Hunting Season: Werewolf Bodyguard Romance (Guarded by the Shifter Book 1) by Kate Rudolph (e novels to read online .TXT) 📕

Luna just laughed. "He's yummy. We both have eyes. Do I need to give you the pansexuality lecture again?"

"Please don't." There had been a PowerPoint involved. Stasia now understood more about Luna's sexual orientation than she did about her own, and she really didn't want to sit through another talk.

"So?" Luna pressed.

"Just ignore him and hope he goes away." That was what Stasia planned to do. She knew it was childish to leave her house like she had, but she wanted to scream at the way Owen had been sprung on her. She hadn't agreed, and she wasn't going to just put up with her family's high handedness.

"Did a stray follow you home?" Luna peered around a corner as if that would allow her to look through the plexiglass window that looked out into the waiting area. It wouldn't, the angle was all wrong, but Stasia wasn't about to stop her.

"Something like that." Thankfully, Stasia was done looking at the file and could escape the conversation to go see her patient and discuss the weird sores he was getting on his feet.

One patient led to the next, and by the end of her four hour shift, Stasia was starting to feel like she could use a break. She'd happily keep checking on people all day, but she was only scheduled for four hours anyway.

She washed her hands and combed her fingers through her hair to try and make it look a little tamer before retying it in a low bun. "Is he still out there?" she asked Luna, who was entering her own information into the computer.

"Like I have time to check," she said with a nod at the computer, and Stasia was sympathetic. Everything needed to be logged, and it could take up way more time than expected. "There's something I wanted to mention."

"Yeah?" Luna sounded serious and that had Stasia's attention.

The nurse looked around surreptitiously like she was planning something, and Stasia's heart rate skyrocketed as she feared her friend was in on the kidnapping plot. Then she spoke, and Stasia wanted to smack herself for thinking that everything was about herself. "I'm applying for a new position."

"Oh. That's… great." But her tone belied her words. Stasia was great under pressure, but not always great with change. It was why her entire life was a bit stalled at the moment. And she liked Luna. She didn't want to break in a whole new nurse, or lose a friend.

Luna spun around on the stool to better face Stasia. "I'm sorry to abandon you, but it's a great opportunity."

"You're not abandoning me." Jobs changed, this was fine. Really. Stasia would get over it.

But Luna still wasn't done talking. "I just know your schedule is sporadic. I didn't want to disappear on you."

Right. That would have been much worse. Luna was her friend, and Stasia didn't know if it would last beyond this job, but at least Luna was warning her. "Thanks for letting me know. And good luck."

Luna had to go help a patient, and Stasia couldn't stick around. She had another meeting to go to, though this one wasn't on any schedule.

As she stepped outside, she didn't see Owen or her security detail, but she was sure they were following. Her father didn't hire imbeciles. She headed back down to the subway and got on a train towards Midtown.

Owen magically appeared next to her, and Stasia hated that she was a little relieved. That half a second where she'd thought Luna was about to betray her had been a shock, and the trauma of yesterday was still a little too close.

"Where are we going now?" Owen asked with a smile, his dark hair ruffled and dangerously sexy.

She hated it. How was this guy so upbeat? And hot? She had treated him like crap, ignored him for hours, and now he was all smiles. What was wrong with him?

"I guess you'll find out."

They didn't speak any more. Stasia had been talking to patients for hours and it was tiring. She didn't need to spar with the guy she was about to get rid of.

Their stop came up fast and Owen followed her off the train without a word. Men and women in suits crowded the Midtown sidewalks and Stasia kept a wary eye out, certain one of these people meant her harm.

No one accosted them and they made it safely to the Selby Building, its signature door surrounded by twisting crimson sculpted lines almost as familiar as home after all these years.

She already had her badge ready and waved it across the sensor to get into the elevator to go to the executive floor. Her father's office was the biggest, of course, with windows that wrapped around the corner and allowed him to look out over all of Manhattan.

When she was little, she used to think looking out of these windows let her see the entire world.

Her father wasn't sitting behind his desk, and the surface of the desk was completely empty, a sign that he wasn't coming back for the day.

One of his assistants, Melody, if Stasia recalled the name correctly, came in. She wore a lavender pant suit and had her blonde hair held back in a tight bun. "He flew out for a meeting this morning. Is there something I can help you with, Dr. Nichols?"

Stasia liked Melody. She hoped her father didn't end up marrying her when he got bored with Riley. "My brother?" she asked. AR was a decent substitute.

"I'll get him." Melody hurried out of the office.

Owen stood quietly beside her as they waited, swaying a little as if he couldn't quite manage to keep still. She wanted to reach a hand out to stop him from moving, but she feared a part of that was just because she wanted an excuse to touch him.

No. She wasn't doing that.

Thankfully, AR walked in before Stasia's baser instincts could take over.