The Reluctant (10 page)

“Will you answer a least one question
now?”

He threw an angry look at Luka, who
had the good sense to look sheepish. “Yes.”

“You killed that guy in the park
because he was Lycanti, didn’t you?”

Will’s eyes widened. “Yes. He had a
small girl he wanted to butcher. I thought you’d forgotten about
that.”

I smiled wanly. “It happened a few
hundred yards away from me, and you think I’d forget about
it?”

Will just shrugged and looked shocked.
“I must admit that I hoped you would.”

Luka stayed silent on this exchange,
instead pushing open the car door and wordlessly getting out. The
movie was a comedy, so I hoped he wasn’t too disturbed by his
thoughts to enjoy it. His brooding demeanor continued throughout
the movie, and he refused to ride home with us, claiming that he
needed to get some things from his place.

“We’re to hunt tonight,” he said
simply. “I need to prepare.”

Will nodded once, a gesture that
accentuated his sharp jawline. “Midnight in the grove?”

“Midnight in the grove,” Luka agreed.
“Bring your bow; we’ll hunt her as humans. Make sure Emily is
safe.”

“As if I would just leave her in
trussed up for dinner out in the open,” Will muttered.

This new serious Luka bothered me. I
preferred the flirting, nonchalant version over this man who I
could now easily imagine Changing at the drop of a dime.

Suddenly, that roguish grin reappeared
on Luka’s face and I was comforted. “If you choose to truss her up
so, be sure to put an apple in her mouth and baste her with olive
oil. Butter has the most appalling aftertaste when matched with
humans.”

Will rolled his eyes. “Come on, Emily,
before this nutjob decides to eat you himself.”

I could not help but smile at Luka. He
would never hurt me, I was sure of that. “Bye, Luka. Sorry that I
won’t be around for your midnight snack.”

Luka shrugged. “Yes, anyway you would
be better spitted and turned for awhile, Hawaiian
style.”

Now I rolled my eyes. “I knew I was
fat, but the pig imagery? Really?”

Will pulled me close to him. “Shut up.
You’re gorgeous. Let’s go home. I’ve got some things to do, too,
and not all of them are going to make you happy.”

Luka whistled appreciatively. “Make
sure you do something that does make her happy first then, eh
amigo? Maybe make her squeal?” He winked at me to show me he was
joking, and I could not help but laugh.

We parted ways then. Despite the fact
that I had just found out Will and Luka were a certified
bloodthirsty Lycanti strike team, I felt lighthearted. The night
deepened beautifully around us, the movie had been great, and I now
knew somewhat more of Luka and his purpose, thereby learning more
of my mysterious Will. And with Will’s constant closeness this
evening, I was exceptionally horny and pretty eager to make it home
with time to spare before midnight. Luka could wait. He would
understand.

Will

Oh, I could smell you from the other
end of the house as you undressed and I got my gear together. You
were wet for me already, and I fully planned on taking you before
that night’s hunt. The night had been beautiful; you had made me
want to touch you that whole ride home with your flirting and
little kisses. You knew what you were doing to me. I could see it
in your eyes as you got out of the car. You knew what you wanted,
and who was I to deny you? I would be late to the grove by only a
few moments if I took you quickly, but Luka would know what
activity lengthened our hours.

And abruptly, as I loaded the last
crossbow bolt into my sling, your scent changed. Your body’s
chemistry started to produce enough estrogen to signal that
something formed deep inside of you. I hardened instantly at that
smell. And suddenly, I needed to be inside you at that perfect
depth, finding the egg that your body prepared to release. I fought
to control my shaking hands. I could not take you, not yet, I tried
to convince myself. A Lycanthope child in your womb would tear its
way out. Your blood would burn him like acid. Also, until the
Council consented to your Change, I could not do this. I would not
see you hunted like some animal because I cannot control
myself!

The need of you caused me so much pain
that I thought that I had Changed for the first time again. Why
didn’t I think about the normal body functions of a woman? I should
have taken it into consideration, but you never said anything about
condoms. I assumed you were on birth control. I am so
stupid.

Oh, Emily, why do I always hurt you
when everything starts going right?

Emily

"Bar the door."

His voice came from the other side of
the flimsy piece of wood between us just as I crawled into bed. The
sound was a desperate cry of agony. The need to ease that pain shot
through me as it always did when I saw him hurting.

“Will? What’s wrong? Don’t you want a
good-bye kiss?” I said suggestively.

"Bar the fucking door, Emily. Put the
bed in front of it or something."

"Why are you talking about, Will?
What's coming for me? Is it the Lycanti? Is it Brooke?"

"It’s me," he croaked, his voice
breaking. "You're fertile. I can smell it on you, and it's tearing
me apart. If I get you pregnant, it could kill you. The Clan would
kill you."

“Oh God.”

I felt dizzy. I was unprepared to be
pregnant and certainly not ready to die from it! Why wasn’t my
birth control working? It supposedly was good for five years! I
shouldn’t be ovulating! I sprang from the bed to lock the door,
then ran to the other side of the room, shrinking into a
corner.

Thump. Will’s body slammed against the
locked door. My arms shook as I folded my hands to keep a tremor
from dominating my body. Will had never lied to me, I could not
imagine him lying to me about something so serious now.

Another thud against the door, and it
splintered. He burst into the room, naked and ready, grabbing my
arm and yanking me up to him. He did not even bother to speak to me
before coming at me.

I screamed.

He grabbed me roughly and spun me,
throwing me on the bed. My hands hit the headboard hard and I cried
out. The tears started from that pain, but the realization that
Will was doing this to me hurt even more. He tore roughly at my
clothes, stripping me and forcing himself into me from behind
without pretense. Nothing of the man who had shown me how sweetly
wonderful he could be existed here. He bit into my shoulder and
yanked my hair, causing me to cry out again as my neck jerked back
and he drew blood from me. I shut my eyes tightly in an attempt to
block out the pain. At that moment, I did hate him, for he was not
Will. He became the beast he dreaded, and I should have not let my
guard down for it. I said his name over and over again, trying to
get him to come back to me. He just hit me harder and bit into my
soft flesh with an even greater desperation. His thrusts became
painfully fast, and I knew the culmination was at hand. At least it
would be over then. He pushed my head down into the pillow, partly
suffocating me in the process. I struggled to breathe through the
cotton and the pillowcase.

And as violently as he had entered me,
he tore himself from me. My eyes snapped open as I flipped
instantly to see if he had become my Will. Instead, I turned to see
Luka grappling with Will, trying to find purchase on his
sweat-slicked skin. He looked over at me, his eyes desperate. Will
caught the look that passed between Luka and me and
growled.

“Get out!” Luka roared.

Will let out a yowl and Changed. I
cannot describe it adequately, I know I cannot. It is so sudden
that one moment a naked man stands there, and the next a huge
animal crunches down on the arm of his best friend. Luka’s whimper
of pain startled me, but before his mouth finished forming the
sounds, he had Changed, too. Will threw his lumbering brown form at
the night-dark Luka, emerald eyes flashing and teeth bared. I
wanted to obey Luka and leave, should have obeyed him, but I now
feared for the two wolves snapping at each other in front of
me.

“Stop!” I shouted futilely.

As if anyone ever listened to my
commands in this damn house!

Luka caught Will by the neck and I
instinctively ran forward to push Luka off of him. The black demon
turned on me and growled. That growl sent a tremor of fear through
me as if it were the first night I saw him in the house in this
shape and thought him a dog. I cowered back. Will had recovered and
closed his jaws around Luka’s front leg. I heard the bone snap and
cringed. What could I do?

Nothing, I soon realized. One of them
would die tonight because of me. The fight raged on, and my
helplessness overwhelmed me. Brown and black crashed together time
after time, each of them slashing at the other’s neck and belly
with razor-sharp talons. Blood formed a sheen on the floor, drops
of reflective obsidian on a darkly-tiled plain.

I watched in muted horror as Will
backed the heavily limping Luka into a corner behind the bed. Luka
cradled his foreleg as best as possible. In a move of severe
desperation and probably with great pain to his leg, Luka leapt
past Will, Changing back to human as he did so. Will’s quick figure
appeared to blur past me as he chased the naked, fleeing Luka. I
stupidly rushed after them to the den. Luka had picked up a slab of
marble that once functioned as a decorative table top and was
alternately fending off Will and beating him with it.

I ran to him, determined to keep him
from killing Will. I grabbed his arms, but he pushed me away so
violently that I feared to go near him again. I felt halfway
protected wedged between the entertainment center and an old
chest.

“Get the syringe out of that drawer.
Fill it from the vial next to it,” Luka shouted hurriedly. I did as
he commanded, terrified that I would be too late and he would have
to kill Will in self defense. I fumbled for the materials, trying
to fill the vial with my unsteady hands.

“Now inject it into him!”

I shot a look of disbelief at
him.

“Just fucking do it, Emily!” he said,
whacking Will a good one.

Suddenly, Will slumped to the ground.
I had done it. I had stuck him in the flank. His rage had been so
fixed on Luka that he never even noticed I was in the
room.

I tried to avoid looking at the naked
Luka in front of me. I blushed, futilely trying to cover my body.
Luka sighed and stroked Will’s unconscious wolf form. “I am sorry,
meu irmão. Forgive me.” He looked at me, raking his eyes over my
frame, longing evident in those glassy orbs. “I have to get out of
here, Emily. When I leave, do not open the door for anyone until I
come back. I put the spare key in the kitchen. Thankfully, Will’s
doors could stop a train.”

He hefted Will up, that huge russet
mass seeming to weight nothing in his arms. He left me there, alone
but alive, fertile but relatively untouched. I spent the next few
hours scrubbing out what little Will had gotten into me. I knew
that it would be ineffective if the sperm were truly determined,
but I could hope.

With nothing and no one around, hope
was all I had at that moment.

I redressed in pajamas and tried to
pull myself together, worried about Luka and Will in equal amounts.
I had no desire for one to prevail over the other. I wanted them
both to come back to me intact. It bothered me how pleased I was
that Luka desired me. Had I no loyalty?

When the doorbell chimed, I was afraid
to answer it. It could not be Will. He would never ring his own
doorbell. I opened the door with trembling hands.

Luka walked through the door, cradling
his hand. He wore only sweatpants and no shoes. He must have ran
here Changed. The first words out of my mouth were the expected, I
think.

“Is Will okay?”

“Yes. I locked him in my basement.
There is no possible way he can get out, I promise. I will keep him
there for a few days until your time has passed.”

I threw my arms around Luka’s neck.
“Oh, I was so scared for you both!”

He smiled softly. “Don’t be a drama
queen. We will be fine. All of us.”

I looked up into those aquamarine eyes
and felt myself falling into them. “Thank you, Luka.”

“It was my pleasure,
Emily.”

“I had no idea. I have an IUD. I
shouldn’t have—”

“It’s alright. I don’t blame you, and
I know Will won’t. I got worried in the grove after so long, and I
am the one who sought you out after I scented you from the edge of
the yard, knowing that Will would be with you…knowing that he would
be trying to mate you.”

I cast a quick look at him, unsure of
what his words meant. Before I could ask why he had approached the
house if he had known, his words came out in a rush:

“I will not Change you, Emily, no
matter what Will says. I cannot hurt another woman. I destroyed my
Shasta that way. She lives in eternal darkness because of
me.”

“She’s a vampire, isn’t she?” I had
figured out that much by now from his one earlier conversation that
mentioned her. Like I have stated, I am not stupid, it just takes
me a while to figure things out. That, and yeah, it’s a bit of an
obsession.