by Mia Taylor
“She will not be back,” Ashur said again and Serafina began to laugh, tugging gently on his arm as she turned him away.
“We better get out of here,” she muttered, yanking his arm as Jacob moaned. “He’s the type to call the cops and file a lawsuit. It’s literally what he does.”
Ashur shrugged indifferently.
“I doubt they will come looking for us in California for something so trivial,” he said, but even as he said it, he could hear Jacob moaning as if he were dying from his spot in the corner.
Sera’s smile widened and she paused, bracing herself on her tiptoes to kiss his lips, her eyes shining with affection.
“Still,” she murmured when she pulled away, “we better not tempt fate.”
Without so much as a backward glance at her boss, Sera led him by the hand, out of the inner office where Barry gaped at them in shock.
“S-Sera, where are you going?” Barry whimpered. This time, she paused to give him a pitiful look.
“We’re getting the hell out of Dodge, Barry, and if you have an ounce of self-respect, I suggest you do the same before that bastard sucks everything out of you.”
She didn’t wait for him to respond and instead hurried Ashur along, out of the building and down to the street where they would never, ever look back.
Epilogue
Sera cleared her throat as they stared at the modest but pretty ranch-style house, her eyes darting toward her mate with some amusement.
“This was not exactly what I was expecting,” she demurred and Ash nodded in agreement.
“Me neither,” he agreed. Sera giggled at his response, wondering when he was ever going to give up the babe in the woods schtick that he’d been using since the day she’d met him. She was sure he was enshrouded in mystery and intrigue, but the more she tried to find out about him, the less she learned.
For example, after seeing the insurmountable figure in his bank account, it defied logic that the house he owned in California was not only small and charming, but in El Cajon of all places.
That didn’t mean that Sera wasn’t over the moon at being out of Detroit and in a place where the sun always shone.
“It’s definitely an upgrade from where we were,” she conceded and he didn’t respond. Hand in hand, they ambled toward the front door. It was red and freshly painted, the exterior well cared for, and Sera couldn’t have envisioned a better starter home for her and Ash.
The inside was already furnished, a question that Sera had pondered since they’d hopped on the flight from Michigan earlier that day. The last few days had been a whirlwind of packing and planning, but Ash had not provided any additional information.
“I do not know if there are furnishings,” he told her. “I was bequeathed the home.”
“Yes,” Sera had sighed. “I guess this will be a surprise for both of us.”
She reasoned that there was no shortage of money to buy new things if need be, but that was a matter for another time.
Inside the quaint little home, Sera dropped her knapsack and stared around at the surroundings with a jolt of happiness. Just as the front had shown, the interior was equally cozy and sweet.
Someone had taken special care to make the house a home and Sera swallowed the lump of emotion rising in her throat.
“Do you like it, Serafina?” Ash asked softly, noting the pleasure on her face. “Will this suffice for you?”
She nodded, tears blinding her eyes, and she met his adoring gaze.
“Yes,” she assured him. “This is everything I could have hoped for…”
A smile warmed her face.
“Because I’m here with you.”
Their eyes locked and Ash pulled her closer into his arms.
“We will look into your schooling here,” he told her, the words only spawning more excitement inside her. She didn’t bother to tell him that she had already done precisely that.
In fact, she had already applied to Thomas Jefferson Law School and eagerly waited to hear back from them. She didn’t know if her experience as a paralegal would help or worsen her chances, especially given the last two places she had worked, but she had her fingers crossed.
The sound of a car pulling up along the front caused her to fall slightly out of Ash’s embrace and they tensed when they saw the sheriff’s cruiser out front.
“Don’t tell me that prick went and laid charges,” Sera muttered, Jacob’s pig-face immediately filling her mind.
“Do not worry,” Ash said quietly and they both moved toward the open door to greet the sheriff.
There was a smugness about the man that radiated from him well before he sauntered his way up the stone walkway to meet them on the porch.
“Well,” he drawled. “Someone finally bought this house.”
“Good morning, sheriff,” Sera said quickly, casting Ashur a warning look. “Is everything all right?”
The man nodded, a smirk toying at the corners of his mouth.
“Of course, little lady,” he purred and Sera tried not to grimace at his condescending words. Instead, she maintained a half-smile on her face, even as her arms folded under her breasts.
“I had heard that the new couple had moved into town and I make it my business to know what’s going on in these parts. I am the sheriff, after all.”
He stuck out a hand for Ash to take, almost dismissing Sera altogether.
“Damon Sommers,” he told Ashur. “At your service.”
The cocky drawl of his voice sent shivers of apprehension through Serafina but she couldn’t say why exactly. There was simply something about the man she didn’t like and when she cast Ash a sidelong look, she could tell he felt the same.
Quickly, Ashur took his hand and dropped it just as fast.
“I am Ash. This is my wife, Sera.”
She eyed him dubiously, her heart catching in her throat.
His wife, she thought with unbidden excitement. Why did he say that?
“Welcome to El Cajon,” Sheriff Sommers declared. “I hope you’ll both be very happy here.”
He leaned in conspiratorially.
“It’s a great place to raise a family. I have a daughter of my own, you know.”
Sera instantly felt pity for the girl whom she had never met.
“You folks let me know if there’s anything you need,” Sheriff Sommers continued, handing his card to Ash, again disregarding Sera, and she checked the urge to snap at him that she was standing right there.
“Thank you, sheriff,” Ashur said, accepting the paper. “I am certain we will be fine.”
The policeman nodded curtly and spun on his heel as if he’d done his duty for the day, waving over his shoulder without turning.
“Have a good one, folks,” he called, disappearing back into the car as easily as he’d come.
“He is a strange man,” Ash commented, closing the door as if to block him out. “There is a darkness about him.”
But Sera was fixated on something else and she met his eyes squarely.
“You told him that I was your wife,” she reminded him. “Why did you say that?”
An eyebrow raised and Ash peered at her in surprise.
“I see you as my wife,” he replied honestly. “You are my eternal mate, after all.”
A rush of elation shot through Sera.
“A-are you asking me to marry you?” she asked quietly and surprise shot through Ash’s face. She could tell she was catching him off guard with her boldness but she didn’t care.
For once in her life, she was sure of the man before her when she had never been certain of any male in her life. Ash was everything he had claimed to be, despite the mystery surrounding him.
“Yes,” he said, his voice gruff and full of emotion. “Serafina, will you be my wife?”
Sera nodded, unable to speak for a moment, but her response was to throw her arms around his neck and rain kisses over him.
“Yes,” she breathed. “I thought you’d never ask.”
The Drago
n Mobster
Scandalous Shifters
Book 2
Prologue
What the hell are you looking at? she almost barked, her eyes darting through the bull pen as she walked, but as always, she managed to hold her tongue as she weaved through the precinct, pretending not to notice the leers of her coworkers. After all this time working on the male-dominated task force, she thought she would have been used to it by now, yet there she was, still wondering how she found herself annoyed by their stares.
She made her way through the maze of desks toward her unkempt corner cubicle, balancing a coffee in hand. There was a pencil clenched between her slightly imperfect teeth as she pretended not to notice the overt gawks of the hogs in the pen.
So aptly named the pen. They are all a bunch of pigs.
It was not uncommon for Angela to be stared at in some fashion throughout the day.
Unbeknownst to her, she was a shockingly attractive woman with a sweeping mane of inky black hair and long-lashed blue eyes, two attributes she managed to keep under wraps without trying.
Her figure was lean and toned but surprisingly voluptuous, despite her inherent desire to keep it hidden from view in ill-fitting clothes and a general “screw off” attitude. Her demeanor oozed hostility, the disappointment of her life permeating through her pores outward and onto anyone who dared offend her.
But that was not why she often found herself being ogled by her coworkers. They could not see that there was an inner beauty to Angela Garnet any more than she could.
Sure, they would occasionally try to bed her on a bet or just for the masochistic pleasure of being castrated through verbal assault, but those instances seemed to be further and further apart. Especially since Damon Sommer had left the precinct. He had been the leader of their endless bashing in the El Cajon district and Ang didn’t miss him in the least.
Now, instead of overt comments and full-on harassment, they had backed off to point and whisper like a bunch of drunk frat boys like she was some military experiment gone wrong.
That particular day was no different, although there seemed to be a charge in the air, something she couldn’t quite identify as if something was about to happen.
Her glasses slipped over the bridge of her nose but between the files and the burning liquid occupying her palms, she had little choice but to let them slide along the ski-jump ridge uncomfortably. She hoped the slight upturn at the end would stop them from falling entirely. Of course, asking for help wasn’t an option, not when she was the only woman in a man’s world.
Can’t show any weakness to these pricks, she thought, grinding her teeth.
All around her, the men eyed her, a flurry of garbled talk she couldn’t quite hear reaching her ears but no one bothered to step forward and offer their assistance any more than she had asked for it.
Thanks for all your help, assholes, she thought, glancing at the predominately male cast surrounding her, but she wasn’t surprised. It was every man for himself in that office.
Especially if that man was a woman.
She dropped what she had in her hands onto the already overflowing table, checking her fingers to see if prints remained on her tips after handling the boiling coffee. Content that they had not been singed off by the rancid breakroom coffee, Ang finally adjusted her glasses.
No worker’s comp today, Angela thought bitterly, settling into the creaking seat before the mountain of paperwork.
No sooner had she plopped into the worn swivel chair did Sergeant Keller yell out from his office at her back.
“Garnet, get in here.”
Are you serious? I just got comfortable. She groaned inwardly, pushing her lithe body back into a standing position. What now?
Angela suddenly became aware of the whispering in her midst, their voices rising an octave, and she eyed her coworkers suspiciously, straining her ears for a whisper of what was being said.
“Now, Garnet!” Keller barked. “I don’t have all damned day.”
Reluctantly, she turned to address the man waiting at her back. She still could not understand what the fuss was about, but a mounting sense of apprehension was filling her gut.
Am I getting fired? Is this about my paperwork? I am just getting to it now! It’s not my fault Mendez was too hungover to do his DD4s. I’m sick of covering for that lush’s ass all the time but God forbid I ask for a reassignment. I’ll just be the weak woman who can’t handle the workload.
Angela had fought too hard for her position to throw it away because her partner was useless. Anyway, there was no guarantee that the next one would be any better. She’d already had a bad enough run to rock the boat.
Better an alcoholic than a crooked cop, I guess.
She would be naïve to believe that everyone didn’t have skeletons lurking in their closets.
I mean, almost everyone. I’ve got my shit straight but everyone can’t be me, she lied to herself.
“What’s up?” she asked, shuffling toward the door, a hand flipping through her thick, black waves quickly. It was a habit of nervousness, one of which she was painfully aware but had little control over.
“Close the door,” Keller instructed and Angela obliged.
“If this is about Mendez, he was asking for it,” she volunteered and her superior’s eyes flashed, his head cocking inquisitively.
“What did you do to Mendez?” he asked suspiciously.
That’s another thing I need to work on—supplying too much information when it’s not required.
“Never mind,” she said quickly, offering him a bright smile. “What can I do for you, boss?”
He grunted slightly, flopping unceremoniously into his chair and shaking his head.
“I’m not sure you can do anything,” he replied and Angela stared at him uncomprehendingly.
Then why am I here? she almost snapped but wisely managed to hold her question back.
“Okay…” she offered instead. “What can I do for you then?”
She waited for him to continue but he seemed reluctant to say anything else, studying her face with porcine eyes as if he was expecting her to say something.
“Can you give me a hint?” she suggested, not certain she was in the mood for a game of twenty questions.
Not when there’s fifty pounds of paperwork on my desk right now thanks to Mendez.
“What do you know about the Menottis?” he asked. The query was unexpected and it took her a couple of seconds to register what he was asking.
“The cookies?” she asked, her mind blank otherwise.
Keller groaned so loudly that she could feel it in her bones.
I guess that wasn’t the answer he was looking for, she thought, wracking her brain for something that would make him less annoyed.
“Not cannoli, Garnet, Menottis.”
“How about another hint?” she asked brightly, but he shook his balding head side to side with such vehemence, she wondered if he hoped she’d disappear with the action.
“I tried to tell them this is the worst idea I’ve ever heard,” he moaned. Angela had a feeling he wasn’t talking to her and she simply sat, awaiting direction.
Under the fluorescent lights, she could feel the heat of the lamps causing beads of sweat to form on her head, even though the central air was working beautifully in the office.
It isn’t the lights making you sweat; it’s nervousness, she thought, gritting her teeth and again running her hand through her thick, ebony strands.
She hated that her emotions could be so easily displayed.
When she had taken her detective’s exam, she was sure that was going to be what caused her to fail.
But of course, she hadn’t failed.
No one was going to turn away a cop with shooting scores like hers and not in a place like El Cajon where there was already a shortage of police.
Without military training, Angela had the ability to shoot with sniper precision as if she were some Marvel comic superhero.
&nbs
p; Coupled with her almost flawless collar record and quiet intelligence, she had made detective within six months of graduating from the academy.
Of course, no one knew about her hidden talents either, but somehow, Ang sensed that it would have been irrelevant.
Anyone should have been grateful to have someone like her on their team, but the robbery unit in El Cajon was less than thrilled to have a young, attractive woman paired on their watch.
Angela knew it was testosterone-infused anger but she also didn’t care.
She was damn good at her job and she didn’t care who had a beef with it.
If only she could keep her facial expressions from telling the world precisely how she felt.
For a second, her blue eyes narrowed and she wondered if this was some kind of hazing trick to make her uncomfortable.
It was getting old and she was irritated that even after two years, she was still enduring the overload of macho bull flooding the department.
The rest of the world has progressed, but inside police departments nationwide, it will always be the fifties.
She was painfully aware that a full minute had passed without Keller speaking and Ang idly wondered if she had been dismissed without realizing.
“Well,” she said shortly, rising. “Good talk. If that’s all, I have—”
“Sit down, Garnet.”
Instantly, Angela took her seat again, sighing deeply. She should have known she wouldn’t be let off the hook that easily.
He was her boss, after all. When Keller said “jump”, she did the kangaroo song.
Keller continued to stare at her silently and Angela felt her already frayed patience running out.
Before she could speak again, there was a knock on the door and she exhaled with relief.
Saved by the bell, she thought happily, turning her attention toward the doorway as Keller barked an order to enter.
A ridiculously tall man entered, his head almost brushing against the top of the doorway as he stared down at them.
“Took you long enough,” Keller snapped. “Nice of you to join us.”
“This place is a damned zoo. I had forgotten how disorganized your group is.”