Page 21 of Huntress Unleashed
It was too late. She sighed, turned, kissed his mouth, then moved over to get his phone. When she got it, she glanced at the caller ID, and said, “Oh, it’s Stacey.”
“From the meeting?”
“Yeah. It looks like she’s ready to hook up.”
Dane laughed. “It’s not happening.” He took the phone from Jacqueline and answered the call. “Hello?”
For a moment, Jaqueline stayed in bed, but then she left the mattress, grabbed some of her clothes, went into the bathroom, and closed the door.
“Hey, Dane. I was wondering if you would like to go on a hunt with me tonight,” Stacey said.
“Uh, I can’t. Sorry.”
Jacqueline came out of the bathroom, dressed in blue jeans, boots, and a blue floral shirt, raised her brows at Dane and smiled, waved, and headed out of the bedroom. She looked like spring and ready to have some fun today.
“My brothers and I are staying with Jacqueline?—”
“Jacqueline from the meeting?”
“Yeah. The rogue vampire who turned her is still alive.”
“Oh, no. I thought hunters had killed the rogue vampires who had turned all of us. I want to help take him down.”
“Good. We’ll sign you up. We need to locate him first. He went after her last night, so my brothers and I are staying with her until we get this done,” Dane said.
“Wow. Okay, should we get hold of Anne too? I bet she’ll want to help,” Stacey said.
“Sure, that sounds good. I had thought of our group, but when my brothers said they would help, I figured that might be enough.”
“What happened last night?” Stacey asked.
He explained what had occurred. He suspected since they were all so new at this business, she wanted to know how it would all go down. “She couldn’t kill him, but she did pull her sword on him, which distracted him.”
“Oh.”
“And when he told her to meet him at a house, she didn’t feel compelled to go. So maybe her hunter abilities have given her a little bit of an edge compared to a human who is turned,” Dane said, getting out of bed.
“That would be good. Okay, well, I’m on standby and if you decide you need me, or if you can help me with my mission tonight, just let me know. I’ll let you call Anne and tell her what’s going on. It’s best it comes from the horse’s mouth, rather than me pass along the news and get it wrong.”
“Sounds good. I’ll do that. Talk to you later.” When they ended the call, he headed for the bathroom and hoped that Jacqueline didn’t believe he was making date plans with Stacey.
After dressing in a blue T-shirt, jeans, and boots, he went downstairs and found everyone setting the table for breakfast. That was one of the things he was glad for. He could still eat regular food.
“So?” Jacqueline asked Dane.
“Stacey wanted me to go on a job with her tonight. I told her I was sticking with you because of the vampire issue you’re having.”
“You can go with her if she needs you. We can’t abandon others like us if no one wants to work with us—making an exception of your brothers, of course,” Jacqueline said.
Trey said, “A couple of us can go with her.”
“I told her we’re trying to track down Heskel, and she wants to help with that.” Dane had no intention of seeing Stacey except when it came to meeting her at the therapy session or on a mission to take down vampires to help each other out. He was sure she wanted more of a relationship.
Jacqueline poured a glass of orange juice for everyone. “If she has a vampire that she needs help with tonight, I’m all for going with her too.”
“All right,” Dane said. If Jacqueline wanted to help, he was all for it. But also, he needed to make sure she remained safe. He called Anne to see if she wanted to go with them.
“Oh, I’ve got a family issue to deal with, but I’ll be happy to help when that’s resolved.”