Dead Drop (The Guild Book 2) Read online

  DEAD DROP

  THE GUILD #2

  TATE JAMES

  CONTENTS

  Stalk Tate

  Content Warning

  Reading Order

  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

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Kill Order

  Also By Tate James

  Tate James

  Dead Drop: The Guild #2

  Copyright © Tate James 2022

  All rights reserved

  First published in 2022

  James, Tate

  Dead Drop: The Guild #2

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. All characters in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Cover design: Tamara Kokic

  Editing: Heather Long (content) and Helayna Trask (line).

  This book is dedicated to Kindles with pop-sockets, for making it easier to read one handed.

  **saucy wink**

  STALK TATE

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  CONTENT WARNING

  The Guild series is a part of the Shadow Grove world which contains several interconnected series. The tone and content tends to lean toward the dark, and reader discretion is advised.

  Please be mindful of your own content triggers and limits.

  The characters within The Guild series are not heroes or heroines, please kindly don’t hold them to a heroic standard as they will fall short of expectations. They do bad things, and they own their actions.

  If you’re here, then you’ve already read Honey Trap and are well acquainted with these characters. However this installment touches on dark themes for some supporting characters also.

  Should you have concerns around specific triggers, please reach out for content clarity before reading.

  - Tate

  READING ORDER

  SHADOW GROVE WORLD

  Interconnected series

  While each series in the Shadow Grove world can be read independent of the others, this is the recommended reading order for a chronological timeline. You do not need to read in this order, but it may help with overall background and cameo character appearances.

  MADISON KATE

  #1 Hate

  #2 Liar

  #3 Fake

  #4 Kate

  HADES

  #1 7th Circle

  #2 Anarchy

  #3 Club 22

  #4 Timber

  MADISON KATE NOVELLA

  #4.5 Vault

  THE GUILD

  #1 Honey Trap

  #2 Dead Drop

  #3 Kill Order

  1

  The cold press of steel against my throat and the familiar sting of my skin breaking woke me with a shock. My body remained frozen, deadly still, but my eyes snapped open to confront my attacker. Only to find Leon staring back at me from just inches away. His green gaze held mine, steady, unblinking, unmoving, until the trickle of blood down my neck broke the spell he held over me.

  “Leon,” I whispered, my voice a little rough with sleep. He’d gone to get us snacks so we could fuck like bunnies, but had taken so long I’d fallen asleep. And now here we were. With his knife at my throat as I lay naked in his bed.

  “Danny,” he replied, still not blinking. Like he was worried I might disappear if he closed his eyes even for a split second.

  I swallowed, feeling the blade cut me a little deeper with that motion. “What are you doing?”

  His gaze dropped from my eyes to the knife he held at my throat, then to my mouth, where he lingered a moment. “I was thinking about killing you,” he admitted without even a trace of guilt in his voice.

  Damn. Here I was holding out hope that it was a sex kink. Guess weapons during sex was just Kai’s thing.

  “That’s unfortunate,” I replied, assessing my next move. Leon was a tech bunny, a hacker. He couldn’t take me on now that I was awake, surely. “I’d probably prefer not to get murdered right after sex, but maybe that’s just a me thing.”

  The corners of Leon’s lips twitched like he was fighting a laugh, but I wasn’t sticking around to wait for him to follow through. I wrapped my fingers around his wrist and jerked it sharply to the side, dislodging the knife from my neck but taking a deeper slice in the process.

  Not that it slowed me down. Leon grunted in surprise at my strength from a position of such weakness beneath him, and I rolled to get free of his weight. Thank fuck I hadn’t bothered pulling the blanket over me when I fell asleep, or I’d be tangled up like a burrito by now.

  “Danny,” he barked, rolling to his feet and shifting his hold on the knife. “Don’t fucking play with me right now.”

  “Me?” I shrieked back, scrambling to the other side of the bed to keep the mattress between us. “If I hadn’t woken up, were you going to cut my throat?”

  Leon gave a one shoulder shrug. “Probably. But you did wake up.”

  I ran a hand over my face in horror. Not at the situation, though it was unbelievable at best, but at my own shocking choice in men. Seriously? First Kai who was honey trapping me right back, and now Leon who apparently harbored secret murder tendencies? Fuck me, I needed professional help. Or a better vibrator.

  The warm rivulet of blood from my neck trickled down my chest, and Leon watched it with pure fascination, making me seriously question how the hell I’d missed the red flags with him all along.

  Pointing a finger at him, I hardened my glare and tried to ignore the way he was looking back at me. “Stay the fuck away, Leon. Don’t make me kill you to get out of here.”

  Hell, if I’d had any weapons within reach when he’d woken me up, he’d be dead already. The only reason I was t
rying to be reasonable was that he held the upper hand. For now.

  “Where do you think you’re going, DeLuna?” Leon asked in a dangerously calm voice as I made a move toward the closet.

  I scowled. “To get dressed, Marx. No offense, but I’m not sticking around to get murdered in my sleep, and I’m not going out in the snow while I’m naked.” Gritting my teeth, I took the gamble that he wasn’t going to kill me right now, and turned to grab clothes out of the closet—until the tip of the dagger slammed home in the wooden door a scarce half inch from my face.

  “You’re not leaving,” he announced.

  Fury and outrage rolled through me, and I wrapped my hand around the hilt of the knife, yanking it free of the wood. “Stupid move, Leon,” I informed him with a chuckle, spinning around to face him. The blade was still stained with my blood, the setting sun seeming to amplify the red inside Leon’s bedroom. “Do you seriously think you can stop me?”

  An ice cold smile crept across his lips, and his eyes flashed with the challenge. “I don’t think, DeLuna, I know. Just try me.”

  Well shit, if Leon had a death wish, who the fuck was I to talk better sense into him? But I certainly wasn’t going out of my way to kill him… I just fucked him, and if I was honest with myself, my crush had turned into full blown infatuation that not even this little hiccup had fully quelled. So rather than coming at him with the knife, I just shook my head dismissively and crossed straight to the door. Fuck getting dressed, I would grab a coat and snow pants downstairs.

  Leon moved with surprising speed, intercepting me before my hand could even touch the door handle. I lashed out, swinging the knife at him and twisting out of his reach with practiced ease… but when my eyes locked on him once more, a cold sense of dread crept down my spine.

  “You’re not just a tech bunny, are you?” I asked in a resigned whisper.

  He gave a low chuckle. “Just? No. No, I’m not. And to be honest, DeLuna, I’m a little disappointed it’s taken you this long to notice.”

  His gaze flickered from my face to the knife in my hand, then to my tits. He licked his lips, and a ripple of potent arousal shot through me. Damn it if I wasn’t more interested now that he was peeling back the façade.

  “You’re not going to let me leave without a fight, are you?” I shifted my grip on the knife, preparing to do whatever it took to get past him. Intriguing as this shift in Leon was, I couldn’t forget that he had been about to cut my throat moments ago.

  He didn’t respond immediately, his gaze raking over my naked body like he was addicted. Then he shook his head. “I don’t think I could, even if I wanted to.”

  “You’re insane,” I muttered, eyeing him up and trying to stay focused on him as an opponent, not as a gorgeous naked man who I’d just fucked.

  He shrugged one well-muscled shoulder. “Apparently.”

  I snorted a laugh despite the gravity of the situation, then darted forward, swiping with the knife in my hand and grabbing for the door handle. Leon hissed in surprise, jumping back out of the arc of my weapon and allowing me the chance to disappear out of the bedroom.

  His reaction time was a shit load quicker than I was prepared for, though, and he caught up with me before I made it even halfway down the hall. His arm wrapped around my neck, lifting me clean off my feet even as our combined momentum sent us flying into the carpet.

  “Fuck!” I exclaimed when my chin hit the floor and I tasted blood. I wasn’t letting him get the better of me so easily, so I bucked in his grip to slide free and stab out with the knife I’d retained my hold on. This time it sliced across his bicep, and blood splattered the cream carpet as I scrambled back to my feet.

  Leon gave the cut on his arm a cursory glance but didn’t seem to even react to the pain. Instead, he rushed forward, grabbing my wrist before I could twist away.

  “Drop it,” he growled, compressing my wrist with a shockingly strong grip.

  I gritted my teeth, holding onto my weapon and swinging a punch at his head with my left hand. He dodged it in a lightning fast slip, then caught my follow-up hook on his jaw with barely a grunt. Before I could punch him again, he swept an arm around my waist, spinning us both until I found myself crushed against the wall at the top of the stairs.

  His dangerous green gaze locked on mine as I struggled against him, but he had me tight. No way in hell was Leon a tech bunny. He was, dare I say, better than me. And that terrified me.

  “I said drop it, DeLuna,” he ordered me again, his fingers crushing the bones of my wrist even harder until I no longer had a choice. My fingers loosened involuntarily, and the knife fell to the carpeted floor with a dull thump.

  A deliciously evil smile curved his lips. “Good girl.”

  Oh fuck. He did not just say that. I officially needed professional help, because his mocking praise nearly made me come.

  “Jesus, Leon,” I groaned. “You’re so fucking hard right now, it’s really making it difficult to remember what we’re doing here.”

  He wet his lips. “What are we doing here?”

  I gave a shaking laugh, holding his gaze. He had me all off balance and so fascinated in learning who Leon Marx really was. The fact that he could match me in a fight? Like my best sex dream come to life.

  “I’m pretty sure I was about to kick your ass, then disappear into the night with my head still firmly attached to my neck,” I informed him. “You think I can’t kill you without a knife?”

  His smile spread wide. “I know you can. But you have no idea who you’re up against this time.”

  My breathing was way too quick. My skin far too warm. I should be firmly in the grasp of fight instinct, but the adrenaline coursing through my veins was in no hurry to end this tête-à-tête.

  “I’ve never faced an opponent I couldn’t best, Marx,” I responded, fighting the urge to kiss him. He was so close, his hot, strong body pressed tight to mine. I hadn’t been exaggerating when I said his dick was hard; it was throbbing against my lower belly with how he had me pinned. But my pussy wasn’t exactly the Sahara right now, either. Apparently, we both enjoyed the life-or-death dance we were engaged in.

  Before he could offer a witty response, I dropped. Letting my knees crumple and my shoulders turn to jelly, I slithered free of his hold before he could adjust his grip suitably. Then I popped back up and slammed my elbow into the side of his head before bolting for the stairs.

  “Dammit, Danny!” Leon shouted after me as I flew down the steps in just a few long strides, my toes barely touching the ground between each leap. “You can’t run from me.”

  “Watch me, asshole!” I shouted back, racing for the kitchen. It had a door that led to his garage, which housed snowmobiles and weather appropriate coats. It’d suck pretty hard to get away and then die of hypothermia for being naked in fucking Alaskan winter.

  He caught me before I got to the door, this time picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder. If I was paying more attention, I might think he wasn’t actually trying to kill me. But the sting of the cut on my throat and the crust of blood on my skin reminded me that this wasn’t a game. Or… not any game I’d ever played before.

  I slammed my fist into the small of his back, making his knees buckle and his hold on me loosen just enough that I slipped free again. He was between me and escape now, though, so I darted into the living room to grab a weapon. Any weapon.

  Leon laughed when I picked up a decorative vase and tested its weight in my hand. “Danny, you’re being ridiculous,” he told me. “Why don’t we—”

  Whatever he was going to suggest, I cut him short as I threw the vase at his head. He ducked at the last second, and it soared over him, smashing against the wall in a highly dramatic shattering of glass.

  “Great,” I huffed, “now I’m going to end up cutting my feet when I run through there.”

  Leon snorted. “You’ll never make it that far, DeLuna.”

  He clearly had enough of toying with me, because this time when he rushe
d at me, it was like being hit by a moving tower of bricks. The air knocked from my lungs, but I still fought with everything I had until he got an arm around my neck and my wrists locked up behind my back.

  “I thought you were better than this,” he mocked me, using the back of the couch to trap me as he reinforced his submission hold on me. Fucking hell, I’d seriously underestimated Leon Marx. His thick forearm banded across my trachea, compressing my breathing but not choking me out. Not yet.

  “I thought you were a hacker,” I retorted, then groaned as his hips pushed me into the back of the sofa. “You’re not seriously still turned on right now.”

  Leon gave a hum of amusement, his choke hold around my neck loosening even as his hold on my wrists secured tighter. “You say that as if you’re not turned on right now, DeLuna.” He traced a gentle finger over the shallow gash on my neck, then leaned in to kiss my skin. The hot flick of his tongue made me suck a short gasp and shudder with intense desire. Fuck yes I was turned on, but I was also trying to maintain a little perspective.