The Willing (8 page)

Josh cleared his throat, but it was not
a sign of nervousness. “We were driven out by a mad, murderous
Lycanthrope Slayer. He pursued us to the shores of Washington and
we had no choice but to flee. There are no issued warrants for my
pack. He hunted us due to his own malicious intent. I believe he
might be unbalanced.”

Maria blanched. “A rogue Lycanthrope
Slayer hunting Lycanti without the Council's order? That's
impossible.”

“I assure you, it's not,” Josh
insisted. He turned back to me and flashed a brilliant grin. I
growled deep in my throat. He ignored me and instead turned back to
Maria, looking solemn once more. “In fact,” Josh said, pitching his
voice to reach everyone in the room, “You are harboring him at this
moment, here at your compound.”

The council reduced to the din of Elder
voices once again. The cries of indignation kindled their aged
voices with a fire of pure Lycanthrope fury. I heard several snarls
directed at Josh's impudence and accusation.

“You had best explain yourself
quickly,” Maria yelled at Josh. “Or you will not live to insult our
loyalty to Clan law again.”

“Oh certainly,” Josh replied in that
self-serving, smooth tone. “But surely you knew when he came here
with that treacherous bitch Emily in tow that Luka must be out of
his mind.”

Rage gurgled at the back of my throat.
I fought against Maria's husband but damn it, if that bastard
didn't fucking knock me out with electricity again. And it seems
like a convenient ploy to avoid having to deal with the reality of
the situation, but so much seems to happen when I'm out
cold—including deals between the devils who control the destiny of
my child and myself.

“Are you willing to behave like a civil
being now? Even you Lycanti half breeds should know your
manners.”

Maria’s voice dripped with acid, and in
my slowly awakening state, she seemed to have sprouted a third eye
and fangs. I shook my head to clear it. Unfamiliar walls surrounded
me, but my vision cleared and Maria was no more of a demon than I
was a hero. My tongue felt thick in my mouth; they had untied me,
but my limbs felt so heavy that I might as well have been bound. In
a great rush, all the reasons I came to Mexico fell upon
me.

“Where is Micah?”

“Micah is safe,” Maria replied, a
softness taking hold of her voice that I had never heard. She
certainly had never reserved that tone for me.

“I want him.”

Maria waved a hand. “We all want lots
of things. Those of us in power, or those of us in favor, get
them.”

My mind grasped at that simple
hint.

“What have you done for
Josh?”

“It is more of what he will do for us,”
she replied.

“Which is?”

She studied me like a dangerous weapon
needs to be studied before handling for the first time. “He will
open up the drug trade across the border for us.”

I scoffed at this idea. “You can’t
trust him.”

“I trust him more than I trust you,”
she said carefully.

“But you trust me not at
all.”

Her eyes narrowed, enhancing those
luminous green orbs. “Exactly.”

“You can’t be serious?” I asked with
disdain evident in my voice.

“Why is you young people seem to think
everything is rhetorical?” she snapped. “Yes, I am serious. This
family must make money somehow. Joshua will be our
mediator.”

My mind whirled. “And how do you plan
to make sure he doesn’t betray you?”

“Think, Emily.”

My eye twitched at the thought of
returning to Josh’s side for any reason. “I will have nothing to do
with him,” I hissed.

“Emily,” Maria clucked. “Think
rationally now. I have Micah.”

“You will not take my son from
me.”

“It is already done,” she purred. “He
is with a very trusted Lycanthrope family until you can control
yourself.”

“Maria, you bitch!”

“Obviously you will learn much from
Joshua’s company about control, for you learned nothing from
Luka.”

“I learned all I know from your
son.”

That stabbed her deep, I could tell.
She physically winced at the memory of will.

She snarled, almost as if she had
Changed. “You are a danger to everyone until you can control
yourself. Good luck, Emily, for Joshua will have his hands full
with you.”

“His hands will not come near me or I
will have them off. What did Josh say of this
arrangement?”

“Nothing. He will not know.”

I felt my mouth hang open for a moment.
“What?”

“Close your mouth, Emily. You look like
a fish. You and Luka will use your considerable talent to track his
movements. Luka will not cross this pack lest his father rage
against him. The old Houses are tied to each other through
necessity, and Luka is a loyal son. At any sign of betrayal, Luka
will kill Joshua, with your help if necessary. I will not have him
thinking he can mercilessly use this family.”

“I will save Luka the trouble and kill
Josh first,” I growled.

Her next words were very level
considering the effect she knew they would have. “Then I will make
sure you never see Micah again.”

I let out a yowl. “Maria, so help me
God…”

“The last Lycanti who tried to kill me
died before she could Change. I have survived this long for a
reason. I do not condone your blasphemy or advise your passionate
rebuttal.”

“I could kill you.”

“Then you would most likely never see
your son again, simply because you would fail to leave this
compound alive.”

“I hate you.”

“The feeling is mutual. But you also
hate Josh. That is why I feel confident in using you as a tracker.
You will delight in his failure of us.”

That made me pause. “What does Josh get
out of this?”

“We will hunt no more Lycanti in North
America. His movements will be free of Lycanthrope
culling.”

I gasped. “You can’t let the Lycanti go
unchecked.”

“The Brazilian clan has made no such
promises.”

“But they’re so far away!”

“Raníer misses little. Have a little
faith, Emily.”

“But…” I tried to keep up with my
shaken thoughts. “Won’t Ranier see this as a challenge to his
clan?”

“There is too much money to be made to
be concerned about Ranier’s every little thought. He has enough to
keep him occupied down there. He will not notice.”

I exploded. “Not notice? Josh’s pack is
destructive. They don’t try to hide themselves at all. And they
hunt humans!”

She picked a piece of lint off her
pantsuit. “Joshua has assured me he will be more discreet with his
pack. As for himself, it is in his best interest to be exotic
enough to intrigue his clients.”

“Maria, you are so stupid.”

“That is ENOUGH,” she bellowed, her
patience snapping. “Get out. Go to Luka. He knows his assignment
and will willingly complete it.”

“I won’t do anything for you,” I
snapped coldly. “I’ll be dead first before helping you.”

She stiffened. “That can be arranged.”
Suddenly Maria’s form twisted into what I knew so well. Her gray
coat gleamed with health. In this form, she was ageless and
lithe.

My body tensed and fear swept over me.
Change, damn it! I screamed at myself. Before my body could react
to the adrenaline of fear, Maria leapt onto me, teeth snapping at
my throat. Her vicious attack overpowered my attempts but then as I
swiped at her face with an ineffectual human hand, I
Changed.

Still, her teeth ripped into my paw,
midair and Changing. I yelped in agony and tried to push her off
me. But she already had me pinned down and her claws ripped into my
flesh. I cried out in high tones of agony as she ripped open my
stomach and connected with my shoulder with her other set of claws.
Luckily, she missed my throat and with blood streaming out of me, I
gave one final push, throwing her off me.

A yip from her told me she was hurt,
but in a gray blur we met again. Tooth and claw met soft tissues
over and over. I felt my intestines leak out and the corners of my
vision grew dimmer and dimmer. Still I fought, at times tripping
over my own innards and crying out as Maria sought to take
advantage of my injury. Had I not been Changed, I would have been
dead minutes before that. As it was, I knew the end was
coming.

Had Luka’s night-dark form not leapt in
and caught Maria’s throat with a firm but nonlethal grip, I would
not be here to tell this story. He saved me that night. I do not
remember any of it; fortunately I was unconscious. He took me to
the Clan doctor, though we were banned from any contact with the
Mexican Clan, the Lycanthrope doctor respected Luka and his father
too much to refuse. The man gently sewed me back together, shaking
his head at the sloppy work and risk of infection. Luka promised to
have me looked at again as soon as we got to Brazil. Due to my
wounds, we would travel by boat.

I was too fever-stricken to even know
we were going to Brazil. Luka says all I could beg for the whole
fevered trip was my son. And that, he continued sadly, was the one
thing inaccessible to him. Maria had hidden Micah so well that even
the respected Lycanthrope doctor knew nothing.

For all I knew, my son was dead and the
Mexican Clan would kill me on sight.

But my hatred wasn’t even for Maria,
not even after she brought me so near death. It was for Josh. Maria
had been prepared to offer me sanctuary before Josh offered her
riches.

I would kill him, I decided. Just
because I failed once didn’t mean I would again. No matter how long
it took, Josh and his wild Lycanti would die at my
hands.

The Lycanti

My fingers brushed over a piece of soft
cloth, reminding me of peach fuzz. What would he have been doing
now?

We would walk the market, ever-wary
that someone could upset the balance in our bodies and moods and
make us Change. In fact, Will and I would have waited until there
were not so many people, but Josh delighted in walking through this
throng of humanity, testing his own control. Now I walked the
streets with Josh. Since my abuse at the hands of his human chattel
a month prior, I tried to act chastised. I attempted to embrace my
role in the pack with the other Lycanti.

I played the part to stay alive,
constantly feeding the child growing inside me with the blood and
the gristle of those humans who had ruthlessly beat me until blood
ran between my thighs, a small grin playing on my lips as I dreamed
of Revenge. Josh accepted my compliance, taking me whenever he
desired. Except for his bite marks, my body was now relatively free
of bruises and lacerations. Now he practically strolled down the
market’s way.

“All of this makes me realize how much
better we are,” he stated confidently. “I am so much more in
control than their basic lives allow them to be. We’re better,
faster, stronger than them, Emily.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s a Kanyé West
song. Don’t be so cliché.”

He grinned, showing me a mouthful of
those perfect, seemingly nonthreatening teeth.

“Where do you think Kanye got the
inspiration?” he asked slyly.

“You’re insane,” I said. “Didn’t anyone
ever tell you that it’s dangerous to let them know about us? And
here you are, wowing them with everything about us and peddling
your drugs to them.” I rolled my eyes.

“They’re already halfway to believing
in us,” he pointed out in that calm voice that usually brokered no
arguments and showed me how calm and confident he always was.
“Movies, TV shows, magazines, books—their infatuations with us is
already there.”

I had argued this exact point with Will
before. I heard his words coming out of my mouth. “How they see us
in their fantasies and how they perceive us in reality are very
different. You Change right in front of someone who has a handgun
in their pocket and let me know later if they happened to think
you’re normal.”

His grin didn’t falter. “Maybe it’s
because they haven’t met the right Lycanti yet.”

“Well I’ll set you up an Eharmony
account,” I snapped. “Facebook doesn't have the'in a relationship
with a werewolf' option yet. With their dedication to love,
Eharmony's working on it, I'm sure.”

He
tsked
. “So touchy today.
Jealous?”

“Go to hell, Josh.”

“Now, now,” he said, gesturing at the
people around us. “This is no time to get angry.”

“Oh, but don’t you believe in divine
enlightenment for the masses?” My sarcasm increased with my angry
pace. I had to get away from the sights and sounds of such a normal
life--my past-- before I Changed. I stalked off, trying to control
my fury with his apparent ease at the world around him. Jealous?
You’re damn straight. How could he always be that cool and
collected when my own emotions rolled around inside me like a
coiled viper?