Free The Willing by Aila Cline

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?
    I barely heard his voice through my own
thoughts. “Don’t go that way.”
    “I’ll go wherever I want.”
    “Suit yourself, but that’s where the
suckheads live.”
    I paused and turned quickly.
“Vampires?”
    “If that’s what name you want to grace
them with.”
    “They’re this far north?”
    “Of course. They like the
cold.”
    “Why?”
    He shrugged. “Hell if I know. But I
know you don’t want to go that way.”
    “It’s not like they can kill me,” I
said with all the confidence of a newborn Lycanti.
    He guffawed, a big, booming laugh that
disoriented me in all the things I knew about him.
    “You don’t think so?”
    “Nothing can kill me,” I
insisted.
    His eyes fell into slits. “Oh there are
things that can kill you. Why do you think there are no grey-haired
Lycanti?”
    “I’ve met Raníer. I know most of the
elders by sight if not by name.”
    “There’s a big difference in the
Lycanti life and the Lycanthrope life.”
    “Whatever,” I muttered. I kept walking.
Josh could not and would not stop me with so many people around.
Besides, he and the others would want to hunt soon. I could taste
his knife-sharp hunger on my tongue, but I wanted no human’s blood
on my hands. I had willingly eaten the flesh of those who had hurt
me, but that woman selling wool