Lust Read online

  Prism Press, Perth Australia.

  Copyright © 2020 Lana Pecherczyk

  All rights reserved.

  ASIN: B084ZG9ZKJ

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Text copyright © Lana Pecherczyk 2020

  Cover design © Lana Pecherczyk 2020

  www.lanapecherczyk.com

  Lust

  A Deadly Seven Novel

  Lana Pecherczyk

  Contents

  Bonus

  Map

  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

  Epilogue

  WHAT’S NEXT?

  Sample of The Longing of Lone Wolves

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Also By Lana Pecherczyk

  Characters & Glossary

  About the Author

  Bonus

  Join the Facebook Group, Lana’s Angels for giveaways, book club fun, and more.

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  subscribe.lanapecherczyk.com

  CARDINAL CITY MAP

  “Lust rushes

  But love waits”

  —Bridgett Devoue

  1

  This was going to be torture.

  Liza Lazarus stood outside Ringo’s Bar, hugging her brown leather jacket against the cold Cardinal City afternoon, wishing she could just go home.

  This will be fun, they’d said.

  You work too much, they’d said.

  “They can all shove it up their wazoos,” Liza mumbled to herself. This was not her idea of fun, but to admit it would be to admit weakness. Admitting weakness of any kind, anywhere, made her vulnerable. In this case, it was the threat of a crowd of drunken fools, which sounded innocent enough, but being distracted by a pretty man could get her killed. She had to put on an impenetrable front. Never show weakness. Somehow, Liza didn’t think the onna-bugeisha who’d trained her in the Art of War had this sweaty bar in mind when dispensing that piece of advice.

  Condensation trickled down the glass door in rivulets. A knot formed in Liza’s lower belly, signaling the sin of lust emanating from slobbering and desperate patrons as they prowled for potential sexual partners.

  “Let’s get this over with,” she growled and yanked open the door.

  The bell dinged overhead, announcing her entry. Conversation, heat, and the sour smell of spilled beer assaulted her senses. She forced a breath. To anyone else, she took stock of the room, maybe searched for friends, but her gut roiled in turmoil. The closer she was to lust, the stronger the pain and sickness. The deadlier the lust, the more pain.

  Sin.

  Everywhere.

  Oozing from that jock-type as he took a swig of beer and leered at the strawberry blond with big tits at the end of the long wooden bar. Lust hemorrhaging from the beefcake as he rubbed against a curvy woman whilst on his way to the bar. Lust bouncing off three businessmen, ties loosened, Rolex watches glistening, as they ogled Liza with predatory intent.

  She casually opened her jacket and placed her hand on the CCPD badge still clipped to her belt. It glinted under the halogen lights. The same lights revealed sweat-stained armpits on one man, shiny scalp showing through the balding hair on the second, and remarkable cheekbones on the third. The businessmen resumed their conversation, avoiding Liza’s direction. She relaxed. Being a detective had its perks.

  She stroked her badge fondly and shouldered her way through the eddying crowd, at least a hundred thick. It didn’t seem like the kind of place her family would gather for drinks, so she assumed a less claustrophobic area was somewhere. True to her assumption, she found a beer garden where the crowd had thinned dramatically. Gas patio heaters kept the area warm. Less crowd meant less sin to sense.

  Decades of combat training snapped to attention when she spotted the most dangerous people in the room—her siblings.

  Dark and foreboding, Wyatt, Tony, and Griffin crowded into a booth near the entrance. A burst of feminine laughter drew Liza’s attention to where her brothers’ life-mates sat in a booth at the back of the room near the jukebox. She shifted her attention to the brooding men. All three were tall, built, and held a grace that may have seemed casual, but sent alarm licking up her spine. They weren’t three men lounging in a booth, they were three panthers lying in wait for the next poor unsuspecting buffoon to make a wrong move. Wyatt glared at anything coming through the door. Griffin sat tall and alert, watching the rear exit. Tony hid behind a baseball cap, but already noticed Liza’s entrance and tipped his chiseled jaw her way.

  She approached and raised a brow.

  “You all in the doghouse again?” She smirked, knowing full well why they were separated from their women.

  Wyatt’s jaw flexed stubbornly. He glanced in the direction of the women, and then took another sip of his artisan draft. Right. He’s being an overprotective dickwad, then. His mate was heavily pregnant, and they were all understandably nervous. Misha had lost her mother during childbirth, and if the Syndicate ever discovered the bun in her oven, they’d do everything in their power to get their hands on the genetically special baby. As reformed lab-rats themselves, each Lazarus sibling would give their life before allowing that.

  But Misha couldn’t live cooped up. She was an independent woman.

  Liza turned her gaze to Tony. His baseball cap was a disguise to hide his celebrity, but his handsome mug was still well known. She would bet he’d already been approached for selfies with fans. Good thing his mate was ex-CIA. Bailey obsessively watched him from the back booth as much as he watched her.

  The only one with any restraint was Griffin, who adjusted the fake black-rimmed spectacles on his nose and nodded in greeting.

  “They’re a few booths that way.” He pointed to where Liza had already seen them. “And we’re not in the doghouse. We’re just giving them some space. They want a girl’s night.”

  “Right,” Liza scoffed. “So where’s the rest of the Scooby gang?”

  Tony flashed his Hollywood smile. “I’m Fred in this analogy.”

  “I got dibs on Daphne.” She waved down her toned and curvy body.

  “Ew,” Tony grimaced. “But we’re siblings. Everyone knows Daphne has the hots for Fred.”

  “No, Fred has the hots for Daphne. So that’s you being gross.”

  Wyatt sighed heavily. “You’re both dickheads.”

  He flagged down a server and ordered a double serving of fries.

  Both Tony and Liza pointed at Wyatt. “Shaggy!”

  Griffin frowned with his best death stare. “You shouldn’t draw so much attention. We’re supposed to be keeping a low profile.”

  “The music is loud enough,” Tony said. “No one can hear us, anyway. And if they did, they’d just think we had excellent pop culture taste. Who doesn’t love Scooby-
Doo? Besides, we’ve marked our escape routes. Relax, Velma.”

  He tossed a soggy beer-coaster at Griffin.

  Tony locked eyes with Liza and they burst out in hysterics. Velma. Perfect! She dashed tears of laughter away, realizing the sense of lust had dimmed enough that she felt more at ease.

  “So, the others?” Liza asked.

  “Evan’s closing up at Deadly Ink. Grace is in surgery. Parker is working. Max and Sloan are finishing their wedding preparations. They have a meeting with a priest,” Griffin replied.

  Tony simpered. “I’m ready to party, but these turd-burgers won’t let me leave the booth.”

  “The girls wanted a night out with Liza,” Griffin reminded them. “And since Wyatt doesn’t want Misha out without powered protection, we’re here keeping a respectful but close distance. That is all.”

  Ouch. It was unlikely Liza would ever manifest her powers.

  She let Griffin’s words simmer a little, but the more they stewed, the more bitter she became. Each of the Lazarus siblings was genetically modified to sense sin, but without a mate to balance them out, they were in danger of having too much, or too little, sin in their bodies. An imbalance caused blackouts and berserker sin-chasing rages. That’s why their special abilities didn’t manifest until they met a partner who embodied their sin’s opposing virtue. And that’s why Liza was royally screwed ten times until Sunday. She was yet to meet someone who embodied chastity at the same time as having a healthy sex life. It just wasn’t possible. Her balanced mate was probably a priest, or worse, someone who didn’t feel lust at all!

  She’d given up on love a long time ago.

  Still, powered protection? No need to rub it in. Liza was a detective and had seven years of training in the Art of War from masters around the world—including Akari, the deadliest female samurai alive.

  Liza wasn’t the only strong woman at the table. Bailey worked at Nightingale Securities, the firm on retainer as bodyguards for the partners of the Lazarus brood. Not all three “powered protectors” needed to be there, but Liza did not understand what it felt like to be in love, let alone mated to someone who not only dimmed the sense of sin within but unleashed her full, dark, and dangerous potential. If she had a mate, she might be obsessively protective too, and after the Syndicate kept throwing things like plant monsters their way, who knew how she’d feel?

  Thinking about the plant-monster brought Liza’s mind to her ex-partner, Joey Luciano. He’d been the lead FBI agent on the task force investigating the mutated monster’s aftermath. National law enforcement now knew that something wasn’t quite right in Cardinal City. Their leads had gone cold, but Liza knew Joey. He wasn’t one to give up so easily.

  That’s why it cut deep when he’d left Cardinal City for no reason or explanation. Twice. The first time was years ago when they’d worked together as detectives. One minute, he’d worked alongside her at the CCPD. The next, he was recruited into the FBI and never looked back. But that was almost half a decade ago. He’d also left town suddenly two months ago after their investigation on the disturbance at the zoo closed. She pursed her lips. It was common for an FBI agent to shift around the country. She should stop stewing over it.

  Wyatt said something.

  “Sorry, what?” she asked, angling in to hear over another burst of laughter from revelers.

  He jerked his head toward the girls. “I said, they just want you to get laid so they don’t feel so guilty. So—” He shooed her toward the girls’ booth. “If you could just hurry and pick up some poor fuck, then we can all go home.”

  The air left Liza’s lungs, and a crushing weight replaced it. None of her family knew how pitiful her love life truly was. She kept plenty of things a secret from them. The truth was, that although her love life used to be the stuff of legend, the intensity of her sin-sensing had grown over the past few years. She used to ignore the sickness, but not anymore. Her skin crawled at the possibility of sex now. For the sake of her sanity, her dry spell had turned into the new normal.

  But if they’d all been talking about her, they’d have gossiped about Parker too. No wonder he wasn’t there. As one of the only two unmated Lazarus siblings without powers, the prideful son-of-a-bitch would eat his own shit before admitting he was at a disadvantage.

  That wasn’t what sent hot, prickly rage coursing through her veins.

  They all pitied her.

  She narrowed her eyes at Wyatt. She didn’t give a shit if her fist would break against his skin. “You’re cruisin’ for a bruisin’, brother.”

  Before he could engage, a feminine shout from across the room caught Liza’s attention. Misha’s blond ringlets bounced, and while the heavily pregnant woman couldn’t get out of her seat, she waved emphatically at Liza. Damn her and her perpetual Polish sunniness.

  Liza shot her brothers a dirty look and ruffled Griffin’s perfectly styled hair before she swaggered to the girls’ booth.

  Misha’s warm smile brought a blush to her freckled cheeks. Lilo sat next to her, and Bailey sat on the opposite bench alone. Eight shot glasses were lined up on the table. Only six looked like alcohol. The last two were probably Kool-Aid.

  “What’s up, ladies?” Liza said casually, trying not to think about Wyatt’s comments, but she swore to God, if one of these women mentioned Liza’s recent love-life slump, she’d have to do something drastic to keep them off her case. The last thing she wanted was to be the sole focus of a pity parade.

  “These all for me?” she joked, pointing at the drinks.

  “Well, mostly,” Lilo laughed, then burped softly. “I’ve had a few already. And to be honest, I probably shouldn’t have any more.”

  Lilo was Griffin’s wife. She worked at the Cardinal Copy News Network. This made her the Deadly Seven’s eyes, ears, and finger on the pulse of the city’s news. With wavy brown hair, the mixed Polynesian-Italian heritage woman looked like she’d just stepped out of a wind-blown tunnel. But perhaps the blush in her cheeks was from the two empty cocktail glasses.

  Bailey’s outfit was unassuming, a black jacket and white shirt, but Liza would bet Bailey was carrying a concealed firearm, ready for the first sign of trouble.

  So, a pregnant woman, a half-hammered news reporter, and a security agent pretending to be off duty… all so Liza could get laid. Bitterness swarmed in her stomach before a hit of resignation made her go cold.

  They had good intentions, but maybe she should have kept up the charade of an active love-life for longer. This was going to be a long night if Liza didn’t make it easy for them. She shot back two tequilas, steeled herself, and then slid onto the bench seat next to Bailey.

  “Nos-fucking-trovia, right?” she said to Misha. “Did I say that right?”

  Misha laughed. “Yeah, except the f-word part.”

  “That part was my favorite,” Lilo exclaimed.

  Liza high-fived her across the table.

  “Right,” Liza added. “So who have you picked out for me?”

  “Um,” Misha giggled. “What do you mean?”

  They all looked nervously at each other.

  “I mean,” Liza continued. “You think we’re here to find me a date, right? So who have you picked out?”

  Lilo blinked. “No one.”

  Bailey held up her finger. “Yet.”

  Liza slammed her palm on the table with a smirk. “I knew it. All right, then, let me save you some trouble.”

  She shrugged off her scarf and jacket, popped the buttons on her blouse until her lace-covered cleavage showed, and then stowed her CCPD badge inside her jeans pocket. Her city-issued firearm was back at the precinct, so there was nothing else on her that identified her as a detective. She pulled the tie out of her long brown hair, fluffed the length, and swept a predatory glance across the room. Within seconds she zeroed in on the tall, handsome businessman who’d been eyeing her when she’d entered. He’d inched his way closer and was now near the entrance to the beer garden. Blond hair, aristocratic nose, square j
aw. He looked like he loved his mirror and talked about seizing the day. Baby blue eyes watched her like he imagined her naked.

  Huh. So her badge hadn’t scared him off. He might be a holster sniffer. Some dudes loved a confident woman with a badge. Good. This made it all the easier. Liza slid out of the booth.

  “Where are you going?” Bailey asked.

  Without taking her eyes from Baby Blue, she replied, “I’m going to ask the hottest guy in the room if he wants to buy me a drink.”

  Bailey snorted. “That would be your brother, and gross.”

  “You mean Wyatt,” Misha corrected.

  Lilo laughed and sent her husband a fond smile. “Clearly, you’re both wrong.”

  Liza rolled her eyes. “You ladies are all whipped. Watch and learn.”

  Resigned to the task, she felt herself remove a little from her body, and strode into the front room with a forced sashay in her step. Lust intensified the closer she got. She’d picked the right mark.

  Her lips curved on one side and she gave the man an approving once-over. Unlike his two friends, he filled out that suit like he benched weight. Screw the drink.

  “Alley or bathroom,” she said to him.

  He blinked. “I’m sorry?”

  His friends shared a confused, but earnest look. She checked them out, dismissed them, and returned to Baby Blue. His fingers clenched tight around his beer. Lust virtually climbed out of him and down her throat.