Free The Reluctant by Aila Cline

had done this to me! I hated her, hated myself,
hated tasting the sweat of strangers at the back of my throat. The
emotion drowned my senses and I could see nothing but
death.
    Two minutes later, there lay a dead
Lycanthrope at my feet. Of course, I did not know what she was
then, but then again, I, a newborn Lycanti who knew nothing but I
had changed somehow, did not stop to think. Overcome by so much
blood in the air, I could not help myself. I savaged the body as if
I had not eaten in days, licking the blood from every surface and
devouring the meat and gristle with relish. The salty sweetness
blanketed my tongue. Sometime later during the feeding, another
wolf joined me. I know not where she came from. I barely
acknowledged the gray but willingly shared my kill. Her gleaming
green eyes mocked me as we ate.
    After feeding, I fled. Everyone slept,
too hung over to listen for or watch for a huge wolf capering down
the halls. Thankfully, Luka had been attracted by the scent of
Lycanthrope blood, curious as to who had killed one of the Clan. If
not for him finding me at the edge of campus, I’d be dead, a bloody
carcass for some opportunist scavenger to find. As it was, the
revulsion of my actions shamed me. I had become a killer, a true
monster straight from my own nightmares.

    Emily

    I awoke that very night to shouting. I
immediately noted Will’s absence from the bed. My first thought
went to Brooke and her not-so-subtle threat about “knowing where
Will kept me.”
    But a male voice argued with
Will’s—Luka? I crept to the back of the house to hear the muffled
shouts as words, leaning against the doorpost of the den. Will and
Luka argued on the back porch directly in front of me.
    “You’re fucking insane, man,” Luka
yelled, his accent overwhelming. “How can you ask me to do this?
The Clan will hunt me. You know they do not allow Lycanti to take
human mates.”
    Will mumbled something unintelligible,
but Luka felt no such restraints to keep quiet.
    “I hope she fucking wakes up. Does she
even know what you have planned for her? The blood? Gods man, the
blood loss could kill her.” His voice dropped to speaking tone.
“What if I can’t save her in time? Or worse, what if she turns into
one of those mutant freaks? Then the Clan and the Children of Dacre
will hunt her for a different reason.”
    “I trust you.” Will spoke evenly and
calmly.
    “Yes, yes, I know, you trust me,” Luka
sneered. His voice broke on his next words, “Don’t you remember
what happened to Shasta?”
    “Come on man, it was an accident. Let
it go.”
    Luka snarled. “It is a
selfish thing you ask of me. Like a rato crouched in the mud to see his
friends eaten by the jacare .”
    “The Clan will not find
out.”
    “They will.” I heard
Luka’s hand slap the wall to emphasize his words. “They will. They
always know. And then they will come for me and for Emily, but not
for you—oh no, not for you little rato , because of your
mother.”
    “Luka…”
    “And when she’s lying dead at your
feet, you fucking well better remember that you told me to let the
guilt of Shasta go.”
    “Luka!”
    I hurried to the screen door just in
time to see a Changed Luka bounding off to the woods.
    Will turned to me and blanched. His
eyes held a pain I could not even imagine. “I’m sorry we woke you,
Emily.”
    I instinctively pulled him to me,
hugging him close. The need to protect him from his own sorrow
overwhelmed me. “I’m fine,” I murmured. “What was that all
about?”
    Will sighed. “Luka does not want to
Change you.”
    The heat drained from my body in the
cool night, but I released Will.
    “Why would he Change me?”
    “A pure blood must do it. I am not
strong enough as a Changeling.”
    “I heard him say that the Clan will
kill us.”
    Will shook his head violently. “Myth.
They do not hunt their own, especially not here in America. They
only hunt renegades. We honor the Clan’s ways. Anyway, I have