The Willing Read Online Free PDF Page A

and let him lead me to a pallet of blankets that by scent
were unmistakably his. He lazily slung an arm and leg over me,
shielding me from the cold even more.
    “I won’t let anyone hurt you, Emily,”
he murmured.
    And suddenly, I felt safe. But as I lay
there surrounded by his luxurious musky scent, I fell into a deep
sleep, completely unaware that I had just been claimed in the way
of the Lycanti.

    Please keep in mind that at this time,
I was only nineteen years old and had only been with Will, my
Lycanti lover who showed me the ways of passion, but could never
teach me to control my emotions enough to control the Change. In
turn, I had never spent a great amount of time with any of the
other Lycanti or Lycanthrope. The most interaction I had with them
was at Will’s mother’s wedding. Maria’s wedding in Mexico had
provided me with the interesting opportunity to mingle with
werewolves, and subsequently have a female Lycanthrope killed
because of me—Luka’s sister. Obviously, even though I was human at
the time, things just never seem to work out when I run into others
of my kind. We are too different…or I am too tame.
    After spending the night curled against
Josh’s warm body, I felt safe. Everything seemed to be okay again.
I still mourned Will, and my guilt was tantamount, but life seemed
to be going on in a way that would once again seem
tolerable.
    His grin that morning seemed to confirm
it. “Good morning, lovely.”
    He stood in one fluid movement when our
eyes met, clothed himself in stylish jeans and an Abercrombie
shirt. In my eyes that morning, he looked as delicious as any
underwear model come to life from the stills of an ad. He walked
towards the campfire, where others were already stirring and
speaking in low tones.
    “Come,” he said in the same tone he had
used on me to beckon me to follow him after our lovemaking. It was
not forceful, more like an invitation.
    Still wrapped in one of his blankets, I
strode to the fire, confident that my new pack would be like a
family.
    A voice met me at the campfire, that of
the petite blond who had scowled at me the previous night. “Gods,
she’s fat.”
    A very bitchy family.
    Josh chuckled lowly, but the others
laughed outright. My face burned, but I was determined to make our
first real interaction a positive one. Since my Change, I had
learned to let go of the self-consciousness about my body that had
plagued me as a human. Werewolves did not place the same emphasis
of physical beauty on their kind; from what Will and Luka told me,
they loved to watch muscles ripple under the skin and study the
glow of health. What had I learned in boarding school? Oh yes,
don’t make the first impression the worst impression.
    “Now, Layla, don’t be cruel,” Josh
chastised. “Not everyone was born to hide behind stick insects on a
daily basis.”
    I giggled at this. Layla was truly
nothing but bones.
    She shot a glance at me that was a dark
as pooled blood. “I will know who to eat first if we fail to hunt
this morning.”
    Josh placed his hand on the small of my
back. “She’s mine.” He gazed out among the pack. “Would any of you
fight me for her?”
    A warm shiver ran through me at his
words. He wanted me, surely!
    Of the five seated around the fire,
only the woman Layla met Josh’s eyes. “No one would want such
trash. There is too much of the human about her. Look at her. She
is utterly terrified of us.”
    Josh nodded. “Which is why I claim her.
To teach her.”
    One of the men stood.
    “Yes, Xavier?” Josh asked.
    The man’s dark braids bobbed as he
spoke. “Has she accepted you as master?”
    Josh turned to me then, his gaze so
intense that I blushed.
    “Will you allow me to protect you and
to teach you our ways?”
    His voice was so alluring, so didactic
and calm in a world where I knew no tranquility.
    “Yes,” I said instantly.
    “And you will call me Master?” he asked
softly.
    “Yes.”
    He turned back to Xavier and the
others.