than that – five or six tops.”

“Yeah, my sunniness,” chuckled Mason, “it’s why I go through so many girlfriends.”

Judy let out a breath.  “At least, you have a dating life; I spend so much time working and trying to catch a break that I don’t even notice when the bag boy at the grocery store is making eyes at me.”  Of course, that could just be her wistful imagination.

Speaking of which, the case…

Judy put her drink down; she’d yet to take a sip.  “Maybe we should go back to Tina’s house – maybe her boyfriend’s left, maybe we could talk to her.”

“Pretty sure she’d be pissed if we turned up at this time of night.  Tomorrow.  We’ll do it tomorrow.  Or, tomorrow, we could look at his file again and maybe follow a different lead.  Plus, I’ve got feelers out about anyone buying the eggs.  Rare items like that won’t go unnoticed.”

She blinked at him.  “You have?”

“Sure, you seem surprised.”

“I just kind of thought that…”  Heat bloomed across her face, and she looked at her shoes.  “I don’t know.”

Mason grunted.  “You think because I’m negative that I’d half-ass this case?”

Her nose twitched.  “Well…”

“You don’t get far in the SEA by half-assing it.”

“You mean the basement?”

He growled.

“I’m sorry,” she stammered. 

“No, that was my fault.  I underestimated a guy, and people almost got hurt.  I thought he was a regular lunatic.  It turns out he was a lunatic with a witchbay account.”

“I’m sorry, you’re right, you’ve been nothing but helpful to me.”

“You just wish I was as excited as you are about this case.”

“I don’t think anyone could be as excited about this as me,” she admitted wryly.

He leaned over her and murmured, “Yeah, you kind of have a one-track mind.”

Judy smiled at him and bit her lip.  A surge of confidence burst through her as his sexy growl sent tingles through her body.  “Maybe you could do something to take my mind off it.”

She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down for a kiss.

*

Judy crept around the side of Tina’s house.  Her bunny thumped her foot, wiggled her tail and waggled her ears, but Judy was not interested.

She was going to find Moe and recover the eggs all without that big oaf’s help.  And then she was going to get the hell out of Los Lobos while she still had a shred of dignity.

She peeked up through the kitchen window.  She saw Tina sitting at the kitchen table on the phone but no sign of her boyfriend.  Maybe now would be a good time to knock on her door.

“Who the hell are you?” demanded a gruff voice.

Her bunny squeaked as rough hands gripped her.  She turned to find herself looking at an enormous walrus shifter who looked as friendly and inviting as a heart attack.  She let out an eep.

*

“Where is she going now?”

Mason watched as the red dot pinged across his phone.  Of course, she went back to Tina’s place – he expected that - but what was she doing in the fishing district?  Was Tina moonlighting and his annoyed little rabbit was tailing her?

His gorilla grumbled and sulked.  Hey, it wasn’t Mason’s fault.  Well, it was
kind of
his fault.

Yes, he peeled her off when she threw herself at him for an impromptu kiss, but he had very good reasons.  None of which seemed to make sense now.  None of which his disgruntled gorilla could fathom.

Hey, he enjoyed her company and found her attractive to the point of distraction – that wasn’t in dispute, and the painful wood he was sporting in his pants was more than evidence of that - but did he want to take advantage of her while feeling depressed about the fact that she didn’t have any friends?  Hell no, when they did have sex, her mind would be totally on him.  He wanted his flopsy bunny begging him to take her harder, not wondering why she let him paw at her in the first place.

Course, after she’d flounced out of there, nose twitching up a storm, he was glad he’d thought to put a tracker in her coat pocket.  He’d done it because he had a bad feeling that she couldn’t let the case go and he didn’t want her getting into trouble.

He inhaled, his shirt smelled of her and it was delicious.

When she stormed out of the bar, she left him stranded.  He had to call the office and have someone drive his car over to him while they laughed at him for being punked by a bunny.

Maybe he should have just let her have her wicked way with him.  His inner beast and his twitching dick agreed with that sentiment.

Her dot stopped, and he pressed the gas.  Whatever trouble she was getting herself into, he was going to be the one to rescue her.

*

“You can’t treat people this way.”

No answer.

“I just wanted to ask Tina a couple of questions.”

No answer.

“People will know I’m missing.”

No answer.

“My nose itches.”

No answer.  Nothing worked.  Her bunny whined.

After being found at Tina’s house, she was manhandled into a truck, driven somewhere and now she was dangling from a meat hook in a huge freezer awaiting her fate.  She waggled her legs around, but she was a foot off the ground and no acrobat.  Her current options were dangling and waiting for death. 
And no one knew where she was
.

Perhaps running out on Mason wasn’t such a good idea.  But her pride was hurt.  She threw herself at him, and he rejected her point blank.  Her bunny pouted.  Why would such a big handsome guy waste his time with such a…

The door swung open, and she struggled, kicking her legs as the walrus and a polar bear shifter entered.

“Come ten feet closer so I can get you!” she yelled.

They snorted and roughly pushed someone into the room, letting him fall to the ground.  The walrus gave him a kick in the stomach.  He let out a moan and the two men grunted in satisfaction as they left.

“Mason!” she exclaimed as her rabbit yipped in happiness.

Oh, this was all her fault.

“Mason, are you okay?  I’m really, really sorry, and unlike all the times I’ve said sorry today, this time I mean it.”

Mason looked up and grinned.  “How’s it hanging, cottontail?”

Yep, he was fine.
  How could one male be so exasperating?  “Funny.  Are you hurt?  What are you doing here?”

“I’m fine.  No, thankfully I have a thick head. And I was looking for you.  They caught me snooping around outside.”

“They didn’t kick you in the head.”

“Thick everything.”  He winked.

Her bunny twittered.  She was well aware of
that
.  “Get me down and please don’t tell me there’s no point because we’re practically dead anyway.”

“Have you learned your lesson yet?”

“My lesson?” she spluttered.

“You asked for my help and then ditched me – there’s no ditching between partners.”

Judy looked at her dangling feet.  “I got embarrassed when you rejected me.”

“No need to be embarrassed, hoppy.”  He walked over to her and grasped her ass, lifting her slightly, taking the weight off her aching arms.

She sighed and then let out an oooh as he started massaging her cheeks.  She hitched her legs around his waist.  Her beast practically purred.

“It just wasn’t the right moment,” he crooned.

“And this is?” she breathed.

“Well, we’re probably going to die soon.”

“Oh, you insufferable…”

He covered her mouth with his, taking her with a soft yet determined kiss.  She tightened her legs around him and arched her back pressing her breasts against him, her arms still trapped above them.  The cold of the freezer evaporated as her body reached boiling point.

It was at the point when she was seriously considering how easy it would be to undo his pants with her feet when she decided they ought to stop.  She ripped her mouth away from his, and he frowned.

“Don’t give me that look,” she said disapprovingly.  “We are not having sex in a freezer.”

“You’re right, wouldn’t want anything to shrink.”

“Puh-lease.”  She’d seen him naked, and he had nothing to worry about
there
.

Before they could decide on an awesome plan to escape – one that was definitely on the tip of her tongue – the goons reappeared.

The polar bear smirked.  “See you found something to occupy your time.”

Mason let out a primal grunt.

“C’mon, the boss wants to talk to you.”

*

Mason recalled who Tina’s boyfriend was the moment he saw him sitting behind his cushy desk, surrounded by his goons.  Frank Jones Jr. an arctic wolf shifter, son of Frank Jones Sr. who fancied himself as some kind of arctic mafia crime boss.  They were on the SEA watch list.  This wasn’t good news.  But in spite of his naturally pessimistic nature, he knew he and Judy had to get out of there.  He wanted some more kisses like that.  He wanted to feel her warm, curvy form against his.  He wanted to see those freckles again, the ones scattered across her breasts…

Frank gave them a bored look.  “Why were you spying on my girlfriend?  You think harassing my girl’s gonna get you something on me?”

“Who are you?” asked Judy with genuine bafflement.

Frank paused.  “Who am I?  Who am I?  Who the fuck are you?”

Judy bristled, and Mason had to quash the smile as he imagined her tail fluttering.  “Judy Carrot – spelled carrot but pronounced ca-rot.  I work for Supernatural Insurance.  Who are you?”

He snorted.  “I’m Frank Jones Jr.”

She shrugged.

“Heir to Beluga Arctic Fish and Meat Imports.”

“Doesn’t ring any bells.”

“The biggest fishing import business in the city?” snapped Frank.

“Can’t you just fish locally?  Do they need to be imported?”

Mason was as still as a statue, ignoring the shuffling of the goons and the irate expressions on Jr.’s face, but inside his gorilla was booming with laughter.

“I don’t mean to be a pain, Mr. Jones, but is Tina around?” said Judy.  “We need to have a word with her.”

“What?”

“Tina Blake,” she repeated patiently.  “We need to talk to her.”

“What about?”

“Well, maybe we should talk to Tina directly.”

Frank gave her a look of disbelief.  He looked at Mason.  “Is she kidding me?”

“Nah, and you better do as she asks.”

The wolf shifter bared his fangs.  “Is that a threat?”

“Nope, just a promise.  You don’t do it, and she’ll just keep asking, over and over and over again.”

“Ahem!”  Judy frowned at him.

Mason took her hand.  “Not a criticism, freckles,” he murmured.

One of Frank’s goons entered and whispered something in his ear.  He groaned and scowled at Mason.  “Agent Howler Mason.”

“Howler?” said Judy.

“Long story,” he muttered with a sigh. 
His mom really did have a lot to answer for.

“What does the SEA want with my girlfriend?” demanded Frank.

“To talk to her!” repeated Judy, all patience now leaving her.

Mason flicked his eyes to the goons and his gorilla growled.  They were shuffling restlessly.  He enjoyed Judy’s sparky determination, but Frank could be pushed too far.  Being put in the freezer was barely even a warning.

Frank, however, surprised him by cocking an amused smile at Judy.  “You can ask me anything.”

Judy inhaled.  “Fine. Why is she driving her ex-boyfriend’s car?”

Frank then surprised them both by chortling.  “Not her ex - her best friend’s idiot little brother.  Friend lives in Florida.  Tina promised her she’d look out for the dolt.  So when he turned up out of the blue and asked her to switch cars, she did.”  He scowled.  “She handed over the keys to her new BMW – the brand new BMW I bought her.”

“Where is he now?” asked Mason.

“Hell if I know.”

“But I’ll bet a guy like you would care about his girlfriend’s safety.”  He was speaking euphemistically.  “I’ll bet you could track that car, just to make sure she was safe.”

Frank growled.  “Not sure I want to do the SEA a favor.”

“Do yourself one,” piped up Judy.  “Unless you want Moe running back to your girlfriend over and over.  How many cars can you afford?”

The wolf shifter let out a breath.  He tapped the keyboard of his computer a few times.  “It’s outside the public park – west entrance.  Now, get out and don’t let me catch you skulking around my girlfriend’s house.”