Selling Sass

by Jeni Burns

  "Okay. What else?" Jules prompted.

  "Nothing. The line went dead, and she was gone."

  "But why call on the office line? Why not call either of our cell phones or even the main store number?"

  Her cousin made a good point. "I don't know. Maybe she called on that line because it has something to do with an artifact? I mean I had a call earlier about the cuff." She paused and moved back into the office to refer to the long-forgotten note on the desk. "A Madeline called. Said she was calling on behalf of Trevan. Does that sound familiar?"

  "Trevan? He's a pack leader who mated with a vampire if I remember correctly. And the caller said he's looking for the cuff?"

  "She made it sound like he was looking for it for his mate." The chime on the store door sounded. Lindsay pocketed the note and made her way back into the main store. Two red-faced women whispered and pointed as they picked their way through the store.

  "If the werewolves and vampires want it as well as the Fae, this means there has to be some pretty cool magic associated with it, right?"

  "I would think so," Lindsay agreed. "But, we have customers so I've gotta run. Do you want me to swing by and pick you up on my way out to meet Dean and Jake? Or would you rather bring your own car?"

  "Pick me up. I want to blend into the background, so they forget I'm there. Maybe I'll get a lead."

  The glee in her cousin's voice belied her truth. She had always wondered why she had been chosen to answer the phones instead of finding the items or making the covert drops. 'Destiny' had always been their Nana's answer to the question. She tapped the button on her phone to end the call and pocketed the device.

  "Can I help you ladies find something?" She asked as she made her way through the displays.

  One of the women looked up, her face burning bright, revealing her age, or lack thereof.

  "Um, we aren't really sure what we're looking for..." she hedged.

  It wasn't the first-time teens wandered in, hoping to find something thrilling. Typically, they spoke way too loud and their nerves came across in inappropriate jokes and gestures. But these girls appeared almost shy in their browsing.

  Lindsay pasted a smile on her face and laid a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder. "Well, how about we start with what brought you in today. Were you merely curious?"

  The other girl squared her shoulders and spoke up. "We need a gift. A friend of ours is having a themed birthday party." The girl paused and passed a glance over a display of dildos. "And I think we're supposed to get a gift that matches the party theme."

  "Yeah. I mean, what else would you get for a coming of age party that's gonna have sexy things there?" The first girl added.

  A genuine smile touched her lips. "Are you talking about Summer Damsel's party, by chance?"

  Matching relief flooded the girls' faces. "You know Summer?"

  "I'm helping her brothers decorate the party grounds. But the theme doesn't set the tone for the gift." She gestured around the store. "I'm going to go on a limb and assume you girls are about the same age as Summer. Would anything in here appeal to you gift wise?"

  The girls exchanged a quick glance before both shaking their heads.

  "That's what I thought. I'm going to suggest you get your friend something you know she will like from elsewhere."

  "I just can't understand why Summer is letting her brothers pick the theme," the first girl said.

  "You know she said that culturally, sixteen is the year to start looking for a husband," the other replied.

  "Yeah, but we're too young to be thinking like that. You know I couldn't even tell my mom about the theme. If she knew, she'd never have said that I could go."

  "I know," the other agreed. "I'm glad she doesn't live in town so there's not much of a chance my parents would hear about it."

  Lindsay chuckled and gathered a girl under each arm and gently steered them toward the door. "I know it might seem strange to you both, but I think it's great that you're going to be supportive for your friend."

  "Our best friend." They said in unison then giggled.

  "Summer is a lucky girl to have such good friends. Most of these events I've been to, aren't as risqué as you might think. And her brothers are trying to do right by her. You'll see," she added with a wink.

  As the door closed behind the teens, Lindsay shook her head. She hoped Summer didn't invite a lot of school friends so that her entire day would be dealing with embarrassed teenagers.

  4

  Flash of Fang

  GUILT LAID HEAVY in Ronin's chest. Ever since the call from Maddie, his world had turned a bit off kilter. He paced the short span of his long-term hotel suite and begrudged it not being the wooded area surrounding his home not far from here.

  Juggling his day job, this favor he was doing for the pack, and his budding relationship with Lindsay was getting tiring. A lump stuck in his throat as he thought of Lindsay. She was the type of beautiful that men noticed but were often intimidated by with her lithe body, sun-kissed skin, and those eyes the color of sea foam in sunlight. What had begun as merely a mission to infiltrate had become so much more where she was concerned.

  A thunk from the bedroom made him turn his head. He hated when his day job spilled into his personal life. With a quick turn on his heel, his stopped his mindless pacing and went to the bedroom door.

  "You better not be getting any ideas, bloodsucker," he warned as the knob twisted in his palm.

  On the floor, in a heap laid Kara Sheel. On the nightstand, the phone receiver lay in a twisted mess of tangled chord and dial tone.

  "What did you do?" His pulse skyrocketed as the multitude of options ran through his head. Her vampire husband was probably already on his way despite the noon hour.

  "I did what any woman being held again her will would do," she slurred.

  The tranquilizer he'd shot her up with earlier must be wearing off if she could not only maneuver herself to the phone to make a call and still give him sass. Her transition into vampiredom must've had an effect on the way the drugs affected her.

  "Look, if you just agree to find the cuff and turn it over to me, this can all end."

  "You're a bastard, Ronin. Once Lindsay finds out about this, she'll never forgive you."

  The daggers shooting from her eyes landed right in his heart. She wasn't wrong. Lindsay would never understand all the lies he'd been telling her since day one. Forgiveness was something he could only hope for where she was concerned, but the likelihood was as certain as a winded diaper wearing baby flying down with a well-trained arrow aimed his way. He shook his head and gathered Kara in his arms. She kicked against his grip, but he held tight and laid her back on the bed with as much ease as possible. Sure, he might be holding her captive, but that didn't mean he had to hurt her.

  "Lindsay will forget I ever existed before she ever knows about this." He reached into a dresser drawer and removed a small vial and syringe. He drew up a slightly higher dose of the sedation agent and hoped it wasn't too much for her current condition. He avoided looking at her swollen belly as he pierced her skin and pressed the plunger on the syringe.

  "Not if I already told her." Her hazel gazed burned him as her words set every nerve ending in his body on high alert.

  Impossible. She couldn't have called Lindsay. An abducted pregnant vampire wouldn't go calling the cousins she had avoided for weeks. No. She would call her big bad bloodsucking boy-toy. Right?

  He lifted the receiver to his ear. His finger pressed the switchhook to quiet the dial tone and then released it and waited until the hotel operator came on the line.

  A gentle female voice joined the line. "Good afternoon, Mr. Sgot. How can we help you?"

  "Yes, I was hoping you could dial the last number called from my room. I threw away the number and can't recall it."

  "One minute, Mr. Sgot. Let me see if I can pull the record." After a brief pause, she continued. "Please hold while I connect your call."

  The phone rang in his
ear until there was a click on the line and an old recording began to play. "Antique recovery services cannot take your call at the moment..." Another click sounded and a winded "Hello?" cut through the line.

  Lindsay.

  Shit. Kara hadn't been kidding. He was a dead man.

  "Hello? Is someone there?" She sounded so innocent on the other end of the line. He closed his eyes and his shoulders slumped. He couldn't keep this up. His day job required his to locate and procure people and he was handsomely paid for his troubles. But now that the pack was exploiting those talents for their own gain on top of it, his worlds were colliding in a major way. He placed the handset back in the cradle and let go of the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

  A quick look around his room was a perfect image of his life at the moment. His go bag slumped in the corner, filled with tools of his trade, zip ties, duct tape, another syringe kit, and a few clean articles of clothing. The cousin of his current girlfriend laid tied up in the middle of his bed, drugged back to slumber. And to complete the picture, his cell buzzed in his hands with the face of Maddie displayed on the screen.

  Shit.

  He tumbled the answer button on his cell and practically barked a greeting.

  "My, my, Ronin. What's got your britches in a bunch? Let me guess, your Sheel slut isn't feeling the love at the moment. Which one are you fucking again? Could it be the broker?"

  "Let it go, Maddie." His tone was more growl than actual words. He took a deep breath and tried to cool the heat running through him. "What do you want?" His tone still held its harsh edge.

  "I need to see you. Today."

  "No. I have to deal with work and the cousins today." He wasn't telling her something she shouldn't already know.

  "This isn't a negation, Ronin. Caleb wants an update and he's heard rumblings that someone has acquired the thief." A prolonged pause hung between them on the line. "You wouldn't know anything about it, would you, Ronin?"

  "What are you asking, Maddie? Are you suggesting I've not only been lying to Lindsay to get her to help me acquire the cuff for Caleb and I've also managed to track down her missing in action cousin and am hiding her away at my place while I debate who I'll turn the artifact over to once it's been retrieved? I always knew you were crazy, but that kind of situation would be like asking for trouble. Stealing a powerful born vampire's mate, convincing a Sheel to part with an artifact under false pretenses, and then playing the pack against some of the most powerful players in all of Vegas? Do you think I'm suicidal?"

  He was glad she couldn't see his face over the phone.

  "You've done some crazy things over the years. I wouldn't put it past you to try to steal the cuff for yourself."

  "What would I want with it?" Curiosity crossed his mind as he contemplated what appeal the cuff would offer him. He wasn't into women's jewelry for one thing and second, he had no use for an old trinket fabled to have belonged to an old Celtic tribe. Antiques weren't his thing in the least. And he couldn't conceivably understand why someone would go to so much trouble for it.

  "You're falling for a human. And we both know if you had a chance at overthrowing Caleb, you'd do it without so much as a second thought."

  "What does an old bracelet have to do with either of those things?"

  "Oh, Ronin. Always so shortsighted."

  He could hear her tsking over the line and it rankled his nerves. She had always been a bit of controlling bitch, but the fact that she thought she could get away with chastising him for not giving a shit about something so trivial was the kind of annoying that made him glad his family hadn't pushed him to mate with her.

  "Because I don't sleep with people for power, doesn't make me shortsighted." He hated the defensive tone that laced his words. Kara stirred on the bed reminding him he had other things to focus on more important than pack dynamics. Sure, his boss had tasked him with procuring the thief, but he'd planned from the moment of accepting the assignment, returning her to Lindsay and Julia. He knew how hard they had taken their cousin's disappearing act. Although, seeing her current condition gave him a reason to rethink. Kara wasn't the cousin they had grown up with anymore. Now she was another bloodsucker who would drain their very last drop if it pleased her rather than be reasonable.

  Despite knowing Lindsay would see him as nothing more than an enemy before too long, he still hated to think about what might happen to her if he turned Kara over. An image of her eyes losing their luster at the fangs of her cousin, hurt him straight down to his soul.

  "It's not my fault you're not motivated for success. You know you broke your parents’ hearts when you didn't agree to mate with me." She left the insult hang over the line.

  "And we both know that mating is more than just deciding to mate. It's about fate caused chemistry and we don't have it. So, you can stop this nonsense right now, Maddie." He pulled the bedroom door closed behind him and crossed to the balcony door.

  "Whatever. When can you come meet Caleb and I?" The huff in her tone put a smile his face.

  "I told you. Not today. I've got things to do." He stepped outside and slid the sliding glass door shut behind him.

  "That's too bad. This is pack business and you can't keep putting it off. You do want the opportunity to still earn your rightful place, don't you? To finally make your family proud?"

  The dig hurt more than he cared to admit. He pulled out a deck chair and folded his frame into it. "I'm not going to hash this out with you again. If Caleb wants to meet, tell him I have a small window between now and five." Without waiting for a response, he disconnected the call and leaned his head back against the exterior wall while propping his feet on the balcony banister. He closed his eyes and willed the budding pain at the base of his head to subside.

  A text vibrated the phone in his hand. With a sigh, he turned the device to his gaze. His boss. "Congratulations in procuring the target. Partial payment has been made. Bring the item in question to the rendezvous spot at ten sharp."

  He tapped out a quick reply and hit send. As much as he hated to think about what the boss wanted from Kara, he knew it was better that he hand her over than one of the other bounty hunters he knew. None of them would think twice about roughing up the pregnant vampire and turning her over half-dead instead of merely sedated.

  The phone buzzed again. This time it was Maddie. "Meet us at in the lobby in twenty."

  He needed a drink if he was going to deal with both Maddie and Caleb. With a groan, he lowered his feet and cracked his knuckles. Rising to his feet, he pocketed his phone and returned to the inner sanctum the suite offered. Maddie would want an answer. He could practically see the steam coming out of her ears at first him hanging up on her and second, not responding to her text. The joy of this simple rebellion strengthened his resolve. A quick peek into the bedroom to confirm Kara was still sedated was all he needed before heading out. The suite door swung shut behind him and locked with a loud click. His mind shifted through last minute thoughts, but the buzzing in his back pocket, sent them all scattering.

  A quick glance at the display and his heart sank as quickly as it had lightened earlier.

  "I know Jake suggested you come along this evening, but it's okay if you don't want to."

  No sooner had he read it when another followed.

  "Besides, it really should just be Julia and I since we are the faces of Sin-Sation."

  Another followed just as quickly.

  "We can talk tomorrow. There's something we really need to discuss."

  Never before had Lindsay rescinded an invitation like this. His mind raced as he tried to figure out how to get ahead of the oncoming storm of her anger. Without another thought, he made his way down the hallway and into the elevator. He needed to deal with Caleb and Maddie before figuring out what to do with Lindsay. Maybe, Caleb would come alone and then the two could talk like they used to. Despite how he felt about his former friend's ascension to the pack leader position, there was a chance they could hash everyth
ing out once and for all.

  When the elevator doors slid open in the lobby, he moved through the busy throng of people and headed directly for the bar. It was only a little after three in the afternoon, but the bar was crowded. He spied a two top in the corner and snagged it. Within five minutes, he had a whiskey neat in hand and had managed to calm the tightness in his chest.

  "Hey. Figured I might find you here."

  Caleb looked more formidable than he remembered. His shaggy blonde hair hung in his eyes giving him a softer look to the rugged lines of his work-worn body.

  "Caleb." He rose to his feet and offered his hand. "No Maddie?"

  "Nah. I convinced her to stay home and wait."

  Ronin's brow rose despite his intention to shield his friend from the thoughts running through his mind.

  "I know. She wasn't happy about it, but I thought it was about time you and I had a conversation. Alone."

  Caleb glanced around the crowed bar and fixed a pointed stare Ronin's way.

  "Sure. Let me finish my drink and then we can go wherever you want." Ronin settled back into his seat and crossed his arms over his chest without even so much as glancing at his drink let alone lifting it to his lips.

  With a shrug, Caleb joined him. "Sure, we can talk right here." He raised a hand at a passing waitress and ordered a Jack and Coke. "So, Madeline tells me you're getting in tight with the Sheels finally."

  A nod was all Ronin offered in way of agreement.

  "Good. So when can we expect an agreement with them for our needs?"

  "Honestly, Caleb, I'm not sure one will happen."

  "Look, I've given you almost a year. You agreed that you'd broker an agreement with the Sheel family for a more permeant post in the pack. I know after your dad was ousted as alpha, you took it hard." Caleb's drink arrived at that moment and he raised it in silent toast. "You weren't there to officially challenge my reign, so this is really your only change to get back in good with the rest of the pack, Ronin. You don't want to be a failure your entire life, right?"