The Reluctant (14 page)

A shiver ran down my body, damping the
heat of anger. Underneath my own protective grasp, I could feel my
nipples harden involuntarily. I wanted to scream, but no one would
hear me. Run, but to where? Oh God, Will where are you? I kept
asking myself.

A woodcutter’s cottage can be a prison
if there’s only one exit.

My stomach flipped as he pressed his
body against mine. His chest wasn’t the only thing that was
hard.

“Don’t,” I whispered.

In yoga they teach you how to block
out thoughts; maybe I could block him out. I breathed deeply but
all this action served was to make me light headed.

He finally put his hands on me, but my
body did not react the way I thought it would. Running his hands up
the curve of my hips and up my back, they stopped at my neck. The
right hand came back down and slid around to rest on my hip, while
the left snaked up the back of my neck. His fingers molded
themselves around my neck before he made a fist with them entwined
with my hair, tugging a little. Needles shot straight into my groin
that caused an instant wet reaction. Will had conditioned my body
to crave the brutality, now this man was getting the reaction that
had been trained into me.

With his lips feathery on my throat
and his body pressed against mine, he growled, “Have you ever
wondered what it’s like to be eaten by the big, bad
wolf?”

His right hand found my own that
covered my lower lips like a poorly-guarded secret. He squeezed
then forced his fingers behind my hand, lightly stroking my clit.
His fingers moved in circles, and I involuntarily groaned. My body
was going to react in a way not of my choosing. More of his
rotating fingers had my head tossing against his broad chest.
Suddenly, he bit down into the soft flesh of my shoulder as he
pulled his hand away, making me gasp as if I had broken the surface
after swimming underwater.

He chuckled again, punctuated this
time with a low echo of his sarcastic laugh. “Oh, Mistress Red, I
see you have thought about being eaten by the wolf. What has that
untrained boy been doing to you?”

My eyes flew open. The heat rushed up
through me, but anger became fixation as I noticed he had backed
away from me and already stripped off his shirt. The leanness of
his body demanded my eye’s appreciation, though I longed to close
my eyes and hate him—body and soul. This body betrayed me though,
and my eyes devoured his chest covered with a dusting of
coppery-colored hair and the muscles were a rock-hard masterpiece.
My gaze stopped at the top of his jeans, where his thumbs lightly
rested in the belt loops. I swallowed heavily and slowly blew out
the breath I had been holding while studying him. Biting my lips
and licking them in anticipation like a whore, I said the only
thing they had taught me to say in hundreds of life
lessons:

“No.”

My breath came out harshly, the word
broken and clipped. He laughed.

“If I recall correctly, the old
stories do not find Mistress Red as the decider of her
fate.”

I wanted to curse him, spit at him,
bite him—but my eyes followed those long, graceful fingers that had
begun to unbutton his pants. First jeans, then boxers hit the
floor. His body seemed to swell before my eyes.

I shrunk back and repeated,
“No.”

He walked slowly towards me, body taut
with toned muscles as sleek as stones wrapped in silk.

“Try and stop me, Red. Besides, you
did not even say thank you for Raníer’s gift.”

He retrieved the flannel nightgown
from its spot on the bed. I backed away as he came on, determined
that this time I would resist with more than crying and begging. A
hand snaked out before I was ready for his quickness, and he had me
by the arm. I thrashed about, trying to squirm away from him as he
pushed me up against the wall, escape routes blocked by his body.
His blue eyes reminded me of Luka’s and I wanted to shut my eyes to
disassociate this monster with my friend. I pushed hard at him, but
he laughed at my inability to fend him off and suddenly flipped me.
My face hit the wall hard, but I didn’t cry out. I breathed hard as
he crushed me against the drywall. As if he had been doing it all
his life, he deftly tied my hands together with the material. I
wriggled, testing his job, and found the bindings pulled much too
tight.

“They hurt,” I said
pitifully.

“No one said being eaten would be
painless,” he murmured into my hair. His cock jumped up and down at
the small of my back. He turned me facing him. “Down,” he said,
pointing to the ground.

I dropped to my knees. I didn’t beg,
or scream, or cry. No one would help me. Yes, it was going to hurt,
but he wouldn’t kill me. He wanted me and alive to punish Will.
There was nothing in my power at the moment to stop it. I knew that
Raníer had sent him, and anger surged up in me for trusting the
kindly old man.

“Put your head on the floor, ass in
the air,” he commanded, excitement adding to the forcefulness of
his tone.

Of course I obeyed, finally closing my
eyes once again. The floor felt cool against my heated, panting
body.

He moved behind me. Rough hands found
the inside of my thighs and squeezed, massaging them as they worked
towards the core of me. He leaned into me and I felt his breath hot
on my labia, just as it had breezed over my neck only a few moments
ago. The waves of need that frolicked up and down me were the same
also. A long tongue suddenly found my clit and flicked at it a few
times. I gasped and bucked against his mouth, pulling my bonds
tighter. My face burned as it rubbed back and forth against
unsympathetic carpet, and my shoulders cried out for
relief.

With a mouth almost completely inside
me, he murmured, “Oh yes, Red. Perfect.”

My shoulder muscles pulled and burned.
Tears pricked my eyes at the pain. My body was going to rip in
two—either at the hips where he was grabbing while he tasted me or
at my shoulders that suffered with each movement, stretched tight
and hot.

Tears begin to pool on the floor. I
finally moaned and croaked, “Oh, just fuck me already.
Please.”

His tongue stopped suddenly, as if my
words had just reminded him that it was indeed time. He raised up
behind me and wordlessly pushed that huge, swollen thing that
defined him into me. I cried out again and again as the rocking of
his fucking caused the flannel to scrape my wrists raw and
threatened to tear the muscles from my body.

Just short of coming, he stopped. I
thought maybe Will had come in, but no, the man had a different
idea of what he wanted from me. He turned me to face him again
without regard to my suffering shoulder muscles, those blue eyes
dancing with excitement as they savagely drank in my
body.

“I must admit that the Changeling has
good taste,” he said, tweaking my nipple. “Too bad he won’t want
you after this. And those pretty brown eyes will never get to see
light again.” He winked at me and reached under the bed to pull out
a serrated blade as long as my arm—the knife had been there all
along. Someone had planned this before tonight!

This time I did scream and got
backhanded for my efforts. Rape was one thing…murder another. I
could live through rape and live for revenge. I would be useless
dead. Never to see those green eyes or those blue eyes again,
although I had a feeling that after this, Luka’s eyes would never
hold the same appeal for me.

“How do you feel about vampires?” he
asked with a heavy emphasis on the last word while rubbing his
hardness against my thigh and practically humping me with
it.

My mind tumbled down. I became
hysterical, crying and screaming. Shasta. Shasta. ShastaLukaShasta.
Shasta. Shasta. He finally gagged me, sick of hearing me whimper
nonsense.

“Oh, I know all about Shasta,” he
whispered as if we were lovers instead of abuser and victim. “Who
do you think gave Brooke the poison to lace Luka’s blade and make
damn sure the girl was dead before he tried to Change
her?”

I screamed against the wash cloth
shoved in my mouth, more for knowing that the source of Luka’s pain
towered over me and I could do nothing about it than for my own
situation!

He smiled widely. “Yes, a sad story
indeed, but we do not want humans polluting our blood. Better for
her to be a vampire and untouchable by Luka than an outcast in our
family. You are no different. I think Will’s mother feels the same
way after her horrible experiences with those Lycanti vira-lata,
but I am not sure. She may want me to do this to you just because
she loved Anya like a daughter and respects Raníer. She is an
honorable woman.” He grinned. “Either way, it appears we will have
to…what is the word in your language?... experiment …and find
out.”

The blade traveled down to my arms and
he teased me with it. I must admit, at this point, my mind had
cracked, I think. When he cut the veins in my wrists, I thought I
could see ants crawling out of them. When he started licking the
blood, I could not help but think that people got AIDS that way.
And when I blacked out, it was a joy not to be thinking at
all.

Will

Oh God. How could I leave you? I
shouldn’t have left you. Even with my mother’s blessing the Council
decided against you, saying I should bind myself to a Lycanthrope
master to tame my impetuous nature. And that was before I came into
the hotel room to that unforgettable scene—imagine how they feel
about my murderous attitude towards them now!

I thought I wouldn’t save you. He had
started the process by slashing your wrists, but thank God he’d
never Changed someone before. He didn’t know to wait for the
heartbeat to start fluttering before healing you and exchanging the
fluids. Was he trying to turn you into a vampire by leaving it off
so late? He seemed more intent on fucking you as you slipped away,
even if he had to do it while your body turned cold. Fucking
bastard.

I wish you would tell me the things he
said to you. I know he hurt you, Emily, but he’s dead now. He will
never hurt you again. No one will ever make you cry again,
especially not now. I didn’t think my blood would be strong enough
to do it, but somehow—maybe because Alec started the process, it
succeeded. I don’t like the idea that some of him is in you
forever, part of you now, but I cannot change that, and I could not
hold that against you. I almost thought I didn’t have you in time.
I thought…I thought you would be another Shasta.

But you’re okay. We’re
okay.

When you opened those newborn green
eyes to look at me for the first time with the same hunger for me
that I feel for you, it might have been the most breathtaking
moment in my life—except for the four hours of fucking you gifted
me afterwards. Knowing that my blood prevailed over his for the
pivotal moment of Change was beautiful. You would have looked
ravishing with blue eyes, but that lovely jade hue brings your
entire face alive.

Even watching you Change for the first
time was like watching a sunrise after a long night. I knew you
were hurting, but you made it through without losing your mind. You
are so strong. I knew you would be. At least there is justice that
you claimed Alec as your first meal.

Oh, Emily, you are perfect now. You
are Changed. And you are mine.

Forever.

Emily

Everything is painfully vivid now.
Colors are sharper. Smells crowd my nose, and noises invade my ears
until I feel like I will go mad with all the insignificant minutiae
of sounds that plague this world. But then Will and I would run
through the paths of the woods, unafraid of anything as humans or
as wolves during the full moon, and the breeze tastes delicious.
The arid night rasps against my skin, making me shiver, making me
hungry for flesh—and for Will.

We were at each other constantly. I
couldn’t seem to get enough of him. I woke in the morning desperate
to touch him, to have him hold me. At night we would slide into bed
and listen to each other breathe for a few moments before he
reached over to stroke me to elicit my ardent response.

We received a notice from the Council
on fancy hand-made paper. We are banned from any contact with the
Brazilian clans for our parts in Alec and Anya’s deaths and for
violating their decree that I stay human. If we are found on
anywhere in South America, we will be mercilessly hunted and killed
by Raníer’s family. The Mexican clans did not care one way or the
other. If they did, we heard nothing from them.

“Damn,” I said with a sarcastic,
wolfish bite. “I had so hoped to sit on Uncle Raníer’s lap for
Christmas this year.”

Will gave me a stern look, but I knew
that he didn’t care.

For now, he was just happy that he
could share his world with me.

Other than the craving for raw meat
that a haunch of a deer just would not quench, the only thing that
bothered me was the unpredictability of my condition. One day Will
kicked my ass on Super Mario Kart. What did I do? Nothing rational,
for sure. I got angry and threw the controller down, storming off.
Before I had made it to the kitchen, I had Changed. But I couldn’t
keep my temper steady enough to function some days. I was so
volatile one day that we had to cancel a movie we had talked of
seeing all week.