Read Howling Mad: A paranormal wolf shifter romance (Badlands Book 2) for Free Online Page B

motel, Byron flicked through the cash, counting it. They had several hundred dollars, even though he’d handed over a substantial wad to the little girl, and they’d left more than enough for Clem to make up for a day of lost sales. Naomi’s eyes kept drifting to it as she munched on her pizza. It wasn’t exactly gourmet dining, but after a diet of candy bars and soda, a slice of pepperoni-and-mushroom tasted like heaven.
    He tucked the money into the inside pocket of his leather jacket, then sat on the floor beside her, back propped against the side of the bed. He reached for a slice of pizza, then said, “Go on. I know you’re dying to say it.”
    “Well…” She put down her half-eaten slice on the box lid she was using as a plate and licked pizza grease off her fingers. “Doctor Dash? Roll up, roll up and buy my wonderful snake oil? It’s very charming and I want to believe it, but something doesn’t add up. How did you end up in the high-security wing, snarling at the wardens and shredding your jumpsuits into confetti? Did you hurt someone?” She hesitated. “Did you kill someone?”
    Was there a flash of hurt in his eyes again? But he’d intimidated even the wardens when his feral behaviour had been at its worst, and they routinely dealt with some of the most dangerous shifters in the state. She hardly thought he’d been locked up there for running a few games of Find-the-Lady.
    “I’ve hurt people,” he admitted. “Sometimes badly. You can’t be an Alpha wolf without a pack and expect to avoid challenges. That’s just the way it goes.”
    “But responding to challenges is legal under shifter law,” she said. “I meant…”
    “I know what you meant.” He linked his hands behind his head, and the movement pulled his T-shirt taut across his muscular chest. “I grew up on the streets, so I learned how to fight early on. Somehow I drifted in with a group of carnies. It’s a pretty good life for a lone wolf – carnival folks are accepting of people who don’t fit in, and if you do something on the shady side of the law…well, you’re never in one place for long.”
    “And I take it you didn’t earn your living selling cotton candy.”
    He grinned. “I did a bit of this and a bit of that, but when I stood in for the carnival barker on the sideshow, it turned out I had a gift for patter. So I started to specialize. Slight-of-hand. Misdirection. Scams and hustles and swindles – confidence tricks.”
    “And that’s when you left the carnival and became Doctor Dash?”
    “Oh, I’ve been a lot of different people. Chase Aston Junior, a very rich man with a very bad poker face. Nicolo Garibaldi, a penniless street musician who doesn’t know his violin is a Stradivarius. It’s true what they say – you can’t cheat an honest man.” He grinned that panty-evaporating grin. “Thieves, liars and bastards, though? They’re just lining up to get exactly what they deserve. But it was Doctor Dash who got me into trouble, yes.”
    “How? My father would never tell me what you did, but…”
    “Like I said, it was something he couldn’t let go. I was running my Doctor Dash hustle, but with a twist. What I was selling was a multi-shift serum.”
    “Multi-shift…”
    “You’re a cat shifter, right? Haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like to be an apex predator like a wolf or a bear?” He cracked his knuckles and wiggled his fingers as though casting a magic spell. “Just a single dose will transform your whole world! Are you a scaredy-cat in your feline form? When you’re an Alpha wolf you’ll be leader of the pack. Trouble with the law? Throw them off the scent – literally. While the cops are on that cat-burglar case, you’ll be out-foxing them in your cunning new vulpine form.”
    Naomi laughed delightedly. “But that’s impossible!” Then her merriment tapered off. Byron looked… Well, he looked pensive. His pretty eyes were shadowed, his dark brows drawn