“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.
As she expected, Brody gave her a once over and raised his eyebrow at her outfit. Sucking in a deep breath she smiled at Sage and completely ignored his Alpha. She even let Dane pull her into a somewhat inappropriate hug and didn’t immediately bat away his massive hand as it drifted lower.
Brody could suck it.
Chapter Six
The tightening in his gut was pissing him off. It was unwanted, it was distracting, and it was making Brody pay way too much attention to Sienna as she swayed her way through the dance club down below.
He, Sage, and Dane were posted in an upstairs bar while Sienna moved through the crowd below looking for a particular wolf shifter named Kyle, who might or might not know a thing or two about the Kodiaks. Kyle, it turns out, was nothing more than a shameless flirt who used Sienna’s search for answers as an excuse to make her dance with him.
And Sienna, for whatever reason, kept her eyes locked on Brody as her body swayed in time with Kyle’s as he pressed in behind her. The longer he watched, the crazier the whole thing was making Brody and his wolf.
His animal was stalking within him, urging Brody to let him free so he could rip out Kyle’s throat and toss it at Sienna’s feet. What the holy hell was all of this about?
As much as he hated to admit it, she was a sight to see. She’d been beautiful the first night she stood toe-to-toe with him in her underwear, but out there swaying to the music, she was magnificent. She was tall and strong, with plush curves everywhere a man wanted them. Her beautiful hair cascaded down her back in rolling auburn waves.
And that mouth. Dear gods above, that mouth made him want do wicked, wicked things to it.
Scrubbing a hand down his face, Brody cleared his head and turned to find Dane watching him with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Don’t. Say. Anything,” Brody ground out. Dane’s smile didn’t waver, but he held his hands up in moc
k surrender.
“Just sayin’, Boss,” Dane began, but a snarl from Brody cut him off. He snickered and turned his attention back to Sienna.
Sage returned from the bar with drinks for them. Needing to stop staring at Sienna long enough to clear his mind, he motioned for Sage and Dane to follow him to a table far enough away from the ledge that he could concentrate.
He sipped at his soda and made a face. He knew he shouldn’t be drinking at a time like this, he needed his wits about him, but a whiskey would sure hit the spot and help quell the jealous beast raging inside him.
“How do you think it’s going down there?” Sage asked innocently enough and Dane made a face.
“Seems to be going great if Sienna’s goal is to be dry humped by a moron,” Brody bit out bitterly before he could stop himself.
Sage, ever the peacekeeper and dutiful Beta, changed the conversation’s course as best he could.
“She really came through with intel for us,” he said. Brody couldn’t deny that. She’d gotten names, a few recent incidents to look into further, and a den name. Brody hated to admit it, but that’s more than he’d ever be able to come up with in 12 hours.
“Just wait ‘til we get her a target to track,” Sage said with more than a little pride in his voice. “Sienna’s a natural-born hunter.”
Drinks downed, Brody couldn’t ignore the compulsion from his wolf to go back to the ledge and check on Sienna. Reluctantly, and dragging his feet, he did.
He leaned his elbows on the smooth metal and noticed Sienna and the shifter weren’t in the spot they’d been in just minutes earlier. Scanning the dancefloor, in fact, revealed that they weren’t anywhere that Brody could see from where they stood. He frowned, searching the long glass bars that lined two sides of the dance floor and that were crowded with couples leaning their heads toward each other.
Still nothing.
“Where’d she go?” Brody asked Sage, who was searching the faces, too.
“No clue,” his Beta answered.
“You worried?” Dane asked Sage. Sage didn’t immediately respond, and Brody took that as a yes.
Without saying a word, Brody pushed off the railing and stalked downstairs.
He moved through the sea of shifters and humans as they parted for him, giving him a clear path. He gave off an intimidating vibe for shifter and human alike and it came in handy during situations like this—he was grateful his wolf was a crazy bastard when it came to crowd control.
Brody’s wolf grew more frantic the longer he searched.
Where the hell is she?
Finally, at the far end of a corner bar that was directly beneath where Brody had been standing upstairs, he saw them.
The wolf was too close to Sienna, who looked cool and confident, but the fear she was giving off was easy to pick up on. It was obvious that Kyle, the little sniveling son of a bitch, was enjoying the fact that Sienna was in over her head and worried as he pushed her boundaries.
Brody felt Sage and Dane arrive directly behind him on either side of him. Sage’s anger was instant and radiated like heat from his Beta. Dane’s reaction more curious—it was obvious he wanted to see how his Alpha and Beta handled a situation like this.
Brody didn’t move forward immediately, instead he listened in on the conversation that was going on.
“…so I think maybe we should go back out on the dance floor, don’t you?” Sienna was saying. She was still trying to be polite enough not to lose the conversation with her contact. She must have understood that if it got too out of hand, none of them would get the information they needed out of Kyle.
Brody, however, understood that the conversation was over. Kyle was going to force Sienna into an uncomfortable situation no matter what she tried to do at this point. And that made Brody’s blood boil.
“No, baby, I don’t think we should go back out there,” Kyle said and moved closer to Sienna, totally eating up the space between them. Sienna’s hands shot up between them and she moved to stand, but Kyle’s massive paw came down hard on her shoulder and forced her back in her seat.
“Kyle, knock it off,” Sienna snapped, her fear turning to anger in front of Brody’s eyes. He liked it. He liked that fire that was shooting from her eyes at the bastard with his hand on her.
“No more games, gorgeous,” Kyle licked his lips and leaned forward. “I’m gonna taste your mouth and later you’re gonna wrap those lips around my…”
Kyle never got a chance to finish the words. In a flash, the fury inside Brody broke free and he had his hand wrapped around the man’s throat in an instant.
Chapter Seven
The idiot wolf shifter Kyle had pushed his luck too far and caught Sienna off guard. She struggled with her response and just as she was going to rip his face off with her newly unsheathed claws, his body was airborne and crashing to the floor about 20 feet away.
Holy shitballs, Batman.
Crazy Grumpy Wolf was on him in an instant and Sienna saw he had his own claws unsheathed, ready to rip the man’s throat out. Lucky for Kyle, Sage and Dane had Brody mostly under control and pulled him back before he could see his violence through.
“Calm down, Brody,” Sage had taken his hands off his Alpha, most likely in hopes that the man, whose eyes flashed wolf, wouldn’t mistake him for the enemy.
Sienna glanced down at Kyle and noticed he was unmoving. He was hurt pretty badly and had massive claw marks on both sides of his neck. Brody seemed to calm down just enough to take stock of the situation.
“Get rid of him out of the fire exit,” he growled to Sage and Dane. “Meet us back at the hotel.”
Brody didn’t speak to Sienna. Instead, he grabbed her wrist gently in his massive hand and pulled her behind him as he pushed his way through the crowded dancefloor.
Did the guy feel like dancing all of a sudden?
He made it clear, however, that he wasn’t in the mood for dancing when he pushed through a door that led to a kitchen and ignored the startled cooks as he pulled Sienna past the prep stations and stoves to a small doorway in the back.
How had he known about this exit? She didn’t get a chance to ask. Before she could form the question on her lips, they were pushing through the door and she fell in step helplessly behind Brody as the door banged shut behind her.
His long stride made Sienna have to work to keep up, and not once in their race through the alleyways outside of the club did Brody let go of Sienna’s arm.
“What are you doing?” She finally called to him when she was pretty sure he’d gotten them lost in the maze of turns he’d taken them through. But he didn’t stop until he found the particular alleyway he was looking for. There, Sienna saw a jacked up, slicked out pickup truck that probably cost more than her home did.
It was only when he hauled her around the front and pressed her up against the grill did he let go of her hand and cage her in by placing both of his arms at her sides. He leaned his head forward, stopping mere inches from her and Sienna drew in a sharp breath when she met his eyes.
They were an iridescent blue and glowed bright, letting Sienna know that Brody’s wolf was close to the surface. He looked positively feral and she felt the heat radiating from him. She felt her breathing grow shallow as she waited out his next move. Sienna knew she should shove hard against his chest and tear him a new one for the way he man-handled her.
But she was captivated by Brody’s intensity and she and her wolf waited him out.
“I don’t have time for this,” he ground out, his voice more gravely and raspy than usual.
“I’m sorry— “she started, but he spoke over her.
“I don’t want to feel anything for you,” he said. “I don’t have time. Whatever you’re doing to me, Sienna, you need to stop this.”
Stop what? Sienna couldn’t deny the heat that pooled in her belly whenever Brody’s dark gaze roamed over her or the way that her wolf reacted to his scent—but she wasn’t doing anything on purpose.
Was she?
Before she could answer, one of Brody’s big hands gripped her by the back of her head and pulled her face forward so he could slam his mouth over hers. Instantly, she let out an embarrassing moan which only seemed to spur him on. His mouth slanted over hers and his tongue broke through her lips and waged war with her own. His other hand gripped her jaw as he held her in place and ravaged her lips and mouth.
She was breathless when he finally pulled away and stalked to the passenger side of the truck, opening the door and looking impatient while he waited for Sienna to get the hint and climb in. Sienna swayed on her feet and put her hand on the hood of his truck to steady herself.
What the actual fuck had just happened?
***
An hour later, the four shifters sat in Brody’s massive suite. There was a pair of decent-sized couches and a couple plush wingback chairs. Sienna sat on one side of a couch and bristled when Brody grabbed himself a wingback and dragged it next to her. If Sage had noticed the very obvious action, he didn’t acknowledge it.
“So, what did we get from Kyle?” Dane asked finally when Brody and Sienna remained quiet. Her head was still swimming from the amazing kiss she’d gotten in the alley. She had no idea what was wrong with Brody at this point. He hadn’t said a word on the entire drive over.
Brody was acting like he was angry at her because he’d kissed her, but instead of ignoring her when they’d gotten back to the hotel, he’d stayed within arm’s reach of her the entire time.
Her own wolf and body weren’t helping, either. Both her human and animal side were in lusty hormone overdrive after that kiss. It’d been…amazing.
“Sienna?”
Sage’s voice cut through her daze and she looked up at her brother.
“What?”
“I asked you if you got anything worthwhile from Kyle,” her brother shot her a bewildered look.
“Ummm…yeah,” Sienna said, trying desperately to clear her head. “Yeah. There’s definitely a presence of Kodiak den moving in around Vegas. And Kyle mentioned that they’re on the outs with the bear council. They were going to get punished for illegal activities but they broke from the group before they could. They’re definitely rogue.”
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