Scandalous Shifters Paranormal Box Set

by Mia Taylor

  As she turned to look, a hint of recognition flowed through her.

  Her mind flipped through the Rolodex of pictures she had forced herself to learn through the last week.

  August DiFranco. Tommy Fagioli. Frank Massuto. All soldiers under Luca Gallo.

  The men were laughing raucously as they made their way toward the bar, their voices already grating on Angela’s raw nerves.

  Oh, come on, she thought. Not yet. Not today. I need more time to feel this place out.

  She reasoned it could be worse; she might run into Gallo himself and Angela knew she was not equipped to deal with him that night.

  She wasn’t sure she knew how to approach him once she did see him. She just hoped that her anger for what he had done to Val wouldn’t be obvious on her face.

  She’s right. I need to get out of here, Angela thought but she didn’t immediately understand why the blonde had asked her to leave.

  In any case, Angela knew she had to get moving.

  “Hey, Tanya!” August yelled, plopping himself on a stool just down from where Angela sat.

  “Hey, asshole,” the bartender replied flatly, the lilting tone gone from her voice. “The usual?”

  August pouted, pretending to be hurt by the insult, but his eyes were fixated on Angela as his friends lined up at his side.

  “Why you gotta be like that?” he asked, leaning one arm onto the bar to leer at Angela and she could see that his blue eyes were bloodshot.

  He’s already either drunk or high, she thought, shifting her gaze away and studying her drink. Do not instigate contact with them. You’re not ready tonight.

  “One of these pricks wasn’t your Tinder date, was it?” Tanya whispered and Angela shook her head quickly.

  “Thank God for that,” Tanya breathed. “Seriously, you need to leave, honey.”

  “What are you broads whispering about over there?” Tommy Fagioli called.

  “Broads?” Tanya echoed. “Did we step into the sixties?”

  “Yeah, Bean, shut up,” August laughed, rising to switch seats so he could be closer to Angela. “That’s not a nice way to make an impression on a beautiful lady.”

  “Maybe you oughta ask the girl if she wants company first,” Frank warned and Tommy laughed.

  “Auggie don’t ask permission for nothing, ain’t that right, Auggie?”

  Angela could not believe her bad luck as she abruptly realized who she was staring at.

  Of all the people’s attention to catch, it had to be this prick.

  August DiFranco’s priors include kidnapping, assault, menacing, threatening, sexual battery, and rape. Victims always drop charges or disappear.

  “Hey, baby,” August purred, sliding beside her, his legs touching hers.

  Angela wanted to shudder but she managed to keep herself together.

  “Hi,” she replied, taking a sip of her drink quickly and reaching for her purse, signaling Tanya for the bill. She desperately wished she’d heeded the bartender’s advice sooner but it was too late now.

  “Hey, you can’t leave now,” August cooed. “I just got here. Let me buy you a drink. Tanya, get this girl a drink. What’s your name, bella?”

  “Teresa, but I can’t stay. I have to get home to my dog. He’s a pit bull.”

  Why the hell did I say that now? Ang wondered, her face paling at the stupidity of her comment.

  The men howled with laughter.

  “I love that name and I love dogs,” August announced. His hand found her thigh and Angela’s body tensed.

  Oh, for Christ’s sake. Is this the way it’s really going down? I’m going to kill him one hour into my cover and screw everything up before I even meet Luca Gallo? Duggan is going to be pissed.

  No. She would do everything in her power to find out what happened to Val. It had been almost three years and her aunt deserved proper closure, even if Aunt Stella didn’t know she needed it yet.

  Tanya slammed a mug of beer onto the bar, spilling it and causing August to turn around and look at her with anger.

  Angela recognized just how cold the man’s blue eyes were.

  He looks dead inside. I wonder if he is.

  She didn’t get the sense that he was a shifter but sometimes it was hard to tell.

  “Can you use a little more finesse?” he growled at the bartender but Tanya didn’t seem apologetic in the least.

  “Nope,” she replied hostilely.

  The two had a silent face-off and Angela realized that Tanya had purposely given her an escape.

  “Excuse me,” she said. “I-I need to use the restroom. Just the bill, please.”

  Tanya nodded, her eyes still locked on August.

  “Sure thing, Teresa.”

  Angela squirmed past August’s wiry frame, his hand gripping her leg almost painfully.

  She resisted the urge to break his fingers, making her way toward the washrooms, clutching her purse.

  “Hurry back, bella. I’ll have a drink waiting for you.”

  Exhaling, Angela slid out of sight, falling against the wall, trying to compose herself.

  I’m not ready for this, she thought, panic threatening to overcome her again.

  Get it together! she yelled at herself. You have a job to do. People are depending on you. Your family is depending on you. That’s why you’re here. That’s why you went through all this training, not to blow it on your first night out.

  She took a deep, shaking breath and pushed into the women’s washroom, stopping to stare at herself in the mirror.

  Her vivid blue eyes were darker than usual, the stress of the evening catching up to her, but she looked lovely.

  She had been given a makeup tutorial and was wearing contact lenses.

  Without the large frames overtaking her face, her high cheekbones and flawless skin were glowing.

  Her tresses hung stylishly along her neckline, freshly cut but still long to her shoulder blades.

  I clean up pretty good, Angela thought, slightly awed by the transformation. Of course, she had seen herself before leaving her undercover apartment that evening but, in her nervousness, she had failed to see exactly how beautiful she looked.

  Teresa Milano is better-looking than me, Angela laughed, turning away from the sink. Teresa Milano is different than you too. Don’t forget that. You can do this. Use your head. That’s why Duggan picked you. He knows you have a personal investment.

  With a renewed confidence, she stepped toward the door but it swung inward, catching her off guard.

  She gasped as August wandered inside the bathroom.

  “You’re in the wrong washroom,” she muttered, but she had a feeling he already knew that.

  His leer widened and he locked the door behind him, his back against the exit.

  “No, cara. I am exactly where I want to be,” he replied, stepping toward her. “And if you scream, I will snap your neck like a twig.”

  Chapter Three

  Mobster in Shining Armor

  It seemed to Luca that he had spent more time in his car, deciding whether or not to enter buildings, than he had actually gone places that Tuesday.

  Yet, there he was again, sitting in another parking lot, trying to strike the entire day from his mind as he stared at the building.

  Go take care of business with Carlo and have a drink. You can use one today.

  It really had been an impossibly long day and the notion of drowning his sorrows was growing on him.

  He really didn’t have much of a choice anyway; Carlo was expecting his drop off and the last thing Luca wanted was to hear more crap from one of his bosses. He’d already heard more than enough from Giovanni.

  I’ll be home in an hour, he thought, trying to motivate himself with a pep talk. Locking the Saab, he made his way inside the restaurant, which was busy as always, but Luca had no issue finding Carlo and Andrea, seated in their usual booth, demanding the wrong kind of attention as always.

  He strode toward them, double-checking his breas
t pocket for the money. Of course, it was exactly where he’d left it.

  As he approached, Andrea lifted her pig-like head and offered him what she believed to be an alluring smile.

  “Ah, Luca!” she squealed in her high-pitched voice. “I haven’t seen you in ages. Come and sit, caro.”

  She patted the booth beside her overweight frame suggestively, her painted mouth curling into an open leer. Carlo glanced up from his steak, barely acknowledging him except to grunt his approval as Luca squeezed in beside his boulder-shaped wife.

  “How are you, caro? I need to visit your mama. I just get so busy, you know?” Andrea cooed.

  “I’ll tell her I saw you, Mrs. Suzzi. She’ll be happy to know you’re doing good,” Luca replied, almost an automatic response.

  Andrea wasn’t going to visit his mother any more than any of the other wives were.

  Katrina Gallo was a reminder of what they could lose in an instant and no one wanted to deal with that. It was easier to ignore her existence than face the music.

  You wouldn’t want to face the fact that a rival family could put a bullet in your husband’s brain the way they did my father. It’s much easier to ignore the reality by stuffing your face with overpriced lobster and French champagne. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, right Andi?

  Of course, Luca said none of that. He wasn’t there to start with Carlo’s wife or anyone else, for that matter.

  She patted his knee and the action was anything but endearing, her fat form pressing against him suggestively despite her mothering words.

  Andrea Suzzi had never been a great beauty and age had certainly done her no favors. Still, that did not stop her from blatantly hitting on every male she managed to pin into a corner.

  Her husband’s infidelity only fueled her perversion to bed anyone she could and the pair sickened Luca for more reasons than he could count.

  Just one more reason I despise this world and everything in it, he thought grimly.

  “Carlo, can you hand me a menu?” Luca asked, gently removing Andrea’s hand from his leg.

  The underboss put his fork down and tossed a leather-bound book at him.

  Casually looking about to ensure he wasn’t being seen, Luca slipped the envelope out of his inside pocket and placed it inside, sliding the menu away.

  “On second thought, maybe I’ll just have a snack at the bar,” he said, rising from the table.

  “Oh, stay for supper, caro!” Andrea cooed but Luca was already turning away.

  “Another night. Grazie.”

  Her husband had not said one word but that was more his way.

  Others thought it a way for him to exercise intimidation but Luca secretly wondered if it was because Carlo had a hard time formulating full sentences.

  The underboss had been a boxer in his youth, taking more blows to the brain than anyone could count.

  Still, he was a permanent fixture in the Menotti family and had been for two generations and Giovanni loved the man like a brother.

  It was none of Luca’s business anyway. He had enough of his own problems to worry about without speculating on the fungus growing inside Carlo Suzzi’s brain.

  My business for tonight is concluded. Tomorrow I’ve gotta find another way to move the shipments without getting seized since someone keeps blowing our cover.

  Luca had an idea but he didn’t know how Giovanni would feel about it.

  It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission sometimes, he reasoned.

  But that was a matter for the next day.

  Tonight, he was done with all the unpleasant tasks he had been faced with and all he wanted was a scotch and soda.

  Luca entered the lounge, cringing slightly when he saw two of his soldiers fooling around at the bar.

  Tanya was tending bar but she seemed distracted, her eyes darting toward the back hallway.

  He took a seat and called out to his boys.

  “Can you stronzos keep it the hell down? This is supposed to be a classy place.”

  “Luca!” Tommy yelled, raising his glass. “There you are.”

  “It’s a Tuesday night, paesano. Are you drunk?” Luca demanded, his eyes narrowing in disgust.

  And this is the help. No wonder everything is going to shit.

  Frank shrugged nonchalantly.

  “Auggie’s idea,” he chuckled as Tanya approached him.

  “Scotch and soda?” she asked tersely and Luca nodded.

  And of course August is here. If Curly and Moe are here, so is the biggest stooge. One drink it is and then I’m out of here. I can’t get caught up in their bull tonight.

  The thought of hearing August’s voice for even a few minutes made his guts twist.

  “Where is that asshole?” Luca asked, his jaw locking. It was no surprise that Tanya was tense. August’s presence put everyone on edge. The soldier was unpredictable, unstable—and that was when he was in a good mood.

  Luca had been forced to clean up enough of his messes over the years and he had begged Giovanni to move him somewhere else. August was Luca’s least favorite person, possibly in the entire world.

  He could safely say he loathed his underling.

  But August did his job and followed orders, even if he was prone to going off the deep end.

  “Uh…” Tommy giggled and glanced at Frank covertly. “He’s in the washroom.”

  Luca’s eyebrow raised as he studied the two men, their tittering annoying him.

  “Is that funny for some reason?”

  “Nah,” Frank insisted. “It’s nothing.”

  Tanya set his drink down forcefully, causing him to look up at her, and she subtly lifted her chin toward the back hallway.

  A frisson of alarm slid through him.

  Tanya dropped her eyes back toward the glasses and pretended to busy herself.

  Oh August, you dumb bastard. What are you doing now?

  Luca rose from the stool and the soldiers looked at him uncertainly, the smirks falling from their faces in unison.

  “Uh, where you going, boss?” Tommy asked nervously.

  “What? Now I gotta announce it every time I take a leak?” Luca snapped. “Mind your goddamn business.”

  He made his way toward the washrooms, his pulse quickening.

  What is that prick up to now? he wondered. If he’s shooting up again, I swear to God, I’m going to hotshot him myself.

  He didn’t need this bullshit, not today.

  Pushing his way into the washroom, he looked around.

  A middle-aged man flashed him a phony smile as he dried his hands. Luca walked by the stalls, checking underneath them for other occupants, but as far as he could see, August wasn’t there.

  Luca opened the door to the hallway, listening, and suddenly he heard a thud.

  It was coming from the women’s washroom.

  A sick, tickling sensation slithered through Luca’s body as he stood, waiting. A woman’s voice yelled out and he knew instinctively what was happening.

  Oh Christ, not again, he thought, rage coursing through his veins as he instantly understood what Tanya had been trying to tell him.

  Of course she would not come right out and tell him what August was doing, not if she valued her life. Tanya had been inside the operation long enough to know that snitches did not meet with happy endings, especially not when she would be snitching on someone as insane as August.

  Luca shoved at the door but it was locked from the inside.

  I am going to end your life if you’re doing what I think you’re doing, Luca thought, fury causing him to shift. The prod of his fangs bled through his gumline and just before his entire form morphed, he kicked the door with brute force.

  The first did not fully open it, but the second kick splintered the door inward at the deadbolt and August was knocked sideways as the wood hit him.

  A terrified girl with jet-black hair backed up against the sinks, her lipstick smeared as she gasped for breath.

  It was clea
r she was not there of her own accord, her hourglass frame trembling as she struggled to compose herself.

  Their eyes met and she held up her hands to ward him off, the sight of a dragon advancing on them terrifying her more.

  Luca barely had time to scan her for injuries as August stumbled to his feet. The soldier’s face twisted in shock.

  “Luca! What the—”

  Luca didn’t allow him to finish his sentence.

  With the silver of his teeth, he yanked the soldier to his feet, pummeling his face with his fist as he dragged him into the hallway toward the emergency exit, his tail knocking against the wall. Pictures fell, crashing in his wake as he moved.

  When they landed outside the back entrance, he shifted back, determined to have his fists free to pound the perverted prick on the pavement.

  August tried to fight off the blows but Luca was enraged, each punch more intense than the last.

  “Please!” August begged as Luca tossed him into the alleyway. “Gio is going to kill you!”

  “There will be no one to tell him if I kill you first,” Luca growled, delivering a kick to his ribs as August’s skinny frame collapsed onto the ground.

  August sobbed and curled into a fetal position but there was no stopping Luca in his rage.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Luca rasped. “You’re a sick bastard! How many women’s lives are you going to ruin?”

  “This is the last time, I swear—”

  Luca’s foot met his stomach, silencing him as blood spurted out of his mouth.

  “Shit! Luca!” Tommy screamed, bursting out of the door. “You’re going to kill him!”

  Luca backed up, choking on his venom, red streaking his hands as he stared at the pile of limbs unconscious on the ground. He hadn’t realized that August had blacked out, but even so, it didn’t feel like he’d been beaten enough, not to Luca.

  “Get him cleaned up and lock him up at the Magna warehouse,” Luca said. “If he gets away, I am coming after you next. Capisce?”

  Tommy gaped at him.

  “Do you understand?” Luca growled and Tommy regained his composure.

  “Yeah, I got it,” Tommy mumbled. “He was only having fun, boss—”