Groaning, Sienna rolled over and exhaled slowly.
Penance. That was what this was. Images of what she’d done last night flashed through her foggy brain. Massive amounts of tequila. A couple arm-wrestling matches with some annoying frat boys. A body shot...maybe? Her nose scrunched at the familiar scent of her brother.
Oh, shit. Sage. He’d been in her condo last night with two other wolf shifters. She swayed to her feet and tiptoed to her bedroom door, pressing her ear against it. Sure enough, she heard the low timbre of male voices on the other side. She was almost certain her brother hadn’t mentioned why he was in her house last night and the chances were good that they were waiting on her to explain themselves.
Sienna groaned a second time when she looked down and saw her disheveled corset and lace panties. Fan-freaking-tastic.
With a sigh, she pulled what remained of her dignity together and made her way to the master bathroom just off her walk-in closet. She took her time showering and praying that the ibuprofen she’d taken with tap water (gross!) would kick in sooner or later. She was already dreading the day ahead with the pounding in her skull.
Washed and dried, Sienna pulled her wet hair up into a messy bun and put on the most basic of makeup. Her outfit was her standard fare of ripped jeans, ballet flats, and a worn-out t-shirt in some version of black or gray. Sienna stood silent for a second with her hand on the doorknob steeling herself for whatever lay on the other side. If her brother Sage brought shifters to her door, something was definitely wrong.
Making her way to her kitchen, Sienna did her best to ignore the sudden nerves she felt with these two strangers in her house. Sage was sitting at her island counter eating a sandwich and spared her only a passing glance as she approached. The blonde Adonis shifter had his head in her fridge, giving her a free show of his behind in the tight jeans he was wearing.
Not bad, she thought to herself with a shrug.
There was one missing. Where was the scary wolf? A quick glance around and she found him sitting on her sofa, scrolling through her phone. He managed to look impatient, annoyed, and sexy and dark as hell all at once.
Adonis shifter stood when he sensed her and turned to face her with a goofy grin.
“Dang,” he drawled. “You’re dressed. I was hoping for a repeat performance, Swifty.”
Sage groaned and took a huge bite out of his sandwich.
Sienna gave a weak smile. Swifty? She suddenly remembered singing snippets of “Shake it Off” in her underwear last night.
“In town for one night only. Sorry,” she said. At the same time, she noticed her entryway was littered with her belongings.
Never. Drinking. Again.
She repeated the mantra over and over as she dashed over to pick up her jeans, shoes, false eyelashes, and her broken keys.
“You plan on telling me what’s going on sometime this morning?” She directed the question at Sage when she returned to the kitchen after throwing her things on her bed and slamming the door shut.
“Afternoon,” the dark-haired shifter said from behind her. She turned and raised her eyebrow at him in question.
“It’s almost 1 p.m.,” he said dryly. “It’s afternoon.”
She held his gaze a moment and gave a slight eyeroll.
“Who’s the school marm?” She asked Sage, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder at the grumpy shifter giving her shit. Blondie snorted the milk he’d been drinking.
Sage stiffened at Sienna’s tone and he shot her a warning glare.
“That’s Brody McAllister,” Sage bit out. “My Alpha.”
She shot another unimpressed glance over her shoulder at the simmering man who looked like he could barely contain his disdain. She looked back at her brother who was shooting her daggers with his eyes.
“Stop looking like that at me,” she snapped at Sage. “He’s not my Alpha.”
Brody stood and stalked toward the kitchen.
“That’s right,” he said, his voice sharp like steel. “You’re a loner. No Alpha. No pack. No one.”
Sienna sucked in a breath and her wolf pushed toward the edge of their internal boundary, not liking the insult at all. Lone wolves weren’t respected by many in the shifter world, least of all Alphas.
“Nice to meet you Brooding Brody,” she snapped back. “Now get the fuck out of my house.”
Sienna whirled on her heel and stalked to her bedroom, slamming the door shut.
“Fuck,” Sage said, letting out a breath. “That could have gone much, much better.”
Chapter Four
What kind of shit show had Sage gotten him into? Sienna Blaine was a nightmare—everything he stood against. Wild. Undisciplined. Out of control. Mouthy.
And the fact that he still couldn’t scrub from his mind the delicious image of her standing in just her underwear last night irked him to no end. Damn this woman. And damn Sage for suggesting she could possibly help. She can hardly take care of herself, let along assist an Alpha in a rescue mission.
“This was a mistake,” Brody growled to Dane. Sage had just followed Sienna into her bedroom and he could tell from their raised voices, the mission to get Sienna to come out and apologize to Brody wasn’t going well.
“She’s hot, bro,” Dane said, wagging his eyebrows.
Brody just shook his head.
“She’s a pain in the ass,” he replied.
Dane smiled even wider.
“Oh, what sweet agony a woman that beautiful would be,” he said, placing a hand over his heart, hamming it up.
Despite the fact that Brody didn’t like Sienna much, his wolf was unhappy that Dane was even considering anything with her. Without meaning to, Brody let a low growl escape from deep in his throat. Dane stopped with the antics, but he raised an eyebrow in Brody’s direction before turning to the bag of chips he had opened.
Almost a half an hour later, just when Brody was ready to round up his wolves and scour Las Vegas himself, Sage and Sienna emerged from her room.
“Let’s just start over,” Sage said, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. Brody could tell Sage was nervous this was all going to go to hell in a handbasket. Chances were good that it was.
“Sienna, this is Brody McAllister,” Sage said as he dragged his sister behind him to stand in front of Brody. He took her in. She was tall, only a few inches shorter than him. She had curves in all the right places, as he well remembered, too. Auburn hair piled on her head with strands flying loose. Her eyes were a rich honey brown and when his eyes rested on her lush, pouty lips, Brody felt his wolf jump in response. The tug was almost a physical blow to his chest. What the fuck?
Almost begrudgingly, Sienna stuck her hand out. Her beautiful lips had a slight curl to them and her eyes burned into his. Brody was almost amused at her display—it was clear she was a dominant wolf and not afraid of much.
Just because he could, Brody stood when he took her hand in his and met her challenging glare with a blast of Alpha vibes. He could feel her palm squeeze in his as she and her wolf battled the wave of dominance he was sending out. It was clear they affected her, he was far more dominant than she was, but he was almost impressed with how she withstood them enough not to break their gaze.
“It’s been a pleasure so far,” Brody drawled with just enough sarcasm to make Sienna’s nostrils flare. She yanked her hand out of his and turned when Sage made the introductions with Dane.
“Dane Cordren,” Sage said, pointing at the blonde wolf. “Dane’s a sentinel and works as our de facto intel guy. He’s kind of a genius with computers and hacking.”
“I’m also really good in the sack,” Dane said with a grin as he took Sienna’s hand.
Damned if Brody didn’t hate the way she laughed at Dane’s idiotic line.
“I’m sure you’re a legend in your own mind,” Sienna laughed.
“Give me a chance and I’ll be a legend in your mind, too,” Dane said, refusing to let go of Sienna’s hand.
“Knock it off,” Bro
dy growled and got down to business. He caught Sienna up as to why they were in her condo.
To her credit, Sienna listened carefully and took in all the details he offered. Sage leaned against the counter behind his sister, filling in odds and ends along the way so that she understood the workings of the Boulder pack and why they were certain that Liesel hadn’t gone anywhere willingly.
“She was a rescue,” Sage said, giving Sienna a look that Brody couldn’t quite read. “She would never leave our pack willingly. Our little makeshift family was the only one she’d ever had.”
Sienna’s reaction was even more telling. Her lips set into a hard line and her eyes narrowed. She rubbed the skin along her inner forearm on her right arm as she considered everything and Brody noticed a large pink scar running the length of her arm. It was pale and obviously old, but parts of the skin were puckered and rough—it’d been an atrocious wound that even her shifter abilities could fix and it hadn’t healed cleanly.
She seemed to feel his eyes on her. Sienna caught him looking at her and immediately pulled her sleeve down to cover the scar before tucking her arm behind her back.
Interesting.
Brody could ask Sage about the scar and he’d probably tell him, but it’d be way more interesting to learn about it from Sienna herself.
“I’ll help,” Sienna said quietly. Her voice low but resolute. “I actually think I might know of a few leads to get us started. Some bear shifters have been turning up in big-stakes games lately and playing dirty. They’re not going to be able to stay under the radar for long.”
“Games?” Brody asked.
He didn’t miss the surge of pride on Sage’s face as he spoke for his sister.
“She’s an amazing poker player,” he said, putting his hand on Sienna’s shoulder. “So good that, coupled with her shifter senses, big casinos hire her to sniff out cheaters. It’s how she can afford her own place here in Vegas.”
“Pays that well, does it?” Brody posed the question to Sienna who just shrugged.
“I drive a 12-year-old Civic with an expired inspection,” she said quickly. “Don’t get the idea that I’m rich or anything. It just means that I don’t have to sling beer at the local dive anymore.”
Again, interesting.
“So, what’s the plan?” Dane asked as he stretched his arms overhead. He’d just eaten most of Sienna’s sandwich supplies, which meant they had about two hours tops till he had to eat again. And he’d have to eat again, no doubt. He was like a giant teenager, constantly eating all the available food in the lodge if they weren’t careful.
Sienna had her phone out of her back pocket and was furiously typing. Her fingers were flying across the screen and Brody couldn’t ignore the sense of dread that washed over him.
“Wait,” he said, quickly snatching the phone from her hand. He didn’t miss the low snarl that came from Sienna—she’d apparently not liked him grabbing her phone like that. Well, tough. There were bigger issues at stake than her attachment to the device. “I need you to understand a few things before we start. First, you can’t tell anyone what we’re doing or why you’re looking for the bear den. Nobody can know that I’m here in Vegas while the rest of my pack is back in Colorado without its Alpha.”
To his great relief, Sienna just nodded, agreeing to the condition.
“Second,” he continued. “We don’t have a lot of time. You’ve got a week to get what you can and then we part ways. If you can’t help us by then, you’ve wasted our time.”
Sage inhaled quickly and Sienna narrowed her eyes at him.
“Just when you were starting to seem like you weren’t a complete asshole,” she gritted out. “You had to go and ruin it. You’d be lucky to get a week of my time, McAllister. Don’t flatter yourself.”
Not acknowledging her little tantrum, Brody gave a dismissive wave and started toward her busted door, making a mental note to call someone local to fix the damn thing. Knowing this woman, she’d make do without a deadbolt for months before remembering she broke the lock.
“We’re staying on the strip at the Luxor,” Brody said over his shoulder. “Meet us at Capriso for dinner at 7 and we’ll talk strategy. Bring some leads with you.”
Brody didn’t turn to gauge her reaction at his bossiness or his tone, knowing full well he was trying to get a rise out of her on purpose.
Knowing Sienna, she was seeing red and had steam coming out of her ears.
Chapter Five
Sienna spent the day making phone calls, visiting old friends in her old haunts, and generally trying to shake free any loose information about the influx of bear shifters into the area that might be hanging about—all without bringing too much attention to herself. That was the tricky part. People who asked a lot of questions about rogue shifter groups never lived very long to use the answers they found.
“What exactly are you asking?” Finn, the DJ at the Windsor casino’s dance club, posed the question over tall margaritas. Finn was a falcon shifter and held on to his possessions—money, women, and information like a miniature dragon.
“Bears, Finn,” Sienna blew out a frustrated breath. “Have you noticed more around town? Maybe this one in particular?”
She pushed her tablet across the table at the raptor and pulled up the grainy surveillance photo Dane had emailed her that afternoon.
Finn squinted at the picture but didn’t pay it too much attention. She could tell he’d already made up his mind not to give her straight answers this afternoon. That was fine. Sienna could play hardball, too.
“No,” Finn shook his head. “No idea what you’re talking about.”
Sienna’s wolf watched his shifty movements and growled inside her. Sienna blew out a frustrated breath. She’d been there almost an hour trying to skate around delicately to get what she needed from Finn, but he wasn’t budging—not even when she put a photo right in front of him. The guy wasn’t just a DJ for the casino, he was the local drug dealer, too. He saw everything and he knew everything.
Drawing herself up and inhaling a steadying breath, Sienna called on her dominant vibes as she spoke.
“This is important to me, Finn. Innocent lives are potentially on the line, so I’m not fucking around here,” she said. “Now, I’m going to ask again. Nicely. Please give me something to work with or I’m going to alert Fallon to the fact that there’s a camera above the back dock that could have some potentially incriminating footage of a certain DJ dealing everything from weed to heroine on Thursday and Sunday nights.”
The threat hung in the air between Finn and Sienna for a few long breaths and she could see the falcon shifter bristling. She almost felt bad for doing it to him, but he had tangled himself in plenty unpleasant dealings over the past two years since arriving. He could use a little good karma on his side, truth be told.
He opened his mouth and noiselessly shut it—twice. Sienna could see the battle raging across his features, but she didn’t relent. Finally, he broke. Just a little.
“Yes,” he breathed out in a hiss. He lowered his voice and his dark, beady eyes danced around the tables nearby. “There are bears moving around Vegas that people are worried about. I’ve heard rumors of a Kodiak den—Russians, mostly. Maybe Ukraine, I don’t know. And they’re potentially dealing in the sex trade for other like-minded shifter scum. But I’ve never seen the one in the picture and I don’t know any names. Just that the Kodiaks are making our normal bad guys really, really nervous.”
Finn made a quick exit after that and Sienna didn’t mind. She’d gotten enough out of the falcon shifter and knew that he understood it’d be in his best interest to never mention their conversation. She’d told him as much as he was leaving.
“Say anything about this conversation and you’re hosed,” she’d said with a smile.
He’d given her a dirty look, but had left without a word. Sienna checked her phone and saw that her next appointment had come through. With a triumphant smile, she stood and headed toward her car.
She was paying a visit to an old friend she hadn’t seen in a while.
***
She was late. Late, late, late.
Dashing from the parking spot she’d had to take four blocks away, Sienna moved faster and tried to weave in and out of the Las Vegas Strip sidewalk crowds, mentally cursing the idiot who thought Friday night would be a great night to eat at a luxury casino.
Doing her best not to shoulder check all of the tourists and statue gawkers, she dashed inside the revolving door and pressed her way to the front desk at Capriso. She’d never actually been inside the place, so while she waited for the maître d’ to finish with the couple in front of her, Sienna snuck a few glances around.
“Shit,” she whispered under her breath. This place was all gold, marble, and water fountains. She glanced down at the same pair of ripped jeans and ballet flats she’d put on this morning and inwardly cringed. She hadn’t exactly had the time to run home and change, but now she was sort of wishing she’d thought ahead enough to bring a change of clothes.
“May I help you?”
She hadn’t heard the mustached man at first. Only when he cleared his throat and gave her outfit a pointed look did she realize he was speaking to her.
“I’m meeting some people,” she said hastily. “I’m late.”
Not sure why she threw that last part in, but Sienna went with it. Dismissing her, the man gave a vague motion over his shoulder before moving on to the men behind her. She guessed that was his nonverbal dismissal and permission to search the floor for Sage and the others?
It didn’t take long. Three giant werewolves kind of stood out anywhere they went, even if they tried to blend in with collared shirts and nice jeans. Sienna swallowed hard and tried not to notice that Grumpy Wolf looked more than just a little sexy in his black button-down shirt, dark-rinse jeans, and Italian-looking black shoes. Sienna didn’t really know shoes—she just knew these looked expensive and stylish.
Suddenly self-conscious, Sienna wrapped her arms around her stomach and took short steps toward the group. When Sage saw her approach, he stood. The other two followed suit when they noticed her, too.
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