by V. A. Dold
Marcus
Le Beau Series
Book Ten
By
V.A. Dold
Copyright© 2019 by V.A. Dold
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without written permission from the author–except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine, newspaper, or on the web.
This novel is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events; to real people, living or dead; or to real locales are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and their resemblance, if any, to real-life counterparts is entirely coincidental.
E Book 9781943896424
Dedicated…
To my friend, Cassidy, who graciously allowed me to name my heroine after her.
To my beta readers: Dina, Donna, Helen, Karen, Krista, Lisa, Sandy, and Zhalia. Their dedication and assistance allow me to offer a polished product.
And of course, all of my readers and fans of the Le Beau Series, I appreciate you more than I can say.
A huge thank you to all the Bayou Babes who support me every day.
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The Five Shifter Rules
Always put your mate before yourself.
Respect another shifter’s mate.
Do nothing to expose the existence of shifters.
Do no unnecessary harm to shifters or humans.
Respect all nonhumans.
About the Author
V.A. Dold is the best-selling author of the Award-winning Le Beau Series and the K.I.S.S series.
Prior to becoming a full-time writer, she was a publicist for authors.
Her idea of absolute heaven is a day in the French Quarter with her computer, her coffee mug, and the Brothers, of course. Or a night with a sexy cowboy in the hayloft.
A Midwest native, with her heart lost to Louisiana & Texas. She has a penchant for titillating tales featuring sexy men and strong women. When she's not writing, she's probably taking in a movie, reading, or traveling. Oh, and there is the distinct possibility she is out cowboy hunting.
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MARCUS
Le Beau Series
Book Ten
Marcus Le Beau has been blessed, though he wouldn’t call it a blessing. He’s found his one true mate, which should be a reason for celebration. But there’s one monstrous roadblock standing in his way.
She’s contracted to kill him.
Cassidy Elizabeth Ryan is an assassin. Her latest assignment should be easy enough. Secure a position within the Le Beau Corporation and take out Marcus Le Beau while making it look accidental.
So why is she hesitating to complete the contract? The file on Marcus listing the deplorable crimes he has committed doesn’t add up with the man she is spending time with.
Was she given a bogus contract? Is that why her little brother is being held against his will until she finishes the job? She can’t justify assassinating an innocent man, but if she fails to follow through, her brother will pay the price.
How to be the one who survives.
A manual for the successful assassin
By Cassidy Ryan
Rule number one: Plan out every move with multiple contingencies to back up those moves.
Rule number two: Never take the shot if an innocent can be unintentionally harmed.
Rule number three: Always change things up and be unexpected so that your actions can’t be anticipated by your opponent.
Rule number four: Never stare directly at your target. People have an inner alarm for that.
Rule number five: You must allow enough time to escape the scene undetected.
Rule number six: Always make sure you know how many players are in the game.
Prologue: The Plan
Emma Le Beau, the queen of the wolf shifters, settled into a deck chair next to her mate, Isaac, the King of the shifters. She took a sip of sweet tea and tipped her head. “So, who do we have left?”
Emma and Isaac had been secretly setting up the younger generation with their true mates for a couple of years and having a great time doing it. With the help of Luperca, they had managed to orchestrate nine matings so far.
Isaac tapped a finger on his glass of tea. “Let’s see. Marcus and Brian are still single. Then there’s John. Oh, and Charles’s children, Krystal, Logan, Quintin, and the twins, Remi and Rene. It looks like we have eight more matings to arrange.”
She sighed. “So many?”
He cocked his head and smiled. “I like to think of it as a glass half full. We got half of them mated in a very short period of time. And we have two beautiful grandchildren to boot.”
Suddenly, she smiled fully, almost blinding him. “By the way, our granddaughter is amazingly verbal for a toddler. Did you know that she’s talking in complete sentences already?”
“Is that right? I’ll have to have a chat with our little princess. It seems like every time I see her, she’s sleeping. I’ll have to make a point to visit Cade and Anna before they put her down for her afternoon nap. Speaking of the little ankle-biters, where are Abbi and Mal today?”
Emma rolled her eyes. “Anna and Rose took them shopping. I swear Anna is going to make Marcus bleed when she sees him. Abbi has decided she’ll only wear dresses because Marcus told her that pants are for boys.”
“What about Rose? Why is she shopping?”
“She went along to get Malcolm more pants. That boy has outgrown every pair he owns.”
Isaac chuckled. “That’s my boy.”
Emma scowled at him. “Which one? Marcus or Mal?”
He shrugged. “Both. I agree with Marcus. Girls look wonderful in dresses.” He gave Emma a hot once over. “They let a man appreciate her legs. And Mal is growing up fast and becoming a strong, healthy male like his grandfather.”
She shook her head. “You have a one-track mind.”
Winking, he hooked his hand around the nape of her neck to pull her in for a kiss. “You wouldn’t have it any other way. So, who do you think will be the next contestant in our little game?”
“I’m not sure, but I’ll ask Luperca if she appears during my meditation today. Speaking of which, I need to get going.” She set her glass aside and rose to leave.
Isaac hooked her around the waist and pulled her onto his lap. “You need to pay the toll.”
Emma giggled and gave him another kiss.
Giving her a smoldering look, he let her slide off his lap. “I’ll be in our bedroom when you’re done.”
“It’s the middle of the day. I’m sure you have things you need to do,” she said, blowing him a kiss as she stepped into the house.
Emma knelt before her altar and
lit her sacred candles and incense. Sitting back on her heels, she laid her hand’s palm up in her lap and closed her eyes. The first thing she did was imagine roots growing from her root chakra into the earth for grounding. Slowly, she took a deep breath to quiet her mind. Quieting the mind and opening oneself up was essential for communicating with her higher self and the spirits.
With each inhale, she went deeper into the connection with the higher beings. Mentally, she asked her spirit guides to join her, invoking their assistance. After three breaths, her mind was quiet. Smiling to herself, she lifted the eyelid of the third eye, expecting the tickling sensation she always felt. Then she opened her crown chakra. She loved the way her crown opened like a lotus flower.
Now to connect her spirit with the one true Source of all. She visualized a shaft of white light shooting from the top of her head through the cosmos until it connected with the Source of all. The Source, in turn, sent a shaft of beautiful multicolored light back to her. Then she asked Mother Goddess, Father God, and the Source to join her, invoking their guidance.
She sat quietly, thinking of nothing at all, waiting for messages and guidance. If her mind wandered, she repeated her breathing until it was quiet again.
“Blessed be, Emma,” Luperca greeted in her soft, lyrical voice.
Emma bowed her head. “Blessed be. I wasn’t sure you would visit me again so soon.”
Luperca chuckled softly. “Your family tends to keep me busy. I am thrilled by the success you are having with the matings. That is why we are here, after all.”
“And for that, I will be forever grateful. Is there something I can do for you?”
“Yes. Well, actually, it is what you can do for both of us. Marcus is about to meet his mate.”
Emma sat up straighter. “He is? What do you need Isaac and I to do?”
“It is not so much what I need you to do as what I need you not to do.”
Emma frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“Her name is Cassidy Elizabeth Ryan. She will apply and be hired for a position with the Le Beau Corporation security detail.”
Emma cocked her head. “Marcus hasn’t mentioned that he had an opening on his security team.”
“That is because the position is not available yet. Very soon, circumstances will dictate that he hire new help. Cassidy is not what she seems. You will view her as a threat to Marcus, but you must stand aside and allow him to handle the situation. No matter your fear, no matter your maternal instincts, you must stay out of it.”
Emma rubbed her hands on her thighs. “Now you have me worried. Are you sure he’ll be safe with this woman?”
“Yes. As long as you and your family keep your interference to a minimum, she will not feel threatened.”
Emma wrung her hands. “I’ll do what I can to control his brothers. You know what they’re like.”
Luperca chuckled again. “Yes, I do. There will come a point when Marcus will need the family’s assistance. At that time, your sons are allowed to do anything necessary to offer help. Until then, I want them to keep as much of a low profile as they can manage.”
“I’ll do what I can. The problem is, if they think he’s in danger, they won’t be able to help themselves.”
Luperca sighed. “Do your best. Blessed be.”
Emma bowed. “Blessed be.”
She watched Luperca fade from view and chewed her lip. How am I supposed to control six alpha males determined to help their brother? This is going to be impossible.
She needed to consult with Isaac and fast. Hopefully, he was in the office and not the bedroom. Though she loved her sexy man, they didn’t have time for a romp between the sheets. “Isaac!” she called, as she hustled down the hall.
“I’m in here, mon amour,” Isaac called back with way too much seduction in his tone.
Emma skidded to a halt at the end of the bed. Her hands fisted on her hips. “Get dressed. Now. I have another name, and this one is going to be trouble.”
Isaac flipped the sheet down and held out his hand. “I’m sure it can wait for fifteen minutes. Get naked, woman. Your man wants to love on you.”
Emma’s heart did a little flip. She licked her lips, devouring him with her eyes. “I believe you’re right. It can wait.” In the blink of an eye, she was naked and beside him.
True to his word, fifteen minutes later, Isaac led a very satisfied Emma into the great room and poured them each a drink. “So, who is it this time?”
“Marcus.”
Isaac’s brows rose. “Really. Now I can see the problem. That boy is the silent scowling type on a good day.”
“His demeanor isn’t the issue. His mate is. Luperca didn’t go into detail. All she said is the family is supposed to stay out of it no matter how worried we get. She didn’t say what would worry us, and that makes me even more anxious.”
“That is troubling. What else did she say?”
“Apparently, there’s going to be a job opening on Marcus’s security team, and Cassidy Elizabeth Ryan is going to apply for the position. The one thing you can do is make sure she gets the job. She said that we would view Cassidy as a threat, but we’re to stay out of it. When Marcus needs help, he’ll ask.”
Isaac drummed his fingers on his cocktail glass. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Neither do I, but Luperca was adamant that we step aside and let Marcus handle it. The tough part is going to be the boys. They aren’t going to stand aside if Marcus is threatened in any way.”
“Yeah. They won’t. They’re going to stick their noses in his business and guard him whether he likes it or not. I fear this may be our first defeat. We can’t let that happen. We’ll have to be on our toes and think on our feet as we go.”
One
Marcus Le Beau grabbed his phone before it went to voice mail. “Hey, Cade. What do you need?”
His brother sighed in a way that told him he was rubbing his face in frustration. “Did you get my text about returning to the office?”
“Yeah. I was at Etienne’s house. I just pulled onto Lapalco Boulevard, so it’ll be fifteen or twenty minutes. What’s on the agenda?”
“I need to go over security issues with a new acquisition I’m considering. I would have left it until morning, but the real estate agent needs an answer.”
The glare of headlights reflecting from his mirrors hit him square in the eyes. Marcus glanced into his rearview mirror. The hulking silhouette of a truck was coming up on him fast, driving well over the speed limit. He tapped his brakes to warn the driver to slow down. “Don’t worry about it. We can grab dinner in town afterward. It’ll be like old times before you hitched your wagon to Anna.”
“You better not say that around my mate. The last time you got smart, you had a mysterious case of jock itch for a week.”
Marcus wiggled uncomfortably at the mention of Anna’s retaliation. “Good point. Keep that comment to yourself.”
Cade chuckled. “I’ll do that. When you get here, I’ll be—”
Marcus yelled out as an oncoming truck veered into his lane, sideswiping his car. Before he could take evasive action, the glare of headlights in his rearview mirror blinded him. The truck he warned to slow down, plowed into him from behind.
The crunch of metal drowned out what Cade said next. Marcus slammed the brake pedal to the floor and jerked the steering wheel left. It was no use. The one-two punch of the collision knocked the cell phone from his hand and forced him toward the elevated roadway’s crash barrier.
“Marcus? What was that?” Cade yelled through the phone.
Over the loud sounds of concrete giving way and vehicles rushing away, that made his ears ache, Marcus heard Cade bellowing, “Marcus? Marcus!”
Marcus braced for the inevitable. The car crashed through the guardrail and catapulted over the edge. Chunks of concrete flew in every direction. For a moment, he floated high above the soggy ground some forty feet below. His thoughts turned to his parents and brothers as his lif
e flashed before his eyes. Suddenly, the airbags deployed out of the steering wheel and dashboard in a puff of electronic smoke, and the front end of the car dipped. Blood ran down his chin complements of the crash protection that punched him in the face like a prizefighter. Marcus barked out a curse. The damn airbag broke his nose. He fought the bag back enough to cover his head with his arms as the car crashed through treetops.
Branches snapped under each additional impact, jerking him violently. He yelled another curse when a tree limb as thick as his wrist slammed through the window, narrowly missing his head.
With each collision, he was jostled about. What little glass remained intact shattered as the car took a beating. He clenched his teeth. Any moment now, the car would face plant into the ground, and he didn’t want to bite his tongue when that happened.
With the inflated crash protection blocking his view, he didn’t see the finale of his descent coming. Abruptly, the car lurched to a stop in jarring increments as the front end crumpled like an accordion. The bumper, or what was left of it, gave way. Then the crunch and screech of metal as it mangled beyond recognition, pierced his ears. To make matters worse, the dashboard and engine firewall buckled into his leg space. Without a doubt, his left leg took the brunt of the destruction. He couldn’t see below his waist, but he felt the bones in his leg grating with the slightest movement, and his pant leg was wet with blood. Damn it. Compound fractures were a bitch.
The steering wheel was a good eight inches closer than it had been a minute ago, pinning his right arm between his body and the airbag. The same airbag that was wrapped around his head, effectively smothering him. Though the so-called safety feature was slowly deflating, the added pressure of the compressed airbag threatened to break ribs if it wasn’t alleviated. More, if he wanted to remain conscious, he needed to breathe.
