The Willing (4 page)

“This is Emily,” Josh said
unceremoniously. “She’s with us.”

There were no smiles, but then, no
hostility either. The two men just nodded; two of the women ignored
me completely. The last of the women, a petite blonde, scowled at
me until I looked away. Josh put his hand on my
shoulder.

“They haven’t eaten today,” he
explained. “But we’ll hunt first thing in the morning.”

Biting my lip, I tried to think of a
subtle way to explain that I had never hunted anything. I may have
been trained as a Slayer by Will, but I had no bow and I had a
feeling that we would not be hunting other Lycanti. I could tell
him anything he wanted to know about the running habits of a pack,
how to lure in Lycanti females with pheromone extract, how males
were almost impossible to catch because they were only driven by
their hunger and Slayers refused to use human bait, or how Luka was
probably using all these skills to hunt us as we measured each
other up in the flickering light.

Suddenly I was cold and tired and
nervous. I hadn’t felt it before, but the night had deepened and
now I was surrounded by six hungry werewolves. I had never heard of
cannibalism among our kind, but then, I had been hungry enough to
devour the flesh of not only the Lycanthrope who Changed me, but
also the Lycanti man I loved as I killed him. That, and I knew next
to nothing about the habits among Lycanti packs. I’d been a
werewolf for what? A few months? Give or take a few
weeks?

Suddenly Josh pulled me to him, and our
skin exchanged heat. I shivered with pleasure.

He nuzzled my neck, kissing it
playfully. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you some clothes tomorrow, sweet
one. Let’s get some rest,” he said softly.

Nothing had ever sounded better. I
nodded and let him lead me to a pallet of blankets that by scent
were unmistakably his. He lazily slung an arm and leg over me,
shielding me from the cold even more.

“I won’t let anyone hurt you, Emily,”
he murmured.

And suddenly, I felt safe. But as I lay
there surrounded by his luxurious musky scent, I fell into a deep
sleep, completely unaware that I had just been claimed in the way
of the Lycanti.

Please keep in mind that at this time,
I was only nineteen years old and had only been with Will, my
Lycanti lover who showed me the ways of passion, but could never
teach me to control my emotions enough to control the Change. In
turn, I had never spent a great amount of time with any of the
other Lycanti or Lycanthrope. The most interaction I had with them
was at Will’s mother’s wedding. Maria’s wedding in Mexico had
provided me with the interesting opportunity to mingle with
werewolves, and subsequently have a female Lycanthrope killed
because of me—Luka’s sister. Obviously, even though I was human at
the time, things just never seem to work out when I run into others
of my kind. We are too different…or I am too tame.

After spending the night curled against
Josh’s warm body, I felt safe. Everything seemed to be okay again.
I still mourned Will, and my guilt was tantamount, but life seemed
to be going on in a way that would once again seem
tolerable.

His grin that morning seemed to confirm
it. “Good morning, lovely.”

He stood in one fluid movement when our
eyes met, clothed himself in stylish jeans and an Abercrombie
shirt. In my eyes that morning, he looked as delicious as any
underwear model come to life from the stills of an ad. He walked
towards the campfire, where others were already stirring and
speaking in low tones.

“Come,” he said in the same tone he had
used on me to beckon me to follow him after our lovemaking. It was
not forceful, more like an invitation.

Still wrapped in one of his blankets, I
strode to the fire, confident that my new pack would be like a
family.

A voice met me at the campfire, that of
the petite blond who had scowled at me the previous night. “Gods,
she’s fat.”

A very bitchy family.

Josh chuckled lowly, but the others
laughed outright. My face burned, but I was determined to make our
first real interaction a positive one. Since my Change, I had
learned to let go of the self-consciousness about my body that had
plagued me as a human. Werewolves did not place the same emphasis
of physical beauty on their kind; from what Will and Luka told me,
they loved to watch muscles ripple under the skin and study the
glow of health. What had I learned in boarding school? Oh yes,
don’t make the first impression the worst impression.

“Now, Layla, don’t be cruel,” Josh
chastised. “Not everyone was born to hide behind stick insects on a
daily basis.”

I giggled at this. Layla was truly
nothing but bones.

She shot a glance at me that was a dark
as pooled blood. “I will know who to eat first if we fail to hunt
this morning.”

Josh placed his hand on the small of my
back. “She’s mine.” He gazed out among the pack. “Would any of you
fight me for her?”

A warm shiver ran through me at his
words. He wanted me, surely!

Of the five seated around the fire,
only the woman Layla met Josh’s eyes. “No one would want such
trash. There is too much of the human about her. Look at her. She
is utterly terrified of us.”

Josh nodded. “Which is why I claim her.
To teach her.”

One of the men stood.

“Yes, Xavier?” Josh asked.

The man’s dark braids bobbed as he
spoke. “Has she accepted you as master?”

Josh turned to me then, his gaze so
intense that I blushed.

“Will you allow me to protect you and
to teach you our ways?”

His voice was so alluring, so didactic
and calm in a world where I knew no tranquility.

“Yes,” I said instantly.

“And you will call me Master?” he asked
softly.

“Yes.”

He turned back to Xavier and the
others. “She acknowledges herself as my property.”

Xavier nodded. I found the eyes of the
other man upon me, and they were sad. He looked away.

Josh’s voice interrupted any further
musings I could have on the man’s thoughts. “We will hunt this
morning.”

“About damn time,” Xavier said loudly.
The others murmured their agreement.

“From the stockade,” Josh
added.

The other male’s face twisted up. “We
have no need. There is plenty of game here.”

Josh looked at him sharply. “I want to
teach Emily our ways.”

Xavier looked at the man and slyly
asked, “Worried about your sweetheart, Sam?”

The man looked away again, his eyes
refusing to meet anyone’s. Xavier approached him to elbow him
jovially in the ribs.

“I’ll try not to get him,”
Xavier said playfully. “He’s usually one of the faster runners. And
he always puts up a fight when anyone but
you
wants him.”

I watched the exchange wordlessly. Josh
seemed to be watching me closely for a reaction, but as I had no
idea what they were speaking of, I could not offer any feedback for
him.

Xavier whooped and started north, Sam
and the others trailing faithfully behind. We kept a distance,
silent but close, a few feet in between us as if there was an
invisible rope tethering me to him.

Once more, Josh led, and I followed. I
felt like even my soul was cocooned by his protection, and
therefore incapable of having individual thoughts. I cannot recall
any attempt at curiosity during this walk; I just trod along after
this, absently ready for breakfast.

At first, my mind could not wrap itself
around what I saw. Cages. At least ten cages appeared seemingly out
of nowhere from the woods, camouflaged by deep green and black
paint, but the eyes that peered out of them could not be masked.
They were the eyes of the hunted.

Josh paused to let me take in the
sight. “I see no need for our kind to ever go hungry.”

I swallowed what little spit I had in
my mouth and licked my lips.

Xavier interrupted my thoughts. “Will
we take them with us?”

I watched Josh’s face, knowing
instinctively that he had an answer to everything, even to a
question which seemed like nonsense. How could we move cages as we
traveled?

Josh measured me, his eyes never
leaving my face as he answered. “No. We will be gluttons over the
next two days to garner strength for the journey.”

Sam’s sharp intake of breath alerted me
to the imminent tragedy.

“Wait,” I said, shaken out of my
stupor. “We’re going to eat them?” My voice raised an octave or two
in pitch as I nodded to the captives. “Them?”

“Yes,” Josh replied calmly. “We’re
going to eat them.”

The blood drained from Sam’s face and I
felt his pain. “We can’t,” I shrieked. “It’s wrong. It’ disgusting.
It’s…”

“The way we live,” Josh stated. “We are
Lycanti. They are nothing.”

“They’re people!” I argued.

His backhand stung my pride and my
face, and I hit the ground with a heavy thud.

“They’re cattle. We are the wolves,
Emily, and we have come to feast.”

Layla’s wicked chuckle assailed my
dizzied senses. “And there’s no shepherd to chase away these
wolves.” I watched, one by one, as they Changed, hungry for the
feast of flesh laid before them.

I cannot relive the bloodshed of that
morning. I can’t. I’m sorry but as I sat there on those damp
leaves, inhaling the heavy scent of nature and sickly-sweet, torn
flesh, I cannot honestly say that I separated myself from the
Lycanti beast within me. Every vow I had made to the sanctity of
humanity deserted me, and I cherished the taste of salty, hot,
decadent flesh on my tongue, never knowing that this was Josh’s
test of my self-control. He knew he owned me now. My hunger marked
me as a true Lycanti.

Emily

I opened the door. Luka slinked into my
apartment, his nose suddenly twitching.

“A werewolf who likes cats?”

I smiled. “They’re tolerable. I had one
before this life.” I sighed. “I miss him sometimes, but Sita is
really Rachel’s cat. She just puts up with me.”

“Where was she when I came over last
time?”

“Who? Rachel or the cat?”

“The cat of course. Believe me, I did
not fail to notice your human companion, no matter how hard I
tried.”

“I had Rachel shut her up in the
laundry room. I had hoped to bring you back with me, and I knew she
would be a distraction.”

Sita sidled over and pushed against my
leg ever more insistently as if my confirmation of her earlier
imprisonment offended her.

Luka shrugged. “Stranger things have
happened. Did you really think she would bother me more than the
human?”

I rolled my eyes. “Maybe. You’re like a
hormonal woman these days.”

He chuckled. “So where is the human
today?”

I pushed Sita away. “Shopping. And she
has a name.”

“She’s human, that’s enough for me. And
she did not strike me as the shopping type.”

“No, but she is tactful enough to make
up an excuse not to be here while we are. Part of her endless,
painfully pitiful humanity, I’m sure.”

He ignored my comment and instead
shifted Micah so that the baby could see Sita as he used his foot
as a wriggling toy to catch the cat’s attention. She took the bait
and pounced, causing Micah to giggle uncontrollably. Luka continued
the ploy when he saw how happy it made Micah. We had just returned
from buying clothes for the trip to Mexico. The apartment felt
empty without Rachel there, but I was grateful for her
absence.

“Smart girl,” he said while taking in
my apartment. I wondered if he was talking about Rachel or about
me. We had been so intent on arguing with each other the first time
he was there that he studied nothing on that trip. I knew the
things he’d be thinking. Double-paned windows showed a cautious
side; Rocky Horror Picture Show posters hinted at my darkly
creative, fun side. His eyes darted to a picture of Rachel, Micah
and me at the zoo a month earlier, the dusk sky blanketing us in
gentle twilight.

“Speaking of your esteemed babysitter,
have you noticed that your friend is knock-kneed?”

“She’s not my friend. I know not to
confuse that fact. She’s an acquaintance and my roommate. And she’s
not knock-kneed—they’re just slightly crooked.”

He snorted. “Either way, she cannot be
able to run very fast.”

My eyes flashed to his face in
suspicion but he merely grinned wolfishly back at me.

“Do you really think I would eat
her?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted shakily.
“You’ve changed so much that I don’t know how you’ll react to
anything anymore.”

“Yes, well, you live with a woman who
cares nothing for you, and then tell me if you feel like sunshine
every day.”

“If you don’t like it, then
leave.”

He shook his head violently and threw
the hand that wasn't wrapped around Micah. “You still do not
understand, do you, Emily? You cannot walk away from a Bond. It is
until death do we part—the human ceremony with your ways of divorce
makes a mockery of the Clan’s.”