The Recruit (Book Three) (3 page)

She continued
to cry and he held her a little tighter. “Don’t quit, Selena. Give
it a few weeks, alright? I know you think it has nothing to do with
what just happened but I think you’re wrong. Take some time to
really decide what it is you want. You’re a damn good vampire
killer, you just need to realize that.”

“I hate this.”
Her voice was muffled against his shirt and he stroked her curly
dark hair.

“We all do. But
you’ve been bitten. If you leave, the leeches will find you sooner
or later. It’s better for you to be here where you’re protected and
have friends to help keep you safe. Right?”

“I guess.” She
sighed.

She leaned back
and stared up at him. Her cheeks were wet and he wiped at them
gently with his thumbs. She inhaled sharply and her gaze dropped to
his mouth.

He cleared his
throat nervously. “Selena, I think – “

She stood on
her tiptoes and pressed her mouth against his. He jerked in
surprise and her arms tightened around his waist before she pushed
at his lips with her tongue. With a soft groan, he parted them and
she slid her tongue into his mouth and touched his delicately.

He cupped her
face with one large hand, his fingers tangling in the softness of
her hair and kissed her back. She moaned into his mouth and the
soft sound had his cock hardening in his jeans. He kissed her
deeply before licking her bottom lip with his tongue. She moaned
again and he sucked lightly at her top lip as she pressed herself
against his erection. He cupped her small, firm breast through her
t-shirt and she arched her back and shivered against him. He
trailed a path of soft kisses down her throat before licking her
warm skin.

“Selena.” He
whispered.

She pushed away
from him, her face red and her mouth swollen from his kisses, and
gave him a look of shame mixed with desire. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t
have done that.”

Before he could
reply, she yanked open the door and ran from the room.

Chapter 3

Hannah slammed
the door of the truck shut and stared apprehensively at the
farmhouse. Her pulse thudding heavily, she started up the steps of
the porch. The door flung open and her mom charged out on to the
porch and threw her arms around her.

“Oh, Hannah.”
She kissed her repeatedly on the cheek as she squeezed her tightly
and Hannah’s eyes started to water when her mom burst into
tears.

“We were so
worried. Come in, right now.”

She followed
her mom in and was immediately surrounded by her father and the
twins. Reuben, barking shrilly, was dancing at her feet and her
mother scooped him up and scolded him lightly as her dad hugged her
tightly.

“Hi, baby
girl.”

“Hi, dad.” She
smiled at him and he kissed her forehead before stepping back and
letting Luther and Tyrone at her. She hugged them tightly, kissing
first Tyrone’s cheek and then Luther’s before smiling at them.

“You two look
great.”

Luther rolled
his eyes. “You saw us four days ago.”

“I know. It
feels longer.” She kissed them again and they both groaned and
pushed away from her.

“She’s got a
point.” Tyrone said. “The last time she saw us we were covered in
ash and blood from the vampire ass we kicked.”

He held up his
hand and Luther fist bumped it before turning back to Hannah. “Hey,
has that cold stone fox been asking about me?”

He wiggled his
eyebrows at her as Tyrone punched him in the back. “She’s a wolf,
you idiot.”

“I know!”
Luther scowled at him before punching him in the arm. “You think I
don’t know what my future wife is?”

“Please! One
little kiss don’t mean she’s gonna lie on her back and spread her –
“

“Tyrone!” Jim
said sharply.

Tyrone shut his
mouth with a snap and gave Natalie a guilty look. “Sorry,
ma’am.”

“That’s
alright, dear.” Natalie patted his arm. “But let’s remember that a
gentleman never speaks poorly of a woman. Right?”

“Right, ma’am.”
Tyrone replied.

Natalie curled
her arm around Hannah’s shoulders and led her into the kitchen.
“Come sit down, honey. We’ll have a cup of tea. Your father is
determined to give you a lecture for staying away so long and you
know that normally I’d remind him that you’re a grown woman and
free to live your own life, but not this time I’m afraid. You
really do owe us an apology.”

“I’m sorry.”
Hannah said sincerely. “I shouldn’t have been avoiding you, it’s
just that – “

She took a deep
breath and smiled at her dad. “Go ahead, lecture. I’m ready.”

Her dad shook
his head and squeezed her hand as he sat down next to her. “I’m
just glad you’re okay, Hannah Banana.”

“Softie.”
Natalie muttered under her breath before smiling cheerfully at the
four of them. “Who wants pie with the tea?”

Luther and
Tyrone jumped up and hurried into the pantry to grab the pie as
Natalie put the kettle on and took down five plates.

“Is Heather
okay?” Hannah asked suddenly.

“She’s fine.
She was actually out here earlier this morning for a visit. We’ve
been staying at the farmhouse with the boys and I asked her to stay
too but she wanted to go back home.” Natalie replied.

“Are you okay,
Hannah?” Her father gave her a sympathetic look and squeezed her
hand again. “Barb told us about Richard and about Chen losing his
hand. How is he?”

“I’m not really
sure. He woke up yesterday and I visited with him for a bit but he
was still a little groggy. We didn’t really talk about his
hand.”

Her throat
burning and tears threatening again, she accepted the steaming mug
of tea her mother held out to her. She sipped cautiously at it as
Luther and Tyrone dug into their pieces of apple pie.

“Poor Chen.”
Natalie sighed. “I wanted to go and visit him but Mannie won’t let
us into the facility right now.”

“They’re still
doing clean up.” Hannah replied. “Trust me, you don’t want to see
the place.”

“So many lives
lost.” Natalie sighed again. “How is Will? I’m surprised he didn’t
come with you.”

Hannah winced.
“Listen, mom, dad, there’s something I need to tell you. It’s um,
it’s kind of complicated but when I was fighting Samuel, he stabbed
me. Will was there and he – “

She paused,
feeling her cheeks heating up and her hands trembling. How exactly
did one tell their parents that their daughter was a Lycan now?

“He - and I
want you to know that he did this to save my life – he, well….”

“He bit you. We
already know, dear.” Natalie popped a forkful of pie into her mouth
and chewed delicately before staring at Luther.

“Luther,
dearest, you have apple on your face.”

He swiped at
his face and she grinned and wiped away the chunk of apple with her
thumb.

“Thank you,
Natalie.” Luther said politely.

“You’re
welcome, dear. Why don’t you and Tyrone have another piece each but
that’s it. Supper will be ready in a few hours. You’re staying for
supper, I assume?” She arched her eyebrow at Hannah.

Hannah, her
mouth open and her eyes wide, stared at her mother and then at her
father. He was washing down the last bite of his pie with a swallow
of tea and he winked at his wife. “The pie was delicious, Nat.
Thank you.”

“You’re
welcome, honey.”

“Mom…” Hannah
reached out and touched her mother’s hand.

“Yes?”

“I – you
understand what this means, right?”

“Of course we
do.” She frowned at Hannah.

“It means
you’re gonna wolf out and howl at the moon.” Tyrone snickered as
Luther grinned at her.

“You should
shift right now – let’s see what you look like.”

“No!” Hannah
took a deep breath. “I – I don’t have a lot of control over it
right now. I’ve only shifted once and I – well, let’s just say it
didn’t go well.”

“That’s
alright, honey. You’ll get the hang of it.” Her father patted her
hand before carrying his plate to the sink. He rinsed it and placed
it in the dishwasher before lifting the kettle. “More tea,
Nat?”

“Yes, please.”
She said cheerfully. She smiled at Tyrone when he took her empty
plate and carried it to the counter. “Thank you, Tyrone. You’re
such a sweet boy.”

“Not that you
aren’t either, Luther.” She went on hastily. “You know I love both
my boys.”

“We love you
too.” Tyrone said shyly. His face red, he dropped a quick kiss on
her cheek before sitting back down beside Luther. He ignored his
brother when Luther elbowed him in the ribs and muttered, “pussy”
under his breath.

Hannah stared
at the four of them before leaning forward. “Mom, you know I’m not
the same anymore, right? I’m a Lycan now and I – “

“You’re still
our Hannah. And honestly, we’re just grateful you’re alive. We
don’t care what you are. Well, obviously we’re thankful you’re not
one of those horrid leeches.” Her mother replied with a frown.

“You’re not
afraid of me?”

“Why would we
be?” Her father gave her a blank look.

“I don’t know,
I just…” Hannah trailed off.

“Is that why
you’ve been avoiding us? Because you thought we’d be scared of
you?” Her mother shook her head. “Oh Hannah. You know us better
than that.”

“Although,” she
frowned in sudden thought, “I do hope this doesn’t mean you’ll stop
eating vegetables. I know Lycans like meat but it’s important to
maintain a healthy balance. You have to promise me you’ll keep
eating your vegetables, dear.”

When Hannah
didn’t reply, she raised her eyebrows at her. “Promise me.”

“I
promise.”

“Good.” Natalie
smiled in satisfaction and took another drink of tea.

Hannah, feeling
a strange mixture of fierce gratitude and shock, stared at her
uneaten piece of pie. “How did you know I was a Lycan?”

There was no
reply and she glanced up to see her parents giving her an odd
look.

“Mom? Dad? How
did you know?” She persisted.

Jim frowned at
her. “Will told us. Didn’t he tell you?”

“What?” She
stared at him in shock and pushed her plate away.” You’ve seen him?
When? How?”

“He came by the
farmhouse the morning after the attack at the facility. We had just
gotten here ourselves and Mannie had just dropped the boys off to
us.” Natalie said gently. “He was in his wolf form and terribly
upset. It took us forever to convince him to shift to his human
form and talk to us.”

“He’s terribly
upset?” Hannah snapped. “He just took off after saving my life.
He’s been roaming around the woods for the last four days avoiding
everyone except my parents, apparently, and I had no idea if he was
even okay. He just leaves me to deal with this alone, and he’s
terribly upset?”

Her voice was
rising and Jim gave Natalie an uneasy look before holding Hannah’s
hand. “Honey, I know you don’t want to hear this right now but Will
feels awful for what he did.”

“Well, he
shouldn’t.” Hannah snapped again. “He saved my life and if he
wasn’t being such a stubborn jackass, I’d tell him that
myself.”

She made
herself take a deep breath. “Why did he come to the farmhouse?”

“He wanted to
tell us himself what he had done.” Jim replied. “He didn’t want
there to be any misunderstanding about why he bit you.”

“The poor boy.
You know, I actually think he expected Jim to just haul off and hit
him.” Natalie shook her head. “We, of course, were just grateful
that he had saved your life.”

“Has he been
back?” Hannah asked.

“No. We haven’t
seen him since. Honestly, I assumed that he was going back to the
facility to check on you.”

“Well, he
didn’t.” Hannah retorted.

“I think he
just needs some time.” Natalie said softly. “He’s changed your life
forever and I know it was done to save you, but it’s a still a
difficult thing to process.”

“He’s still a
jackass.”

“Oh,
undoubtedly.” Natalie grinned at her. “Did I ever tell you about
the time that your father decided he would cut my hair?”

Her father
groaned and stood up. “That’s my cue to leave. Boys? Shall we
retire to the living room and watch football?”

The three of
them left the room as Natalie settled back in her chair. “It was
just after we were married, long before you came along, and your
father had just started his own accounting practice. It wasn’t
doing great and we were tight on money so we started looking for
ways to cut expenses. Your father had the brilliant idea that he
would cut my hair. I was, as you can imagine, skeptical but I did
need a trim so I took a chance.”

“And?”

“Oh my gosh, it
was awful! Your father couldn’t cut a straight line to save his
life.” Natalie said dramatically. “He just kept cutting and cutting
– just to even up the edges - and finally I just ripped the damn
scissors out of his hand. I went to the bathroom mirror, took one
look at myself, and burst into tears. I looked like a lead singer
from a terrible nineties rock band. Do you remember how bad their
hair was?”

Hannah couldn’t
stop the grin. “Yeah, I remember.”

“I was so mad
at your father, I wouldn’t talk to him for a week straight. He felt
terrible, of course. Kept begging for my forgiveness and asking
what he could do to make it better. He even booked me an
appointment at my regular salon to get it fixed, but I refused to
go at first. I was just being petty and miserable, but eventually I
got over myself and went to the appointment. After all, I had said
he could cut my hair.”

Hannah smiled
again. “I can’t believe you never told me that story before.”

“Well, I didn’t
act very kind in it, did I? I wasn’t keen on telling either you or
your sister that I could, from time to time, be a spoiled brat.”
Natalie laughed.