The first thing Morgan did once she returned to Rodolfo’s villa was to find Kane and Jamie to apologize for her less than professional behavior. To which they’d both looked at her like she was crazy, matching scoffing sounds leaving their lips with Jamie adding an “Oh, please,” for good measure.
“If anyone deserves a bit of downtime, it’s you, boss,” Kane assured her.
Shaking her head, she settled on Jamie’s bed next to the Turned vampire and her ever-present laptop. “Nevertheless, I won’t see him again. It’s not fair to you guys.”
Kane pinned her with a look. “I’m an indiscriminate slut with a short attention span who frequently wanders off and you barely bat an eye.” That little gem left Jamie snorting loudly but Kane continued as if he hadn’t heard, “Youfind a guy you actually like and you want to drop him because it’s unfair to us?”
“You do like him, don’t deny it. We both saw it.” Jamie grinned, her elbow nudging Morgan’s ribs.
“We need to stay focused,” Morgan inserted mulishly.
Kane shook his head, disgusted, but Jamie looked considering for a moment before she remarked, “Since you mentioned angels that first night, I took some time to check the Born’s online resource library and found some interesting accounts. They’re said to be formidable warriors, powerful, tenacious, and extremely hard to kill.”
“Your point?” Morgan asked, slightly irritated that they weren’t backing her on the course she’d decided upon regardless of her own desires. Shedidlike Travis, but it would be too easy to lose herself in him. Lose her heart to him, and then feel that heart crack wide open when she had to leave him.
Jamie shot her a look that said ‘Duh’ before she explained, “So, can you imagine having one of them on our team?”
Morgan let out a bark of laughter. “You want me to recruit him?”
Jamie shrugged, her grin sly, “Or marry him. You know, whatever.”
Rolling her eyes, Morgan drawled, “Oh, the Elders would justlovethat.”
“I can’t speak for marriage, but The Elders have no authority over who a team of Hunters recruits,” Kane pointed out.
That was true. A team leader was solely responsible for his or her team, could recruit as they saw fit. If they Turned a human, like Jamie with unique talents, that new vampire’s contract belonged to the Hunter’s Society, not the Court of Elders, and more specifically to the leader of the team that vampire would work with for the duration. And, while Morgan herself never had, some teams even recruited shifters, utilizing their keen senses, stealth, and tracking abilities. As long as a team was effective, recruitment was not questioned or interfered with.
Morgan imagined having Travis on her team, not having to say goodbye… the idea was more than intriguing.
Squashing that thought before it could take root and grow, Morgan again shook her head. “He has a life here, a job on the force –”
“Where he forever has to hide who and what he is,” Jamie interrupted. “We could offer him a form of freedom. With us, he could be himself.”
“Make the offer, boss,” Kane piled on and Morgan’s brain began seriously mulling over the idea.
Aside from the angelic power, Travis would bring to the table, he was also a cop, familiar with procedure, requiring minimal training. Not to mention, she’d gotten the impression that once he had closure for his sister, his job would be done here in New Orleans, so any roots he’d set down in this area were tenuous at best. He might even welcome hitting the road with them… and what do you know, that little seed of thought she had tried so hard to kill just moments before, managed to flourish into something that somehow sounded like a good idea.
∞∞∞
Morgan had been determined to punch up her line of questioning with Rodolfo, had even mentally rehearsed what she’d say, only to be told by one of the Born’s Turned muscle that the man was in a meeting and was not to be disturbed. “Foranyreason,” he’d added with a glare.
No amount of charm, flirting, cajoling, or even bribery had managed to entice the gorilla standing guard to give her a hint of with whom Rodolfo was speaking or what they may be speaking about. The vampire had practically turned into a statue once he’d told her the order, seemingly not even aware of her continued presence much less her words of entreaty. Talk about blindly following orders. The turn of events was frustrating, but it did, however, free her up to accept Travis’s invitation when he called after his shift.
They ended up at a rooftop bar that afforded a magnificent three-hundred-sixty-degree view of the city that practically took Morgan’s breath away. As they admired the view, drinks in hand, Travis shared anecdotes of some of his more amusing arrests which led Morgan to be able to do the same, leaving both of them practically gasping for breath, they were laughing so hard, and the entire time, it was on the tip of her tongue to ask him to join her team. To become a Hunter. She held back.
Until Travis had the answers to his sister’s disappearance, nothing would convince him to leave. She may not have known him long, but that knowledge of his character was a bone-deep surety. Any chance of him leaving with them when this job was finished hinged on Morgan getting into those files and finding something useful inside.
“Do you want to dance?”
The request made Morgan wish she had donned the red dress rather than her usual attire of jeans, T-shirt topped with her leather jacket, and clunky, thick-lugged boots. Still, it didn’t deter from accepting the offer, if only to feel his arms around her once more as the singer on a small stage near the bar crooned about a lover’s smile.
Her senses no longer kicked into high gear in his presence with the exception of the almost instant arousal his proximity now inspired, making her want to drag him off to some dark corner and indulge in an inappropriate, if extremely satisfying, quickie.
She felt more than heard the low rumble in his chest and she shot him a teasing smile as her fingers played in the hair at the nape of his neck. “Are you reading my mind?”
His lips tickled against the outer rim of her ear as he growled, “I can smell your desire.” His arms pulled her closer, one hand delving into the back pocket of her jeans, guiding her hips tighter to the thick bulge in his pants to let her know how she affected him. Damn, that was hot. He was hot. Glancing around the rooftop, she gave the idea of a dark corner some serious thought.
And then his growl turned into something much more sinister, causing her nape to prickle in warning. Travis stopped moving them about the floor, his body stiffening in preparation to fight and Morgan pulled away just slightly, senses on keen alert as she casually scanned the area to discover the source of his new deadly mood. A hint of sulfur hit her nose as if someone had lit a match close by, but she didn’t bother to confirm her suspicion, too preoccupied with the trouble that had just joined the party.
