1. Mia

Chapter one

Mia

I stared at my phone on the kitchen table as I chewed my nails down to the quick. I had been minding my own business, eating breakfast, and scrolling social media when I got a text message from a number I didn’t recognize.

Unknown: I can help you achieve your dreams.

Typically, I would have marked it as spam and moved on with my morning, and that’s what I was about to do when they sent a second message.

Unknown: People will take you seriously, and the Guild won’t be able to turn you away.

To say my curiosity was piqued was an understatement. How did they know what I wanted? Who were they? How could they help me?

Hi, my name is Mia, and I’m a Ragdoll Cat shifter. That’s right, a fluffy, floppy house cat. I work for the Femme Fatale Freakshow, a group of elite assassins better known as the Guild. Sadly, I’m only an analyst. My application to become an assassin gets rejected every time I apply because I’m not fierce, strong, or scary enough. The excuse varies, but it’s always along that vein. Basically, they don’t think anyone would take me seriously, so why should they?

I knew I could be a good assassin if they would just give me a chance. This desperate desire had me contemplating the mystery text messages more than I should have. Alarm bells rang in my head, but I ignored them. The caller ID could have said red flag, and I would still be considering the offer.

Mia: Who are you, and how did you get this number?

There. That didn’t immediately convey my interest and was an appropriately cautious response.

Unknown: Meet me at 4 PM, and I will tell you everything.

They dropped me a PIN right after sending the text. Well, that was a bad idea.

There’s no way I’m going to a meeting with someone I don’t know, even if I was dying to hear what they had to say. Nope. Not going to happen.

I left work early and followed the GPS to the meeting location. I was still telling myself that I wasn’t going because I wasn’t even going to get out of the car. I was simply going to drive by to see if I recognized whoever was there so that I could solve the mystery of their identity. That was it. My GPS took me to a pet store, of all places, and I huffed in annoyance at the subtle shade thrown my way. Rude.

I parked in front of the store and watched the people coming and going. I didn’t see anyone I recognized, which didn’t make me feel any better. Deciding I was an idiot for even coming, I reached for the gear shift to put the car in drive when the passenger door opened, and a man got in. I screamed in fear and went to scratch my kitty claws down the intruder’s face when he grabbed my wrist and squeezed.

“If you let me help you, Mia, next time, I won’t be able to immobilize you,” he said. He held my wrist firmly for a few more seconds to let his point sink in and then tossed my arm back at me like I was a... well... ragdoll.

“Who are you?” I demand. Now that he was in my car, I refused to let him see how scared I was. Assassins weren’t afraid of random... I scented the air... human men.

“I am Dr. Parote, and I want to help you,” he replied. His calm demeanor soothed my anxiety, and as he spoke, I found myself relaxing.

“Why?”

“Why not?” he countered with a smile. “Or you could say it is for science. Research purposes.”

“But why me?” I asked. “How do you even know who I am or what I want?”

“I regularly monitor all sorts of things and stumbled across you. Am I wrong in my assessment of your desires?” Dr. Parote asked, cocking one eyebrow. He knew damn well that he wasn’t.

“How exactly do you think you can help me?”

“I’ve developed a drug that, when taken, will bond to your natural abilities and enhance them. You’ll be twenty times faster, stronger, more agile, and more dangerous than you are now. No one who sees you in action will be able to deny your superior abilities when I’m finished with you.”

“What’s in it for you?” I asked suspiciously. “What do you get out of helping me?” It sounded too good to be true, which usually meant it was, but part of me still couldn’t deny how badly I wanted to believe him.

“Research data, my dear Mia. I will implant a monitor that will allow the results of the drug to feedback to my computer. It will tell me how effective the procedure was and continue to monitor you periodically. Completely non-invasive, you won’t even know that it is happening.”

Monitor me? That didn’t sound like something I was interested in. “Have you done this successfully before?” Why the hell did I ask that? I wasn’t doing this.

“I have,” he replied. “I’ve helped many such as yourself achieve their dreams and become who they were meant to be.”

I considered his words. “What are the risks?”

“As in any experimental procedure, the results could vary,” Dr. Parote explained. “I can’t predict how the treatment will manifest within each subject, only that it is designed to enhance or unlock pre-existing abilities.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” I pointed out. “What are the risks?”

“I couldn’t begin to assume the side effects you might experience. Everyone is different, Mia,” he replied with a sigh.

I looked out the window, considering his offer. I’ve seen enough movies to know that nine times out of ten, this doesn’t go well for the test subject. But... for that one person... no!

“I’m sorry, Dr. Parote, but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline your offer,” I told him.

A disappointed sigh slipped from his lips. “Mia, I understand your reservations, but please consider the offer before dismissing it.” He pulled a scrap of paper from his shirt pocket and held it to me between two fingers. “Think about it. If you decide to let me help you achieve your greatest potential, be at this address at seven A.M. sharp in one week.”

I took the paper, and the Doctor exited the vehicle and disappeared into the sea of cars around us. I looked at the paper with the address scribbled on it, and below the address was one sentence.

They’ll never accept you if you don’t.

Six Days Later

I sent another text update to Evangeline and checked in on my other accounts. Being an analyst for the Guild would be anyone’s dream job if they didn’t want to be an assassin. I loved getting a behind-the-scenes look at how it all worked. I checked the bid board to see if any unassigned contracts would be a good fit for my ladies.

Sometimes, the higher-ups in the Guild assigned contracts if there were special circumstances, like Evangeline’s current contract. Outside of those cases, it was my job to make sure that my ladies got the proper contracts and stayed busy.

I noticed Jeremiah Bamford on the list—a particularly despicable human who would be an excellent first contract for my newest assassin, Imani. I was dying to meet her one day, even though I knew it wasn’t likely. Meeting the assassins wasn’t common; Evangeline was a lucky fluke since we lived in the same city. Imani’s past was sad, and I wanted to give her a big hug. I sent her the contract and continued scrolling through the list. I sent Astrate a contract for a dragon; she should enjoy that challenge. I sent my favorite fluffy assassin, Thora, a succubus contract. I was always happy to send contracts her way. Us tiny floofs had to stick together. Katarina VanTussle’s name jumped out at me from the bid board, and I immediately knew who that one belonged to. Izadora deserved this opportunity. Harrison Griffin was an overachieving baddie right up Aaliyah’s alley.

After assigning more targets to my other girls, I checked on Evangeline’s target again. The bastard had already moved. I shot off the new location and glanced around the office to make sure nobody was paying attention to me. Everyone usually kept to themselves. The Guild was not one of those workplaces where you made friends with your coworkers. We didn’t even have cake and ice cream on each other’s birthdays. I tried it once on my birthday, and the results were disappointing, to say the least.

Honestly, I didn’t even know any of their birthdays, and I barely knew their names. Because of that, I knew what I had planned would likely go unnoticed by the other analysts.

Dr. Parote’s offer had been mulling in my brain all week, and I finally made a decision. I was going to go through with it. I knew it was risky, but at the same time, how bad could taking one little pill be? The side effects couldn’t be that extreme, could they? I felt the reward was worth the risk. To that end, today was my last day at work, and nobody knew. It was a little bittersweet. I’d miss helping my girls, but it was time to strike out on my own.

After this, there was no going back. I was putting all of my eggs in one basket and risking it all because if it went sideways, there was no way in hell that the Guild would take me back as an analyst. With one more furtive look around, I logged into the

assassin database. I couldn’t just send myself an invitation to the Guild. All invitations were sent by the higher-ups; however, I could recycle an invitation.

Not everyone accepts their invitation to the Guild. It’s a lifelong commitment and isn’t always the right fit. Those invitations, while rejected, are still valid in our system.

With a few tweaks, I could update one with my information and schedule it to be sent to me in a day or so. And since none of the other analysts even knew who I was, they wouldn’t question my name popping up in the system.

I found a rejected invitation that wasn’t too prestigious and quickly switched out my information. It belonged to some witch. I switched her name, contact information, and preferences to mine and scheduled the invitation. My mouse hovered over the submit button. This was it; there was no turning back after this.

Was this really what I wanted? My life as an analyst wasn’t so bad, but I couldn’t escape the feeling that I was meant for so much more. I yearned to prove myself. To show the world who I was and what I was capable of.

I spent my entire life being told that I had limitations because of what I was, that I couldn’t do big things because I was little. Even my parents, though they loved me, always reminded me to keep my dreams and expectations small and to accept my place in life. Well, I was done with being confined to small spaces when I knew I was so much bigger than them.

Click.

My jaw dropped, and my stomach started to churn. I did it. Holy fucking shit, I did it! I quickly gathered the last of my personal belongings. I had been slowly taking things home with me all week, and if anyone paid attention to each other, my coworkers would have noticed how empty my desk was, but they didn’t. I doubt they would question or even notice my absence.

I walked casually to the door and paused for one final look around. This was the last day of my old life—the life where I was a cute little harmless house cat.

Tomorrow, I would forge a new path and show everyone just how fatal I could be.