The Hunt (By Kiss and Claw #2) - Melissa Haag Page 0,102

a moment that Megan would believe I’d sent that. But, the new message that came in before I could tell Megan what was going on made me pause.

Megan: You sound like you need a Fenris hug.

“I agree,” Fenris said, spinning me around.

I put my arm up to block him.

“Hugs later; business first.”

“I’ll hold you to that promise.”

I rolled my eyes at him and tugged free to look at River.

“Megan already knows about Ashlyn, which is why I’m here. And she also knows you’ve been harassing me in an attempt to bring her home.”

The phone in my hand rang, and seeing it was Megan, I answered on speaker.

“Well, that’s not a good sign. I was hoping you’d be too busy to answer me,” Megan said.

“There’s mermaids to the right of me, druids to my left, and I’m stuck in the middle with a hug happy werewolf. Your suggestion was poorly timed.”

“Mermaids?” Megan said, her voice losing its humor. “What are they doing now?”

“One of them sent that message. They’re still trying to bait you home. You’re on speaker, by the way.”

“Good. Listen up, bottom-feeders. Honeymoon’s almost over, and I’m ready for round two of whack-a-mermaid. Get the boat ready. I’ll pop in on Snake Island to let the Oracle know.”

River hissed at me, her face contorting with her hate.

“Seriously, Eliana. Three seconds, and I can be there,” Megan said.

River and the other mermaids glared and walked for the door. The mermaid in the pool hopped out, her legs forming in a blink. She hurried after the rest.

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” I said. “The mermaids left.”

“And the druids?” Megan asked. “Have they figured out where Ashlyn went yet?”

“We’re still trying to figure out what went wrong,” Lauv said. “We’re casting location spells and can’t find Ashlyn. But we also know she’s not dead. That means someone or something is blocking her.”

“Any ideas what or who?”

The three exchanged glances.

“No,” Anne admitted. “Does this mean you’re going to get the Council involved now?”

Megan gave a derisive laugh.

“They already know Ashlyn is missing and are doing nothing productive about it. I doubt letting them know the three of you are responsible for casting the spell that caused her to disappear will help Ashlyn. I’d prefer to go a different route and will need you three available for questions. Eliana can send me your information so I can contact you.”

The three druids exchanged quick glances.

“Don’t even think about disappearing outside the barrier,” I added. “You don’t want Megan hunting you down for answers.”

“No, you do not,” Megan agreed. “And, no more spells while you wait for me to contact you. You three obviously don’t know what you’re doing, and I don’t want you to make it any worse.”

“Agreed,” Meg said. “Thank you, fury.”

“Is business done now?” Fenris asked from behind me.

“Business?” Megan asked.

“I told him no hugs until we took care of business first. You can’t send hug texts, Megan. He gets too excited.”

She started laughing.

“Business is done. Have fun, Fenris.”

The phone disconnected, and I gave Fenris a quick, panicked look.

“Not while I’m wet.”

He arched a brow, a slow smile creeping onto his lips.

My eyes went black in response.

“Cut it out.”

“I’m not the one talking about—”

I clapped a hand over his mouth.

“Don’t,” I warned.

The mongrel had the audacity to lick my palm.

“Zero self-preservation,” I said, removing my hand and crossing my arms. “Unless we’re interested in running into Adira and waiting to see what additional trouble Eras and the mermaids can cause, I think we should leave.”

“Agreed.”

He tugged one of my arms away from my chest to hold my hand and led me from the pool room. People stared, and I couldn’t blame them. How many times had I squelched my way down these halls in recent weeks? Too many times to recall.

A few minutes later, we were in my car, a blanket once again protecting the seats.

“I really don’t want to go to the Quills’ for another pool change. Seeing us like this again would raise more questions than I want to answer. But, Mrs. Quill would be more than willing to let Adira know we’d like to talk if you want to get this girlfriend thing out in the open.”

“Girlfriend thing?” he echoed with an arched brow. “I have a better idea. Trust me?”

“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have agreed to your proposal this morning.”

“You make agreeing to be my girlfriend sound indecent. I like it.”

I snorted and turned up the heat. I was so busy trying to warm my fingers that I