Free Playing with Darkness: Book 3.5 (Sensor Series) by Susan Illene

 
     
     
     
    Chapter One
     
    “Gentler. Don’t beat at it so hard,” I urged. He was going to leave splatters everywhere.
    His hand paused.
    “Like this?” His motions became smoother.
    “Yeah, like that.”
    “Is it truly necessary for me to learn how to do this?” Kerbasi asked, scrunching his face up in disgust.
    He was stirring in the sugar, butter, cocoa, and milk for the latest batch of no bake cookies. The guardian might complain about preparing them, but he had no problem consuming them by the mouthful once they were ready. As part of his humanity lessons, I’d made him start eating something other than the bread and water he preferred when he first arrived from Purgatory.
    A man couldn’t understand the ramifications of pain until he’d experienced pleasure.
    “Yes, it is necessary,” I said, pointing to the sauce pan. “Now once it starts to boil you let it go for sixty seconds before taking it away from the heat and mixing it with the rest of the ingredients. Don’t mess up the timing.”
    Hopefully, he would do a better job than me. More than half the batches we’d made today were in the trash because I lost track of time or forgot to add an ingredient. Why I managed to screw up so much of what I cooked I’d never understand.
    Emily came down the stairs and stared at the garbage can.
    “It’s like the blind leading the deaf in here.” She shook her head. “I could teach him, you know.”
    The teenager gazed at me with deep blue eyes. She was a much better cook, but I couldn’t risk it. The guardian had spent thousands of years torturing prisoners. No way was I letting her near him even if he was forbidden from hurting her.
    I moved to block her view of Kerbasi. “You know the rules. When he’s in here, you stay in your room.”
    I reached into the fridge and grabbed a couple of cookies from among the ones that had survived my cooking process. Emily took the one I handed her and tested it cautiously. Once satisfied it wasn’t going to kill her, she chewed it down. I nibbled on mine while keeping an eye on Kerbasi. He hadn’t tampered with our food yet, but I wouldn’t put it past him.
    Emily and I looked up at the same time when a familiar werewolf popped up on our sensor radar. He was coming up the road to our house. Emily made a dash for the door. I tossed the remainder of my cookie on the counter and leaped down the hallway to grab her. She’d almost had her hand on the knob.
    “Oh, no you don’t. It’s a full moon tonight and you’re not seeing him.” I kept a grip on her arms.
    “But Mel, it’s not even dark yet,” she whined, struggling against me.
    It was almost June. It wouldn’t be dark until nearly midnight, but that wasn’t the point.
    “It will be in a couple hours. No arguments.”
    I guided her past the door and up to the first step of the stairs. Hunter was pulling his car into the driveway. I didn’t know why he’d come at all since I’d already warned him there would be no visits around full moons.
    Emily let out a martyred sigh and allowed me to guide her up a couple more steps. “This is stupid. He wouldn’t hurt me.”
    “He doesn’t want to hurt you—true—but he’s still young and inexperienced. One wrong move and you could set off his werewolf instincts. I’m not letting that happen.”
    The werewolf had gotten out of the car and walked up to our porch. He was hovering there—probably hearing every word we said.
    “If he wants to live to see another day,” I raised my voice. “He’ll leave now.”
    “I just brought Emily a gift.” He spoke loudly enough for his words to filter past the heavy door.
    “It better not be another dead rabbit,” I warned.
    While amusing, that had gotten old quick.
    “It’s not,” came his faint reply. Hunter was already moving back toward his car.
    I didn’t need to use my senses to know Emily was angry with me. The sparks that were practically flying from her eyes said it all.
    “I hate you,” she