The Recruit (Book Three) (35 page)

He forced
himself to concentrate on the slender brunette sitting in front of
them. She was a tiny little thing. He doubted she was taller than
5’4” and if she weighed a hundred pounds he would be surprised. Her
dark hair was pulled into a bun high on her head and her light blue
eyes sparkled with intelligence and humour. He wondered idly what
she would look like with that dark hair drifting down her back and
frowned to himself. The woman was not his type. One - she was human
and two – as a wolf shifter, he preferred to take bigger, stronger
women to his bed. This one looked like a strong wind would blow her
down.

“That’s right.”
She smiled at Bishop. “Harvey is a great boss.”

Bishop pulled
at his tie again and cleared his throat. “So, uh, why are you
leaving?”

“Just looking
for something different.” She said cheerfully. “I suspect that
working for your security firm would be more exciting and
challenging than working for Harvey.”

“Uh, right.”
Bishop gave him a frantic look and shuffled the papers in front of
him as he searched for something else to say.

“Ms. Tanner?”
Mal figured it was time to rescue Bishop.

She turned
toward him and gave him a dazzling smile. “Call me Willow.”

“I’m going to
be brutally honest. We’ve never hired a human to work for us
before.”

“So why are you
interviewing me?” She asked curiously.

“Harvey highly
recommended you and frankly, we’re a bit desperate. Our last
receptionist had to leave rather abruptly and we’ve been scrambling
to find her replacement. Our clients are mostly paranormal and
you’re going to see a great deal of oddity if you work for us.”

“I don’t mind.”
She said immediately. “I enjoy odd things. It makes the world more
interesting, don’t you think?”

“Uh, yes. I
guess.” He cleared his throat.

“Harvey has
paranormal clients, Mr. Burke. I’ve dealt with shifters and the
fae, even a vampire.”

He smiled
thinly at her. “Harvey’s clients are a bit more refined than
ours.”

She laughed, a
soft and low vibration that made his wolf sit up and take notice.
“I imagine they are. Harvey is a rather high-profile lawyer. His
fees alone generally bring in a higher class of people and
paranormals.”

“Right.” He
took the papers from Bishop’s sweaty hand, smoothing out the
wrinkles as he scanned her resume.

“So, why don’t
you tell us what you know about our firm?”

She sat up
straighter and smiled again at Bishop. The bear shifter blushed and
stared at the floor as she cleared her throat.

“You and Mr.
King started the firm seven years ago. Three years ago, Ms. Frost
became a partner in the firm. You provide personal security for a
large portion of the paranormals in our city. Which, considering
how small our city is, there are quite a few paranormals living
here. Wouldn’t you agree Mr. Burke?”

He shrugged. “I
never really thought about it.”

“I have. It’s
very strange the amount of paranormals that have gravitated to our
city. I think it’s because of the fault line.”

“Excuse me?”
Mal frowned at her.

“The paranormal
fault line. It lies directly across our city. Haven’t you heard of
the fault line?” She asked.

He shook his
head. “The fault line is a myth, Ms. Tanner.”

“Maybe, maybe
not.” She said cheerfully. “I can assure you, Mr. Burke, that I am
excellent at my job. I’m organized, great with clients, and I type
over a hundred words a minute. I understand that your firm will
require working strange hours from time to time and I have no
problem with that.”

“Even if it
means working in the middle of the night to accommodate a vampire
or coming in at dawn for the fae?”

“Yes.” She said
pertly. “I don’t need much sleep.”

“You must have
an understanding husband.”

He could have
punched himself. Why the hell had he said that? His wolf panted
happily as Bishop gave him a disbelieving look.

“I’m not
married.” She raised her hand and wiggled her bare ring finger at
him. “I can do what I want, when I want, with whoever I want.”

An image of her
in his bed, naked and on her hands and knees with his hand wrapped
in that long dark hair, flashed through his head and he cleared his
throat roughly. “Okay, well, thank you for coming in Ms. Tanner.
We’ll get back to you in the next couple of days.”

She blinked in
surprise at his abruptness before standing and smoothing her skirt.
He eyed her slender legs before his gaze drifted to her small,
perky breasts in her silk blouse. Beside him, Bishop stood and
extended his massive hand.

“Nice to meet
you, Ms. Tanner.” He gave her a nervous smile and she shook his
hand firmly before extending her hand to Mal.

He stood and
shook her hand, ignoring the little shiver that went down his back
at the touch of her soft hand, and nodded to her.

“Nice to meet
you both. I look forward to hearing back from you.” She
chirped.

She left the
room and Bishop punched him in the arm when Mal stared at her tight
ass.

“Stop it.” He
hissed at Mal.

Mal growled
lightly at him as the door shut and sank back into his chair.
“We’re not hiring her.”

Bishop rolled
his eyes. “The way you were eyeing her, she’ll never agree to work
for us anyway. Jesus, Mal, I thought you were going to try and mate
her right in front of me.”

“I don’t know
what the hell you’re talking about.” Mal grunted.

“Whatever,
man.” Bishop took her resume and scanned it. “She’s actually the
best candidate.”

“She’s human,
Bishop. We were only interviewing her as a favour to Harvey,
remember?”

“Yeah, I
remember. I don’t know what the big deal is about hiring a human,
anyway.”

“Because humans
and paranormals don’t mix.” Mal grunted.

“Racist
bastard.” Bishop snorted.

“I am not!” Mal
protested. “I’m trying to protect the humans. A human always gets
hurt when they start messing around with paranormals. You know
that. It’s why that asshole senator tried to pass that law
forbidding us to have anything to do with humans.”

“Don’t tell me
you supported that?” Bishop glared at him.

“Of course I
didn’t. It was a ridiculous law created by an actual goddamn
racist. But you have to admit he has a point. Plenty of humans have
been hurt or killed when dealing with paranormals and some of them
are out for our blood.”

“You think I
don’t know that? Protecting our kind against humans is 85% of our
business, Mal.” Bishop replied. “It doesn’t mean all humans are
against us.”

“I’m not saying
that.” Mal answered patiently. “I’m just saying that hiring this
human female is a bad idea.”

“Is it a bad
idea because she’s human or a bad idea because you want to mate
with her?” Bishop raised his eyebrows at him.

“I don’t want
to mate with her!” Mal snapped.

“Sure you
don’t.” Bishop pulled his tie off and gathered the resumes
together. “I’m telling Kat we should hire her.”

“The Gorgon!
What about the Gorgon? She was great.” Mal said a bit
desperately.

“Are you
kidding? She has the voice of a lumberjack and she wants ten
dollars more an hour than we’re offering. And what happens the
first time it’s the Gorgon mating period? Do you really want to
find yourself pinned against your desk while she tears your clothes
off and has her way with you?”

Mal paled.
“We’ll just give her some time off during the mating period.”

Bishop snorted
and headed toward his office. “I’m recommending the human, Mal, and
you know Kat will agree with me. She didn’t like any of the other
candidates. Just keep your paws to yourself, alright?”

* * *

“Thank you so
much, Mr. King! You won’t regret hiring me, I promise.” Willow hung
up the phone and grinned delightedly at her best friend.

“I got the job,
Ava!”

“Congratulations!” Ava hugged her tightly. “I knew you’d get it.
When do you start?”

“Next Monday.
Oh Ava, I’m so happy! It’s finally my chance to work with actual
paranormals. Mama would be so pleased for me.”

“She would be.”
Ava agreed. “Now, tell me about your new job.”

“It’s just a
reception position, I could probably do it in my sleep, but once I
show them what I can do, I’m hoping they’ll move me further up in
the company.” Willow replied.

“I’m sure they
will. How big is the office?” Ava poured herself more tea and
followed Willow into the small and cluttered living room. She moved
a pile of laundry from the armchair and curled her curvy body into
the seat.

Willow flopped
down on the sofa, resting her feet on a pile of papers on the
coffee table, and took a sip of tea. “There are three partners,
Bishop King, Katelyn Frost, and Malcolm Burke. They have a dozen
employees that are in and out of the office, according to Mr.
King.”

She pulled
absentmindedly on her lower lip. “I didn’t actually meet Ms. Frost,
just Mr. King and Mr. Burke.”

“What were they
like?”

“Well, Mr. King
is a bear shifter and he was massive. He’s the biggest man I’ve
ever met in my life, Ava! I wouldn’t be surprised if he was over
seven feet tall. He seemed really nervous. I don’t think he’s very
comfortable around women.”

“What about the
other one?”

“Mr. Burke?
He’s a wolf shifter and he seemed - I don’t know - grumpy. I’m
pretty sure he didn’t like me.” She laughed.

“He doesn’t
even know you.” Ava said indignantly.

“I know but you
know how some paranormals are. They don’t like humans. He made sure
to point out that they had never hired a human before. It’s why I
was so surprised that – “

She stopped as
her breath plumed out in front of her like smoke. Ava shivered and
leaned back in the chair as Willow turned and stared behind
her.

“I can’t help
you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.” She said softly.

The room was
growing steadily colder and Ava looked around anxiously. “Willow?
Who is it?”

Willow
shrugged. “I don’t know. He won’t talk to me.”

Ava clutched
her tea mug and stared at the corner that Willow was looking into.
“That’s weird.”

“Yep, it is.”
Willow said cheerfully. She stood and approached the corner,
holding her hands out in a friendly manner. “Will you at least tell
me your name? Don’t be shy.”

Ava watched as
Willow inched closer. “I want to help you. Let me – no! Don’t
go!”

She sighed
discouragingly and turned around. “He’s gone.”

The room was
warming up again and Ava shivered before curling deeper into the
chair. “God, I hate it when that happens.”

Willow grinned.
“I love it.”

“I know you do.
You’re a weirdo.”

“Oh c’mon, Ava.
It’s not a bad thing. Think of how many spirits I’ve helped cross
to the other side. They’re hurting and I can help them. How is that
bad?”

“It’s not bad.
It’s just creepy.” Ava replied firmly. “And what happens when you
run into a not-so-nice spirit?”

“I’ve been
seeing the dead for twenty-four years and not once have they ever
been malicious or evil.” Willow laughed.

Ava shook her
head. “What about that girl two years ago? She didn’t seem so
nice.”

“Courtney? She
was perfectly nice!”

“She broke
every dish in your house, Willow!”

“She was just
misunderstood, that’s all. She was angry and upset and she didn’t
know how to express it.”

“So she
expressed it by shattering all of your dishes?”

“Hey, you’d be
angry too if your boyfriend cheated on you with your mother.”

Ava rolled her
eyes. “I’d need to have a boyfriend for that to be a possibility
and with a body like this, we both know that’s not going to
happen.”

“Oh hush, Ava.
I hate it when you talk badly about yourself.” Willow frowned at
her. “Besides, it has nothing to do with your body and everything
to do with your self-confidence. You’re gorgeous and sweet, and you
just need to get over this ridiculous idea that all men want a
skinny stick in the sack.”

“Says the girl
who wears a size two.” Ava muttered.

Willow snorted.
“I’d gladly take your curves.” She grabbed her small breasts and
gave them a shake. “You think these little molehills are grabbing
any man’s attention? I’d kill to have your mountains.”

Ava blushed and
crossed her arms over her chest. “Yeah, and my carrot coloured hair
and pale, freckle-covered skin.”

Willow laughed.
“I only wish I could pull off red hair. Now, let’s go shopping. I
need a couple new outfits for my new job.”

* * *

“
Willow and the
Wolf”
will be available at
www.smashwords.com
in May
of 2015.

If you would like more information about Elizabeth
Kelly, please visit her website:

http://www.elizabethkelly.ca

Stalk her:

https://www.facebook.com/elizabethkellybooks

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https://twitter.com/ElizabethKBooks

Write to her:

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Other books by Elizabeth Kelly:

Tempted

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/335879

Twice Tempted

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/356021

Red Moon

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/351717

Red Moon Rising (Red Moon Second Generation
Series)

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/399685