Alpha Assassins Guild: (Complete Series: Books 1-5)

by Juniper Leigh

  Viola cursed herself for not having been more careful — after everything, she should have anticipated that someone would be there waiting for her — but it only took an instant for her body to pump itself full of the adrenaline necessary for her to react with her training. The arms had rather a good grip on her, but she lifted her feet and threw all her weight downward, forcing her assailant to shift his center of gravity. He lost a grip on her just long enough for Viola to throw a sharp elbow into his stomach. There was a grunt and Viola jerked herself free, landing a powerful side kick to his torso. She threw herself forward, somersaulting into the kitchen and coming up with a paring knife in her hand. Crouching down, she shot the knife with expert precision directly at her attacker’s head. It would have made contact, too, and ended things right then and there, if he hadn’t ducked out of the way just in the nick of time. But she got a good look at him, finally, in the dim light of the early morning sun that was starting to peek in through the windows. Graham McCallum.

  “Viola,” he said, his hands up like he was trying to dissuade a wolf from leaping to rip his throat out. “Please. Just hear me out.”

  “You’re here to kill me,” she shot back, never taking her eyes off of him as she ran her hand along the countertop, trying to find another knife.

  “No, I’m not,” he said, “though, frankly, that would only be fair, what with the stabbing from earlier this evening.” He was actually smiling at her. Why on earth would he be smiling at her? “If my clan were going to kill you, I wouldn’t have come here myself. We have people for that.” He took a few tentative steps toward her, and she could see where he’d been bandaged up from her earlier attack. Was that a pang of guilt she felt for marring such a beautiful man? She banished the thought. He was her mark, nothing more.

  “Then why are you here, if you’re not here to kill me?” she demanded, still very much on high alert.

  “I need to speak with you, to help clarify a few things. Please, Viola. Can we call even a temporary truce?”

  She hesitated, but ultimately stood upright, her eyes looking him up and down. He was wearing the jeans and flannel shirt he’d donned prior to their little tryst, and his hair was falling into his eyes. He boasted a five-o’clock shadow, though it was probably just past five in the morning, and she hated how much she still wanted him, despite everything. “Fine,” she said at length, “but I get to aim a pistol at your head while you speak.”

  “Is that strictly necessary?”

  “Dude, you are a fucking grizzly bear. I think it is strictly necessary.”

  “I’m a Kodiak,” he grumbled, “not a grizzly. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Fine. You can point your gun at my head, if it’ll make you feel better, though I don’t see what my being a bear has anything to do with it. Bears die too, you know, from gunshots to the skull.”

  “In your skull is where I will put my bullet if you do that weird shifter thing again, do I make myself clear?”

  “As crystal.” Graham, keeping his hands in the air, circled slowly around so that he could come to sit on her futon. When he was seated, Viola darted over to her dresser and plucked her Glock 19 from her underwear drawer. She checked to make sure it was loaded — it was — and came back into the living room, where she sat herself down in the wicker rocking chair across from Graham. She aimed the pistol, as promised, at his head.

  “You’re exceptionally beautiful when you’ve a mind to kill me, you know that? Earlier tonight, and right now—”

  “Oh, shut the hell up, McCallum,” she hissed, too unnerved to play this game with him. He chuckled wryly and leaned back on the futon, crossing his arms over the broad expanse of his chest.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “If you must.”

  “Did you… actually like me at all? Or was this all part of the plan for you to stab me in the neck?” There was a twinkle in his bright blue eyes that gave away the smile he was trying to suppress.

  Viola pursed her lips and gave a sharp shake of her head. “Irrelevant.” She shifted uneasily in her chair, trying not to drink in the sight of his full form, trying to keep her eyes locked only on his face. “You had something you wanted to say? So say it.”

  Graham drew in a deep breath and raked his fingers through his mass of brown hair, then leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, pressing his fingers together in a temple. “I’m here,” he began, “to ask for your help.”

  Viola furrowed her brow, cocking her head to one side. “I’m a weird choice,” she said, “what with my trying to kill you and all.”

  “Yes, well, I knew they’d sent you for me when I first laid eyes on you at the Gala.”

  “You did?”

  “Of course.” He full-out grinned then, bearing his perfect, white teeth, his stunningly sharp canines. “I don’t mean to be uncouth, but I have money, Viola, scads of money. I pay people quite handsomely to know things to which I might not otherwise be privy. I mean, I know I prefer to dress like a lumberjack, but I assure you, it’s just because flannel is comfy and my butt looks good in denim. I am very much the billionaire in the tuxedo, and please don’t be fooled, I rarely go anywhere alone.”

  Viola’s gaze darted furtively around the room, trying to ascertain if there was, in fact, someone else in there with him. “No, we’re alone in here. But I have men downstairs. They will have detained your driver, and they will come up if I call.”

  “Have you killed him?” she asked. “My driver, I mean.”

  “No,” Graham said, his weariness showing through his otherwise blasé demeanor. “No, that’s just my point. I want the killing to stop. And that’s why I’m asking for your help.”

  Viola smirked, leaning back slightly in the rocking chair and extending her arm out to keep aim at his gorgeous face. “That’s kind of funny, asking the assassin to help the killing stop.”

  “But you’re more than just an assassin,” he said gently, “so much more. You and your sister could be the keys to brokering a long-lasting peace.”

  “You leave my sister out of this, understand?”

  Graham put his hands up again, and gave a nod of his head. “Sure. Fine. Whatever you want. I’m just saying that you both are the keys. And whether or not you agree to help me is up to you.”

  “What happens if I don’t help you?”

  “Nothing,” he said. “Honestly, if you don’t agree to help me, I imagine you’ll probably try to kill me again. If that happens, I will probably try to kill you back. I like you, Viola, but that only extends so far, just at present.”

  “And what does ‘helping you’ entail?”

  Graham hesitated, casting a glance toward the kitchen, where the unfinished bottles of liquor remained from her earlier conversation with Rowan. Graham canted his chin toward an open bottle of vodka. “Do you mind?”

  “Be my guest.”

  Graham rose to his feet and crossed into the kitchen. He poured himself two fingers of vodka into an empty coffee mug and tossed it into the back of his throat; Viola had her gun trained on him the entire time. “How much do you know about what we are?”

  “Not much. Rowan told me that there are all sorts of shifter clans, and that many of them do business together. He told me that your father was something of a criminal in his own right, taking out the leaders of a number of clans to suit his purposes.”

  “That’s largely true,” he confirmed. “It’s also, however, true of Alec Weaver.”

  “But not of you?” She arched her brows high over her eyes, just as blue as his. “I mean, you’re the Alpha of your clan now, aren’t you? And don’t you have their best interests at heart?”

  “I’m the Alpha, yes,” he confirmed, “but I’m not like my father, and I’m not like Alec Weaver.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that Alec Weaver has been systematically removing the Alphas from the other powerful clans in the region so that he can control them. He’s an extortionist and a murderer, and I would see the cla
ns run by their own leaders, and working together toward a more prosperous future.”

  “But your father—”

  “Yes, my father was the same. The two of them, these old men holding old grudges and gearing up for some sort of blood feud. Clan Felidae has Paraves and Equus under its thumb, and we’ve got Canis and Cetacea—”

  “Cetacea?”

  “Marine life — sharks, dolphins, whales. You know. Sea creatures.”

  “Fish.”

  “Yes, well. Bears like fish.” He grinned again, and she couldn’t help but mirror his smile back at him. “In any event, it isn’t right. I would see powerful Alphas restored at the head of their clans, and I would see our business dealings return to being aboveboard. We’re not the goddamned Mafia; we shouldn’t act like it.”

  “So what would you have me do, then? How exactly do you want me to help?”

  Graham took in a deep breath and returned to his spot on the futon across from her. He cast his gaze down to the floor. “Alec Weaver needs to be replaced.”

  “With whom?”

  “His son, Rowan. He seems like a reasonable man. He’s smart, savvy, and perhaps not as bloodthirsty as his old man.”

  “Okay, but… removed… how?”

  Graham angled his eyes on her and set his jaw. “I need you to kill him.”

  “Ah. Right. Stop the killing, but with more killing.” Viola rose to her feet and pointed the gun down at him, taking a few steps forward. “Alec Weaver and his son have been nothing but kind to me. They took me in when I had nothing and no one to support me. And now you’re asking me to betray that trust? You’ve got to be fucking insane if you think I’m going to kill Alec Weaver on your behalf, when it was Alec who sent me to kill you in the first place. Get out of here, Graham. Just go, please. And we’ll forget this conversation even happened.”

  “Hang on a second, Viola,” he said, his hands back up again. “If you think you can just talk to him, make him see reason, then the old man can live. I don’t want to kill anybody. Believe me, I don’t. I just think it’s the most expedient way.”

  “Killing him makes you just like your father,” she hissed. And he bowed his head in response.

  “You’re right.” He sighed. “Look. Talk to him. Tell him I’m willing to negotiate. Maybe get him to step aside in favor of his son. Whatever it takes, but together I know we can broker this peace and set things right, for all of the clans.”

  She hesitated. Maybe it was possible, instead of them fearing for their lives. Maybe they could all work together. Her head was throbbing and her eyes were bleary. She wasn’t thinking clearly.

  “Why me?” she asked. “Why are my sister and I some sort of… key to peace between the clans?”

  “Would you put the gun down? Please? My palms are sweating, afraid you’re going to lose your temper and just…” His brow was in a knot above his shining eyes, and she breathed a sigh through her nostrils before lowering the gun. Her arm was getting sore anyhow. She set it on her knee, keeping her hand resting lightly atop it. “Thank you.”

  “So?” she urged. He regarded her warmly, how pale she was after such a long night, dark circles under her eyes that expanded outward like ripples in a pond. Even still, she was beautiful. And she had no idea what potential she held.

  “About forty years ago,” he said, “before I was born, and just as my father had taken over as Alpha of Clan Ursus, there was a woman…” He smiled a crooked sort of smile that reached all the way to his eyes. “Isn’t there always a woman?” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, she was a member of the clan as well, this beautiful creature, as legend has it, curly brown hair and big green eyes. So, this woman—”

  “What was her name?” Viola had no idea why she needed to know the answer to this question, but she did. “The woman, what was her name?”

  “Lily. Lily Murphy.” He waited to see if she had any follow-up questions, and when she remained silent, he continued. “Anyway, Lily was set to be my father’s mate. The Alphas don’t usually marry for love; they marry for the potency of the bloodline, and hers was the most powerful in the clan. But the story goes that there was always something kind of… off about Lily. She wasn’t excited about the great honor that it was to be named the Mate of the Alpha. They all chalked it up to her age — she was only eighteen at the time. But she disappeared before they could be joined, and he mated with my mother instead.”

  “What happened to her?”

  “She ran off with someone else. Now, there have been cases of clan members marrying humans. And it’s frowned upon, because it weakens the bloodlines. A shifter cannot mate with a human and expect to produce shifter offspring. But Lily… well, Lily didn’t run off with a human. She ran off with a shifter from another clan.”

  “Clan Felidae.”

  “Precisely.” Graham shifted uncomfortably, and Viola could sense that he was coming to the heart of the matter. “The man that Lily ran off with was Asher Knox, who, at the time of their elopement, was the Alpha of Clan Felidae. Alec Weaver rose to power as a result of his departure, so Clan Felidae never bothered to search for them. But Ursus did, I suppose because my father wanted Lily back. They vanished for ten years — to this day no one knows where they went or what they did to survive, cut off as they were from all clan support. But they resurfaced in this very town twenty-six years ago.” He paused, and something changed in his expression: it softened, it shifted, and she took her hand away from the gun. “With two small children. Girls.” Viola blinked, her eyes glassy with the onset of understanding.

  “What—” Viola swallowed hard, her mouth dry, her throat aching. “What happened to them? The children?”

  “For a long time, nobody knew.”

  “And to… to Lily and Asher?”

  “They were captured, and brought to my father.” Graham kept his gaze set firmly on her face, and he only just barely resisted the urge to reach out for her. “Viola, they…”

  “What? Tell me.”

  Graham sighed, nodding slowly. “Asher was executed, almost immediately. Lily was spared, for a time. My father… he… he wanted to breed with her, so he kept her alive for a while. She was given some autonomy after a few months, and I remember seeing her around the house, like this… ghost of a woman. So beautiful, so haunted…” He cleared his throat again, not sure of how to continue, but knowing that he must. “She took her own life when she found out my father had successfully, um… when she found out she was pregnant.”

  Viola’s heart dropped into her stomach like a coin down an empty well. “She — she was… my mother?”

  “Yes,” Graham quietly confirmed. “We think so, yes.”

  “And you think that m-my sister and me… you think we have the blood of both clans?”

  “That’s my theory.”

  “And as such, you think we can unite the clans?”

  “Yes.”

  “How?”

  Graham shook his head. “I know this is a lot to take in. But for now, I need you to collect your things and return to the Felidae headquarters, just as they’ve instructed you to do.”

  “How did you know—”

  “And I need you to plant the seeds of doubt in Rowan’s mind, and convince him that there is a peaceful solution. Once you’ve enlisted his aid, come here, to this apartment, and tell me. I will meet you here, always.”

  “They’re going to get rid of everything, they’re—”

  “Don’t worry about that now. Just worry about packing, and getting back to Felidae.”

  Viola gazed at him for a moment before rising to her feet and placing the Glock where she’d been sitting. “All right, I guess I should… I’ll pack, and…” She needed to sleep.

  “Viola.” Graham approached her and encircled her in his large, warm arms. And this time, she let him. He squeezed her and released her back, holding her at arm’s length. “I’m sorry, about all of this. I never wanted… I never thought…” He lifted a hand to her cheek, his fingertips brushin
g gingerly across the smooth surface of her skin. Then, perhaps against his better judgment, he bent forward and pressed his lips to hers.

  And for the second time in a span of several minutes, her heart twinged and plummeted. She kissed him back, rising onto her tiptoes to press herself closer to him, and snaked her arms up around his neck. She wanted him; she was delirious with the wanting of him. But she couldn’t. Not tonight, not now.

  Reluctantly, she placed both hands on his chest and gently pushed him away. She looked up at him through a thick forest of dark lashes, a small smile playing on her lips. “Sorry,” she whispered, “bad timing.”

  “Yeah,” came his hushed reply. He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her cheek, before turning on his heel and heading for the door. “Good luck, Viola. I’ll be in touch.”

  She watched him go, watched him until he’d disappeared behind the door, and watched the door until his footsteps had faded down the stairs. Lifting a hand to her lips, she thought of the kiss they’d just shared, in many ways more intimate than when they’d shared a bed the evening previous. What if he was just manipulating her? Pretending to care for her in order to get her to do what he wanted? She dropped her hand and steeled herself, resolving to look into everything he’d said and to make decisions for herself. Then she tucked her Glock into the back of her jeans and began to pack.

  CHAPTER 3

  The room at the Felidae headquarters was beautifully appointed, and much more luxurious than Viola ever could have anticipated, with sleek, modern amenities. The king-sized bed was plush with down, and as soon as Viola stepped foot into the room, she was ready to dive into it. She had the thick velvet curtains drawn against the rising sunlight, and she was ready to sleep for about the next decade. Tugging her shirt over her head and kicking off her boots, she groaned aloud when she heard a knock at the door.