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

And everyone is trying to put together the guest list." It sounded so inconsequential when she said it like that.

Rowe looked between Em and Stasia, but it was Andre who spoke. "Em and Emmy?" he asked. "What is that? Emma and Emerald? Sounds confusing."

Em's grin turned into a glare, and she took the explanation from Stasia. "We're both named Emerald. Dad lets our moms choose our names. He's had six wives. And ten children. He forgot to mention to Riley, our 23-year-old stepmother, that my actual name is Emerald, so she named her own kid Emerald. It's super fun."

Rowe clamped his mouth shut as if he had to keep from laughing while Andre had an unreadable look on his face. Vega was still doing his statue routine. Owen already knew the story so luckily he wasn't reacting in a way likely to get him on Em's dark side.

"I know it's fucked up. It's okay," said Stasia. The guys looked like they were liable to break something if they kept holding back their expressions. "We're just as screwed up as any rich family that has a reality show about them. We just don't let cameras into our houses."

"So your dad is still having this big party with you at risk of being kidnapped?" asked Owen.

Stasia glanced at Owen. She had mentioned that the kidnapping threat was gone, but clearly he hadn't said anything to anyone else yet.

She couldn't lie about it. "I'm sure that my father would be more than willing to have a party while we were all at risk of kidnapping if it was what it took to keep up appearances. But AR let me know that his people have identified the threat and are in the process of rounding them up. That's why I don't have an extra team tailing me anymore. It's all good now." She still had her hand on Owen's thigh and his muscles clenched under her fingers.

She didn't know what to say to reassure him that she wasn't about to walk away. She didn't need him just because he was her bodyguard. She wanted him for far more than that. She wanted to keep him around for good.

But before she could figure out how to say that, Hunter stuck her head into the room. "Hey, guys, Gibson wants to talk to all of us. The team. Stasia and Em will need to keep themselves entertained for about an hour. Come on."

That stopped conversation. Apparently when Gibson said jump, his team started hopping.

Owen gave her a resounding kiss before he and his colleagues left her and Em alone in the room.

Stasia wished that a toddler's birthday party was the most of her worries.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Gibson was waiting with the rest of the team as Willa led them into the conference room and took a seat beside Vega and Rowe. Owen and Andre took seats on the other side of the table. Gibson was at the head with Jackson beside him.

He gave Owen a long stare before turning and nodding to greet everyone else. That was kind of weird. Owen wanted to say something, but he didn't know what.

Everything felt new again, and not necessarily in a good way. He felt wrong-footed, just like he'd felt two years ago after the ritual had been performed on all of them. He didn't know what was happening, he didn't understand it, and he wasn't sure he ever could. He only hoped Gibson could shed some light on the subject.

Gibson had a laptop in front of him and projector set up to project onto the white wall at the front of the conference room. He pulled up some pictures and had them on display. "Does somebody want to tell me what went wrong on Vega and Rowe's job?" he asked with deceptive calm.

That was how their debriefs always started. Though usually the job didn't go wrong. Usually no one got shot.

Vega hung his head and stiffened his shoulders. "We got lazy," Rowe said with a hint of defiance in his voice. "We thought the job was over and we were coasting. And Vega almost got killed."

"Are you going to do it again?" Gibson asked.

Both Vega and Rowe shook their heads, followed by the rest of the team also shaking their heads. They might not have been there, but it could just as easily have been them.

"I expect a full write up by morning. You may need to give statements to the police. We will have to do something about Vega's alleged injury if that happens. But I'm glad you're alive." And that ended that portion of the meeting. Normally it went longer. Normally Gibson would have brought up photos from every angle and had them walk the team through the entire job. They were still pretty new to this bodyguarding gig and every job was a learning experience.

But today they had something bigger to talk about.

"How is Stasia doing?" Gibson asked him.

Owen didn't want to answer. His loyalty to Stasia warred with his loyalty to Gibson. But he knew that Stasia and Gibson were on the same side. Gibson only wanted to help. And he couldn't help if he didn't know what was going on. "She's doing well," he said. "Freaked out a bit. But she seems pretty accepting. Maybe resigned is the right word. She says that whatever happens, happens."

It was more complicated than that, he knew. But Owen could really only report what she had told him. And he believed her. So what more was there to say?

"Chip is acting weird, right?" Vega asked, using the nickname he'd earned back in the Army. It was meant to be a jokey name, but now was not the time for jokes. "This is like more than a job to you." It stood on the line between teasing and accusation, and Owen had to bite back a growl and keep himself from lunging toward Vega.

Andre was looking at him as if he expected him to pounce. He didn't know if