Relic Hunter (Riley Cruz series book 1) by L. A. Cruz

 I totally love this author. And I promise it has nothing to do with the fact that I've lived my whole life close to Kansas City. Although, it is nice to read about an area I'm so familiar with. Riley is such a quirky character. How many stories do you read where the shifter is a goat? And having a goat as a relic hunter is brilliant! I can totally buy that. Riley has a dark mysterious past. And it's also quite tragic. I love Dez. The vampire who's squeamish about blood. But he's a computer hacker who used to own a major company. He's still rich thanks to stocks. And then there's the local Alpha Max. He's your typical broody overprotective Alpha who thinks he has to protect everyone. Riley lived with 4 witches when she came to Kansas City. They made a deal with Max. Riley is on her own living on name brand ramen. And working as a terrible bartender. From the age of 12-16 years old an Alpha named Carl took her after her parents died in a questionable fire. He trained her to be a thief. He used abusive tactics. Riley double crossed him at age 16 and fled to Kansas City. She has made a home here with the witches, Dez, & 2 necromancers. When a demon escapes her friend has to find a way to send it back to hell. Then she is targeted by the demon. He tells her about a demon blade that is going to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. It has magical properties. While she gets Dez to help her steal the dagger Carl has been trying to locate her. There is a hook up scene in here parents. It's not as bad as most in this genre. But I always want parents to be aware. Carl makes his move and Riley is naive enough to not expect a double cross from an old acquaintance. She & Dez barely escape. Then Riley tries to sell the dagger again and she almost dies at the hands of a demon. Max rushes to save her. She loses the dagger to the demon. They regroup in Kansas City and come up with a plan to steal another demon relic that conveniently is being sold by the guy she stood a relic from for Carl and then buried before she ran to Kansas City. Now Max insists on going with her because there are a lot of guards and she could use the muscle. But as usual everything goes wrong. Where Riley goes chaos ensues! You'll love these quirky characters.