Waking The Serpent

The millionaire’s redemption...

When Sedona’s most eligible bachelor is accused of murdering a local psychic, medium Phoebe Carlisle finds herself drawn into the danger that surrounds him—by the meddling of the shades she channels and by his irresistible charms. A public defender and a gifted medium, Phoebe is devoted to justice—and not just for the living. Proving Rafe Diamante’s innocence means conjuring up two shades who were former lovers and now ignite the chemistry between their hosts.

Rafe can’t afford to lose control and act on his feelings for Phoebe. His unfulfilled sexual tension begins to stir something inside him—the legacy of Quetzalcoatl. But as these newfound abilities awaken a dormant power in Rafe, can he stop the real murderer in time to claim his true destiny?

The black ink spiraled over his left pectoral like a segment of conch shell sliced down the center.

Phoebe was having trouble focusing on the tattoo itself. The flesh beneath it was kind of spectacular. She tried not to drool. “What’s it mean?”

“It’s an ehecacozcatl. A wind jewel that belongs to the god. It’s sort of a family coat of arms.”

“Your family’s ancestry is Aztec?”

“Maybe. Probably not, but who knows? The Diamantes like to say so.” Rafe flashed another of those smiles that were beginning to do funny things to Phoebe’s stomach. Because stomach was the organ involved. Sure.

Rafe started to settle onto the floor in front of the coffee table.

“You’re keeping the pants on?” Phoebe had to resist rolling her eyes at herself. The words had just jumped out. “I mean—you said the fabric gets in the way.”

He answered as if she weren’t a complete loon. “I figured going fully skyclad would be a little presumptuous.”

About the Author

JANE KINDRED is the author of the Demons of Elysium series of M/M erotic fantasy romance, the Looking Glass Gods dark fantasy tetralogy and the gothic paranormal romance The Lost Coast. Jane spent her formative years ruining her eyes reading romance novels in the Tucson sun and watching Star Trek marathons in the dark. She now writes to the sound of San Francisco foghorns while two cats slowly but surely edge her off the side of the bed.

Waking the Serpent

Jane Kindred

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

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

Extract

Copyright

Chapter 1

Hello vertigo and free-floating anxiety, my old friends. Phoebe let the familiar nausea-inducing miasma wash over her as the lights in her Sedona ranch house flickered and went out. The latter might be reasonably explained by the summer storm rolling over the desert, downed power lines, the fact that the old house had bad wiring, maybe—if it were anyone but Phoebe. But she’d driven around the bend of reasonable and onto the unimproved county road of completely certifiable a long time ago.

The dead and Phoebe had an uneasy truce. She’d given up trying to ignore them, because looking like the crazy lady who occasionally talked to herself was infinitely preferable to public outbursts worthy of an exorcist. She agreed to help them find justice, or closure, or peace—as long as they backed off when she told them to.

The electrical activity of a rainstorm actually brought them out. Or gave them energy to manifest, anyway. They’d been mumbling about her all day, the spectral aura of a migraine telling her somebody wanted in.

The shade trying to step in right now was new at it, making the room swim around Phoebe in gut-churning waves.

Phoebe stood over the couch with a death grip on the back of it, teeth clenched to keep from losing her lunch on the faux leather upholstery, trying to focus on the room through the dark bob of her ponytail swinging in front of her eyes. “For the love of Mike. Just step in already. The damn door’s open.”

As if in contradiction to her statement, the kitchen door slammed behind her, yanked by the air being sucked through the house in the wind tunnel created between the front entrance and the screen door opening onto the back porch. There was nothing better than the smell of petrichor stirred up by an oncoming storm. Phoebe had left the doors open to let it clean out the house and freshen things up. Given her housekeeping habits—and Puddleglum’s litter box habits—any little bit helped.

The storm-dark sky visible through the windows in front of her lit up for an instant with a horizontal bolt of lightning, and the answering crack of thunder came swiftly.

“I think he set me up.” The uncertain murmur had come from her own lips. The shade was in.

“It’s okay.” Phoebe spoke aloud, though it wasn’t necessary. Someone else talking through her was bad enough without answering in her head. She had some mental dignity left. “You can talk to me. You’re safe here.”

“Here?” The answering voice seemed youngish but Phoebe couldn’t get a handle on the gender. “Where’s here? I don’t know where I am.”

From experience, Phoebe knew it was better to prevaricate a bit. Especially with the newly dead. “You’re at the hospital. Do you remember what happened to you?”

Her heart began to hammer—the shade’s fear—as the answer came. “I was supposed to meet someone. But I... Something went wrong. Oh, God. Why is he here?”

Phoebe had to center the shade in the present before panic took over and it got stuck on a loop at the moment of its death. “Why don’t we start at the beginning, hon? Can you tell me your name?”

“I...I can’t... I think... I’m not sure.”

“That’s okay. Don’t worry about that right now. Do you remember who you were meeting? Where were you supposed to meet?”

“I got a message, and I... He isn’t supposed to be here. Oh, my God. He set me up.”

Before Phoebe could bring the shade back to center, her throat began to tighten as though a pair of strong, gloved hands had closed around it. Fantastic. A violent murder and the shade was going to relive it inside her. There was no use fighting. She had to let the shade go through it—let it make Phoebe go through it—before it would release her.

Her lungs, however, were harder to convince. They fought like hell. Adrenaline shot through her bloodstream, a last-ditch, futile attempt at fight-or-flight, as Phoebe stumbled backward, hands convulsing at her throat. Before she could lose consciousness from the air being squeezed out of her, however, the back of her head hit the hardwood floor, beating it to the punch.

* * *

Rain spattered the entryway through the screen door as the storm broke at last. Phoebe lay and listened to it for a moment without moving. She hadn’t felt the shade go. But, like being blackout drunk, it had left her with a serious hangover. The ungrateful little wretch.

Howling at her like a Klaxon from the coffee table, her cell phone announced there wouldn’t be time to indulge her headache.

Phoebe crawled around the couch and jabbed the speaker button to let it know who was boss. “This had better be good.” Her voice sounded like she’d been gargling kitty litter.

“Ms. Carlisle? Phoebe Carlisle?”

Phoebe cringed at the booming, deep baritone. “Yeah, you got her. Who’s this?”

“I was given your name for representation.”

Her stomach gave a little lurch of protest at his volume and Phoebe pressed her fingers to her temples. “I’m a public defender. If you need an attorney and you can’t afford legal assistance—”

“Jesus. I don’t need a fucking Miranda recitation.” Wow. Charming. “I need a lawyer. Now. I’ll pay your standard hourly rate.”

Despite his rudeness, Phoebe’s ears perked up at the sound of money. Being an assistant public defender wasn’t exactly a high-paying gig. But she wasn’t about to let this jerk get the upper hand. She needed to be the one in control of any potential client relationship. She’d refused clients before when she knew their anger issues—or their woman issues—were going to prevent that. Which didn’t help the pay situation any, but it was where she drew the line.

“How about you stop swearing at me and tell me what kind of lawyer you—”

“I don’t have time for sweet talk. I’m at the Yavapai County Jail. Rafael Diamante.”

The line went dead while Phoebe’s mouth worked, poised on a pointless rebuke of her potential client. Rafael Diamante. Why was that name familiar? She’d seen it somewhere in her newsfeed this morning.

Phoebe pulled up the browser on her tablet and thumbed through her feed until she found the post from the Sedona Red Rock News.

Local Businessman Brought in for

Questioning in Mystic Murder.

Barbara Fisher, a self-described psychic medium who offered palm and tarot readings from her residence on Cedar Road, was found strangled in her home early this morning. An anonymous Sedona PD source confirmed entrepreneur Rafael “Rafe” Diamante was discovered at the scene—apparently intoxicated.

Unless two people had been strangled in Sedona this morning, the victim had to be Phoebe’s step-in. And Rafe Diamante—Phoebe had seen his name on signs all over town: Diamante Construction and Excavation. He owned half of Yavapai County. Why he would want Phoebe to represent him, she couldn’t fathom. Was this some kind of joke? Common sense and her conscience told her to stay far away from this one. Representing the accused killer of someone whose shade she had just hosted had to be a pretty big conflict of interest. But neither common sense nor her conscience was in the driver’s seat of her Jeep as she headed to the county lockup in Camp Verde.

Chapter 2

Rafe Diamante wasn’t at all what she’d expected. Waiting for him in an interrogation room, Phoebe had been picturing a man in his sixties with a beer belly and a receding hairline. Apparently she was thinking of his father. This Rafe Diamante was perhaps thirty, tall, hard and lean—a fact accentuated by the white T-shirt hugging his abs—his skin a deep coppery brown, as though he worked the construction sites himself. Far from a receding hairline, he had a rich, dark head of hair with a wavy curl to it, tied back in a short ponytail, while penetrating brown eyes glowered at Phoebe from under some serious eyebrows. Damn. He could excavate at her place any time.

When he spoke, the illusion of hotness was shattered. “You’re Phoebe Carlisle? Un-fucking-believable.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You’re a goddamn Girl Scout.”

Dropping the hand she’d extended when he was escorted in, Phoebe sat across from him, taking her tablet out of her bag and flipping the cover open before making a point of tugging her bouncy ponytail tighter behind her head. “I made Cadette, actually. But the uniform doesn’t really fit anymore and I got stuck on the goddamn deportment badge.”

Diamante wasn’t amused. “Do you even have a law degree?”

“Mr. Diamante, I’m an assistant public defender. You don’t get that position without having a law degree and having passed the bar. But I’m quite certain you’re aware of that. You’re the one who called me, if you remember.”

He folded his arms—such an impressive display of his biceps she almost expected him to beat his chest—and deepened his glower. “You were recommended to me.”

“So you said. I have to confess, Mr. Diamante, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t already have a lawyer who represents your family and your business—someone who I’m sure has the requisite gray hair to satisfy your age requirement. And a penis.”

The corner of his mouth twitched and his glower warmed as if he would have smiled if he wasn’t concentrating so hard on being on the offensive—a tiny sign he might not be a complete douche. “I can’t use my family’s lawyer. It’s complicated. But I can certainly afford exceptional legal counsel. Your recommendation, however, involved a specific unique skill.”

It was Phoebe’s turn to stifle a mouth twitch. “What skill would that be?”

“I was told you’re...” Diamante paused and the tips of his ears turned an adorable pink. “A step-in.”

Her amusement at his boyish blush dissipated instantly. Phoebe flipped the cover back onto her tablet as she rose. She remembered now why his name seemed familiar. It wasn’t just the construction signs. The outline of his pendant was visible under the shirt—she’d been thinking it was some kind of saint medallion. It was a pentacle. He belonged to her sister’s coven.

“A step-in, Mr. Diamante, as you well know, is an unanchored shade. Not the vehicle. That’s an offensive term for someone who does what I do, and I won’t sit here and put up with your bigoted insults just because you’ve gotten yourself into some kind of metaphysical bind and can’t use Daddy’s money to get you out of it.”

Phoebe turned on her heel and headed for the door, anger at Ione making the blood pound in her ears. Ione had never had any respect for her younger sister, imagining herself morally superior because she had the backing of a group of twelve equally uptight jerks behind her. And now she had the gall to tell this rich-boy witch Phoebe could defend him because he’d murdered a psychic?

“Wait. Ms. Carlisle.” Diamante rose and came around the table, grasping for her arm before she could open the door.

Phoebe moved out of his reach with a smooth sidestep and turned the handle, facing him as she did a quick twist to go through the door. “I’m sure you won’t have any trouble finding another lawyer with your charming personality.” The multilayered insult was probably lost on him.

“Not one who can talk to the people I’m trying to help.”

Phoebe paused. “What people?”

“The shades.”

He was full of crap. “Exactly how would someone of your affiliation be helping shades? I think you’re confusing ‘help’ with ‘persecute.’”

“I don’t share the majority opinion of the Covent.”

The name always annoyed her. They couldn’t just use “coven” like normal people. They had to be snooty about it.

Diamante was unconsciously rubbing the pentacle through his shirt—an unfortunately sexy quirk. “If you’d come back in and close the door, I’ll be more candid. And I apologize. I didn’t realize that was an offensive term.” He looked annoyed, as though he’d never needed to apologize before. Which strained credulity.

Phoebe stepped back inside and shut the door, leaning against it with her briefcase in front of her as if to ward off any underhanded spell-casting. “All right. I’m listening.”

“To the rest of the Covent, I’m a warlock. An ‘oath-breaker.’ I was working with Barbara Fisher to communicate with shades. It goes against the Covent’s creed.”

“No kidding.” Despite her skepticism, Phoebe couldn’t help but be intrigued. She hadn’t pegged Diamante for a spiritual maverick. “If you don’t mind my saying, you don’t really look like the type to buck the system.” If anything, he looked like the type who owned the system.

Diamante slipped his hands into his pockets. “My little brother died a few years ago. Broke into one of my father’s construction sites to party after his senior prom and fell to his death trying to impress some girl. His shade visited me.” He’d been glancing down as he spoke, but he looked up and met Phoebe’s eyes. “I insisted on crossing him over. He didn’t want to go. He seemed confused, not understanding he’d died, but I stuck to the strict doctrine and cast the crossing spell. I exorcised my own brother from the mortal plane. And he was sobbing and begging for mercy when he went.”

“Jesus.” It was an ironic exclamation in such a pagan context, but it was automatic from her years in the church. Not that she’d set foot in one recently.

“You have to understand, the fear behind the doctrine is real—shades are vulnerable to being manipulated by unscrupulous practitioners—”

“Like me, you mean.”

Diamante sighed. “I didn’t say it. But some people do take advantage of step-ins...” He paused, the pink returning to his ears. “Is it okay to call them that? The shades, I mean.”

“Of course. If they’re stepping in, that’s what they are. It’s using the term to describe the person hosting the step-in that’s offensive. The implication being the host has no soul of her own.” Phoebe studied him as she relaxed her stance. Rafe Diamante was a marvelous bundle of contradictions. She’d never met anyone so thoroughly belligerent and sure of himself yet so quick to express self-conscious awareness of his own ill-mannered behavior. The pink-tipped ears were downright hot.

Diamante shrugged and took his seat once more. “Some people take advantage of them, and often for unsavory purposes. The Covent doctrine that it’s unnatural for them to remain here is based on centuries of experience. Crossing them over is meant to be an act of kindness. But in practice, it seems to me it’s an act of self-righteousness. After Gabriel, I knew it was wrong. Since then, I’ve argued against crossing a shade against its will. And I’ve been branded an oath-breaker.”

Phoebe dropped back into her chair and set the tablet on the table, ready to take notes. “So you’re out of the Covent, then.”

Diamante’s mouth opened but before he could answer, the door swung open, admitting a pair of well-dressed witches and a flustered desk officer.

The officer glared at Phoebe. “She said she was his legal counsel.”

“Mr. Diamante already has legal counsel. We’ll handle this, Phoebe. Thanks for coming by.” Ione held the door open for her.

Phoebe rose, bristling. “He called me.”

“This is a serious matter that requires an experienced legal team. We’ve got it covered.” Her sister flipped her expensively straightened and ombréd hair over her shoulder as she took the seat opposite Diamante, all maternal concern. “Why didn’t you call us, Rafe?”

The officer took Phoebe’s arm. “Ms. Carlisle.”

Phoebe cast one last glance at Diamante, who skirted her gaze. “Yeah, I’m going.”

Chapter 3

Well, that had gone swimmingly. Rafe rubbed his hands over his face with a quiet groan. He’d actually called her a goddamn Girl Scout. And if she was a Girl Scout, he was having really inappropriate thoughts.

The golden-haired, overgrown frat boy who’d arrived with Ione Carlisle held out his hand when Rafe glanced up, an overly confident smile showing professionally whitened teeth. Rafe had seen him at the temple earlier that week when the Conclave had convened.

“Carter Hanson Hamilton.”

Rafe shook the offered hand and tried not to roll his eyes. The name sounded like it should be a law firm all by itself.

“The Covent has me on retainer, Mr. Diamante. Don’t worry—we’ll have you out of here in no time.”

Rafe glanced at the high priestess—impeccably dressed and professional, she couldn’t have been more different from her sister. “I appreciate your coming down here, but I had things under control.”

Hamilton answered for her. “I’m sure the younger Ms. Carlisle is a fine public defender, but you’re not exactly the public, Mr. Diamante. You can’t afford to make any mistakes here. The Covent takes care of its own.” Hamilton was still standing, which irked him unreasonably.

Rafe got to his feet to meet him at eye level and leaned back against the wall with his arms folded—as if he hadn’t just been found with a dead woman and brought in on suspicion of murder. “I wasn’t aware I was still one of the Covent’s own. Did I not just get slapped with a scarlet W?”

Ione spoke before Hamilton could cut her off again. “Rafe, the Covent has to take matters of doctrinal dissent seriously. We can’t all follow our own brand of the craft. That’s for Eclectics. As a respected member of the Sedona Coventry, you’re held to a higher standard. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to throw you to the wolves when you’re in trouble. Even if ignoring the wishes of the Covent is what put you there.”

“Ione’s right.” Hamilton sat, leaving Rafe the only one standing. “This situation is a direct result of your oath-breaking, and I’m sure it’s brought home to you just why the proscription against allowing shades to continue to occupy the physical plane is in place. But the Covent intends to stand by you. We’re all unified on that front.”

Rafe scowled. “Unified. Like you were when my apprentice spoke in support of my position at the Conclave.”

Ione maintained a stern expression but the color in her high cheekbones wasn’t all cosmetic. “You had a responsibility to Matthew—to groom him and guide him, not fill his head with false doctrine.”

“He made one misstep and you dismissed him from his apprenticeship.”

The stern look faltered. “It was a misstep in front of the entire Conclave, Rafe. If I hadn’t responded swiftly and firmly, the entire Sedona Coventry would have been in jeopardy.”

“Well, now he’s missing. You know that, right?” Rafe glanced at Hamilton, but his expression was neutral. “He disappeared right after you all presented your unified front against him. So I guess the Conclave won’t have to worry about my bad influence on him anymore.”

“It’s an unfortunate situation, but ‘missing’ is a strong word. I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about. And I’d think that would be the least of your worries right now.” Carter gave him a patronizing smile. “Luckily, I’m on your team.”

Rafe stifled a snort. Yay. Lucky him.

* * *

Rain battered the car as Phoebe drove through Oak Creek Village, letting the rhythmic thump and whine of the windshield wipers pound out a sort of mantra to exorcise her anger at Ione. Her big sister had been upstaging her all her life. And what had she done to deserve Ione’s scorn? Treated the dead like people and listened to them when they talked. Phoebe might be green, but she was a damned good lawyer, and Ione had no business swooping in to pat her on the back and usher her out like a precocious child.