by Liza Street
Fierce Informer
The Sierra Pride, Book 6
Liza Street
Description
Justine Fournier has worked hard to gain the trust of the Corona Pride. Because they’ve been burned by espionage in the past, she needs to be especially tactful when hunting for clues to her sister’s disappearance. But the eldest brother’s return interferes with her snooping—Mateo watches her every move, and he asks too many questions. Homesick for her own pride, she struggles to convince herself that the all-encompassing, slow-burn attraction she feels for Mateo is merely pesky and, most likely, fleeting.
Mateo Corona can tell that Justine is up to something. Following her around to confirm his suspicions isn’t exactly a hardship—he’d follow her cute little butt pretty much anywhere. Control has always been his motto, but he thinks Justine’s trying to steal his control along with his family’s wealth. Even worse, she’s also stealing his heart.
Content warning: This sexy shapeshifter novelette includes a happily-ever-after as well as explicit love scenes and naughty language. It is intended for adults.
Discover more at Liza Street’s website.
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The Sierra Pride Series:
For optimal reader enjoyment, the author recommends reading these books in the following order; however, each one stands alone and contains a happily-ever-after.
Fierce Wanderer
Fierce Heartbreaker
Fierce Protector
Fierce Player
Fierce Dancer
Fierce Informer
Fierce Survivor (due out November 2016)
Fierce Lover (due out December 2016)
one
While the breeze blew scents of Montana springtime through the lodge windows, Justine tapped out a series of coded notes on her phone. If the Coronas ever got into her files somehow, they wouldn’t be able to make sense of the words.
Nobody would, actually. The only other person who knew this code was Nan, and she was dead.
Justine paused, waiting for a flash of pain, or relief, or happiness at the thought of Nan’s death. Aunt Nan had died three years ago, and Justine still didn’t know how to feel about it.
She didn’t know why she even continued taking the notes—she’d learned exactly nothing in her years with the Coronas, nothing except they were well-off, private, and affectionate amongst the family. Still, the routine was there, and she dutifully recorded who visited them, where they traveled, any of their large purchases or strange behavior.
She snorted. With the son, Rafe, there was always strange behavior to report. Or maybe “obnoxious” was a better word for it.
Footsteps in the hall approached the guest services desk where Justine sat. She closed her note-taking app and shoved her phone deep into the pocket of her dark blue sweatshirt, the one that had Corona Mountain Resort emblazoned across the chest in silver.
Gloria Corona and her son, Rafe, ambled into the room. Both of them had dark eyes and dark hair, but Gloria’s curly hair had red highlights Justine envied. She’d thought of experimenting with reds to liven up her light brown hair, but she didn’t have the patience for putting much work into her appearance.
“I have to get Barrett’s room ready,” Gloria said, “so I’ll need you to review last week’s expenses.”
Rafe opened his mouth to say something—to protest, most likely—but Gloria held up one hand. With the other, she pointed Rafe to the resort office, which was directly behind Justine.
“Oh, hello Justine. I didn’t realize we have guests arriving today.” Without waiting for a response, Gloria was already behind the counter and pulling up the reservations file on the computer.
“No, sorry,” Justine said. “I just needed a quiet moment to write down some thoughts.”
It wasn’t a lie, and Justine was always careful to tell the truth. Popular lore stated that shapeshifters could scent a lie on the air at the same moment it moved from a speaker’s lips, but it was more complicated than that. There were telltale quavers in the voice, sweating, and an increase in heart rate—all physiological signs which a shifter’s keen senses were able to pick up.
“Well, since nobody’s arriving today, why don’t you finish your clean-up duties early, and take the afternoon off?” Gloria suggested.
A subtle reminder that Justine was supposed to be working, not “writing down thoughts.” That was the beauty of Gloria, though—she worked Justine hard, but in a gentle way. Justine wasn’t sure how much of that was Gloria’s nature versus how much of it was about keeping the mountain lion prides from thinking she worked her Exchanges too hard.
“Thank you,” Justine said. “Oh, the SenchaCorp party is going to be hiking to the south face of the mountain tomorrow.”
Gloria nodded. “I’ll let Julian and Mateo know.”
“Mateo?” Rafe asked, his dark brows pulling together. “Why do you need to let him know?”
Julian was Rafe’s dad, Gloria’s mate. And Mateo was Rafe’s brother, who’d been away from the family home for so long Justine hadn’t even met him.
Gloria smiled fondly. “Mateo should be showing up in a few hours. I want him here for when Barrett arrives.”
Her large brown eyes teared up at the mention of Barrett. Justine smiled and patted her hand. Gloria had been trying to get pregnant with another kitten for years. Finally they’d been successful not in conceiving, but in finding a mountain lion shifter child for adoption. Justine’s only regret was that the owner of the adoption company was a skeevy-looking man with slimy hair and a fake smile, and he’d been around twice in the past couple of weeks, finalizing arrangements. Barrett wasn’t a kitten—Justine had heard he was seven. But that didn’t matter to Gloria because she was just happy to have another son.
Rafe brushed past Justine on his way to the office, grumbling. Gloria swished up the staircase leading toward the family apartments, and Justine smiled again, this time to herself. If Rafe was using the computer, Justine might be able to see the password.
She’d been through every paper file the Coronas kept, and she’d searched the depths of the reservations and booking computer at the front desk. But the office computer wasn’t on a network and Justine had never been able to get into it. Over time she’d picked up a few of the things Gloria typed into the fourteen-digit password, but many years ago, a former Exchange had stolen financial information from the Coronas. Gloria now guarded the password jealously, and Justine hadn’t been able to piece it together yet.
Rafe, however, didn’t seem to share Gloria’s suspicions. He was obedient enough that he would never give the password to Justine, but he also wasn’t going to be sending Justine out of the room while he typed it in.
Justine grabbed a rag and a bottle of dust cleaner from the narrow supply closet next to the office, and followed him inside. He sat staring at the computer, as if willing the tedious job of reviewing expenses to go away.
“Will it bother you if I clean while you’re in here?” she asked.
“No,” he said, turning to grin at her. “Welcome distraction.”
He wasn’t bad looking at all. Decent smile and teeth, dark brown eyes like his mother’s, a head of dark, straight black hair like his father’s. He was muscular, like most shapeshifters who spent so much time in their animal forms, running and hunting and exercising. Beneath his and the family’s notice, she’d slept with lonely male guests to scratch the itch, and Rafe was just as handsome as any of those men.
So why did it feel
wrong to flirt with him? Well, nothing for it. She’d at least try to see more of the password.
Justine dusted the bookshelves. The strong scent of the dusting spray clogged her nostrils. On the pretext of grabbing a tissue, she turned to face Rafe and the computer. He looked up, caught—his eyes had been on her ass. He gave her a slow smile.
Then his face clouded. “Things are good the way they are. I don’t see why that shithead has to come back here.”
No talking, idiot. Type in the password. She tried not to let her irritation show on her face. “Well, maybe if you hurry up with your work, and I hurry up with mine, we can go for a run and miss the shithead altogether.”
“Now that is a great idea,” he said, turning back to the computer. Justine watched as he typed, slowly, his fingers hitting each key precisely. He wasn’t a touch typist, like Gloria.
This was freaking perfect.
She memorized the password, matching it up easily to the few letters, numbers, and symbols she’d figured out from quick peeks at Gloria’s turns at the computer.
Now, of course, she had to clean as slowly as possible so she could avoid shifting and running with Rafe. He was nothing like her brothers—he got too close, sniffed around her too much. It was as if in mountain lion form, he thought he was exempt from common courtesies of personal space. Yes, it was true, Exchanges often came to different prides in the hopes of marrying into one of the pride’s families, and that was the reason Nan had given the Coronas for offering Justine as an Exchange. But Justine was really here to find out what had happened to Starla, her sister who’d disappeared eighteen years ago.
“You know, we don’t have to go for a run,” Rafe said. “We could…stay in.”
Oh, barf. “I need my exercise,” Justine said. “My mountain lion gets angsty when I keep her inside too long.”
He reached up toward Justine’s face, but stopped shy of touching her.
“You could let her out in the bedroom,” he whispered.
“Maybe hanging out tonight isn’t such a good idea, after all,” Justine said, just as the air pressure changed. Someone was here.
two
Mateo tried to ignore the memories that assaulted him as he walked into the Corona Mountain Resort. The floor plan was similar to his family’s other resort on the other side of the mountain range, but this place held the scents he was familiar with from when he was a child. His mother, father, and even his younger brother.
He wrinkled his nose. There was also the scent of cleaning products. Not what he’d been hoping for.
And where was his mom? He stomped his feet a little harder on the floor than necessary, hoping she’d hear him.
Nothing.
He could hear someone in the office, which was the source of the cleaning scent. Probably a maid. Bypassing the office, he walked up the rear stairs toward the family portion of the lodge. “Mom?”
She was in the spare bedroom, flicking fresh sheets onto a twin bed. “Mateo!”
Rushing forward, she pulled him into a hug. He felt immediately protected and cared for, while also smothered and eager to get far away. It was hard being the favorite sometimes, and he thought about Rafe’s jealousy and how maybe, if Rafe knew how this felt, he wouldn’t hate Mateo so much.
Maybe his adopted brother, Barrett, would be Gloria’s new favorite. Mateo would be able to breathe again, and Rafe wouldn’t act like such a fucker anymore. He missed being friends with his brother.
“Last minute touches?” Mateo asked her, gently pulling away.
Gloria smiled tearfully. “Yes.”
It had taken a long time for the adoption agent to find a shifter kid for them. Gloria had even said she didn’t care if her new child was a mountain lion or any other kind of shifter—she just wanted another child to raise and nurture.
“And let me guess—you’ve been doing last minute touches for two months? Three?”
She laughed. “Something like that. I’m almost done here. Why don’t you go back downstairs and grab some cookies?”
“Yum.”
He turned to go, but his mom stopped him. “Mateo. Thank you for being here.”
She teared up again. Dammit. He never should have left, and he knew he was too fucking stubborn sometimes. That last fight with Rafe had made him say things he shouldn’t. Things like, “I’ll never come back here as long as that asshole lives under this roof.” Mateo hadn’t been able to swallow his pride and instead, his few visits with his parents had happened away from the lodge, usually in town, or sometimes at the Corona Valley Lodge, which he managed.
He’d missed his childhood home, though. “I’m glad to be here, Mama.”
She wiped her eyes. “I’ll join you in a minute. Have you said hi to Rafe yet?”
“I’ll get right on that,” he said. Better rip off the Band-Aid quickly.
When he reached the entryway again, a young woman was dusting the guest services counter. Her brown hair was plain and fell around her face, and her jeans were ripped in the knee. He wondered why his mother would hire someone who looked so unkempt. A broom and dustpan were leaning against the wall behind her.
“Hey,” he said, pointing to some clumps of dried mud on the floor, “you missed a spot over here. When you sweep, make sure you get that, okay?”
She looked up, and he gasped. Her eyes were the deepest, most perfect blue he’d ever seen. She grabbed the broom behind her and, smiling sweetly, approached him.
As she got closer, he picked up her scent. Something wild and woodsy and distinctly mountain lion.
Shit, she wasn’t a human maid. She was an Exchange—a prized female shifter from another pride. That would explain her clothes—Exchanges could dress how they wanted, provided they wore something related to the resort while they were working.
“You made that mess when you came in,” she said, thrusting the broom so hard at him, he had no choice but to take it. “You clean it up, asshole.”
With that, she stalked away, not toward the family stairs, but the wing of older rooms, where Exchanges and other visiting shifters were usually housed.
He stared dumbly at the broom in his hands.
Rafe emerged from the office and laughed at the sight of Mateo. “Guess my girlfriend handed your balls to you, huh?”
“Girlfriend?” Mateo asked.
Rafe nodded, still wearing that shit-eating grin. “Justine and I have been happily together practically since she got here. Too bad you had to go hide at Corona Valley, or maybe you would have had a chance with her.”
*
The family dinner table was loaded with food. “A feast for the prodigal son,” Rafe said with a sneer.
Mateo ignored him. Justine seemed to be ignoring him, as well, and Mateo wondered if things weren’t as happy between them as Rafe had hinted. He immediately told his inner mountain lion to shut the hell up, because he wasn’t about to go sniffing around a woman Rafe had laid claim to—they might not be getting along, but Mateo wasn’t that big of a dick.
They sat, waiting for his mom. She came in sniffling.
Dad immediately stood up. “Gloria, darling, what is it?”
Her voice trembled as she spoke. “I just spoke with Mr. Gunser. It’s okay—we’re still getting Barrett. It’s just he’s not coming tomorrow like we’d thought. We have to wait a couple more days, likely.”
“What’s the hold-up?” his dad asked.
“Transportation issues. That’s all he said. I just—I really want to meet him. I’m tired of waiting.”
She broke down in tears, and his dad jumped up to enfold her in a hug.
Taking advantage of everyone’s distraction, Mateo sneaked a peek at Justine. Her eyebrows were close together in a scowl. He wondered what was bothering her.
It wasn’t his place to wonder, dammit.
Gloria sat down, wiping her eyes. “Thanks for listening, everyone. I’ll be okay now. This road has had a lot of ups and downs, but we’re nearing the end and we’ll meet Barrett so
on.”
Mateo’s dad nodded, and they all started to eat. His dad said, “Mateo, how are things going at the lodge?”
“Busy. I’ll have Laura send over some numbers for you to look at, but they’re looking great so far this year.”
He couldn’t help flicking his gaze over to Justine when he said “looking great,” and Rafe noticed.
“So running away has paid off, then?” Rafe said. “Is the money worth it?”
“You know, I wouldn’t have run away if you weren’t at my throat all the time,” Mateo said. “If I didn’t feel like I couldn’t even take a sh—I mean, if I felt like I could breathe without you waiting to challenge me over something stupid. It’s not my fault that opening up the new place was so successful. How are you doing here, Rafe? Actually pulling your weight for once, now that you can’t depend on me to do it for you?”
“Mateo,” their mom said. “Enough.”
Mateo shrugged. He was over it.
“Only a total dick would run off on his family when he was needed,” Rafe said, malice lacing his words.
“Language,” their dad said.
Mateo’s mom had told him “enough” so he had to keep his mouth shut, but Rafe, of course, continued on. “Only someone like you would run off when Mom was so sad. Maybe if you weren’t such a jerk you would have thought of someone instead of yourself for a change.”
“May I be excused?” Justine asked, and the entire Corona family turned to look at her.
“Of course, dear,” Mateo’s mom said. “I’m sorry for all the family laundry that’s being aired out.”
Justine nodded before getting up and leaving the room. Mateo wanted to follow her, to explain that he wasn’t the asshole Rafe was painting him to be. But she was Rafe’s, and no wonder she’d already hated Mateo when she first laid eyes on him.
It bothered him more than it should have.
three
Justine paged through one of her paperbacks, trying to forget all the awkward family conflict she’d just witnessed.
Dinner had been a disaster. If she weren’t an Exchange, she would have been eating with the other live-in staff, privy to their dramas and plans. Instead, she had to watch the two Corona brothers snarl at each other.