by C. P. Rider
Earp & Chandra
The Sundance Series
C. P. Rider
VC Group, LLC
Copyright © 2020 by C. P. Rider
Cover Design by Sylvia Frost/The Book Brander
Developmental Editing Services by Sue Brown Moore
Proofreading Services by Laurel Kriegler
Spanish Translation Services by Julissa Tirado Martin
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
For ReAnne. I'm so proud of you.
And for the Earp fans. Thank you for supporting Earp and me.
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Also by C. P. Rider
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Like your Urban Fantasy with a little romance?
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Chapter One
"The poachers aren't here, Smith. Let's head back."
Usually, this was the part of the day Gila monster shifter, Jedidiah Earp liked best. The sun was dropping low in the sky and the desert was cooling down. Waning light lent a golden glow to barren terrain, glinting off minerals in the soil, gilding the meaty branches of ocotillos and the needle spines of barrel cacti.
The stars were extra beautiful tonight, like finely cut diamonds scattered across the sky. They reminded Earp of a woman he'd loved who'd once carried stars just as bright in her eyes.
But that was nearly half a century ago in another desert, in another town, in another life. Tonight, he was in the Sonoran Desert in a California truck-stop town with one gas station and no stoplights, and he was grumpy.
"We haven't checked everywhere," the Blacke group second alpha said.
Chandra Smith was five foot seven, a full seven inches shorter than Earp, in her late twenties, and petite. Her hair was black, choppy, and hung down to her shoulders, and she wore black makeup around her eyes. Not only was Smith an alpha hyena shifter, she was the best claw-to-paw combat fighter Earp had ever seen, and she handled a pistol like an old west gunslinger. The kid could be as dangerous as a cornered rattlesnake, but she wasn't all hiss and venom. She had a good heart in there, too.
"Pretty much everywhere," Earp grumbled.
"What are you complaining about? You love it out here."
"I know."
"Also, the way you like Neely, I would think that you'd jump at the chance to protect her."
"Well, of course I want to protect Neely. She's good people."
In truth, there were a lot of good people in the world, and Jedidiah Earp could care less about most of them. But he genuinely liked Neely Costa MacLeod, the same way he liked Chandra Smith. Not only because both of them had saved his life once, either.
"Then why the pushback? The job's simple enough. We've got a couple of poachers with their cold, dead hearts set on bagging our telepathic spiker headed this way, and we need to deal with the bastards." She spat in the dirt.
Earp spat in the dirt, too. He hated poachers even more than he hated crowds and politicians. Poachers kidnapped shifters and other paranormals—like Neely, who had the ability to spike into another person's brain—and sold them off to wealthy collectors for their twisted zoos, or to abusive, government-run "sanctuaries" nobody was supposed to know about.
In short, poachers were what you found on the bottom of your shoe after walking through a cow pasture.
"I'm not pushing back against finding the poachers. I'm pushing back because there ain't a snowball's chance in hell they made it out this far, yet this is where we got sent."
Smith glared up at him. "You remember that poacher Neely took out a few months ago?"
"The one who tried to steal the wolf shifter boy." Earp nodded as he shaded his eyes and peered at the sun setting on the horizon. "I was glad to hear she spiked him dead. The only good poacher is a dead one."
"On that we agree." Smith sniffed the air, looked around. She must not have scented anything, because she continued talking. "You know I disposed of the bastard's vehicle."
"The motorhome, yeah."
"Before I did, I searched it. Found a map." She reached into her back pocket and produced a folded piece of paper. "It shows several routes into Sundance. One of them follows that trail right there. "She pointed to the dry arroyo bed where Earp sometimes hunted for dinner while in Gila monster form.
"I was out this way a week ago and didn't see any sign of poachers," he said. "Why do you think they'd come clear out here?"
"Poachers tend to be arrogant. They're going to assume we won't patrol this far out of town, that they can take us by surprise. And given the evidence, I believe this is the route they're most likely to use."
Chandra Smith leapt off a boulder the size of a pickup truck and landed in a crouch on the sand, inches from a cluster of prickly beavertail cacti. When in animal form, her hyena smile was wide, sharp-toothed, and terrifying—even to Earp, who genuinely liked her. In human form, it was no less frightening.
"You think so?"
"Yep. And when they do, they'll come face to muzzle with you and me."
Earp perked up. Face to muzzle usually meant he got to bite someone. He loved biting bad people.
Maybe this night would work out after all.
Chapter Two
Chandra Smith climbed onto yet another damn rock, closely followed by her hunting partner for the evening. They were rapidly losing light and needed to get into position.
"Near the top of this hill there's an outcropping we can use for cover," Earp said.
Hill? This had to be a mountain. It seemed to go on forever. "Sounds like a plan," Chandra grunted as she climbed up another few feet.
"No trees or bushes there, but as long as we keep low, it should work. They're only humans, after all."
Jedidiah Earp was seventy-two years old, but age hadn't slowed him down much. He had the appearance of a grizzled cowboy-hermit, and that wasn't far off the mark. When in human form, as he was now, he was tall and whip-thin, with sunburned white skin reminiscent of a comfortable pair of leather shoes.
Given his grumpy disposition and his habit of attacking strangers, he mostly kept to the desert and mountains surrounding Sundance, though he did have a trailer not far from the Blacke compound. Lucas Blacke, their alpha leader, made sure Earp got enough to eat and drink, and she was pretty sure he kept the cantankerous lizard clothed, too.
Alpha Blacke had a soft spot for the old lizard. Chandra thought he also had a blind spot. Still, Earp knew this desert scrub mountain terrain better than anyone in Sundance, and he was good to have at your side in a fight.
Sounds like I'm starting to have a soft spot for him, too. Chandra shivered at the idea of any of her spots being soft.
"You cold, Second?" Earp asked.
"A little. Guess I'm finally acclimating to the desert. Temperature drops to fifty and I'm digging out my snowsuit. You should have seen me in Seattle last week. At one point my teeth were chattering so hard, I nearly gave my position
away." She pulled herself onto the ledge and lay flat on her belly.
"I didn't realize you were out on a job." Earp seemed to choose his words carefully.
"Security detail for an old contact. You know I take side gigs once in a while. Gotta keep myself sharp—and financially solvent." Neither of which were the reasons Chandra had taken the job. If she never worked another day in her life, she had enough money to last her well through retirement, and taking care of the Blacke group kept her skills scalpel-sharp.
She took jobs to keep her ear to the ground, to keep her network intact, and to gather and repay favors. This job had been of the latter variety.
"Glad you got home safely," Earp said, with a stern look that Chandra took as his version of a hug. It appeared the old lizard had a soft spot for her, too. "I've got a jacket and some other clothes stowed in one the caves around here if you need it. Sometimes I need to make a quick change, so I keep some stuff around."
"Thanks for the offer, but if I get too cold, I'll shift and put on my natural fur coat."
The Gila monster shifter chuckled at that as he climbed up beside her. He too lay flat on the rock and peered down at the arroyo. "Sure hope the poachers show up soon. I've got a breakfast date."
Chandra had heard Earp was dating one of the tower witches. She was surprised to hear him admit the connection, though. He was a lone lizard, often disappearing for days at a time in the desert while in Gila monster form. He didn't appear to require the presence of anyone else, but then neither did she, and that wasn't true in the least.
"You're really dating Dottie?"
"Don't sound so surprised. I've been romancing ladies for longer than you've been alive, hyena." Earp waggled his brows and grinned. "Kid, I've got seduction skills you ain't even heard of."
"No doubt." Chandra smiled to herself as she watched the sun sink all the way down below the horizon. She really did like the old lizard. She preferred people who said what they meant and meant what they said, and Earp definitely fell in that category. "You ever been married?"
"Once." His smile faded along with the light from the sky. "Long time ago."
"I almost married once, you know," Chandra said.
"I know," Earp replied. "Helluva close call."
She swung her head around, startled. "What? Why?"
"Because that Cynthia gal wasn't right for you, that's why. It's just, well, you were the only one who couldn't see it." He folded his arms and rested his chin on his hands. "She was nice enough, but she wasn't right."
Chandra stretched her arms out in front of her. The rock, like this conversation, was starting to get uncomfortable. "Cynthia accepted my shifter side. Do you know how hard it is to find a human lover who can accept that I shapeshift into a hyena?"
"So, pick a shifter lover instead. Why bother with humans, anyway? You got one of them fetishes?"
"No, I don't have a human fetish." She peered at him from the corner of her eye. "You know what I am, Earp." An ex-assassin. A paid-for-hire killer. A very dangerous person.
"I know what you used to be."
"Well, so does everyone else. I've got a certain reputation, and most shifters run when they see me coming."
"They're fools. You weren't some kind of terrorist. You were an evener."
That was a new one. "Evener?"
"Yeah. When bad things happened to good folks, and the authorities they should have been able to count on stood around with their thumbs up their asses, those folks called you for help. And you helped. You being around evened the playing field."
"I was an assassin. You make it sound like I was a member of The A-Team."
"What's that?"
"TV show from the eighties."
"Haven't watched TV since the seventies. Back then I liked the show with the human detective who lived in a trailer and kept his gun in a cookie jar. Always getting the stuffing beat out of him. Good show."
"That's The Rockford Files. The A-Team was about a team of mercenaries with hearts of gold, that sort of thing. I power-watched the series a couple years ago." At his questioning look, she added, "I watch old TV shows when I get depressed."
"Is that right? I bite people."
"Yeah, I know." Chandra sighed. "You need to stop doing that. It's getting out of hand."
He snorted. "I haven't bitten anyone in months—if you don't count that wolf I had locked down while Alpha Blacke and Neely took care of that fool ex-Alpha of his."
Xavier Malcolm, Lucas Blacke's ex-alpha, had been a lying, treacherous son-of-a-bastard. While Alpha Blacke was incapacitated, Neely, the witches, and Chandra had uncovered Malcolm's plot to have him murdered. That was also when Chandra decided that the best way to even the odds with Malcolm was to capture his second and third wolves in command, William Scott and Richard Penn.
"You bit William?"
"No, the other one—Dick. That fella just would not quiet down about that fool shifter treaty and his rights." Earp rolled his eyes. "So, I shifted and bit him to shut him up."
"Did it work?"
"Yup. He got real quiet after that."
"But you're venomous, and Richard Penn didn't die. I know that for a fact."
"Oh, I didn't give him much. Just enough to keep him … occupied." Earp's smile was sly and menacing, and wholly self-satisfied.
"I knew there was a reason I liked you, Earp."
"Likewise." His gaze narrowed, focused on the arroyo bed. "Couple of dumbasses, one o'clock."
Two LED flashlight beams bobbed around the dry riverbed, broadcasting the poachers' positions. Earp was right. They were dumbasses.
Effortlessly, Chandra slipped into her hybrid form. Shifters often used the form to access the increased strength of their animal while maintaining the human ability to speak—plus it allowed her to remain clothed in case she needed to shift back to human in a hurry. Her hyena hybrid body was compact, heavily muscled, and furred, and her teeth were sharp but not fully erupted to allow for ease of speech.
"Amateurs. It's not even that dark yet."
Earp began to shift to his hybrid form. The process was not as smooth as hers, as Earp was a beta shifter, but Chandra lent the Gila monster shifter a little alpha strength through the group bonds to make it easier.
"Thanks for that," he grumbled graciously.
"No problem."
Earp's Gila monster flesh was pearly, yet white-human flesh-toned, and the tail hanging over the back of his jeans was wide and heavy. He was venomous in this form, but able to control his rage better than when fully shifted. Although, admittedly, he was cantankerous in pretty much every form he possessed.
Earp's beady gaze fixed on the sources of the flashlight beams. His thin, black tongue flicked over the seam of his wide, upturned mouth. He, too, held back on fully extending his teeth so he could speak clearly, though he seemed to prefer communicating in Gila monster noises. A huff-hissing sound issued from him and Chandra knew he had just engaged battle mode.
Chandra's battle mode was always engaged. Hell, she slept in battle mode.
"Ready, Earp?"
"Ready, Smith. Let's get this here shindig started."
Chapter Three
They scuttled off the rock and down the mountain, easier for both in their hybrid forms. Definitely easier for Earp, as he'd taken advantage of the strength Smith had loaned him and lengthened his fingers into claws.
"You head right, Earp. I'll circle around and come up behind them."
Earp took off, running straight for the arroyo. He slid down the side, his Gila monster flesh protecting him from scrapes, and landed in the hard-packed dry dirt. There were plants here, mostly of the Russian thistle variety. A little witch weed wouldn't bother him much, but it would slow down the humans.
"Damn it, Dwayne, quit kicking the tumbleweed. I'm scratched all to hell as it is," the poacher in the lead whispered.
"Sorry," Dwayne whispered back. "Hey, do you really think we're going to grab that woman? People say she's super dangerous."
Earp crept closer, staying to one side so as not to be detected. The pair wore backpacks, but not heavy ones. More the type a schoolkid would wear. Their hiking boots squeaked as they walked, and their clothes smelled new.
"I'm not stupid. It's just that Troy told me to be real careful. He said this woman has killed people before."
The female poacher laughed. "Your brother is an idiot."
"No, he's not, Crystal." Dwayne puffed and raised his voice. Definitely not professionals. "Troy's more experienced at this than we are. And he says if we were smart, we'd leave the spiker alone."
"If we were smart, we wouldn't follow the advice of a sorry excuse for a man too scared to take on one measly paranormal," Crystal snarled. "This thing is not human, Dwayne. It's not smarter than humans. How many times do I have to tell you this?"
"Troy says she can kill us with her mind. That she doesn't even have to be close to do it. He says most poachers wouldn't dare to come near one of these things, even with that big bounty."
"It."
"She, her, it, whatever, Crystal. I'm telling you, I'm having second thoughts."
"Ten thousand dollars, Dwayne. Probably more, if we take the thing to auction. Isn't that a good enough reason to swallow your fear?"
"Not worth dying for," he muttered.
The female poacher stomped ahead. Ol' Dwayne was about as bright as a birthday candle in a cavern, but he was Albert Einstein compared to his partner.