Bite Me (Woodland Creek) by Woodland Creek, Mandy Rosko

that the heat’s on.”
    Rickman nodded. “I also gave a very special call to his parole officer, asking if the man knew Robert Hammer was in my neck of the woods.”
    “What did he say?”
    “That he’d handle it. Not too sure about that one. I think there might be something going on.”
    Alice spoke up. “He’s been known to have a couple of cops in his pocket from time to time.” Jake and Rickman looked at her. Alice tried not to feel so damned small. “What? He has?”
    Rickman smiled and shook his head. “Sorry. If we talk like you’re not here, it’s nothing personal.”
    “I know. You’re just talking about a case. It’s okay.”
    Jake lifted a brow at her, which reminded her of his lack of sleep.
    “Now that he’s gone, you can get some sleep,” she said.
    Jake shook his head. “No, I’m good.”
    “You didn’t sleep?” Rickman asked.
    “I’m used to it. I think I’d rather see this fine town of yours. Never been to a place quite like this,” he said quickly.
    Alice glared daggers at the back of his head. He knew perfectly well what he was doing, and it wasn’t good for him. The stupid idiot was going to make himself collapse, and Alice didn’t want that happening because of her.
    Rickman seemed more than happy to go along with it, however. “All right, we can arrange that. Might be better for the both of you to have an escort around town for a while, just in case Miss Grey here actually is still being tailed.”
    Jake smiled at her, that stupid, asshole, smug smirk he got, another of his looks that came whenever he got something he wanted and knew someone else didn’t want it. “Couldn’t agree more.”
    She would punch him if she weren’t surrounded by police. She really would.
    *****
    Police Chief Rickman offered to buy Jake and Alice breakfast, taking them out with a couple of his officers as a welcome to the town sort of deal, which was nice.
    Breakfast in Woodland Creek was just as delicious as dinner, and Alice wasn’t kidding anymore when she thought about coming to live here. It would be the perfect place to live if Bobby wasn’t so damned close.
    Because the officers Rickman had brought with him were also aware of shifters, they were able to talk openly about their pasts, and what had put them in Bobby’s line of sight.
    Alice was always torn between shame and pride when it came to stories like these. Shame for having a history as a thief, and pride for how well she’d pulled off some of her heists.
    It wasn’t like she’d stolen anything from poor families, either. Her targets had all been the too-wealthy-for-their-own-good kind. The sort of people who had so much money and so many fine things that sometimes they didn’t even notice when Alice had taken a valuable stamp, coin, or piece of jewelry.
    Sometimes the police weren’t notified until weeks later, and by that time, Alice had been long gone. It was why Bobby had favored using her, and why she and Jake had worked so well together when it came time to bring him down.
    One of the cops even asked to see the bullet scar in Jake’s stomach. His gaze had turned to Alice very briefly before he shook his head. He almost looked bashful about it. “Ah, no, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
    “Why? Oh, yeah, sorry. Never mind,” said the officer when he realized why Jake would decline to show him his scar.
    Didn’t stop Rickman from kicking the man under the table, however. At least that was funny.
    To be honest, Alice wouldn’t have minded seeing the scar. Actually, if she was perfectly honest with herself, she wanted to see it. She really wanted to see it. The last time she’d been aware of it, it had been an open hole that had gushed blood between her tight fingers.
    Jake had been so pale as he’d clenched his teeth. She’d thought he was going to die.
    She’d thought he had died. For months, she’d thought he was gone. Maybe she only wanted to see the scar, because it would show her that he had,