by Sierra Dean
Dedication
This one is for the men in my life.
To my wonderful brother Jamie Cote, everyone should be as lucky as I am to have someone who has their back no matter what. You’re the best.
To Curtis Urbanowich, Eric Buettner, Steve Putz, Toby Bartlett, Jason Dolny, Jason Therrien, Corey Morden, Neil Goodridge, Michael Rochester, Rob Rentz, Doss Palmer, Patrick Michalishyn, Angel Castaneda, Jon Prystayko, Kyle Foley, Derek Engel, Andy Floyd, Garth Fudge and Brad Penner. You’ve all taught me so much about what makes a good man, and I couldn’t write the gents in my books without you. (That said, you’ve also taught me how to realistically write men behaving badly.)
I love you all.
Chapter One
I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Literally.
A wall of solid limestone was digging into my back, and in front was a vampire trying his hardest to shove me through it. His arm was on my neck, jutting my chin upwards and grinding my scalp against the jagged rock.
I swatted at his arms, but he just laughed at me.
“Some assassin you are,” he mocked.
Oh, so we were going to play it below the belt? I was an expert at that. I thrust my knee up, driving it into his groin, and when he dropped his arm from the surprise, I dug my heel into his foot before smashing my elbow across his face. There was an audible crack of grinding bone when I connected with the delicate tissue of his nose.
Before he could respond—and it was only a matter of time—I bounded across the small space and looked for anything I could use to my advantage.
“Son of a bitch,” the vampire growled. “Did you have to break my nose?”
“I thought this was no-holds-barred.”
“I didn’t think you’d play dirty.”
I rose out of my fighting stance, lowering my fists, and walked over to the vampire, who was straightening the broken bones of his aquiline nose.
“You’ll heal. Don’t be such a pussy,” I taunted, but when he didn’t rise to the jab, I put a hand on his shoulder. “Holden?”
Holden Chancery, once my vampire liaison and council superior but now technically one of my flock, was crouched low to the ground, cupping his nose like a dramatic schoolgirl who’d been struck by a dodgeball. I wanted to tease him some more, but I had to be sure he was ready for it.
Since I’d been promoted to a seat on the Tribunal, I now had to worry about stuff like undeads’ feelings and the other day-to-day concerns of pulse-challenged Americans everywhere.
“I’m sorr—”
He grabbed my extended arm, locked the elbow and swept his leg out to knock my feet from under me. I landed flat on my back with a loud thud, and the breath was forced out of my lungs. Holden jumped on me, sitting on my stomach with one leg on either side of my ribs and well out of reach of my knees. My arm was still extended, and he grabbed my fist as I was swinging for a punch.
“Hmm. This feels familiar,” he said.
“Who’s playing dirty now?”
Holden leaned in close so his face was only inches away. “Do you want to play dirty?”
A thrill rocketed through me, but I kept my breathing even and my pulse stayed level. His brown eyes were fixed on me, waiting for some sort of invitation. A not-insignificant part of me wanted to give it to him, especially knowing how magnificent his kisses were, but I wasn’t free to indulge in what he was offering.
So I headbutted him.
He released his grip, and I squirmed out from under him and ran. He was hot on my heels, and when I was out of the tunnels I got as far as the winding stone staircase before he caught up with me. Strong arms locked on to my waist, and we both tumbled to the floor, where I narrowly avoided cracking my jaw on the bottom step. Before we had a chance to rise, someone grabbed Holden and someone else came to stand between us.
The vampire warden blocking Holden from me had fixed my former handler with a hard stare. Holden, for his part, looked ready to kill the guard who was holding the sentry’s arms behind his back.
“Wardens,” I snarled. “Stand down.”
The two guards looked at each other in silent debate over whether or not it was safe. I balled my hands on my hips and tried to look as menacing as a five-foot-four girl could. It was the power radiating off me that seemed to settle the matter for them. Holden was released, and the guards moved aside.
“Our apologies, Tribunal Leader Secret.”
The title made my blood run cold. This new job was going to take a lot of getting used to. I no longer faded into the background of the vampire council. Now I was in charge of it.
“Chancery will escort me to my next location,” I instructed.
“I—” One of the guards tried to argue, but I wasn’t having it.
“Look, we both know Sig will have me followed regardless. There’s no harm in the sentry walking with me.”
The guards nodded, and Holden and I left the council headquarters without further incident. It was bad enough I’d been taken off assassin duties, but now it seemed like I couldn’t brawl in the confines of the council without getting someone in trouble.
The building housing the council was in SoHo just off Green Street, and as luck would have it, my next meeting was only a few blocks south at Bloomingdale’s.
I tucked my arm through Holden’s as we walked together in the chilly winter air.
“Thanks for the fight,” I said to break up the uneasy silence.
“Anytime.”
“I feel so useless since Sig and Juan Carlos barred me from hunting rogues.”
“You’re more of a target now. We’ve talked about this.”
“I know.” I rested my head against his shoulder as we walked. “I’m just not used to standing by and watching the action. And none of these freelancers are worth shit when it comes to killing rogues.”
“You’ll never think anyone did it as well as you.”
“Are you disagreeing?”
“As much as it might be detrimental to my long-term health to question the opinions of a Tribunal leader…” he elbowed me in the ribs, “…I think some of these freelancers make up for what they lack in experience by bringing a modicum of subtlety to their work.”
“I resent that. I’m going to suggest to Sig we have you killed.”
Holden shrugged, but when I looked up he was smiling. “You’d have to save me all over again.”
“Pff. I learned my lesson last time. It’s not worth the effort.”
We came to a stop outside the department store, and Holden stared at me for a long moment. When I opened my mouth to speak, he dipped his head. I turned my face at the last second and his kiss caught my cheek, but there was no hiding the new jump in my pulse.
“Secret,” he whispered.
“They’re watching.”
Whenever I was in highly visible public areas, especially when I was going to and from the council, I had protection. Just because I couldn’t see them all the time, didn’t mean they weren’t there. Sig originally planned to have me followed all the time, but I’d put a stop to that plot before he could put it into action. I already had one permanent werewolf guard living in my house, and I was never alone for long, so I’d whittled my warden detail down to the bare minimum to appease the Tribunal leader. This close to the council headquarters, they’d still be trailing me, and if they were watching, my actions would be reported back to Sig. I didn’t need them to see anything that could be held against me.
Holden straightened and took a step backwards, bowing his head with stiff propriety. Then he vanished before I had a chance to say anything else.
But what else was there to say?
Chapter Two
A sharp elbow jabbed into my ribs, and a wave of anxiety wafted over me. The smell of worry and anger radiated through the vaulted room, and the object in my hands was wrenched away before I had time to react.
“Hey,” I protested, making a grab to retrieve my stolen property.
“You snooze you lose,” countered the chubby blonde who had snatched my leather gloves.
“Yeah, but those are my gloves.” The supple black leather smiled at me from her sweaty fist. The Louis Vuitton gloves had been an early Christmas gift from my boyfriend, Lucas, and I’d be damned if a pushy Midtown housewife was going to make off with them.
She must have thought they were a hot-ticket gift item and I was just too stubborn to let her buy the last pair. She was totally oblivious to the fact that she was actually stealing my property.
The woman sneered and said, “Looks like they’re mine now. Possession is nine-tenths of—”
“The law?” Mercedes Castilla came to stand next to me, flashing her NYPD badge at my portly nemesis.
The woman’s cheeks flushed an unattractive shade of red, and she handed my gloves back. I put them in my purse and stroked the 9mm SIG handgun hidden within. Mustn’t kill humans, I reminded myself, and withdrew my fingers.
The woman vanished into the feverish din of the Bloomingdale’s crowd without so much as an apology. Mercedes touched my elbow, angling me away from the cashmere scarves as she pocketed her badge.
“Every year I need to use it at least twice.” She shook her head and chuckled. “Christmas in this city should come with riot gear.”
We negotiated our way through the seething mass of bodies until we reached the watch counter. The rows of Rolex and TAG Heuer timepieces were dazzling under the cleverly positioned lights. The price tags were what had my heart beating faster, though.
“Thirty-five-hundred dollars?” I stared at a silver and black TAG Heuer Aquaracer. It seemed to be chanting I belong on Lucas’s wrist. I couldn’t argue with it. The watch definitely suited the werewolf king of the East Coast and his sleek billionaire style. I, however, didn’t have the disposable income available to a Fortune 500 real-estate mogul.
I ran my fingertips over the cool glass and gave the watch a forlorn final glance.
“What do you buy a billionaire for Christmas?” I grumbled. Eight words I never thought I’d fit together in a sentence.
Mercedes smirked but checked her phone for the seven-hundredth time since we’d gotten here.
“Okay, Cedes, seriously. Either you’re having a scandalous affair via your cell phone, or something is up.”
“Sorry, sorry. We’ve got an insane workload right now. With all these dead bodies popping up around the city lately, I’ve been working overtime every night. I’m exhausted and there’s no end in sight.”
“What bodies?” I stood up straight and focused on her face. Corpses weren’t exactly unheard of in a city this size, but enough of them to raise police attention was worth hearing about.
“Still full of blood,” she added, forcing a weak smile. Well, at least we knew it wasn’t vampires. “Some of them do have small, ragged holes in the back of their heads, though. Frigging gross.”
“Anything I can help with?” I was getting antsy without work to do for the council, and at this point I’d gladly take on a human case if it meant getting my hands dirty in the real world again. Sparring with Holden was great and all, but I needed the thrill of the hunt back in my life.
She pocketed her phone and placed one hand on each of my shoulders, staring in my eyes. “Secret, if I need you, I will ask. As of right now, just tell me if you see some nutcase running around with an ice pick, okay?”
“Sharon Stone: public-enemy number one. Understood.” I nodded, proud of myself for not flinching when she’d reached for me. My natural inclination was to go on the defensive when someone touched me unexpectedly.
“Can we get back to this present hunt? I’d like us to get out of here without me drawing my weapon.”
I grimaced. It wasn’t like I wanted to be shopping the week before Christmas either. It just so happened that this year I finally had people to buy for.
In previous years I would ship a box of Magnolia cupcakes and the finest dried herbs from Dean & DeLuca to my grandmere. She loved the red velvet cupcakes with their mile-high icing, and claimed the overpriced herbs worked best for her spell casting. I knew better than to argue with an aging witch.
My partner, Francis Keats, always disappeared for a month around Christmas, so I never had to get him anything. Mercedes had a more traditional religious take on the holiday and didn’t do gifts.
Now the game had changed. Not only did I need to get Grandmere’s usual gift, but I had a whole slew of people in my life I wanted to acknowledge. First there was Lucas Rain, my royal wolfie boyfriend. Then there was Desmond Alvarez, my other werewolf lover and current live-in boyfriend. I also wanted to get something for Desmond’s brother, Dominick, who had become a surrogate sibling to me over the past year.
Then I had the vampires to contend with. Brigit Stewart, my ward in the eyes of the vampire council, would be spending her first Christmas away from her family, thanks to her now being dead. And though Holden had never been on my gift list before, since I’d saved his life over the summer I thought I should get him a little something.
Last, but not least, was Nolan Tate. I’d come to his rescue too, and since summer he’d become a presence in my life.
Over the course of a year, I’d gone from no family save one, and few enough friends to count on one hand (with fingers left to spare), to now having an overburdened shopping list. But that list represented a beloved handful of people who had chosen to share my insane life with me.
“Secret.” Cedes sighed and tapped out a message on her BlackBerry. “Do I really need to tell you what to buy Lucas for Christmas?”
I gnawed on my lower lip and toyed with my purse strap. The only shopping I knew how to do was for shoes.
“An iPod?” I queried.
The detective slipped her phone into her back pocket and gave me a knowing wink. “Lingerie,” she said, as though it should be obvious.
“Why would Luc…oh.” When it comes to the finer points of typical feminine seduction techniques, I’m not always the swiftest, and sometimes I drop the ball completely. But today I caught on quick enough. “Wouldn’t an iPod be easier?”
“But is an iPod going to make him want to ravish you on the spot?”
“An iPod with Barry White on it might.”
She smacked my arm, and I had to restrain my natural impulse to break her wrist. I didn’t want to hurt Mercedes, but when someone hit me it was second nature to fight back.
“Is he not into lingerie?”
“He might be. I’m not really sure.”
We were moving in the direction of the Bloomingdale’s delicates department, but Mercedes stopped in her tracks and dragged me over to a rack of plush terrycloth robes.
“Secret.” Her gaze bored into me, and her expression was suddenly serious. I craned my neck to see if an unanticipated threat had appeared, which might explain her new tension.
“What?”
“You have slept with Lucas, haven’t you?”
Oh. That’s what had her so up in arms. I pursed my lips together and squirmed uncomfortably under her scrutiny. “Um.”
“Oh my God.”
“It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Haven’t you guys been dating since forever?”
It had been nine months since Lucas had come into my life and changed everything. I hadn’t been living like a nun during that time, thanks to my very active sex life with Desmond, but I couldn’t explain that to Mercedes. There were some things it was easier for me to not tell Mercedes. The real details of my messy love life ranked right up there with my vampire DNA as hot-button topics I chose to avoid, forever if possible.
“It’s complicated.”
“Is he Catholic?”
My love life was forever a work in progress.
“Well, I think we answered your question.” She had started walking again, and now we were surrounded by an assortment of frilly, lacy, see-through underthings. A pair of crotchless underwear dangling at eye level made my stomach churn. I’d never bought lingerie, so the whole experience was new and uncomfortable. Usually, I found getting naked was more than enough provocation to make a man want to sleep with you.
“What do you mean we answered my question?” I held up a sheer black teddy with ruffles on the cups. I could see Mercedes through it.
“Your gift for Lucas…it should be you.”
I snorted and rolled my eyes.
Hanging the garment back up, I ran my fingers over racks of silk and satin until my wandering gaze spotted something and my breath caught in my throat.
On a mannequin adorned with a festive red Santa hat was a black leather corset demanding my full attention. I sidled up to the helpless mannequin and ran my hands provocatively over the curves of her waist, the smoothness of the leather purring under my fingertips.
Mercedes came to stand next to me, assessing the garment. “Biker chic?”
“I like to think of it as bounty-hunter formal.” I smirked over my shoulder at her.
“Merry Christmas to Lucas.”
I didn’t bother telling her Lucas was in Paris with his sister for Christmas and wasn’t the werewolf soul mate I had in mind for this gift. I grabbed my size off the rack and smiled broadly.
“Merry Christmas to me.”
Chapter Three
Outside Bloomingdale’s, Mercedes and I parted ways. According to an onslaught of texts from the precinct, there was a new body to be investigated, which put an end to her night off. With two air kisses to the cheeks she vanished into the crowd, leaving me grasping my Big Brown Bag. I didn’t need another snatch and grab like the one with my gloves.
