Scandalous Shifters Paranormal Box Set

by Mia Taylor

  One with Teresa.

  Except suddenly, Teresa was nowhere to be found, not answering her phone just like how it had started with Mara.

  They are not the same person and you don’t need to be a possessive asshole. She doesn’t need to answer to you. Maybe she stayed at the restaurant with Tanya. Maybe she stopped somewhere to eat. You don’t own her.

  It didn’t matter how he tried to placate himself, his disquiet only grew until he couldn’t justify her absence any longer.

  What the hell is she doing? Is this some game for her? Is she getting off on torturing me?

  He rose from the sofa, his bare ass sticking to the material, and he made his way to the kitchen to make himself a sandwich.

  She’ll be home eventually. I may as well eat.

  No sooner had he pulled open the fridge door than he heard a rustling in the hallway beyond the entranceway.

  “Finally,” he grumbled, stalking into the front hallway to throw open the door, his impatience dissolving instantly.

  As he did, a piece of paper slid underneath and a man jumped up in shock to see Luca standing there, naked and confused.

  “Who the hell are you?” Luca growled, advancing on the man, forgetting his own nudity.

  “I’m the super,” he squeaked, his face turning ashen. “I’m just leaving a note for Ms. Milano.”

  Luca’s mouth twisted into a sneer.

  “It’s three o’clock in the morning!”

  “I work late,” the man insisted, backing away, and Luca was struck at the height of the man.

  He seemed to be a stork, towering over him, and Luca wondered if he wasn’t a dragon too.

  No way. He’s far too slight, despite his length. He would be the boniest dragon that ever was.

  “What do you want?” Luca hissed, not letting the man off the hook.

  “I’m just telling her I’m coming to fix the toilet tomorrow! It’s in the note!”

  Luca’s blazing eyes became slits of suspicion.

  “The toilet?” he echoed, his mind whirling.

  “Yeah. Can I go?” the giant demanded, trying to regain some confidence, but under Luca’s withering glare it was nearly impossible.

  The shorter but stronger man backed off and watched as he forsook the elevator and ducked through the stairwell.

  The super. At two o’clock in the morning. Fixing the toilet. Again.

  Luca retreated into Teresa’s apartment, his pulse racing as he leaned down to retrieve the note on a piece of scrap paper.

  Fixing the toilet tomorrow. D.

  He shut the door slowly, remembering that he was buck naked, but his interest in sex had all but vanished.

  His sixth sense was screaming at him, warning him that he had been overlooking something right in front of his eyes—again.

  The toilet was supposed to be fixed last week. Why is he coming back again?

  Luca made his way into the bathroom, flicking on the light in his wake.

  There did not appear to be anything wrong with the unit as he looked at it, his eyes scanning the porcelain for cracks or leaks.

  He lifted the lid of the tank to be sure, eyeing the almost pristine parts inside.

  The toilet was brand new.

  There’s nothing wrong with this toilet. Why does that guy come here to fix something that isn’t broken?

  There was only one explanation that Luca could think of.

  The same reason that Teresa would not be home two hours after her shift was over.

  Why do I keep picking such rotten bitches? he thought furiously, slamming out of the bathroom to dress.

  He would have to catch her in the act or else she would deny it, just as Mara had, and he would continue to justify her actions until Teresa left him too.

  Luca paused for a moment, trying to still his anger.

  She’s not Mara, a small voice whispered in his head, but he silenced it.

  He was not about to make the same mistake twice, not when he had finally let his guard down with someone else. If Teresa was cheating on him too, Luca was sure he’d never trust another woman again, not when he’d been so sure about her.

  Never again, he vowed, clenching his even, white teeth. I can’t trust anyone, not even myself.

  He tried to think of a time when he’d ever been so vulnerable and the feeling made him nauseous.

  He was Luca Gallo, second-generation capo. He didn’t fall in love and get burned twice in less than five years. He would never live this down, not with the familia and not with himself.

  But he admitted that it was not the humiliation he was worried about. It was the thought of losing Teresa when he was sure that he’d found his mate in her.

  Slowly, he put on his shoes, recognizing that he was deliberately taking his time as he went through the motions, hoping Teresa would come home and catch him before he went out and did something irrational.

  He didn’t want to storm out of the apartment with unanswered questions. He wanted to demand she tell him where she had been and why her superintendent visited her apartment in the middle of the night.

  I want to fight with her and have a loud, smashing argument so I can rip off her clothes and bend her over the sofa’s arm until she pleads for forgiveness for upsetting me.

  Luca found himself wracked with confusion.

  He didn’t want to walk away from Teresa, her stunningly beautiful face etched in his mind. He thought about how easy it had been to open up to her, like he’d known her well before they had ever met.

  Luca began questioning his own doubts and it filled him with consternation.

  I’m overreacting to circumstantial evidence, he told himself, the words somehow calming his incensed mind. You don’t own her. If she wants to go out after work, she can. You didn’t have plans to meet tonight. And she has no control over when her obnoxiously tall super comes calling.

  He flopped back on the sofa, trying to sort out his thoughts. It had been such a long day, a long week, a long goddamned life.

  I’m so tired of all the shit, he thought suddenly. My life is full of incessant doubt and suspicion. I can’t enjoy anything anymore. This is no way to live.

  When had he ever managed to appreciate anything without the feeling that a dark cloud was about to rain on his head?

  Never. That’s when.

  His pulse was regaining normalcy and he decided to remain in the apartment and talk to Teresa if she ever decided to come home.

  I can’t make assumptions. I need to talk to—

  His thoughts were cut short as he heard a distant chiming, unmistakably that of a cell phone.

  He bolted upright, his ears perking toward the sound coming from the bedroom.

  Is her phone here?

  Luca was certain he had not heard it ringing on any of the other times he had tried to call her, but he was just as sure that the noise he had heard was a text notification.

  Inside the bedroom, he looked around for a sign of a cell, but he saw nothing.

  He pulled his own phone out of his pocket and texted Teresa again, but when it was sent, it did not ring in the bedroom.

  Was it a neighbor’s phone? he wondered, but there was no way the walls were so thin in the unit. There was a cell there, he knew it. He just had to find it.

  With a slight sense of guilt, Luca pulled open the dresser drawers and riffled through the cupboards of the nightstand.

  Everything here is new, he realized idly as he searched under the bed, silently urging the phone to chime again so he could make out from where it had come. A knot formed in his gut but he continued his search, a renewed determination overtaking him.

  He pulled up the mattress and between the box spring and the bed sat an old-style burner phone lying on the plastic covering separating the set.

  Luca reached for it, swallowing the slight shame he was feeling as he peered down at the screen. The first text read:

  You’re sleeping with Gallo!

  The time sent was ten minutes earlie
r and Luca’s head grew warm as he thought about the “super” he had let get away.

  He knows who I am. Why does he care who Teresa is sleeping with unless he has some vested interest in her himself?

  His guilt was overcome by anger again and he sat perfectly still on the bed, weighing his next move.

  She’s banging the super. She has to be. That’s what all this means. That’s why she has a separate phone…

  The phone dinged again as he tried to make sense of what he had learned that day.

  Angela, you better have a report for me tomorrow or you’re off the case. Don’t even think about ignoring me.

  It took a full minute for Luca to absorb the words on the screen, even though he knew exactly what they meant. He had been tricked, not in the way he’d originally believed, but in a far more dangerous sense.

  Dark spots flashed before his eyes and for a sickening moment, he thought he was going to pass out.

  He tried to deny what was staring him in the face.

  He wanted to look away.

  But the truth was difficult to ignore.

  She’s not sleeping with anyone but me. Teresa Milano is a cop and now we’re both dead because of it.

  Chapter Twelve

  Tentatively Reunited

  “I can’t believe this,” Tanya muttered, glaring at Angela as she drove toward Fort Lauderdale. “You really don’t look like the type.”

  “I’m really not the type,” Angela sighed, raising her pistol at the bartender. “These are exigent circumstances.”

  Tanya ’s mouth parted slightly, the words hitting her with a shock.

  “You’re a cop!” she gasped, her foot falling hard on the brake of her car. “Oh Jesus Christ—”

  “Keep driving,” Angela growled. “I don’t have time for this right now.”

  Tanya’s mouth formed a thin line but she obliged, racing her Miata out of Miami.

  If this is a trap, Angela thought, this won’t end well for any of us.

  But she had a feeling that Tanya had told her the absolute truth about what had happened to her cousin. There was no reason for the bartender to supply her with the random information, especially since Tanya didn’t appear to know Mara’s real name. The idea that it was a setup slipped further and further from her mind.

  Could this just be a matter of Val wanting to escape her life with the FBI and live with her lover?

  The idea filled her with happiness and homicide simultaneously.

  On one hand, she was thrilled to learn her cousin was alive. That meant that her Aunt Stella would have the closure she needed and she would be able to see her daughter again. On the other, Angela had risked so much to learn the truth.

  If she’s alive, I can just walk away from this, tell Duggan I want out and no one has to be the wiser. Then, Luca and I can continue with our lives… right?

  Angela admitted she hadn’t hashed out all the details, but she knew she was not willing to give up whatever she had found with him. She would be a fool to think that her actions that night wouldn’t have repercussions, that she could just waltz back into her life as Teresa Milano and pretend she hadn’t held Tanya at gunpoint. Tanya would rat her out the first second she got.

  But then again, I could rat her out too. I could blackmail her with hiding a federal agent.

  The aftermath was already giving her a headache and it hadn’t even started yet. Angela forced the future from her mind. Immediately, her concern was seeing Val. From there, other decisions could be made.

  After what had happened with August, Angela had made sure that a firearm was always within reach. She’d learned a dozen places to hide her weapon, just in case she needed it. She was grateful she had it on her that night. She hadn’t wanted to shift in front of Tanya, but without the gun, she would have had no choice.

  In her haste to leave with Tanya, Ang had left her cell at La Perla. She hoped that Luca hadn’t been trying to reach her.

  In the morning, everything will be different, she thought, but in a good or bad way, she wasn’t sure.

  I have no idea what is waiting for me.

  “What the hell is this all about?” Tanya growled, shooting her another sidelong look. “Are you, like, a jilted lover or something? You’re going all Fatal Attraction on her?”

  “Stop talking, Tanya. You sound like an idiot,” Angela sighed but she felt bad knowing that the blonde had no idea what was happening. She didn’t want to enlighten her, not yet. After she saw Val, she would have a better handle on what to say to explain this away.

  She and I are both in the dark right now. Or else she has me in a very delicate position. Who knows? But I’m not telling her anything until I know what’s fact and what’s fiction.

  “What are you going to do to her?” Tanya asked after a long silence. “If you hurt her, Teresa, I will spend my life searching for you…”

  Angela scoffed.

  “You don’t even know who she is,” she snapped, eyeing the blonde warily, but she didn’t elaborate further.

  If Val faked her own death to start anew, me showing up will ruin whatever future she has with Tanya. Tanya won’t forgive her after all this time, will she?

  Angela wondered if she was thinking about Tanya or about Luca.

  If he ever finds out who I am, he’ll never forgive me. Hell, he might even kill me himself and I won’t blame him if he does. Could I make him understand that I did it for my cousin and I had no interest in any of his work? Would he believe that?

  She shoved the idea out of her head.

  “Luca cares about you,” Tanya said as if reading her thoughts. “And you’re going to break his heart.”

  “Like Mara did?” Angela quipped cruelly.

  It shut Tanya up for a few more minutes, giving Angela more time to her own thoughts.

  He never has to know. In a few minutes, I will be free of Duggan and whatever half-assed undercover operation this is. I came to find out the truth about Val and I will either know for sure or be dead. In either circumstance, I am done and Luca doesn’t need to know.

  She didn’t remind herself that Tanya would know.

  Tanya pulled the car into a gated community and Angela sat forward with excitement.

  “She’s here?” she breathed, feeling anticipation creep up her spine.

  “I guess you’ll see, won’t you?” the bartender retorted. “I can’t believe how wrong I was about you. You really had us all fooled.”

  “You’d be surprised how right you were,” Angela replied quietly.

  Tanya didn’t respond except to snort. The car stopped at an A-frame two-storey house halfway inside the complex.

  “You first,” Angela instructed, waving the firearm at Tanya, a flash of shame coloring her cheeks.

  This girl was kind to you. She tried to protect you when August came after you and now you have a gun pointed on her.

  Angela reasoned it was for the greater good.

  When she understands why I had to do this, she’ll be okay. Hell, we might even be friends one day.

  The raven-haired beauty almost rolled her eyes at her own unbelievable thought. Her romantic ideas were getting old and she didn’t like them in the least.

  Tanya unlocked the door and pushed inside.

  Before she could even flick on the interior lights, the blonde’s voice shot out through the house.

  “Mara, run! She’s got a gun!”

  Angela groaned aloud and shoved the barrel into Tanya ’s shoulder blades as a scuffle of movement aroused her attention from the second floor.

  “Why did you do that?” Angela growled, shaking her head as she stepped further into the house.

  “Tanya, what the hell—?”

  Val appeared on the top landing, her own hands ready to pull the trigger on a black Beretta as she pointed it at them.

  “Put it down!” Angela ordered, her voice trying not to crack under the extreme pressure she was feeling. “It’s me. Put it down now!”

  She prayed
her cousin would recognize her in the dim light.

  Val released a low gasp and lowered her weapon, falling back against the wall in shock.

  “You do know her?” Tanya demanded. “What the hell is going on here? Why is this crazy bitch kidnapping me?”

  The cousins eyed one another nervously.

  “She’s my cousin,” Val sighed, shuffling forward. “Ang—”

  “And can you come and give your cousin Teresa a big hug?” Angela interjected loudly, shooting Val a warning look. “It’s good to see you, Mara. I’m glad to see you’re alive.”

  Val’s face seemed to pale more but she cautiously moved toward the staircase, her hand on the railing.

  “How did you find me?” she whispered as she neared Angela, embracing her tightly.

  A small sob escaped her lips as Angela realized how much stress she had been carrying with her since starting the operation.

  “It’s a long story,” she replied gruffly. “Can we talk somewhere alone?”

  Val drew back and stared at her with haunted eyes.

  “Are you alone?” she asked, looking at Tanya, and both women nodded.

  “I’m alone,” Angela assured her. “I swear.”

  Val exhaled deeply and nodded, grabbing her cousin by the arm.

  “Oh, hell no!” Tanya snapped. “You think I’m just going to let you two go pow-wow somewhere when I’ve just been held at gunpoint? No way!”

  “Babe, you need to let me talk to my cousin for a few minutes,” Val insisted. “It’s important.”

  “She’s a cop! Did you know that?”

  Angela lowered her head, biting on her lower lip.

  “I know,” Val whispered.

  “You know? You could have mentioned that your cop cousin would come looking for you one day!”

  “Tanya…”

  “Mara, don’t!” Angela cried, realizing that Val was about to spill the entire truth to her lover. “It’s fine. You don’t need to—”

  “It’s gone on long enough and I know now that he’s going to keep looking for me. There was no escape from him. I knew this day was coming. And now it’s here.”