Page 2 of A Mountain Man Christmas

“I like the thrill of the chase.”

That was only partly true. The other part was that she’d been hunting criminals ever since she lost her old job six years ago. The story was almost as amusing as it was embarrassing. She’d gotten word one day that the finance company she worked at was declaring bankruptcy. And the culprit? None other than her ex-husband, Greg, who’d already packed his things, cleared out their apartment and was now on the run from the law.

Betrayed, heartbroken, and downright pissed, Lyla had gone after the bastard. Within a couple of weeks, she’d traced Greg to a cheap hotel in Boston where he’d been laying low with some busty redhead. She’d turned him into the authorities, but not before she delivered a few well-deserved kicks where the sun don’t shine.

Two months later, she’d gotten into bounty hunting. She’d been thirty-eight at the time, older than the typical bounty hunter but just as capable, if not more. Even now, at forty-four, she’d put dozens of criminals behind steel bars where they belonged.

The man next to her nodded slowly. “Okay. So youarelike a cop, you know, hunting criminals and all that.”

“Well, I do carry handcuffs around,” she mused.

“That’s kinda hot.”

She shot him a sharp look, and he fell silent.

“I’m not a cop,” she told him. “I hunt people the cops can’t find.”

“Like Theophilus Hill.”

“Among others.” When she first started bounty hunting, she’d gone after human criminals—men and women wanted for various atrocities. Over the years, however, her targets had changed. The way Lyla saw it, it had been inevitable in her lineof work. Until a couple of years ago, she hadn’t even considered the possibility that supernatural beings not only existed but were living among humans.

These days, she went after vampires, elves, and even shifters. Lyla didn’t have a problem with the supernatural per se—in fact, she’d made a few friends in the past couple of years who were fae—but that didn’t make them harmless, especially when they hurt innocent humans.

Like Theophilus Hill, for example.

Lyla still wasn’t certain what kind of supernatural he was, most likely a shifter or a vampire. Whatever he was, she would find out before long.

Ever since she’d started hunting supernatural criminals, she’d upgraded her equipment, using titanium handcuffs, which they could easily escape. She’d also begun carrying a hunting knife for self-defense, but she wasn’t able to board the plane with anything but her handcuffs and energy bars.

Then again, it didn’t really matter. She could get new knives in Chicago. Besides, Lyla was hoping she wouldn’t need to apply too much force when arresting Hill. The man was wanted dead or alive, but she had every intention of bringing him in with his head still attached to his shoulders.

Another light tremor traveled through the plane. Lyla crumpled the paper in her hand and shoved it into her coat pocket with a groan. “Why’s this flight taking so long? Where are we, anyway?”

“We should be flying over Nebraska right about now,” the passenger next to her replied.

She lifted an eyebrow at him questioningly.

“The pilot mentioned it a short while ago,” he explained.

“Oh. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“You do seem preoccupied. It’s Theophilus, isn’t it?”

She nodded.

“Well, I hope you catch him and stop him,” the guy said. “I’m going to see my grandmother in Chicago. I’d hate to hear someday that some wacko murdered her.”

Lyla couldn’t help but notice and appreciate the fact that he hadn’t questioned her bounty-hunting skills. It wasn’t uncommon for most people to underestimate her, and as much as it irked her, she could see why. She was short, and at barely a hundred and fifty pounds, she hardly looked like a threat. It had taken a while for Theophilus Hill to take her seriously.

The way she saw it, it was somewhat to her advantage. What dangerous criminal would suspect they might end up getting handcuffed by some pretty, harmless-looking woman in her forties? Even Greg had underestimated her, and he was still serving time, the bastard.

The trajectory of her life had been altered drastically after Greg took off and left her broke and jobless. Six years had gone by since then, and, in truth, Lyla had no idea where she was headed. Bounty hunting was all she knew now, all she did. She didn’t have a regular life anymore, not like the other people on the plane.

Now and then, she’d found herself wondering what her life would have been like if the past six years hadn’t happened if Greg hadn’t been such an asshole. They’d still be married, maybe even with a kid or two. These days, Lyla lived a mostly solitary life. No kids. No lover.

It didn’t seem like things would be looking up anytime soon. But, hey, at least she had titanium handcuffs.

She reached into her pocket for another protein bar just as another shudder rocked the plane. A disgruntled-looking flight attendant walked past her seat, followed closely by a man with a blond buzz cut and a nose ring.

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