Hunting Season: Werewolf Bodyguard Romance (Guarded by the Shifter Book 1) by Kate Rudolph (new reading TXT) 📗

At forty-four, AR was ten years older than her and the heir apparent to their father's empire. He was the oldest, the only child from her father's first marriage, and the man she and her siblings turned to when they couldn't get ahold of Armand Selby.

It didn't mean they were close. Stasia tried to think of the last time she'd seen her brother. Thanksgiving? Christmas? No, he'd skipped the holidays because of a work event. No matter what, it had been months.

AR took a seat behind their father's desk like he owned it and placed a leather bound folio in front of him. He gestured for her and Owen to take their seats, but Stasia remained standing. Owen followed her lead.

Interesting.

"I was pulled off an important call for this." AR blew out a breath in frustration.

"I'm sure." Every call was important when billions were on the line. But she could make this easy enough. "Fire him and you can get right back to exploiting poverty-stricken nations."

Owen's head snapped her way, mouth dropping open. "Really?"

"Really?" Her brother was more droll.

Stasia wanted to pace, but she focused all that energy internally and spoke. "I agreed to the detail while you looked into the issue. Surveillance at a distance. Not a full time babysitter."

"I'm not—"

"Talking right now." She shot Owen a glare as she spoke, just to make sure he understood. Owen might have been present, but this wasn't his conversation.

AR leaned back in their father's chair and crossed his arms. "I want you safe."

She believed it—she and AR weren't close, but they were still family. That didn't mean he got to make decisions for her, though. "And your people can't keep me safe enough?"

"Stas…"

"Answer my question." Selby Group employed utterly competent people and Stasia had already made a big concession to allow them to watch her.

But AR had clearly expected this. He opened up the folio on the desk to reveal a tablet. He swiped at the screen to wake it up and then scrolled to find what he was looking for before swiveling it around for her to take a look.

Stasia approached the desk and looked, but she wasn't sure what she was seeing.

"Security found evidence of surveillance in an empty condo across the street from yours," he told her as he scrolled to the next image, which showed an empty apartment. "When we scanned your phone they found spyware. They removed it. This wasn't random and it could happen again. Your best shot at safety is to let…" he looked at Owen as he trailed off and then continued, "Gibson's guy protect you."

Stasia felt strangely offended that AR hadn't bothered to learn Owen's name. If he wanted to know something, he knew it. "His name is Owen. Who the fuck is Gibson?"

Owen spoke up. "My boss."

"A friend," AR added. "I knew you wouldn't trust one of my men so close to you. Owen doesn't report to me—not your comings and goings, not your job, nothing but direct threats to your safety. I know you, Stas, give me a bit of credit."

She really didn't want to. But AR had thought this through. It wasn't like she thought this was some big conspiracy between AR and Owen to watch her every move. She appreciated that her brother had thought about her feelings.

She pulled the tablet closer and scrolled through the pictures. There were the telltale white bricks of her building. And there was Gramercy Park. It was where she lived her life.

A shiver threatened to overtake her and her fingers started to shake. Owen took half a step closer to her, as if he sensed her unease. Strangely, that made her feel a little better.

"You said this will be taken care of in a week?" Her voice didn't shake. She didn't sound scared. Good.

"I hope so. My investigators are good. If it drags on for more than a week, we reassess."

She didn't like the thought of the investigation going longer, but it had to be acknowledged. "Is this worse than Bermeja?" She'd hoped that would be the worst attack of her life, and since she'd had to overhaul her entire career afterwards, she didn't want to experience it again.

A dark look crossed AR's face. "They put hands on you."

"I don't want to uproot my life again." She'd had a path, a mission. All that was gone now.

"I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen. We like you here in New York." He said it with enough conviction that she almost believed him. Then his tone shifted to something falsely joyous. "You're coming to the birthday party, right?"

"I don't get to claim attempted kidnapping to get out of that? I've seen the kid once!" What was it with the kid's birthday party? What toddler wanted full grown, childless adults hanging out around her?

Her brother laughed, showing no mercy. "She's our sister. And you have a bodyguard."

"Half-sister." She turned to Owen with a sour look. "You're fired."

That declaration startled a laugh out of her bodyguard.

"It won't be that bad," AR tried to reassure her.

Stasia had been down this road before. "We'll see…" Then her mind snagged on a worry that had been percolating for awhile. "Are they after me because of anything the company is doing? Should I know anything?"

"We won't let you get hurt," he promised.

That wasn't an answer, and as she and Owen left, she couldn't help but wonder what her brother and the Selby Group were hiding.

Chapter Seven

Stasia had a library. Of course she did. Wasn't that a requirement of rich people in these kind of places? The cherry paneling gave the entire room an old world feel that was at odds with what Owen had observed of the doctor. And it made the room dark, despite the sunshine streaming in through the windows. Three lamps were shining bright to combat the darkness, and there were still pockets of shadow around the room.

Judging by the desk, the library doubled as Stasia's office, but the two large couches made it a