Page 29 of Hunted

There was a moment of silence, and then the sheriff burst out laughing and reached in the window, clasping hands with Gunn. “Every day of the week, my friend.”

Well, shit. The sheriff was clearly on the payroll.

He leaned on the edge of Gunn’s window, peering inside at Michelangela. “This her?” he asked Gunn.

It was Mikey who answered. “Which ‘her’ would that be?” she asked acidly.

The sheriff said, “The one who got away.”

Now what the hell did that mean?

Gunn muttered, “More than once,” which made the sheriff laugh again.

He looked Mikey over, taking in her tattered and bloody state, and then checked out the mostly-healed slice on Gunn’s neck. “Seems like you all have had an interesting morning.”

“Yeah,” Gunn said dryly. “She’s a wild one, all right.”

Well, that wasn’t patronizing at all. “I am,” Mikey said. “I just love it when the mens drag me back to their caves by my hair, kicking and screaming.”

“Don’t tempt me,” Gunn said. “Mikey, this is Hawk Romero. Hawk, Mikey.”

“Good to finally meet you,” Hawk said. Finally? Mikey thought. How much had Gunn told him about her?

Hawk asked Gunn, “She gonna fix up Dobe?”

Well hell. If he knew about Dobe already, this guy wasn’t just on the payroll, he had a pipeline to the Ridge. She unobtrusively sniffed the air, and caught a whiff of his scent. Wolf.

Huh.

Gunn answered Hawk, “Says she’s going to try.”

Hawk nodded. “We don’t want to lose him,” he said to Mikey, serious now. “He’s a good man.”

“So everyone keeps telling me.”

Hawk obviously caught the irony in her tone. He said to Gunn, “How much does she know?”

“As little as I could possibly get away with. And that’s still more than the boss wants her to know, so you need to keep your mouth shut.”

Hawk held his hands up in a conciliatory gesture. He said to Gunn, “I’m staying out of it. But…” He looked Gunn dead in the eye. “Funny she should turn up here like this. Against all odds.”

Gunn’s jaw clenched. “It’s not like that. You know she can’t stay here, and you know why.”

Hawk nodded. “Yep. I hear you. Totally impossible. Like me and Ariana.”

Gunn snapped, “Am I the only one here who doesn’t believe in fairy tales?”

“Probably,” Hawk said. Then his face sobered. “Listen, Gunn, real reason I stopped you is I got a couple of calls telling me your Hounds were down on the edge of town a little while ago. Scared the hell out of Mrs. Krumbiegel and her Pomeranian. Now, it’s not that we’re not grateful to them, but you know how they get. I’d hate to have to shoot any of them.”

Gunn muttered, “Then you’re the only one.” To Hawk he said, “Sorry. They went off half-cocked before I realized. I ordered them back to the Ridge, and left Boomer riding herd on them.”

“Madre de Dios,” Hawk said. “Boomer? Is that supposed make me feel better?”

Gunn laughed. “I guess not. Listen, we have to go. Dobe’s in a bad way.”

Hawk said, “You all better get on then. You should come down for supper sometime. Ariana misses you.”

Gunn nodded. “Give her my regards.”