The Recruit: Book One (20 page)

* * *

William spotted the light in Chen’s training room and headed
towards it.  He needed to speak with him, and it was dinner time which meant
that Hannah would be in the cafeteria with the other recruits.  He pushed open
the door and stepped into the small room.

“Chen, I need to speak with you about – “

He stopped when he realized that Hannah was kneeling on a
small mat just a few feet away.  Her head was bowed and a katana sword rested
loosely in her lap.

She rose to her feet with a fluid grace that Will had never
seen in her before.  She turned and gave him a tentative smile.  “Hello, Will.”

She was dressed in her usual training clothes, a sports bra,
yoga pants and tank top, and his eyes traveled over her body before he could
stop himself.  It had been weeks since he had been this close to her and as he
inhaled, smelling the sweet scent of strawberries, he could feel his pulse
speeding up.

“What are you doing in here?”  He asked, more harshly then
he intended.

She shrugged.  “Waiting for Chen.  He’s meeting with
Richard.”

“Why aren’t you having dinner with the other recruits?”

She smiled.  “I usually eat a little later.”

He cursed in his head.  He knew she didn’t spend much time
with the other recruits, of course he did.  Although it had only taken a few
weeks for others to begin to treat him like they had before, Hannah hadn’t been
so lucky.  It had been two months, and the other recruits still actively
avoided her or talked about her behind her back.  Mannie had told him that
nearly everyone, recruits and instructors alike, believed that she was only in
the program because she had slept with him and Darren. 

Will sighed.  He felt terrible about what he had done to her
and the worst part was that she didn’t hate him for it.  Everything that was
happening to her was completely his fault and yet, as she stared quietly at him
with her dark eyes, he could see the same warmth in them that had always been
there.

“I’m sorry.”  He said hoarsely.

She shrugged.  “I made my bed.  I can lie in it.  In fact,
I’m thinking of fashioning myself a big scarlet “L” to stitch on the ass of my
pants.  If I’m going to be called a Lycan whore I might as well dress the
part.”

He gave her a look of dismay and she smiled at him.  “Stop
worrying, Will.  I’m a big girl. I can handle the gossip.  Besides, I’ve still
got Selena and Tyler and Alison on my side.”

“What the fuck is Jeremy’s problem?”

She smiled again.  “Jealousy.”

He knew he should go; it was dangerous to stay in the same
room with Hannah.  If anyone saw them alone together, even if it was completely
innocent, Hannah would not be given a second chance.

He didn’t want to go.  All he had thought about for the last
two months was Hannah.  Her soft skin, her laugh, how good it felt to have her
in his arms.  For the first time in his life he had lost control, and he had no
idea how to deal with it.  He had thought that staying away from her would
solve the problem but now, standing only a few feet away from her, his eyes
drifting over the myriad of small scars on her bare arms, he realized it had only
made it worse. 

He took a step back, placing more distance between them, and
pointed to her arms.  “What happened to your arms?”

She glanced down at them, her lips pursed with amusement. 
“Swords are sharp Will, and I’m slow.”  She paused and he heard the smug satisfaction
in her voice when she said, “At least I used to be.”

There was a moment of awkward silence and then Hannah asked
softly, “Would you like me to tell Chen you’re looking for him?”

He nodded and turned to leave.  Before he opened the door he
looked back at her and blurted out, “I’m not sleeping with Leanne.”

She blinked in surprise and he cleared his throat.  “I’ve
never slept with Leanne, not before or after you.  I just thought you should
know that.”

“I’ve never slept with Darren or Jeremy.”  She replied
softly.  “Only you.”

A little shiver of desire went down his back at her last
sentence.  The way she was looking at him was driving him crazy.  He wondered
if she would object if he kissed her right now.  If he took her back to his room,
pulled off all of her clothes and did all the things to her he’d been dreaming
of for the last two months.

He took a step towards her, feeling the muscles in his body
tightening and enlarging. His pulse beat loudly in his ears and the objects in
the room started to sharpen.  Hannah’s scent filled his head.  Only this time
under the scent of strawberries, he could clearly smell her desire for him. 
The increased clarity of vision and the sharpened sense of smell were signs
that he was about to shift, and he closed his eyes in a bid to control himself.

It didn’t help.  Immediately, a vision of Hannah lying naked
under him, all soft moans and warm and willing flesh, flashed through his head. 
He would lead her deep into the forest where no one would find them.  He would
lay her down on the soft ground and make love to her under the cold light of
the moon.  And when she was coming, her body shaking with pleasure beneath his,
he would bite her warm skin, taste her blood in his mouth and mark her forever
as his.  They would shift together.  They would hunt and mate and there would
be no fear of hurting her.  His body shivered violently and he could feel it
changing; the shift was happening and he couldn’t - didn’t want to - stop it.

“Will!”  Hannah’s voice broke through the haze, and with an
enormous amount of effort he pulled himself back from the brink.  He looked at
her, his eyes a blazing, golden yellow, and her hand tightened around her
sword.

“Will?”

“The moon will be full in two days.”  He said hoarsely. 

He inhaled deeply.  “You want me, Hannah.  I can smell it. 
I want you too.  I’m tired of fighting it.”

Her body stiffened, and she took a step backwards.  “You
need to leave right now, Will.  Do you hear me?  Get out of this room.”

“Please don’t be afraid of me.”  He whispered.

“I’m not afraid of you.”  She spoke impatiently.  “But I’ll
be damned if I get my ass kicked out of the program now.”

“I can control it.”  He muttered.

“No, you can’t, and neither can I.  Do us both a favour and
leave before we do something we’ll regret.”  Her entire body was trembling and
her cheeks were bright red.

“Please.”  She whispered.  “You know how this will end if
you don’t leave right now.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know.  Please go now, okay?”

He nodded.  “Good night, Hannah.”

“Good night, Will.”

“Ahh!  You stupid bitch!”  Alex dropped the sword and
gripped his hand tightly.  Chen could see bright blood dripping from between
his fingers.

“Fuck, Hannah!  What the hell is your problem tonight?”  Alex
said sullenly.  He picked up his katana and wiped his hand across the padded
shirt he was wearing.  It left a smear of bright red.

“Poor baby.  Should we switch back to the bokutos?  It
doesn’t seem like you can handle the live blades.”  Hannah taunted.

“Goddammit!”  Alex shouted and lunged for her.  He jabbed
his katana at her and she easily parried the attack.  Before he could move out
of striking range, Hannah used the quick strike method to flick her blade
across the back of his forearm.

Alex shouted with pain and anger as more blood appeared on
his arm.  He looked down at his arm in disbelief and then up at Hannah.

She was circling around him, panting softly and grinning. 
“Ready to go again?”  She arched her eyebrow at him.

“You’ll pay for that.”  He whispered.

She laughed as she circled behind him.  “We’ll see about
that, little boy.”

His face red with rage, Alex turned to face her.  Before
they could start again, Chen’s soft voice interrupted them.  “Enough.”

Alex immediately placed his sword on the ground and turned
to Chen.  He gave a short bow and then stood silently, staring down at the
floor.

Chen looked at Hannah. She was pacing back and forth like a
hungry tiger.  Her eyes were too bright and her cheeks were flushed with
colour.

“Hannah.”  Chen said quietly.

“We’re not done yet, Master.  Five more minutes.”  She
panted.

She stalked around Alex.  “Don’t be scared, Alex.”  She
goaded.  “I’ll go easy on you.”

Alex’s back stiffened and his hands curled into tight
fists.  The wound on his hand had clotted, but the slash to his arm had been
deeper and it was steadily dripping blood onto the mat he was standing on.

“Hannah.”  Chen’s voice was still quiet but there was anger
in it now.  Hannah glanced at him and then lowered her katana.  A brief look of
shame crossed her face.

“I’m sorry, Master.”

He stared sternly at her and she turned to Alex.  “Alex, I’m
sorry.  I went too far.”  She looked at the blood on his arm.  “I didn’t mean
to – “

“Forget it, Hannah.”  Alex said grumpily.

“Alex, go to the infirmary and have Barb stitch up your
arm.”  Chen instructed, handing him a towel.  Refusing to look at Hannah, he
bowed to Chen and left the room, holding the towel to his arm.

Hannah paced back and forth as Chen watched her quietly.  He
had come back from his meeting with Richard to find Hannah tense and jittery. 
She had told him Will was looking for him, her face flushing a little when she
said his name, before beginning to practice her technique. 

He had never seen her like this before.  Out of all of his
students, she had been the quickest to understand that a clear head and a calm
mind were their most valuable assets when fighting.  She had progressed so much
faster than the other two partly because of her ability to clear her mind and
focus solely on defeating her opponent.

Tonight she was full of nervous energy.  Her usual smooth
and languid fighting technique had been replaced with hard and short bursts of
angry movements, which, while still effective, were much more difficult to
control.

“Did it please you to cut Alex so deeply?”  He asked.

She looked down at the network of fine scars on her arms.  “It
didn’t displease me.”  She responded cheekily.

“You’ve achieved a greater fighting ability than Alex.  You
show no honour in throwing that in his face.”  There was a hint of disappointment
in Chen’s voice.

Hannah looked at him, her eyes blazing with anger.  “Then
perhaps it’s time I find someone more worthy to fight!  I’m tired of sparring
with Alex and Paul.  Handing them their asses on a daily basis has lost its
charm.”

Chen’s mouth twitched upwards briefly before he sighed
deeply.  “If it’s a challenge you’re asking for, then it’s a challenge you’ll
get.  Come with me.”

He paused at the door.  “Bring both of your blades.”

* * *

“What’s going on?”  Will snagged Ryan as he hurried past him
in the hallway.  In the last two minutes, seven recruits and Isabelle and Aaron
had passed by him, their faces lit with excitement.

Ryan paused.  “Chen and Hannah are fighting in the main
training room.”

“So?”  Will frowned.  It was not uncommon for Chen to bring
his students to the larger training room for sparring practice.

“They’re using live blades!”  Ryan crowed.  He ran down the
hallway, disappearing around the corner.

Will’s body stiffened with shock.  Although Chen’s students
often fought each other with live blades, wearing padded clothing as
protection, Chen insisted on the bokutos when sparring with his students.  The
chances of him seriously injuring or killing them were too high, and even his
most advanced students were wary of using living blades against him.

With a muttered curse, Will raced down the hallway to the
main training room.  He pushed open the door, surprised to see the large crowd
that had gathered in the room.  It seemed like nearly every recruit was there,
and the instructors had gathered to watch as well.

He stood at the back and looked over the heads of the
crowd.  The floor in the center of the training room was covered in a layer of
mats and he could see Hannah, her upper body covered in a thick padded shirt and
a katana blade in each hand, standing at the edge of them.

“She was doing better before the crowd showed up.  I think
all the people have thrown her off a bit.”  A voice murmured in his ear.  He
looked down to see Mannie standing next to him.

“When they first came in here, it was just me and the
babies.  They started fighting.  It took me a minute to realize they were using
live blades.  I mean, have you ever seen a student fight Chen with live blades?”

Will shook his head.  In a voice filled with admiration, Mannie
said, “I told you she had balls of goddamn steel.”

Will didn’t reply.  He watched as Hannah jabbed and thrust
her blades with deadly speed.  Chen, his face serene, parried each attack.  The
crowd gasped when he feigned to the right and then brought his left blade up to
Hannah’s throat.  He stopped before he cut her and the two of them stepped
apart.  Hannah, her face red, circled around him, bouncing lightly on her bare
feet.

Will watched in amazement.  He had avoided Hannah for weeks
now, and he had no idea how far she had progressed in the kenjutsu.  Like Chen,
she moved with an elegant, languid grace.  Her body almost seemed to float
across the ground as she raised her blades and attacked him again.  She parried
his counter-attack with her left blade before jabbing her right blade at his
throat.  He blocked it and the crowd gasped at the ringing clash of the steel
blades.  With a small grunt, Chen shoved Hannah backwards.  She fell on to her
back and Chen attacked her again.  She blocked and when he raised the blades to
strike again, she rolled to her left, gaining her feet with catlike speed.