Stella sat in the conference room, looking around the very empty room. She glanced at her watch, then the clock on the wall. It was 9am, and it was Friday, so their weekly staff meeting should be going on, except she was the only one here.
With a frustrated growl, she checked her phone, nothing from Mac. Getting up she went back to her office, looked around for any notes and found nothing. Logged back into her computer, and no emails.
Now she was starting to get worried.
Mac isn’t the type to just not show up, neither is Danny. And considering what happened with the Sassone case, she hoped the two boys didn’t do anything stupid. She waited another ten minutes, then grabbed her purse, locked her office and stalked out of the labs. She was on her way to the parking garage, when one of the other detectives called out to her.
She gave him a half smile. “I’m sorry but I’m kinda in a rush.”
“I just wanted to make sure everything was okay?” He asked with concern. “After the attack last night, the cops are worried about Taylor and Messer.”
“What?!” She stared at him in shock. “What attack?”
He stepped back in shock. “Word got out, Sassone attacked Messer, Taylor intervened. Flack let a few of us know, to keep an eye out for Sassone. There’s some oldies making comment about Messer, but a few of the labrats laid in on them, so their sulking. I saw you leaving, figured you were on your way to check in on them.”
“I am now!” She grumbled, then gave him a smile. “Thanks for letting me know, unlike my boss who didn’t.”
“Don’t hurt him to bad.” He laughed, then stepped out of her way. “Let them know we’ve got their back. I know Messer thinks we don’t like him, but most of us know a good guy when we see him.”
“I will.” She gave him one last nod, before abandoning the idea of getting her car, and made her way to the front of the labs and hailed a taxi. She was going to kill Mac, when she saw him. How dare he not call her! She grabbed her phone, dialed Mac, got voicemail, then tried Flack, also got voicemail, and finally called Danny, shocking she got voicemail.
It took her twice as long to get to Mac’s with the morning rush hour, and by the time she knocked on his door, she was pissed. The door opened and before she could open her mouth to yell or curse Mac out, she was yanked inside. Without thought, she dropped her bag, slammed her elbow back, then twisted and kneed the guy holding her. When he let go, she yanked the lamp off the table and had it ready to defend herself.
“Stella put that down, it was my mothers!” Mac moved down the stairs taking the lamp from her hand. He then turned on the man who had assaulted her. “What the fuck, Blade this is Stella my friend and co-worker.”
Blade was impressed for a human she defended herself well. “Well she looks like a Rogue that three Clans are hunting.”
“A what?” She demanded.
“Hi Stella, would you like some coffee, this is going to be a long drawn out explanation.” Danny held out a cup, just the way she liked it.
She glared at Mac, then pushed past the Blade character, not at all surprised that Don was hiding in the kitchen. Giving Danny a smile, she took the cup of coffee, then his arm and headed for the kitchen. “You want to explain why you’re wearing Mac’s shirt?”
“That’s part of the long drawn out explanation.” He looked back at Mac, giving him a ‘save me’ look.
Mac was too busy glaring at Blade to notice. “What was that?” He demanded as soon as everyone was in the kitchen.
“Victoria.” The Hunter shook his head wondering how no one in New York realized that an NYPD CSI was a spitting image of the woman. He hoped to God that Victoria hadn’t realized it yet either, because she would not hesitate it use it to her advantage. “She’s a Rogue, like Sonny, but way more sophisticated and deadly.”
“She looks like Stella, the odds of that …”
“And you look like your uncle, could be an exact match except your slightly taller and hair is shorter, but those can be written off.” Blade pointed out, getting the Detective to think about it. “Inside the Vampire community there are many who look like, come from a long family line. They are unique in their existence, but still have similar looks. We’ll have to introduce you to the Meridii at some point, well in theory we have to introduce you to Nico, Sylum’s Clan Leader.”
“So my Stella looks like this Rogue?” He tried to work his brain around it. “What the hell has she done to be wanted by three Clans?”
“She’s obsessed with Tallikut’s Clan Leader, Benoit Francesious. He is an idiot when he gets near her. The man is the most upstanding person I’ve met. He’s genuinely kind to everyone, has an open heart to his Clan, family and friends, yet fucking deadly if pushed. Right now he’s a Royal Canadian Mountie working at the Canadian Embassy in Chicago, every inch a Mountie. But when it comes to Vitoria he’s a fucking moron.”
Mac tried not to smirk, but he had a feeling Blade didn’t talk bad about Clan Leaders often, but this seemed a bit personal. “Is Stella in danger?”
“Honestly, she could be. If Victoria finds out about her, she’ll use her anyway she can. Including stealing her ID and playing Stella.” He was honest about the threat. “I’m guessing they’re telling her about the Vampire thing now, you should sit her down to explain Victoria.”
“I’m not even sure how to explain that.” Mac closed his eyes, trying to curtail the frustration. If the one thing he noticed in just the few hours since he Bonded with Danny, was he felt emotions stronger, and they bled into his Mate or the other way around. It was great during sex, but anger or frustration could be detrimental while they were on a case or Mac had to deal with the higher ups. “Is she in New York?”
“At the moment we’re not sure. Benton is in Chicago, and thankfully recently finally, dear God finally, Mated. Though she almost fucked that up, but his Mate is a hard bitten Chicago cop who had no fucks to give, and shot Benton to keep him from being a moron.” One of Mac’s eyebrows raised. “When I say he’s a moron, he’s a moron. The theory is that they were married at some point in their past, and the connection just shorts his brain. Considering he was a Gaul, that’s an old connection.”
“All of this is going to take some time to get my head around.” Mac sighed, running his hands over his face. “Is there other Vampires in New York I should know about.”
“A few.” Blade’s smirk wasn’t encouraging.
Stella had her arms around Mac the moment he entered the kitchen. He held her tightly, taking in her scent. He would do anything to protect her, even take this Victoria out if need be. He stepped back, giving her a soft smile.
“I’m pissed you didn’t call me, but considering the circumstances I’ll forgive you.” She patted his cheek, then hugged him again, and whispered. “You’re happy, I can see it.”
“I am.” He whispered back, though he had a feeling Danny could hear him. “So did they catch you up on everything?”
“Sonny is a moron, Vampires are real, Don’s got a Mate flying in from somewhere, and you’re being trained to Hunt criminal elements inside the community, which is so you it’s not even funny.” She paused, hands on her hips. “Only one question…”
“Sure.” Danny couldn’t help the small laugh, he was just so relieved that their closest friend was good with everything.
“Is he single?” She pointed to Blade, whose eyes went wide at the question.
“I don’t have a Mate.” He answered not quite sure what else to say.
“Good you can take me to dinner on friday and explain a few more things.” She gave him a wink, then focused back on her three men. “Since I can’t call out, I’m going back to the lab, and check on some reports. Will let everyone know you two are okay, and let you know that more people have your back than you think.” She gave Danny a pointed look. “Don’t ever think about quitting again, do you hear me?”
“Yes Stella.” He knew not to cross her. “We’ll be back tomorrow.”
She gave him a kiss on the cheek, then one to Mac and Don. She winked at Blade as she left the kitchen, grabbed her bag from the floor, straightened the lamp then left the house.
“Wow.” Blade shook his head, not quite sure what to make of that. “Hell maybe I should just let her go after Victoria.”
“Don’t even think about it.” Mac pointed at him. “She would take over the criminal organization, and make it better.”
Blade could only laugh.
“She’s obsessed with Tallikut’s Clan Leader, Benoit Francesious. He is an idiot when he gets near her. The man is the most upstanding person I’ve met. He’s genuinely kind to everyone, has an open heart to his Clan, family and friends, yet fucking deadly if pushed. Right now he’s a Royal Canadian Mountie working at the Canadian Embassy in Chicago, every inch a Mountie. But when it comes to Vitoria he’s a fucking moron – LOL