Thirst [All-American Vampires 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (26 page)

She shot him a determined glare. “I’ll do exactly what you tell me to do. I swear. I’m not some helpless baby, Hawk. I’m intelligent, and I know that I won’t get in the way. And Cass needs to know that I’m there. She doesn’t know you or any of your men. What if she fights you? Refuses to leave with you? If I’m there, she’ll know that you’re there to rescue her.” She pleaded with him, “She needs to know that I didn’t desert her, Hawk. That I’ve been looking for her all this time. That I love her and have been going out of my mind trying to find her.”

He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. “I’ll tell her, babe. Don’t worry about that. I’ll make sure that Cass knows how you feel, but we have to be sensible as well.” She turned her back to him, and he didn’t know what else to say to her. “I’d like to be able to tell you yes, Claire. I would. But I know that is not the best thing right now. As soon as we have her out, we’ll bring her straight to you.”

Her shoulders stiffened. “You’re being unreasonable, Hawk.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way, Claire. I hope that when you’re thinking a little more clearly, you’ll understand why I’ve made the decision I have.”

“Fine. I think I’ll go up to our room and lie down.” Without turning to look at him, she marched up the staircase, the set of her back telling Hawk more than words ever could. He was definitely in the doghouse.

He understood her need to be there when her sister was rescued, and he was sorry that he couldn’t let her have her way. “Goddamn it!”

When she disappeared from view, he went in search of Cade and found him talking over some details with Ace. Cade looked up when he approached them and smiled. “Problems?”

Hawk rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “Of course. Aren’t there always?”

Cade shook his head. “I never thought I’d see the day when the elusive John Blackhawk would admit to having woman problems. I guess the rumors must be true then. You’ve been bit by the love bug.”

Hawk tried to glare, but it turned into a sheepish grin. “I’m pretty surprised myself.”

“She’s something, Hawk. I can understand why you fell for her. But damn, first Ty goes all goo-goo over Libby. Now you and Claire. Who’s next?”

Ace laughed. “Maybe you, Cade?”

Cade shot them both a look of denial. “Not no, but hell no. I like being footloose and fancy-free. No woman’s gonna tie me down. No way, Jose.”

“Famous last words, dude. I think you might have just cursed yourself.” Ace ducked to avoid the punch Cade aimed at his jaw.

“So what’s the problem with your lady love? She didn’t look too happy when you two walked out of here.” Cade looked questioningly at Hawk.

He just shook his head and propped himself on the edge of the table they were standing over. “She wants to go on the retrieval with us. I told her it was impossible. That she would just be in the way and possibly prevent our rescue of Cassidy.”

Cade whistled. “Uh-oh. I guess she’s pretty pissed, huh?”

“Just a bit.” Hawk almost grinned at the understatement.

“Didn’t you explain to her that it would be dangerous for her and for Cassidy? You said she has no experience at anything like this.”

“She doesn’t, but that doesn’t mean she’s willing to be reasonable about it. She feels like she deserted her sister before and she needs to make up for that. She wants Cassidy to know how much she loves her.” Hawk met Cade’s eyes. “She said Cass would be frightened by us and might not go with us willingly. That she needed to see a familiar face.”

Ace leaned back in his chair. “You know, she has a point. For all Cassidy knows, we could be a rival group trying to steal her and sell her again. She’s been in captivity for almost a year. It’s bound to have affected her. Hell, she might even be suffering from Stockholm syndrome.”

Cade looked puzzled. “What?”

“It’s when a kidnapped victim begins to feel attachment to his or her captors. They depend on them for so much, and the captors become the stable figure in their lives. They actually sometimes defend the people who kidnapped them. She might not want to leave.”

“No shit?” Cade exclaimed.

“No shit,” Ace told him before turning to Hawk. “Maybe you could compromise with Claire. She could stay with me in the van until you’ve cleared the way in. Then someone could take her in after everything is under control. She’d be out of the way during the most dangerous part of the mission, but she could get to her sister pretty fast and wouldn’t feel like she’d been left out of everything.”

Hawk considered Ace’s suggestion. It was a reasonable one. Since Ace was the medic on the team, he always stayed back with the van. He hadn’t really given much credence to Claire’s assertion that they might need her to keep Cassidy calm, but it was something to think about. Of course, they could tranquilize Cassidy if she gave them any trouble, but he’d rather not do that if he didn’t have to.

Hawk looked at Ace. “Good idea. I’ll tell Claire that she can come but has to wait at the van until we’re sure it’s safe.”

“You’re welcome.” Ace grinned. “I just got your ass out of the doghouse, Hawk. You owe me big time, and I definitely plan on collecting.”

Hawk laughed. “Figures. Now, tell me, is there anything else we should be doing to get ready for this? Anything we’ve missed?”

Cade shrugged. “Not really. I’m just a little concerned that we have enough men for the strike. I’d feel comfortable with a couple more. If we are wrong about where Cassidy is located, it’s gonna slow us down doing the room to room. And the longer we’re there, the bigger the chance that something’s going to go all to hell.”

Hawk agreed. “I’d like an extra guard to stay back at the van with you and Claire, as well. Especially if you have to medic on someone. We just don’t know what we’re going to be looking at. If there are others in there. What kind of shape they might be in. Or if Cassidy is hurt. Or, hell, if one of our team gets injured. If that’s the case, Claire will be on her own, basically.”

“Can we get some more men here before Saturday?” Ace asked.

“The Buchanans offered to help. I’ll give Ty a call and see if he can round up some extra guys and send them this way.”

“Sounds good. Other than that, I think everything is under control.” Cade looked inquiringly at Ace, who nodded in agreement.

Hawk stood. “All right. I’ll let you two get back to work. I’m going to go tell Claire the good news, and then I’ll get on the phone to Biloxi.”

Ace shot him a grin. “All right. Just remember, you owe me.”

Hawk shook his head and left the room, swiftly running up the stairs. When he opened the door to the room he shared with Claire, he immediately saw her curled up in the middle of the huge bed.

She didn’t turn when he entered, but he could tell she wasn’t sleeping. He sat down on the bed beside her, and she stiffened. He stifled a grin. She was definitely one stubborn lady. He was glad she was mad at him and not crying instead. Anger he could handle. The tears, though, they screwed him up and made him feel like a helpless idiot.

He reached out and pulled on her shoulder, wanting her to face him when he told her the news. She resisted for a moment but finally allowed him to push her flat on the bed. She lay there looking up at him, her mouth a firm line of resentment.

“What do you want?” Her chin jutted out mutinously.

“Look, Claire, I know you think I’m being unreasonable. And I do understand your need to be there for your sister. So we’ve come up with a compromise that I hope you’ll agree to.”

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, but she propped herself up on her elbows. The action brought her face closer to his, and he had to resist the urge to kiss that pouting mouth. He really did have it bad. Leaning back to put a little more room between them before he did something he shouldn’t, he told her, “Ace agreed that Cassidy might come more willingly with us if she saw a familiar face. So…”—he held up his hand as she opened her mouth and started to speak—“so…I’ve agreed that you can come, but you have to wait in the van with Ace until we give the all clear. Is that agreeable to you?”

She lay there without speaking for several seconds before a huge smile broke out on her face. She threw her arms around Hawk’s neck and hugged him to her tightly. “Thank you, Hawk. Oh, thank you so much.”

He leaned back to look down into her face. “Swear to me that you will do exactly what we tell you to do. No arguments. No hesitation. Swear it, Claire, or you won’t go at all.”

“I swear.” She nodded solemnly. “I’ll do whatever you tell me to do.”

“Excellent. Not mad anymore?” he teased her after she had hugged him again.

She gave him a sheepish grin. “I wasn’t really mad. I mean, I understood what you were saying. I really did. I just didn’t want to accept it. So I got pissed. More at myself than anything else. You just happened to be a convenient target.”

“Figures.” He rolled his eyes. “Now, I need to call Ty Buchanan and get him to send us a few more men. Why don’t you get up and go downstairs and get to know some of the guys.”

“All right. Oh, Hawk, thanks again. I do love you so much.”

“I love you, too, sweetheart. Even when you’re acting like a brat.” He bent to cover her mouth with his in what was meant to be a quick kiss. When her lips parted against his and her tongue darted out, he moaned and pulled her closer. The kiss went on and on. Hawk finally broke the kiss, pulling back with a wry smile on his lips.

“Don’t start something you can’t finish, babe.”

She laughed. “Oh, I can finish it, sexy man. Any time you like.”

He shook his head. “I think I’ve created a monster. I’ve got work to do, and you know it. Now get your butt downstairs and let me make my call.”

She gave him a last hard peck before jumping up and rushing out of the room, obviously in a much better mood than when he’d entered. He just hoped she’d always be that easy to please.

Hawk grabbed his cell phone and pushed the button that would connect him to Ty.

Claire looked up from where she sat studying the blueprints with Brady when the front doorbell rang. Again. The guys were great, but happy homemakers they were not. She sighed. “Let me go get the door, Brady. I’ll be right back.”

Occupied with something he was studying, he barely acknowledged her. She shook her head and walked over to open the door. The past few days had been very interesting. As the lone female, living in a house with eight males made for a very interesting time. It was a good thing they were all vampires and didn’t expect her to cook and wash dishes for them. She’d drawn the line at washing laundry, but she couldn’t take the clutter, so she found herself picking up after them in self-preservation. It wasn’t that they were a bunch of male chauvinists who thought it was a woman’s job to clean. They just really didn’t care if their shoes were scattered all over the floor in the living area. Or that the magazines were piled so high on the coffee table they threatened to fall over. As someone who’d grown up in a household of mostly females, Claire was finding the entire experience enlightening.

She reached the door and looked through the peephole, as the men had drilled into her head. The face looking back at her was very familiar, though she’d never personally met the man before. She pulled open the door and smiled in greeting. “Mr. Buchanan. I’m Claire Landry. This is unexpected. Hawk didn’t tell me that you would be coming personally.”

Ty Buchanan stepped into the foyer, followed by two other men and a cute, black-haired woman whose hand he was holding. He took the hand she offered to shake and grinned down at her. “Please, it’s Ty. This is my wife, Libby. And he didn’t know. I decided at the last minute that I wanted in on some of the action, so here I am.”

“Well, I’m sure that he’ll be thrilled that you’re here. And I’m Claire. Hi, Libby.” Claire was curious about the woman who’d married the eligible Ty Buchanan. The casino had been buzzing about their marriage and all the harrowing events leading up to it.

“Nice to meet you, Claire. I’ve heard a lot of interesting things about you. Mainly that you have managed to somehow catch the most uncatchable vampire I know.”

Ty winked. “No, babe. That was you.”

Claire laughed when Libby punched her husband in the shoulder. “Congratulations on your recent marriage.”

“Thanks,” Libby responded.

Ty gestured to the other two men. “This is Jason Callahan and Eddie Lemoyne. They’re werewolves who work for Ricardo Diaz. When I told Diaz that Hawk asked for help, he volunteered to send these two guys.”

She nodded at the men, surprised and touched that Diaz would want to help free her sister. “Thanks so much for coming. And please, call me Claire. Won’t you guys come on in to the great room? That’s kind of ‘command central’ around here, and I’ll see if I can scare up Hawk.”

She led the new arrivals into the great room and left them with Brady, who greeted Ty like a long-lost friend. She searched through the house and finally found Hawk on the back porch with Cade. They were deep in conversation but stopped talking as soon as Claire stepped out of the door. “Hawk, Ty Buchanan is here with his wife and a couple of werewolves. Ricardo Diaz sent them to help out.”

“Ty’s here himself? That is unexpected. And he brought Libby with him? Good. At least you won’t feel quite so outnumbered here with her around. Maybe she can help you tidy up and make the beds.” He stood and grinned, and Claire realized that he’d been quite aware of how annoyed she’d been over the past few days. He just hadn’t said anything, probably knowing it would just piss her off.

She shot him a cool look. “You men are a bunch of slobs, so yeah, it’ll be nice to have someone around who isn’t a nasty pig.” She turned her back and flounced back into the house, hearing Cade’s laughter as she slammed the door, stifling a grin of her own. The expression on Hawk’s face had been priceless.

She heard the door open and close, and then a warm hand slid around her waist. Hawk squeezed her and leaned down to whisper, “But you love me anyway, right? Even if I am a nasty pig.”

“I guess so.” He squeezed harder, and she chuckled. “Okay, okay. Yeah, I do. I love you anyway.”