Mafia Beasts: The Complete Series, page 1
MAFIA BEASTS
THE COMPLETE SERIES
CASSIA BRIAR
Copyright © 2022 by Cassia Briar
Wednesday Ink, LLC
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. 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.
Cover Design by Maria Christine Pagtalunan (Artscandare Book Cover Design)
To all of you who love
deliciously dark romance
and those bad boy anti-heroes
BEFORE YOU DIVE IN…
Hey Reader, thanks for your interest in my book. Before you turn the page, you should know that this series has some dark themes and situations that may not be for everybody. Some of the highlights are dubious consent, graphic violence, torture, bullying, BDSM, breath play, and captivity. So if any of those things are uncomfortable for you, please take care of yourself by finding something else to read. However, if you love dark romance, then dive right in!
Thank you,
Cassia
MAFIA BEASTS SERIES
Captive Beauty
Beastly Desires
Brazen Hearts
Twisted Fates
CONTENTS
Captive Beauty
1. Emma
2. Cade
3. Emma
4. Emma
5. Emma
6. Zane
7. Emma
8. Lucas
9. Emma
10. Lucas
11. Emma
12. Cade
13. Emma
14. Zane
15. Emma
16. Lucas
17. Emma
18. Zane
19. Emma
20. Emma
21. Cade
22. Emma
23. Emma
24. Lucas
25. Zane
26. Emma
27. Zane
28. Emma
29. Emma
30. Lucas
31. Emma
Bonus Scene - Cade
Beastly Desires
1. Emma
2. Lucas
3. Emma
4. Cade
5. Emma
6. Zane
7. Emma
8. Lucas
9. Emma
10. Cade
11. Emma
12. Zane
13. Emma
14. Emma
15. Emma
16. Emma
17. Emma
18. Cade
19. Emma
20. Emma
21. Emma
22. Lucas
23. Emma
24. Zane
25. Emma
26. Lucas
27. Emma
28. Emma
29. Lucas
30. Emma
31. Emma
32. Cade
Bonus Scene - Lucas
Brazen Hearts
1. Emma
2. Zane
3. Emma
4. Emma
5. Emma
6. Emma
7. Emma
8. Lucas
9. Emma
10. Emma
11. Cade
12. Emma
13. Emma
14. Zane
15. Emma
16. Cade
17. Emma
18. Emma
19. Lucas
20. Emma
21. Emma
22. Cade
23. Emma
24. Emma
25. Emma
26. Cade
27. Emma
28. Emma
29. Emma
Twisted Fates
1. Emma
2. Cade
3. Emma
4. Emma
5. Lucas
6. Emma
7. Zane
8. Emma
9. Emma
10. Emma
11. Emma
12. Cade
13. Emma
14. Emma
15. Zane
16. Emma
17. Cade
18. Lucas
19. Emma
20. Zane
21. Emma
22. Emma
23. Emma
24. Emma
25. Emma
26. Emma
27. Cade
Epilogue - Emma
Authors Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Newsletter Signup
Also by Cassia Briar
CAPTIVE BEAUTY
MAFIA BEASTS #1
1
EMMA
Dallas, Texas
Six Months Ago
The little bell over the door chimed, announcing another customer in the already crowded bookstore. Warm, humid air brushed my face. The air conditioner rattled to life. I finished with my current transaction by placing the two thick travel guides in a bag, followed by the receipt.
“Have a good evening,” I said to the woman as I handed her the bag. She smiled and headed for the exit. A couple stepped up to the register, their arms loaded with old fantasy paperbacks. I scanned each one while my gaze wandered over the store behind them. Alex was supposed to be assisting customers, but, as usual, he was nowhere in sight. Slacker. I hated working with him.
As soon as I had a break in customers, I picked up the intercom and announced, “We’re closing in ten minutes. Please bring your purchases to the counter.” A line formed and I went back to ringing up merchandise. When the last shopper was out the door, I slid the lock in place and sighed.
“Alex!” I glared at the rows of bookshelves.
His curly blond head poked up. “’Sup?”
I scowled. “Where have you been for the last hour?”
“Straightening up the floor.” He shrugged. “Why?”
“Never mind.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and went to work, closing out the register. “That floor better be pristine by the time I’m finished with this, Alex.”
He shot me an annoyed glance before disappearing down an aisle. “Dude, you’re not the manager.”
Nope. I wasn’t, but if I waited around for Liz to show up and close, we could be here all night. She’d gone to grab something to eat like… two hours ago. I was tempted to tell the owner how his staff slacked off on the job, but that wasn’t my style.
As I finished the closing and grabbed my purse, Liz came in through the back door. She rushed to the counter, knocking over a stack of newspapers in her haste.
“Oh! You did the final count.” She beamed at me. “Thanks, Emma, I owe you one.” She said that every single time.
“Well, I’m out of here. Goodnight.” I waved over my shoulder and let myself out. The humid night air felt dense as I drew it into my lungs. A sheen of sweat glistened on my bare arms by the time I opened my car door. The old Toyota Corolla sputtered as I turned the key in the ignition. It started, then settled into a muffled purr. I backed out of the parking space, the weight of the day diminishing with each minute.
Home was only a couple of miles away in a dingy apartment complex. It put a roof over our heads, and that was all I cared about right now.
I parked in a free space near enough to my ground-floor entry. Loud, thumping music spilled from a half-open door as I passed. Right, it was Saturday. The next apartment was blasting opera, apparently trying to drown out the hip hop. Good luck with that. The cacophony quickened my step.
Fishing my keys out, I let myself into my place. The lights were on, and at this hour my brother should be home.
“Orion?” I called. No answer came.
I rounded the corner to the kitchen and jerked to a halt. Orion stood in front of the table, his face pale, staring at a small bracelet-sized box. The box’s gold-and-black swirl pattern was all too familiar. Dread pooled in my gut. Not again.
I snatched it up. “When did this arrive?”
“Just now.” He turned his wide eyes on me. “There was a knock on the door like two minutes before you came home.”
I studied his worried features. Though eleven years younger than me, he was taller and still growing. I turned my attention to the box and eased off the lid. Inside was a receipt from the bookstore where I worked, dated today—this evening. On the back, written in what looked like blood, was Emma, get out or you die.
I dropped the box to the table. It disintegrated in a whirl of magical crimson sparks. My stalker had found us again.
“I’m not doing it,” Orion said, folding his arms. “Let them come.”
“Are you insane? Has it been so long since last time that you forgot what happens if we don’t get out right now?” Damn it! I’d warded the place, but they always managed to get to us.
“I’m too old for this crap.” Orion frowned.
“You don’t even have a wand yet. Now, get your bag. We’re leaving. Two minutes.”
With a huff, he disappeared down the hallway.
I drew out my citrine wand and summoned my purse and go-bag. Shoving my purse in the backpack, I heaved it over my shoulder. “Orion, let’s go!” I called.
This was unfair to him, dragging him with me from place to place every few months. We’d been doing this for about seven years now, but we had no other choice. There was no safe place to stash Orion. Though, n
“Ready,” Orion said, jogging down the stairs. “Where are we going this time?”
“Far away.” I clutched the locket at my throat and swallowed hard. Closing my eyes, I visualized the place. A beautiful waterway surrounded by hills, trees, and the city. I’d been there once before when I was much younger—prior to all this running.
I released the locket and grabbed Orion’s hand. The kitchen window shattered, glass spraying everywhere as a black-shrouded figure climbed into the room. My pulse spiked. With a flick of my wand, we teleported in a haze of purple smoke.
When it cleared, we stood in a park looking out over the serene body of water. Twinkling city lights and a quarter moon reflected in the still surface. The air was cooler here—almost chilly.
We’d escaped again, barely in time. There was always a delay between receiving the gold-and-black box and being attacked, but the timing was never consistent. To this day, I wasn’t sure if my stalker was trying to warn and protect me, or if this was some sick cat-and-mouse game.
The same fear always nagged at me once we were safe. One day, I’d be too slow. One day, they would catch us.
“Where are we?” Orion asked.
“Olympia, Washington.”
2
CADE
Silver wings spread wide, I flew from the upper-level walkway down to the open ground floor of the dilapidated warehouse. The place reeked of old, stale magic. No one had been here in ages. This was a dead lead.
A growl sounded to my left, and Lucas slammed through one of the office doors. “All clear in this section,” he said with a scowl that matched my own.
An unnatural flutter of air brushed against my other side, and I turned to face the vampire as he materialized. Zane shook his head. Fuck! I already suspected no one was here, but the confirmation was infuriating. This was the last warehouse to check on our list.
For nearly ten damn years, we’d been trying to track down the enchantress who’d cursed us. We called her an enchantress because she was so much more than an ordinary witch. Who she was and how she came by her powers; we had no idea.
But one truth remained. The only way to break the curse? Kill the bitch.
We had eyes and ears all over and every once in a while, a rumor would surface of a powerful witch with silver hair and a rose quartz wand. The rose quartz was particularly suiting. She liked to curse people with love. Well, technically, love and death. Our time was running out to either find our one true love—never going to happen—or to kill her and break the curse.
“We’ll just have to keep searching,” Zane said. “We can only reach dead ends so many times before something turns up.”
I grunted. Optimistic prick.
Lucas said, “We should get back to the mansion before—”
The three of us doubled over in pain. The searing agony twisted my stomach, and I gritted my teeth against it. We’d been away from the mansion for too long. This was our punishment—another piece of the enchantress’s hex.
The pain subsided as suddenly as it had come on. The bouts would grow more frequent if we didn’t get back soon.
“See you all there,” I said.
With a nod, Zane disappeared in a streak of black. Lucas morphed to his wolf form and bounded from the warehouse. I cast a blanket of Fae magic around my form to hide from the humans, then strode outside, launched into the air, and flew the distance between Seattle and Long Lake toward home.
I landed on the upper-east balcony and let myself into the mansion. Zane was already there, seated in his black leather chair. I took the one opposite him and we waited for Lucas in silence. It was the same every time we returned.
Heavy footsteps announced the wolf’s arrival. He entered, slammed the door behind him, and we all turned our attention to the lone circular table. In the middle of it stood the double heart hourglass. Instead of sand, it dripped a mysterious red substance. The top heart held an inch of the thick liquid while the bottom section was almost full.
Time was running out. The enchantress’s words echoed in my mind, Find the one who will love you before the last drop falls or I will claim your souls. The crazy bitch’s ethereal voice would haunt me forever.
A knock sounded on the door. Lucas snarled, “What?”
Jace, our butler, poked his head in and grimaced. “My apologies, sirs, but we are curious about the lead? Did you find her?”
“No,” Lucas snapped. His annoyed energy swirled in my gut, making my own irritation rise. I shoved it away. Of course, our staff was curious. They shared our fate if we failed to kill the witch, or worse... ran out of time.
Zane said, “Another dead end. You may tell the others.”
Jace nodded, his features grim. “I will, sir. Goodnight.” He gently closed the door.
I sighed. Leaning forward, I braced my elbows on my knees and rubbed my face with both hands.
“Next time will be different,” Zane said. His mixed emotions of futility, hope, and frustration didn’t fool me.
I glared into his nearly black eyes—as dark as his fucking soul. “No, it won’t. Save your empty words. We’re doomed.”
Lucas kicked the dustbin, drawing our attention to where he was pacing. “How am I supposed to find my fated mate when I can’t leave this place for more than one day at most? Is she supposed to drop from the sky?”
For the first few years of our curse, we’d lured numerous women to the mansion with promises of money and entertainment. We were prized bachelors seeking wives. Nothing came of it. The women took us for all we were worth and ran, just as I knew they would.
I shook my head. “The whole thing is rigged. The enchantress never wanted us to succeed. This is punishment for our crimes and nothing more. There’s no happily ever after bullshit for the three of us—or anyone else in this household.”
“Maybe we should break the hourglass and be done with it,” Lucas said, advancing on the table.
“No!” Zane appeared in front of the wolf in the blink of an eye. “You will do no such thing.” His dark eyes flashed silver and Lucas's heated with gold. Two determined forces clashed, their willpower crashing into my chest as I took in their emotions. I felt it moments before Lucas gave any outward signal that he would back down.
