“Then why the ‘Hm’?”
Jamie’s response had been exactly that, ‘Everything good here’ instead of her usual barrage of questions, needing to know precisely what was happening and how she could assist. In fact, texting, rather than calling in search of immediate answers, was more Kane’s MO than Jamie’s, yet the message had come from Jamie’s phone.
“It’s probably nothing,” she replied, shaking her head. “It’s just, Jamie tends to ask a lot of questions, it’s kind of her thing.”
“What did she say?”
Morgan read the short text to Travis and he frowned. “Maybe she can’t get into it right now if others are around.”
“True.” It was definitely possible that both Kane and Jamie were currently socializing, trying to pry gossip that would assist them from any number of the vampires that were constantly at the villa for one amusement or another. She was overreacting in light of her own circumstances. That was all. One thing she needed to remember was that her team could look after themselves, and Jamie was with Kane. Everything was fine, just like Jamie had said and she needed to keep her mind on the immediate threat, not create new, most likely non-existent ones.
Stuffing her phone back in her pocket, she glanced back at the headlights still following them, though no longer as closely. “I think they’ve guessed our destination.”
“I guess now we’ll see if their survival instincts supersede their loyalty to Rodolfo.”
The bayou at night was both beautiful and creepy with its hanging branches skimming the water and pinpoints of lights in the vegetation that might be fireflies or the eyes of predators watching you, lying in wait. The buzz of insects filled the air as twigs cracked beneath their feet. A low, mournful wolf howl could be heard in the distance and Morgan gripped Travis’s hand a bit tighter as she hoped he was right about being welcomed. Right now, she was not in the mood to be jumped and mauled by an angry wolf shifter – not that that thought was ever a pleasant one.
Her eyes picked up the rapid movement of something in the grass. Something possibly slithery. “If I get bitten by a snake,” she grumbled, “I’m going to make you suck out the poison.”
Travis let out a low chuckle and raised her hand to his mouth so that he could kiss her knuckles. “It would be an honor.”
Morgan’s return laughter was cut short by the ominous sound of brush moving to their right, signaling a rather large animal moving about and way too close for comfort. Quickly side-stepping, she nearly tromped on Travis’s foot, the apology she was about to offer, sticking in her throat as the noise was repeated to their left, as well as behind them. Shit. She liked to think of herself as brave, but right now she was wound so tightly, if something did jump out at her she was definitely going to scream like a banshee.
“They prefer their wolf forms at night,” Travis quietly uttered. “They’re just checking us out.”
A large shape detached itself from the shadowy outline of a tree just ahead, bringing Morgan and Travis to a halt. The beast moved forward slowly, head down, its eyes glowing in the moonlight before the silhouette changed to that of a man. “Saint,” was growled as the shifter stopped, legs braced apart and muscular arms crossed over his chest.
Morgan attempted to keep her eyes on the man’s face rather than gawking at such a blatant display of nudity highlighted by the moonbeams penetrating the overhead canopy. She’d heard shifters weren’t exactly shy about their bodies, but she kind of thought they’d at least cup the dangling bits for the sake of modesty.
The shifter’s long, wavy hair looked blue-black under the moonlight, his eyes, deep-set and intense under heavy black brows. His cheekbones were sharp, the lower half of his face concealed by a thick black beard. Dress the man in a double-breasted frock coat, hand him a cutlass and Morgan thought he’d make a great pirate.
“Who’s this?” the shifter asked, the growl still present in his voice.
“This is Morgan Rhys. She’s a Hunter, here to investigate Olivier Rodolfo.”
A rather vicious snarl met that pronouncement as glowing amber eyes looked her up and down. “It’s about time you people did something to police your own.”
Her first instinct was to defend her kind despite the fact that she knew they were flawed, especially when seen through the lens of other races’ standards. To a shifter, who valued loyalty, family, and pack above all else, the Born, whose driving force was the obtainment of power and wealth at any cost, must seem like monsters. On the flip side, the majority of the Born saw shifters as weak, sentimental creatures, easily manipulated and insignificant in the hierarchy of the supernatural world.
Neither side was likely to be convinced otherwise, so Morgan held her tongue and merely offered a tight smile as Travis finished the introduction with, “Morgan, meet Archer Langley, alpha of the New Orleans wolfpack.
Another wolf darted out from the concealing brush to rub its sleek body up against the alpha’s leg, and the man uncrossed his arms to run a large hand down the length of his packmate’s silvery coat. “You’re taking her to your place?”
Travis had a place here? Biting her tongue rather than blurting out a question that would be answered without her prompting in a matter of seconds, she saw Travis nod sharply which elicited another rumbly grunting sound from Archer Langley before he said, “I’ll let the others know.”
Falling into step as Travis began to lead her away, she heard the alpha inhale deeply before he asked, “Are others with you?”
Travis didn’t even bother to look back. “Those vamps are up for grabs. Happy hunting, my friend.”
A deep belly laugh, rife with anticipation followed by a piercing howl faded behind them as Morgan and Travis trekked deeper into the swamps.
Chapter Sixteen
As they approached his house, a rather weathered wooden structure built on stilts and concealed by an abundance of Spanish moss, Travis held his breath. He knew it wasn’t much to look at on the outside, but on this inside, he’d created a sanctuary. A place where he could truly be himself, and he hoped, as irrational as it seemed, that Morgan approved.
She hugged his arm as they climbed the rickety wooden steps and teased, “So you have a little love nest in the swamp? Is this where you take all your lovers?”
A question that had started playfully, he couldn’t help but notice, had grown a distinct edge by the time she finished. Inordinately pleased by the sharp bite of jealousy she hadn’t quite been able to disguise, Travis was happy to inform her, “I’ve never brought anyone here. In fact, you’ll be the only person besides me who has ever crossed the threshold.”
