SeductiveTracks

Elizabeth
Lapthorne

Book 5 in the Urban Seductions series.

Kelly Robbins works in the
archives, mistress of the magical world’s many mysteries. But she has a secret
herself—she’s also a cat burglar, playing the game for the adrenaline rush that
runs through her when she slips into the shadows with some forbidden trinket.

Matthias Kestell is a Tracker on
the other side of the law, able to sense the power each magic user holds within
them. When he and Kelly join forces to steal an antidote to a magical drug that
is poisoning the streets, he is bewitched and seduced, instantly smitten with
her.

Even though Kelly now finds herself
working with the enemy, Matthias has a magical charm all his own. As heat burns
between them, she begins to realize this wizard could provide even more of a
physical thrill than theft—and, given the chance, he could steal her heart.

A
Romantica®
paranormal erotic romance
from Ellora’s Cave

Kelly Robbins knew that in certain circles she was called
Shadow, and it was at times like this she felt like her namesake. As she lifted
the surprisingly heavy window, Shadow muffled her grunt of exertion. The sound
escaped her lips as a tiny huff. She froze, listening.

Slowly, the typical sounds of the calm evening surrounded
her again. Even so, she remained still as she breathed and counted inside her
head. Waiting with eternal patience, Shadow continued to soak in the atmosphere
around her like a sponge.

She could hear the soft hum of far-away traffic, a few
cicadas and what she thought might be a frog singing somewhere nearby in the
evening. Here in the hills of the richer suburbs, the steady background sounds
of the city were muted, but still remained clear to her hyper-sensitive senses
to prove that life had not ceased to exist.

Much of the appeal of living in these secluded neighborhoods
was that they were a short commute to the inner city of Chicago, yet remained
far enough removed that one could pretend the bustle of day-to-day life had
been left behind.

After three long minutes, Kelly decided she was safe and had
deactivated the alarm. Her magical ability to feel as well as sense her
surroundings was finely tuned. Even had a silent alarm been tripped, with her
jacked-up senses she would have registered the slight vibrating hum on the air
the invisible alarm would have released.

By reaching out, listening to and feeling her surroundings,
she could gather an astonishing amount of data. That, coupled with her magical
ability to be stealthy, was the main reason she was one of the very best cat
burglars of the last few decades.

But it wasn’t just her talent. Deep in her soul, Shadow knew
the real reason nothing could come close to slowing her down was because she
loved her secret little “hobby”. Nothing else in her life could compare to the
thrill of entering somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be, and she craved that
silent, heated rush of adrenaline the way a junkie craved his next fix.

The pleasure she experienced while on a heist was
intoxicating, addictive and damn near sexual in nature. Often, immediately
after a difficult mission, she used to swing by a fuck-buddy’s apartment to get
some fun, frivolous physical release. They’d screwed like possessed rabbits
before she’d headed back to the safety of her home. Physical pleasure aside,
the friendly fuck had helped her to release the sometimes overwhelming sensual
pleasure that doing a job and using her magical talents in that manner brought.

Her fuck buddy, however, had entered a serious relationship
a year earlier and since then Shadow had been too busy juggling her day job and
her side job thieving to discover a new wizard with whom she could unleash her
passion. Thieving, she had discovered long ago, took up all her spare time. But
she didn’t begrudge the copious work of research, preparation, training and
organization, when the end product of the heist itself invariably overcame her
with lust and reckless abandon from the thrill of the forbidden secret job that
she held so closely to her heart.

She could no more give up her little habit than she could
shave her head or deny her magic.

Shadow checked that the window would stay lodged open wide
enough for her to climb in and out without snagging her tight black outfit or
becoming stuck should she have to leave in a hurry. She ran her fingers over
her close-fitting, warm leather gloves to reassure herself that they were
snugly fitted and would leave no evidence. Then she ran through her mental
checklist before committing herself to tonight’s endeavor.

Her shoulder-length rich-brown bobbed hair had been pulled
firmly back into a tiny ponytail and tucked up under a knitted black beanie.
Black rubber hiking boots were laced onto her feet. They had enough grip to
ensure she wouldn’t slip over on any surface, but enough supple give that she
would retain her dexterity.

Black tracksuit pants and a long-sleeved dark-gray
sweatshirt were fresh and new, crisp-looking so as to let her pass as a yuppie
jogger out for a late night run should anyone encounter her in the gardens or
out on the street. A backpack carried a tiny thin-beamed torch, a few
old-fashioned burglary tools, a new prepaid cell phone—switched off so the
electronics didn’t fry from her use of her magical energy—and a small
assortment of other bits and pieces she knew she would need for this particular
heist.

Shadow took a deep breath, grinned as adrenaline surged
through her and hoisted herself up onto the windowsill. She climbed lithely
through the slim gap in the window as if she had done this a thousand times
before. She landed softly on the thick plush carpet and once again she paused
to take stock.

Two minutes ticked by as she sent out her senses, reading
and gathering all sorts of mental data as she tested her surroundings on levels
indescribable to most people. She felt the air around her and “read” the
atmosphere to gauge whether anything was amiss or out of synch. Crouched on the
balls of her feet, frozen and prepared to duck straight back out the window
should anything prove to be not as it should, Shadow counted the time as she
made certain she had not set anything off with her stealthy entry.

As time passed, her senses—magical and otherwise—reassured
her that she had not tripped any alarms. Bit by bit she let herself relax. The
tension seeped out of her muscles as she glided across the expensively
hand-crafted parquet floor of the large dining area. Over weeks of research she
had memorized the floor plan of her target’s house, so her movements were quick
and precise.

Years of similar heists had proven to her that once she’d
actually broken in without being caught, the chances of her having to cut her
losses and run were slim to none. Nine times out of ten it was entry into and
exit from the house that were the critical points where she could trip unknown
alarms or be seen and apprehended.

Shadow didn’t bother trying to hide in the darker areas of
the room. While caution was needed, once inside she had found walking around as
if she were an invited guest and going about what she wanted to do was
generally safe. All too often, the mistake others made was skulking about and
drawing out the time their mission took. Shadow found her chances of being
caught were decreased when she took less time to get in, steal what she’d come
for and leave using the most direct route possible.

Her senses still wide open, Shadow could feel the slight hum
in the air of the alarm still on standby, the faint, practically inaudible
sounds of the house at rest, the floors and walls creaking and settling. She
left the dining room and crossed the hall into the main study area she had
already earmarked as the probable location of one of the items she had come for.

Sure enough, there on a display table stood the antique
chess set. The base had been hand-crafted from inlaid ebony and ivory, with
gold tooling around the rich mahogany of the framework. The pieces were
hand-carved from ivory and ebony, with intricate gold-work and semi-precious
gems glittering on the main pieces. It was the pride and joy of the man of the
house.

Shadow spent a few seconds gazing critically at the chess
set, running her eyes over the table and the base to check for trip wires or
hidden sensors that might be linked to extra security she hadn’t come across
during her exhaustive research.

Shrugging out of her backpack, she set it at her feet and
pulled out two velvet bags—one large enough to fit the base, the other smaller
but still of a size to hold all the chess pieces. As a final check, she also
withdrew a loupe. She picked up one of the finger-sized ebony pawns and looked
critically at it, checking the authenticity of the piece while keeping her ears
trained to her surroundings.

Satisfied, she returned the loupe to the backpack and
quickly picked up each of the chess pieces to place them into the velvet bag.
The board followed into its own velvet bag, and both items were carefully
stored in the sack. The velvet bag containing the chess pieces clanked as she
also placed them into the carry-all.

Shadow slung the entire lot over her shoulder and left the
main study. Padding silently farther down the hallway, she came to a grand
staircase leading up to the next two levels.

Half a dozen stairs up, where the staircase curved, a sliver
of moonlight shone on the range of Impressionist paintings lining the wall.
Shadow climbed the stairs near-silently and studied the beautiful oils. After
only a moment to admire them all, she chose three of the smaller—and vastly
more expensive—ones and slipped them into her backpack. Her hands shook and she
took a deep breath. Excitement raced through her blood as she came closer to
finishing her mission. Her breath came faster as she unzipped her bag.

A hotly sexual pleasure raced through her blood as she
realized she would once again get away with this. Beneath the softness of her
black sweater, peaked with excitement, her nipples rasped against the lace of
her bra. The slight movements of her torso had the hard nubs rasping enticingly
against the confines of her clothing.

A heavy, warm knot felt tied in her belly. The daring nature
of her activity had electric pleasure springing out from the tight coil,
tingles of adrenaline spiking through her bloodstream and heating every nerve
and muscle, setting her emotions on edge. Her pussy was flooded with desire,
the slick heat lubricating her lower lips as the thrill of imminent success
raced through her system.

Her clit ached, and for a moment she desperately wanted to
touch herself. Shadow ached to bring herself to a screaming release, panting at
the naughty thought.

Forcing herself not to get ahead of herself, Shadow tried to
push down the thrill of accomplishment. The night wasn’t over yet, regardless
of what her body had decided.

All three paintings, even in their frames, were only a
little bigger than the chess base, and although the backpack was now full and
heavy, everything fitted snugly within, just as she had planned. Shrugging the
bag back on, Shadow crept down the stairs, through the hallway and into the
dining room once again.

A faint twinge of regret coursed through her at the thought
of all the jewels she was ignoring, but her research had shown that the lady of
the house had a designated jewel safe in the floor of their master bedroom.
Even though her husband was a selfish, abusive jerk, he did share their marital
bed and Shadow had decided it was too much of a risk to go after the gorgeous
pieces.

She had looked into whether there was a pattern in his
behavior—regular nights he went out or a cycled routine he might follow—but
sadly this had proved not to be the case. While she would have risked being
silent and fast enough to crack the safe with only the wife there, with them
both present the risks were too great.

She had reluctantly decided against pressing her luck.

It really is a pity
, she mused.
There are some
marvelous pieces in that collection
.

Shadow no longer needed the extra money thieving gave her.
She continued to go on these little jaunts half a dozen times a year or so
partly to keep her hand in and her thieving skills fresh, but also because
nothing made the blood sing like breaking in to somewhere she wasn’t supposed
to be.

Her skills were entirely self-taught. There weren’t many
people who would help a young witch discovering her magical talents to learn
the subtle science of how to crack a safe, decode a security system or
distinguish myriad sounds in a house she was in the process of breaking into.

Some things she had managed to hone from mentors under far
more palatable excuses, but the majority had been what she managed to learn,
discover and train herself in. She had not been completely alone, however. Her
childhood best friend had grown into a Retriever and the two of them had
managed to set up a number of systems for them to train with each other under
safe, controlled environments.

Retrieving as a calling was still dominated by men. Most
women did not have the innate magical skills in this area, so Liv had struggled
to find her niche in their earlier years. Having been best friends since
childhood, it had been an intoxicating game at first. Shadow would steal
something and then hide it. Liv would Retrieve it.

Their private game had segued into something a bit more
complex after they’d both graduated high school and entered the Academy—Shadow
would steal a handful of expensive gems, then pass most of them on to her fence
but retain a piece or two Liv could Retrieve.

It had only taken a couple of years for Liv’s well-deserved
reputation to get her a position at an acclaimed Retriever consultancy firm.

While men were often recruited into companies and trained on
the job, the more prestigious and older companies were uncertain about hiring a
woman. Even the newer, more modern companies were reluctant to buck tradition
and try Liv out.

But when word had circulated over the months in their middle
years at the Academy that Liv—working on her own—had performed a number of
successful Retrievals for friends and family, her reputation had grown. As this
had expanded at first into a trickle, then of a flood of private contracts, the
companies had sat up and taken notice of her and her talent.

The fact that Shadow had stolen many of these items had not
really affected the outcome. Liv had the talent, and had found them on her own
initiative, so the outcomes had been legitimate. By the time they’d both
graduated, Liv had earned a place in one of the best Retrieval consulting
outfits and Shadow had honed her own thievery skills admirably. They’d both
been ready and eager to get out into the “real world”.

Yet Shadow had found herself reluctant to give up her ways,
even as she’d settled down into her own, far more mundane career as an
Archivist. Liv, still her best friend, had insisted they could continue their
“game” together until something better, more interesting, came Shadow’s way.