Sabotaged (The Sundance Series Book 3) Read online

  SABOTAGED

  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

  Translation Assistance 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 Colbi Bonillas

  You will forever sparkle in my heart

  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

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Also by C. P. Rider

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Like your urban fantasy with a little romance?

  To find out how to sign up for new release notifications and bonus content not available anywhere else, follow the links at the back of this book.

  Chapter One

  Last month I killed an alpha leader in San Diego by spiking power into his brain.

  You'd think that would deter other alpha leaders, maybe make them cautious about approaching me, but just because a person is powerful doesn't mean he's smart.

  "I'm not interested in leaving Sundance, thanks all the same. Can I offer you an iced coffee?" I wiped sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand. It was a week from Halloween in the desert truck stop town of Sundance, California, and the temperatures had dropped to nearly habitable.

  Almost Halloween. That had to be the reason why today had been weird. Or was it because it was my birthday?

  Happy birthday to me, another alpha asking me to join his pack. Yippee.

  "No, gracias, I drank a pop on the way over. You know, I bet you'd like Texas, Miss Costa MacLeod. It's a wide-open frontier state. And if you like desert heat, we've got enough of that to put a smile on your face."

  The man standing in front of the counter was Juan Austin Martinez, a sixth-generation Texan and alpha leader from Travis County. He was six-foot-five, with olive-brown skin, oak-brown hair, and arresting pale ale eyes. He was a wolf shifter, he'd said—a Texas Red Wolf.

  "I'm all set with heat, thank you very much."

  It was closing time at La Buena Suerte Panaderia, and the pastries had already been wrapped in plastic inside the glass-fronted display cases or transferred to the refrigeration unit in the kitchen. I sprayed a vinegar and water mixture on the glass and rubbed it with a towel until I saw my reflection. My dark brown skin was slicked with sweat from the heat of the kitchen, my curly chestnut brown hair had increased to twice its normal volume due to humidity, and the mascara I'd applied this morning was now on my cheeks.

  I'd left out one batch of cookies, polvorones, to fill a local order. It was a slow process, but I was letting go of the idea that my pastries had to be just like my late uncle's to be acceptable. I would not compare my polvorones to my Tío José's, even if they were a little lighter in color than his and a little softer, not as crisp around the edges and…

  Obviously, I still had some work to do in the self-acceptance department.

  "I'm sure you think you know heat."

  The alpha said this with a good-natured grin, so I didn't throttle him. People from other places were always trying to tell us Sundancers how much hotter their weather was than ours. I noticed they only did it in fall, winter, or spring, though. Didn't hear it much during our one-hundred-twenty-degree summers.

  "Listen, Alpha Martinez—"

  "Please call me Juan."

  "Only if you'll call me Neely." I gave him a quick smile because he was handsome and nice and made me feel like smiling.

  "It's a deal," he said.

  "Alpha Juan, I love Texas. I was born and half-raised there, and it will always have a place in my heart."

  "Whereabouts?" A boyish grin curled the corners of his mouth, and his eyes sparkled like a twilight star.

  Wow. If I were inclined to relocate, I'd definitely be packing my bags for Texas right now. The man looked like a model on a cowboy romance novel, and he exuded homespun sexiness like a delicious cologne.

  "I was born in Austin proper," I replied, "but my dad was in construction and we traveled with his work. Lubbock, El Paso, Odessa, Beaumont, Manor…"

  "Well now, I know you're telling the truth because everyone outside of Texas calls it Man-or when we all know it's pronounced May-Ner."

  "It's my dad's hometown." I put the bottle of glass cleaner beneath the counter and grabbed a fresh rag to wipe down the tables. The vinegar scent had worn off quickly, and now all I could smell was disinfectant, vanilla, and a trace of this morning's coffee. Not an unpleasant mingling of scents.

  "I happen to live just outside Austin. See now, your home is calling to you by way of opportunity." He held his black Stetson in both hands, which I knew he was doing to show me he meant no harm, because I'd read him.

  I did that now. After the three weeks I'd had, it was a survival necessity. Also, Lucas Blacke, the town alpha and the man I happened to be sleeping with, had threatened to station a guard at the bakery if I didn't.

  "While I appreciate your kind opportunity, I'm not going anywhere. I like where I am."

  Juan pursed his lips. Set his hat atop his head. "Understood. You've got someone here, don't you? Someone special?"

  I nodded.

  His eyes sparked again, this time with humor. It wasn't a mean sort of humor, either. It was flirty and charming, and really strange coming from an alpha leader who wasn't Lucas.

  "Well, he or she is damn lucky. Do they know that?"

  "To be honest, Alpha Juan, I have no idea what he knows."

  The Costa family heirloom welcome bell jingled against the door. Speak of the devil and he doth appear.

  The alpha leader of the Blacke group of Sundance strolled into the café through the front entrance, so I knew something was up. He usually entered through the kitchen or dropped through a vent in my roof.

  Today Lucas was in mature James Dean mode, black T-shirt that hugged his biceps and his chest, low-riding faded jeans that fit the man like they had been prescribed to him by a doctor, and black motorcycle boots. His dark blond hair was in windblown disarray. The second he made eye contact with me, goosebumps broke out all over my body.

  Then he opened his mouth.

  "What the hell is going on here?"

  Alpha Juan spun around like a gunslinger at a shootout. "I'm trying to poach your talent. Got a problem with that?"

  The two alphas stared at each other. I start
ed to say something to calm them down, but stopped when I noticed the marked lack of intent behind the stares—no glowing eyes, no fur, no claws… They were acting.

  Lucas burst into a smile. "How the hell are you, Johnny?"

  "Doing all right, Luke." They shook hands and did that sideways bro-hug thing. "I'm in California on business, and thought I'd take a shot at wooing the smartest, most powerful, fantastically beautiful woman in the southwest. I asked her to come home with me."

  "Of course you did." Lucas slid a glance at me. "Well? What did she say?"

  "She says she likes where she is." Juan winked. "Says she's got someone special here."

  "Is that right?" Lucas crossed his arms over his chest, tucked his hands under his biceps and rocked back on his heels. "She said that, did she?"

  Annoyed with them both, I tossed the still-damp cleaning rag into the laundry bin and went into the kitchen to wash my hands. I'm not sure they even noticed I was gone.

  "Indeed, she did." I heard Alpha Juan reply.

  I stomped back into the bakery café. The short, green cotton sundress I had on was stained pink over my belly from concha topping, and my white sneakers were scuffed beyond bleaching. I needed a shower and a sandwich, and maybe a documentary, to calm my brain.

  "Enough with the posturing, you two. I'm staying here because my business is here, my friends are here, and yes, because I have someone special here. This guy." I jerked my thumb in Lucas's direction. "But I appreciate you asking for my preference rather than attempting to kidnap me. That didn't go well for the two alphas who tried it this week."

  "Nor did it go well for the nine who tried it in the three weeks prior," Lucas said. "To be fair, three of those were my kills."

  "And one was Amir's and five were Chandra's. And I know you have them guarding me even though I told you not to and you swore you wouldn't, you big liar."

  Alpha Juan laughed at the chagrined look on Lucas's face.

  "What are you talking about?" All the cool went out of his stance as he reached for me. "Chandra's helping Maria Cortez, our new nurse, get the apothecary stocked. I can't help it if the medical center is within sight of the bakery."

  "Mentiroso."

  "Oh damn." The other alpha laughed again. "The lady called you a liar in English and Spanish. Apologize, Alpha Blacke, or I fear for your lonely consequences."

  "Pipe down, Martinez."

  The Texas alpha chuckled. "I've no desire to get in the middle of a domestic dispute, so I'm heading home. Neely, next time you're in Texas, stop by my place." He adjusted his hat and headed for the door. "We'll have barbecue."

  Lucas growled. "Don't trust him. He'll slip something into the meat and you'll wake up in his pack."

  Alpha Juan's eyes widened. "Sacrilegious. Don't listen to him, Neely. I would never stoop so low as to tarnish Texas barbecue. Nice meeting you. Should you change your mind…" He tossed his business card on a table.

  "I bid you adios, cowboy," Lucas said.

  The Austin alpha hesitated in the doorframe. "Listen, I figure you know this, but in case you don't, there's a lot of chatter about your group right now, Luke. In particular, about Neely, but that's not the only thing I'm hearing."

  "I assumed you'd heard something or you wouldn't be here." Lucas dropped the sarcasm. "What is it?"

  "Word is you've got an off-the-charts powerful spiker-telepath, that she took down two alpha leaders, and that you helped her—while in prehistoric form."

  Most shifters had evolved physically and mentally over time, alongside humans. Some, however, had not fully evolved. These shifters retained the power and brutality of their prehistoric forms, along with the ability to adopt a more modern form. They were immensely strong; kings among shifters. And Lucas was one of them. He was a Smilodon—saber-toothed tiger—shifter.

  Lucas gritted his teeth. "I should have murdered every single one of Malcolm's wolves."

  "Wouldn't have helped. I heard murmurs coming out of Las Vegas about you being a prehistoric a few months ago. Since it wasn't news to me, as you and I have known each other for a good long time, I just figured you'd outed yourself. Probably shouldn't have assumed, but I had my hands full with some human-world issues at the time and didn't look too deeply into it. Which brings me to a different, yet connected, subject. The human world."

  "Great," Lucas drawled.

  "I'm getting reports of government sanctuaries springing up in Texas and other parts of the southwestern desert. They're recruiting ex-military, Central-American paramilitary, and even other paranormals, to track and trap folks like us. It's making a lot of alpha leaders nervous. They're looking for weapons to protect themselves and their groups."

  "Weapons like me," I said quietly.

  "Yes. And Luke here."

  Lucas folded his arms over his chest, regarded the other alpha. "And you."

  Alpha Juan gave a slight nod. "We should all watch our backs."

  Was Alpha Juan a prehistoric shifter, too? If so, it wasn't in his thoughts.

  I wrapped my arms around myself. "I'm sorry, Lucas."

  "Why?"

  "Roso."

  The Las Vegas pack had found out about the Blacke shifters and the town of Sundance because their alpha, Saul Roso had chased me down here. It was my fault Lucas had been exposed. "They know about you because of me."

  "Not your fault, sugar cookie." He dropped his arms and reached for my hand. "It was my choice to take that form. I didn't have to."

  Maybe not, but if he hadn't, I'd be Saul Roso's pet spiker by now.

  Alpha Juan gave me a gentle smile. "I'd tell you to be careful, but it looks like you've got that under control, what with Luke putting his second on guard duty."

  I dropped Lucas's hand and glared at him. "You're still in trouble for that."

  "Thanks a lot, Alpha Big Mouth." Lucas's brows dropped over his eyes. "Weren't you leaving?"

  With a low, rumbling laugh, the Austin alpha strolled out. I followed, locked the door behind him, and slipped his business card into my dress pocket.

  "Hey, what do you need that for?"

  "The card?" I shrugged. "I was thinking maybe I should take a trip out to see my dad. I do love barbecue."

  "Stop smiling like that." He scowled.

  "Like what?"

  "Like you enjoyed his attention."

  "Celoso." I gave him an eye-roll-head-shake combo.

  "What does that word mean?"

  "Jealous. What do you have to be celoso about? Were you even listening when I told him that you were my someone special?"

  "I was listening." He fisted the material of my dress and pulled me into him. Slowly, softly, he kissed my mouth, starting at one corner and finishing at the other, before sliding his hand up my thigh and deepening the kiss.

  "Lucas." I pulled away a little to get a better look at him. "What do you think about what Alpha Juan said? About there being talk of us in the paranormal world?"

  "That I'm not surprised. Shifters love to talk. Bunch of chismosos."

  Hearing Lucas accuse his fellow shifters of being gossips made a laugh bubble up in me. "I need to stop teaching you Spanish words."

  "What? No way. If you do that, how will I watch my telenovelas?"

  "With English subtitles, the way you always do." I leaned in for another kiss, but before my lips could touch his, an explosion rocked the street outside.

  "What the heck was that?" I broke the embrace and rushed to the front window, followed by Lucas. A Ford Fiesta burned in the middle of the street.

  "That's not Alpha Juan's car, is it?"

  Lucas peered through the blinds. "Does Juan look like the kind of guy who drives a compact?"

  "I don't know. It might be a rental—what the hell?"

  The back door splintered, and I spun around to see two black bear shifters in hybrid form standing in the middle of the café.

  One of the bears said, "Cornelia Costa."

  "MacLeod," I muttered.

  The other bear shot me i
n the arm with a dart.

  "Damn it, not again." Another stupid tranquilizer. It's almost as if these alphas got their ideas from the movies. Tranq darts didn't work instantaneously unless they were crafted with magic. They took time to take effect. And I didn't need much of that to strike back once attacked.

  The one who shot me strode forward.

  "Back it up, bear boy, or I'll spike your ass to kingdom come." He stopped short as I yanked out the dart and waved it at them. "This had better have been sterile. Wait a minute, did you two come in through my clean kitchen?"

  One of the bears looked at the other, then back at me. "We didn't make a mess or anything. I mean, the door is busted, but—"

  "Shut up," Bear Two snapped.

  "Who is your alpha?" Lucas's eyes flashed pale gold and his voice dropped into a crushing bass. Orange and black fur sprouted through the flesh on his arms, chest, and neck. His Bengal tiger-human hybrid form. Although the Smilodon wasn't related to the modern-day tiger, Lucas's mother had been a Bengal tiger shifter and he felt at home in the form.

  "Who is your alpha?" Lucas repeated.

  "Alpha Glenn Narasaki," Bear One blurted.

  "Jesus, Clyde. Why don't you give him your ATM code, too? Shut your stupid mouth," Bear Two growled at his partner.

  Lucas gave the bears his tiger smile, the one with too many teeth. "Clyde, would you kindly take a message back to Alpha Narasaki for me?"

  "Message?" Clyde didn't seem to know what to do with his baseball mitt-sized furred hands, so he clasped them in front of him in a sort of shy, schoolgirl pose.