Page 76 of Huntress Unleashed

“Thanks. I’ll be right down.”

Then he reappeared downstairs, startling Princess, who quickly greeted him with a rub against his legs. Dane wondered what it would be like to have a dog. Would their sudden vampiric appearances in a new place make the dog bark?

Dane began putting the cat food in the pantry and filled her water dish up. He set up her litter box out in the mudroom off the foyer. Then Dane got on his phone to call Matt. “Hey, brother, we have a new development.” He explained the situation to his oldest brother.

“Ah, hell. You should have called us right away.”

“We weren’t in any danger since Jacqueline’s brother and Tobias were here,” Dane said.

“What about tonight? I mean, if the hunters are after you and the Bremertons, how safe are you at your house?” Matt asked.

“They’ll think I’m alone, but I won’t be.”

“And if they outnumber you?”

“We can vanish, reappear at your home even.”

“Ahh, hell, no. I’m having a date with Marissa. She would have a heart attack at first. Then pull her sword out next.”

Dane smiled. “You’re finally going out with her. Well…if things even get serious between the two of you, she’s going to have to know what she’s getting herself into with regard to one of your brothers.”

“She’s sympathetic to your cause.”

“Being sympathetic and really experiencing being around us, are two different scenarios.”

“True. But really, all of us will land in on your place to protect your backs if you need us to,” Matt said.

“Even Marissa?”

“I’ll talk to her.”

“Maybe this will be the perfect way to break her in,” Dane said. “She might just decide it’s too much to deal with.”

“Then she won’t be the one for me.”

“That’s true,” Dane said. “But she could come around if she got to know us and came to love us.”

His brother laughed. “Well, we’re only on our first date.”

“Well, she might be fine with it. So right now, we’re okay, but if we need to, we’ll call you and get hold of Adonis and he and the others like us can come help us a lot faster and then you can join us.”

“You and Jacqueline want to spend the time together alone,” Matt guessed.

“Yeah, we need it.”

“Yeah, you do. But we don’t want the two of you to be at risk. I mean it,” Matt said.

“I agree. If they don’t get these guys soon and we’re afraid the hunters have hired someone else to take us out, either we’ll move onto the Bremerton compound, or we’ll have you stay with us,” Dane said. Sure, he wanted to have the time to spend alone with Jacqueline, but more importantly, he wanted to make sure she stayed safe.

“Okay, I’ll let you go.”

“Have fun on your date.”

“I will.”

Then they ended the call and he smiled when he saw Jacqueline joining him wearing her bathing suit. “This is what I love about your house,” she said, running her hands over his chest. “Your swimming pool.”

He chuckled. “I knew there was a reason you were so taken with me.”