Page 11 of Huntress Unleashed

Then Dane and Jacqueline headed for his pickup, and she said to him, “What was that all about?”

“I still think someone might have set me up and that’s why I was ambushed. I can’t imagine the informant Green would have done it on his own.”

“The vampiress then?”

“Or another hunter who Green works for.”

“Like Van? Oh, that would be awful,” Jacqueline said.

“Yeah, I know.”

“What would be the reason though?”

“If I ended up taking down a rogue vampire who paid a really big bounty, maybe? Lucilla was a huge bounty.”

“Oh, wow, why didn’t I hear about her so I could have gotten the case?” Jacqueline asked.

Dane smiled at her. But then he turned serious. “Then you would have been ambushed.”

“Yeah, and turned. That would have been awful.” She was being facetious. “Is there any specific reason why you feel that a hunter was responsible?”

“Lucilla said a hunter was the one who set me up. Now of course, she might have just said that to make me distrust other hunters, but still, I have to consider it’s a possibility.”

“For sure. I would take it seriously until I determined it wasn’t true. Are you ready for the next mission?” Jaqueline got into his truck.

“Yeah, sure. I’m always ready to take down a rogue before they kill any more innocents.” He liked that she seemed dogged to get the job done. He wasn’t sure she would be ready for another one tonight, but he was ready to share the bounty on this one with her after she had shared the bounty on Axel with him like she had said they would.

“Okay, so you’ve got his address, right?” she asked.

“Yeah, using GPS now to check on it. It’s out in the country on the north side of Dallas. Thanks so much for sharing the bounty with me, by the way.”

She smiled. “You earned it.”

“I guess your ex had the same mission as us.”

“Yeah, and I know him well enough to recognize he was pissed that he didn’t get the score.”

“I’m glad we got there before him, but mainly because we saved the woman. Actually, you did most of the saving. We worked in unison to take him down after that.”

Jacqueline glanced out the window at the dark sky. “How do you feel about humans believing we’re just hunters still? Does it bother you?”

“Yeah. I hope to get over that feeling someday. But for now, I feel aggravated because we were the ones taking down rogues. Now people who have experienced trauma at their hands, or teeth, could feel we’re just like them even though we’re the good guys.”

“I feel that way too. I guess that’s why we still need to go to meetings.”

He looked at her. “Yeah. I thought I would try one out and if it wasn’t for me, I would just attempt to figure it out for myself.”

“Oh, me too. What do you think of Stacey?”

He smiled. “She’s hot to trot and not my type at all. You’re hot, and definitely my type.”

“Could you use help in figuring out who might have set you up?”

The question surprised him. He wasn’t sure he wanted to accept her help should the person be a hunter. He had a couple of people in mind. But he didn’t want her to be in harm’s way if it turned out to be a hunter. He wasn’t sure with their changed status if they could eliminate a hunter who had tried to have another hunter murdered…or in his case turned. He might have to have his brothers take care of it.

“Forget it. I’m helping you if you’re willing to take down my…‘master,’” she said.

“Okay, you can help me learn the truth, but I think my brothers will have to take the hunter down.” He swore he heard her growl a little.