Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny Read Online Free PDF Page B

and bore it so he’d let me out of bed. My wing looks and feels just fine, aside from itching like a week making hay.
    One of the grander things about being out in the middle of nowhere rather than back in law school is the near absence of paperwork. Near. People still file complaints and reports come in the post every few months. I’m sorting through it. Harding is out and about. The office is cool and quiet.
    My thief walks in.
    “Six?” The pen slips from my hind paw, splattering lakes and rivers of ink across the complaint I was cataloging.
    “Sheriff.” She touches the brim of her hat. “Nice to see scuttlebutt’s true. Yer lookin’ right as a trivet, if a touch less steady.”
    I swallow. “I didn’t think you were coming back.”
    A slight twinkle lights her expression. “You regret it happening?”
    “N-no.”
    One ear lifts as her eyebrows arch up. “That mean you aren’t fixin’ to arrest me?”
    “Have a seat.” I gesture to a chair. “We’ll talk.”
    I hear a soft click as she locks the office door. Spurs ringing on the floor, she ambles up and sits, not cross-legged like a lady, but predatory and sly; in control. Right on my desk, close enough that I swear I can make out the curve of her figure though her rough clothes. She leans in and those ears droop. An amused little smile crosses her muzzle as she breathes down a single word to me: “Talk.”
    My heart chugs along like a steam engine. Her voice almost sounds like a girl’s. I freeze.
    She blushes, gets abashed for a second, then her face goes unreadable as iron. Once again I could believe I’m looking at a fella, if a tall, scrawny one. She leans back, shifting atop my papers. One of her holsters trails through the wet ink, carving channels through my neat little streams.
    “No need to be offish.” I find myself leaning forward just a bit. “I’ve just got some questions, is all.”
    “Then shoot, lawbat, or give up the gun.” She laughs roughly. “We both got ears.”
    “That we do.” My eyes flash to her ears before I can stop the darn things. I blink, then meet her gaze level and steady. “First off, what do you know about Hayes’ unlawful ties? You can’t expect me to swallow this insurance scam tripe. That’s small potatoes to him. Seems to me he wanted to get that money off the books, more likely.”
    She gives me a smirk. “You reckon I care to cross him any more than I already have?”
    “I don’t think that’s possible unless you stole his wife.” I settle my wings against the back of my chair, the sling chaffing. “Or his money again.”
    “Well, his wife ain’t the breed I’m lookin’ to buy. And I hear tell he’s ponied up the cash for a better safe.” Her eyes dare me to call her on that, then she fiddles with a claw. “I only caught wind of that theft business a day beforehand, most likely fixing to pay some folk off. Isn’t quite simon-pure about how he runs that mining outfit either— Is your wing alright?”
     
     
    My mind flounders for a second, then catches the trail again. “Near as can be, considering. What’s this have to do with Hayes?”
    “Nothing. Ah just thought it fair I get to ask a question too.”
    “I see.” I decide not to press her too hard on any one front. “Second, where did you come by such fancy iron?”
    “What’s this got to do with the lion Hayes?”
    “Nothing.”
    The bunny leans in a hair. Her muzzle is not four inches from mine, her paws not an inch from her iron. Her voice is steady, steady as her aim was when dealing with the outlaws. “You lookin’ to return them to their rightful owner?”
    “Never said it wasn’t you.”
    She breathes. Her scent teases my nose. “They were my daddy’s. The only thing of his I still got.”
    I nod. Something about her eyes makes me believe her.
    “Can I…” She clears her throat, sounding like a woman for just an instant. “…see your wing?”
    “You plan to keep holstered this time?”
    Her paws rise.