Daddies’ Little Assassin (Femme Fatale Freakshow)

1. The Curse

Chapter one

The Curse

T ap tap tap tap.

That's all I heard, over and over again, and it was driving me bonkers. How in the heck was a girl supposed to concentrate on her mark with that incessant dripping?

I wriggled my nose in annoyance and ruffled my fur, trying to shake off my irritation. The corner behind the urinal was damp and smelled like wet socks left out too long in the rain. Two hours. Two freaking hours I'd been waiting here for the warlock to show up, and I was pretty sure I had some kind of gross goo stuck to my fur by now.

This was not the glamorous assassin life people imagined.

I tucked my paws closer to my fluffy body, trying to ignore the musty scent around me. The only thing worse than the stench of this dingy club bathroom was the memory of the date I'd been on last night.

What a fluffing disaster.

I'd tried, I really had. I'd put on my prettiest dress. It made my small frame look a little curvier and wore the heels that gave me just enough height to look like I belonged. I needed all the help I could get to make it look like I wasn't jailbait. Even at Twenty-six people still mistook me for a child at times.

I even pretended I was a normal girl for a few hours last night. But normal girls didn't spill their wine, trip over their own feet, or knock the restaurant's candle holder onto the floor while trying to smile through the world’s most awkward small talk.

The biggest issue? Normally, I wasn't clumsy at all . I could jump from rooftop to rooftop without question. But put me in any kind of social situation and I turned into the biggest klutz.

Do you know what else normal girls didn't do? They didn't get ghosted mid-date. That was a special kind of rejection left for the likes of me.

Was it me? Something I'd said? Or could he just not face the possibility of an entire night of my clumsy ass and my awkward jokes?

I shifted uncomfortably behind the urinal, shaking off the memory. The answer to all those questions didn't matter now. There was no point in dating, no point in trying to make a connection when it always fell apart. Every time I thought I'd found something, someone... it went up in flames, just like every relationship before it. Maybe there was something wrong with me. Or maybe I was just destined to be unlucky in love.

Focus, Thora.

The warlock could come in here at any minute.

I pushed the thoughts aside, turning my senses to the faint footsteps echoing in the hallway outside the bathroom. Finally. It had to be my target. Jas Vin Popos.

Just thinking his name had me snorting again.

He was the definition of ick. Jas liked to traffic in young mermaid shifters. Selling them right before they hit their prime, so they were guaranteed to be virgins. He was everything I despised in a human—or supernatural being—and by the end of this night, he'd be nothing but another one of my victims.

The door creaked open, and I saw his boots first—polished black leather, too fancy for this place. He stepped inside, glancing around, thinking he was meeting his contact who I'd already sent packing with a nice little potion to keep him out of the way for a few hours.

Jas sniffed the air, and I watched his eyes narrow as he scanned the room. As a warlock, his sense of smell wasn't as good as mine, but he's been evading me for weeks now, so his sense of self-preservation was strong. But this was my chance. My time. I just needed to wait for the right moment.

Another step, another sniff. His gaze darted toward the urinal, where I was hidden. Crap. Did he see me?

Without another second of hesitation, I shifted from bunny to human, the soft fur melting away as my limbs lengthened. I stood tall—well, as tall as I could at five feet... okay, four-ten—and blocked the door, preventing any escape.

His eyes widened in recognition the moment he saw me. "You—" he said, taking a step back, his expression flickering from surprise to realisation.

"Yeah, me," I said, cracking my knuckles. I've been staking him out for a while now, and even 'ran into him' at a coffee shop in his neighbourhood. "You know why I'm here, right?"

Jas's lips curled into a half-smirk and half-snarl as his gaze took in my naked form. "Seeing as you're hiding in a restroom where I'm supposed to be meeting one of my contacts, I'm guessing you're here to take his place... or take me out. How cute."

"Cute?" I tilted my head, a mocking smile on my lips. "I'll show you cute, Jas."

He swallowed, backing up slowly, his gaze darting around the room as if searching for a way out. "Wait, let's talk."

That sense of self-preservation is kicking in, and something inside him is telling him I might be a genuine threat. Even without a weapon—which I couldn't bring with me in my shifted form—I was deadly.

"You don't have to do this, I—"

I cut him off, stalking toward him with deliberate steps. I watch as he mutters a spell under his breath, but whatever it is, it bounces right off me. Just a little something, something I figured out on one of my first hits. No magical attacks ever worked on me. Nothing that was meant to harm me, anyway.

"You traffic in mermaid shifters. Worse than that, you traffic in kids! You think I give a damn about anything you have to say?"

His hands shot up defensively. "I know something you want to know. Something that might help you with your... little problem."

I paused, narrowing my eyes. "What problem?"

His mouth moved again, another failed attack, and I enjoyed watching the sweat bead on his forehead as he started huffing out panicked breaths.

He really wasn't much of a warlock, was he? If a tiny, naked, bunny shifter had him this scared.

"You've been unlucky in love, haven't you?" His voice dropped, becoming smooth and oily. "It's not just bad luck. There's a reason. A curse."

I blinked, the word curse hitting harder than I expected. "What the hell are you talking about?"

He smiled, sensing my hesitation. "I sensed it in you the first time we met. I laughed about it with some colleagues when one of them thought about asking you out."

I took another menacing step towards him, and he held up his hands in surrender.

"Your family! There's a reason you can't find a partner. Why all of your dates fail, why anyone you end up in a relationship with leaves. You think it's you. It's not." Jas licked his lips, his eyes gleaming with the thrill of a man who thought he could outwit death. "You're cursed. Every woman in your line has been."

Glaring at him, I try not to show how much his words are affecting me. No matter how much I don't want to believe him, the words ring true.

"That's not all. With the curse comes a side effect. A benefit that I've never seen before. It’s why none of my attacks have worked on you. You have a Lucky Foot."

I blinked, thrown off by the ridiculousness of his words. "A what now?"

He took another step forward, confidence returning. "Your bunny shifter blood. It has to have messed with the curse somehow and given you a Lucky Rabbit's Foot. It's why you're so good at what you do, why you always land on your feet and never fail at anything you've tried."

My breath caught, my pulse hammering in my ears. The words echoed in my mind. No one loves you. It was stupid. Insane. But something about it... clicked.

He kept going, voice smooth like velvet. "I can help you. I can break the curse. For a price."

I stared at him, my mind whirling, trying to process what he was saying. Tilting my head, I let a smile curl my lips. "You're telling me you'll break this curse ? All I have to do is let you go?"

"Exactly." His smile widened. "We both walk away from this, and you finally get your happily ever after."

I let out a soft chuckle, closing the distance between us. For a second, his face lit with hope. But only for a second. Because I reached across and wrapped my hands around his head, my hands partially shifting so I could dig in.

"Wait! I could!"

I twist and snap his neck. "You could have done nothing," I whisper to no one. "You have hurt too many. No way in hell I would have let you walk out of here alive."

I take a step back and watch his body crumple to the floor. The previous smugness was wiped from his face.

Was I really cursed? Did I have this Lucky Foot?

I didn't have time to think about that now. I had to get out of there before his bodyguards came looking for him.