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Sedona Seduction
By: Lisa Kessler – Copyright 2020
Vance
I turned off the OPEN sign and locked the front door. The Sedona Rock Shop had a strong sales day. Plenty of tourists came through my doors, some looking for enlightenment, some for shiny crystals, and some just wanted cheap trinkets to bring home for family and friends. It didn’t matter to me.
No one had died. I wondered if I’d ever get used to that.
After running the cash register receipts, I shut off the lights and set the alarm. The monotony still hadn’t gotten old. I’d spent most of my life in the killing business. So far, owning a shop in the heart of Sedona’s tourist center didn’t suck.
Much less blood than my previous work.
Sedona, Arizona was a world away from my homeland of Australia, but this red painted desert felt more like home than any place I’d ever known.
“Abigail, let’s go.” My French bulldog, stretched as she exited her bed. I’d always wanted a pet, but life as an assassin for the Nero Organization had me traveling all over the world. Not a good life for a pet.
Abby yawned and gave me that Frenchie smile of hers as she sauntered toward me. The dog had stolen my heart the second we had met at the Christmas pet adoption event last year. No one was more surprised than I was. I had thought my heart died years ago.
I grabbed the leash off the hook at the back door and snapped it onto her collar. “Hard day’s work?” She snorted as I opened the door.
His scent alerted me before Trager Holmes appeared around the corner of the building. My heightened sense of smell was just one perk of being a jaguar shifter.
“G’day Trager.”
“Hey, Vance.” My old friend from Nero chuckled, shaking his head as Abby strained against the leash trying to get to him. He squatted down, scratching behind her ears. “You’d think she’d smell the cat in us and lose her shit.”
We were both jaguar shifters, becoming huge jungle cats during the new moon every month, but our paths had strayed when I had helped kill the founder of Nero and had blown up the headquarters in Virginia. I had seen it as a chance to break free from the man who believed he owned us, hiring us out to the highest bidder as if we were his property. But other Nero assassins saw my mutiny as the ultimate betrayal.
Needless to say, I had gotten a stiff neck from looking over my shoulder lately.
Lucky for me, Trager understood my motivation and now brought me information from inside the Nero satellite facility in Flagstaff. He was taking a huge risk, but recently, the Nero jaguar shifters were plotting something dangerous politically.
Short version? They could get us all killed.
I shrugged and gave a smirk. “She might feel differently if she saw us with tails.” I glanced at my car. “We’re headed over to Kaya’s for dinner. I’d invite you, but you’re more use to me alive than dead.”
Trager chuckled as he straightened up. “Thanks anyway.” He sobered. “Are you ever going to tell Kaya the truth?”
“That I’m the reason she was bitten by the werewolves?” I shook my head, wrestling with the regret that still snapped at me like a hungry crocodile. “Nah. Can’t change the past.”
“She’s bound to find out someday, Vance. Better she hear it from you, right?”
“Not if I can help it.” Eager to get off the subject, I narrowed my eyes. “Did you come all this way to give me relationship advice?”
He raised a teasing brow. “Does she know you’re in a relationship?”
“Fuck off.” I shoved his shoulder, trying not to smile. “Why are you really here?”
“Duane’s got another meeting with Brad Newport’s campaign finance manager tomorrow afternoon.” He scanned the area as he went on. “One o’clock at the airport vortex.”
After Nero had imploded, Duane Clarkson had stepped into a leadership role at the Flagstaff facility. I kept my distance. It was no secret my loyalties had shifted. I called the Sedona Pack my family now. As far as I knew, there were less than a handful of jaguar shifters who had ever been accepted into a wolf pack. Progress was slow, but the supernatural world was changing—for the better, in my opinion.
But the jaguar assassins I used to work with were struggling for survival without Antonio Severino’s government contacts. The founder of Nero had spent most of his life building his empire on the backs of shifters in a top-secret quest to create super soldiers. Nowadays, Duane was taking money from powerful people and accepting jobs that involved kidnapping children instead of eliminating targets, marks we had convinced ourselves were bad people.
Or maybe I was the only one who had done that. It wasn’t something we had ever discussed. Killing had been my job. I had tried to keep it from becoming my identity.
I kicked at the dirt of the parking area. “Thanks for the tip, mate. I’ll keep an eye on him.” I paused, meeting Trager’s gaze. “Be careful. Duane’s not stupid. He must know Newport’s background. If that bastard gets a seat in the Senate, he’ll be out to expose all shifters, not just werewolves. And if Newport finds the evidence he’s looking for, we’ll all be walking targets.”
“You and I know that, but Duane thinks he can control this.”
I shook my head. “He’s a fool.”
“I better haul ass.” Trager’s expression became more serious. “Be careful tomorrow night.”
Tomorrow was a new moon, the time when all jaguar shifters would morph into deadly jungle cats. Since Nero headquarters had been destroyed, we no longer had a fenced-in sanctuary for our cats to roam free away from prying human eyes. I was lucky, though. My pack watched over jaguar shifters like me, ensuring any and all hunting was for four-legged prey only and was kept miles from city limits.
“You too, mate.” I clasped his forearm. It was a traditional pack greeting, and while Trager wasn’t part of my pack, he was my only friend left inside Nero. He was risking a great deal to help me keep my new family safe.
He tugged on the brim of his black ball cap and wandered back to the main street, instantly blending into the sea of tourists.
I looked down at Abby. “Let’s go see what Kaya’s cooking.”
She barked as if she’d understood every word I had said. I chuckled, reaching to scratch her square head. She tipped her chin up, her tongue lapping at my hand. “I love you, too, little lady.”
We got into my car, and I checked my face in the mirror. My hair had a mind of its own, but I wanted to make sure none of my lunch was still on my face. And not because I was going to see Kaya.
Ah fuck, I couldn’t even lie to myself.
I sighed. There was no future for us, and I knew it. If she ever discovered my secret, that I’d been assigned to watch her in Sedona long before we ever met, she’d hate me. I didn’t deserve her, anyway. Kaya had big dreams, and she needed someone at her side who could support her along the way. Someone with less blood on their hands. Mine would never be clean. I’d never be able to stop watching over my shoulder, and I’d never want my enemies to become hers.
In spite of that, I craved her company, and I’d kill anyone who threatened her safety.
***
Abby and I entered the Red Coyote through the side door and sat at a table on the patio. This restaurant was Kaya’s dream. She’d worked her way through culinary school and saved her money until she could open her own place. I’d never met anyone so focused on their goals and determined to see them come true. And she’d made it into reality. Her upscale restaurant was popular with locals and tourists alike.
Through the glass, Kaya chatted with a well-dressed party of five in the main dining room. Her long black hair was up in a messy bun at the top of her head, and she wore black slacks with a red sweater that hugged her curves. As if she sensed me nearby, her gaze flicked in my direction, and her brief smile sent an electrical charge shooting through my entire body.
“Hi, Vance.” Brody placed a basket of blue corn chips on the table, interrupting my voyeuristic moment. He grinned at Abby. “Abigail, you’re looking gorgeous today.”
My dog panted, her tongue curling up at the end as she ate up his praise.
He straightened. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Sure.” I nodded. “I’ll take an Oak Creek Amber Ale and a glass of ice water.”
“You got it.” Brody wore his hair clipped in a short military cut, well manicured, just like the rest of him. He could pass for a young Denzel. He flashed a knowing grin my way. “Does Kaya know you’re here?”
“Yeah, she saw us out here.” I gestured to the table inside. “Who are the important folks in there?”
“Food reviewer for one of the travel channels. They’ve kept me busy.” Brody rolled his eyes, but we both knew he loved the attention. The kid belonged in Hollywood, not Arizona. “We’ve had cameras in here all day.”
I stared through the glass, taking in Kaya’s every move, and even though I had no right to it, pride swelled in my chest. She was a force of nature.
“I’ll grab your drinks.” Brody hustled back inside while I patted the chair to my right. Abigail hopped up and sat like the lady she was, her ears up, ready for her close up.
I stroked her forehead until the glass door opened.
“Hey, stranger.” Kaya had a dimple in her right cheek that made me ache to keep her smiling.
“Hi. Didn’t mean to intrude. Brody told me you’re entertaining the press inside.” I tipped my head toward the main dining room. “How’s it going?”
She shrugged. “They seem to like the food so far, but you never know how they’ll edit the segment.” Her dark eyes met mine. “Is everything all right?”
Since the Sedona Pack had finally gotten behind Asher as their new Alpha, he had brought me into the fold, too. It was a bumpy beginning since everyone in the pack, including Kaya, knew I had spent most of my life working for Nero, which also meant killing for them. But I earned their trust, walked away from being a hired gun, and bought a gem and rock shop. I also stepped into my role as Asher’s right hand when it came to protecting the pack which meant every time I showed up, the others tended to think there was trouble on the horizon.
“Yeah, I have a rugby scrimmage with the Black Sheep tonight. Just wanted to get some food first.” All true, I had just left out the main reason for my visit: Kaya herself.
She knelt down beside my chair, massaging Abby’s ears and kissing the top of her head. Damn, I’d never been so jealous of a dog.
Abby ate up the attention, giving Kaya a wet kiss on the chin. Kaya laughed, and her eyes sparkled as she looked up at me. “Carnitas de Coyote and pollo for the puppy?”
“Sounds like heaven.” And I meant it. Kaya’s food meshed traditional Mexican cuisine with her Navajo roots in a perfect harmony of flavor. It was tough to go back to a flat tortilla after you had carnitas with her freshly made fry bread.
“I better get back to the team inside. Brody will bring your food right out.”
“Thanks, Kaya.” We stared at each other for a second longer than we should have. It was our usual awkward pause. I took responsibility for it. Although I yearned to touch her, to tell her how much of my day I spent imagining kissing her full lips, one secret held me back.
It was torture. But I couldn’t keep myself away, either.
She finally smiled and opened the door, leaving me and Abby behind. I turned to my date and sighed. “Abigail, what the fuck am I doing?”
Abby chuffed and resumed sniffing the table for any crumbs that had been left behind.
Everyone in the pack believed their previous Alpha hadn’t known that Kaya had been a skin walker before she was bitten. She became a rare hybrid of shifter species, able to shift into her lynx at will, and into a werewolf during the full moon.
They also had no idea that she was not the only one.
One of my final missions for Nero was to sniff out skin walkers—men and women born with the genetic ability to shift into animal form at will. Nero scientists wanted to perform experiments on them—just another step in their constant mission to create super soldiers who could shapeshift and heal quickly.
If we ever found proof of vampires, I had no doubt Nero would’ve been injecting us in the hopes we’d become immortal super soldiers.
Kaya had been my final assignment. Three years ago, I’d been the one to deliver Nero’s command for Caldwell to have her bitten during the full moon. Caldwell had made an agreement with Antonio Severino to grow the wolf pack in Sedona rapidly in order to attack Adam’s pack in Reno. In trade, Caldwell received money and weapons. I didn’t pay much attention at first. This was my job. But something had happened while I watched her from a distance, and when the time had come for her to be shipped to Nero for experiments, I wasn’t able to do it. Instead, I helped my friend Sebastian destroy Nero.
I was no hero, but she had reminded me of what it felt like to care about someone other than myself. But if she ever discovered my secret, my betrayal, she’d have every reason to hate me. The whole pack would disown me, and I was so fucking sick of being alone, of being on the run. For once, I’d found a home and a family, and I wanted to keep it.
So as much as I ached for more, Kaya was off-limits. I could keep secrets, but I couldn’t lie to her.
Not to Kaya.
