The Willing Read Online Free PDF Page B

sighed. “I miss him sometimes, but Sita is
really Rachel’s cat. She just puts up with me.”
    “Where was she when I came over last
time?”
    “Who? Rachel or the cat?”
    “The cat of course. Believe me, I did
not fail to notice your human companion, no matter how hard I
tried.”
    “I had Rachel shut her up in the
laundry room. I had hoped to bring you back with me, and I knew she
would be a distraction.”
    Sita sidled over and pushed against my
leg ever more insistently as if my confirmation of her earlier
imprisonment offended her.
    Luka shrugged. “Stranger things have
happened. Did you really think she would bother me more than the
human?”
    I rolled my eyes. “Maybe. You’re like a
hormonal woman these days.”
    He chuckled. “So where is the human
today?”
    I pushed Sita away. “Shopping. And she
has a name.”
    “She’s human, that’s enough for me. And
she did not strike me as the shopping type.”
    “No, but she is tactful enough to make
up an excuse not to be here while we are. Part of her endless,
painfully pitiful humanity, I’m sure.”
    He ignored my comment and instead
shifted Micah so that the baby could see Sita as he used his foot
as a wriggling toy to catch the cat’s attention. She took the bait
and pounced, causing Micah to giggle uncontrollably. Luka continued
the ploy when he saw how happy it made Micah. We had just returned
from buying clothes for the trip to Mexico. The apartment felt
empty without Rachel there, but I was grateful for her
absence.
    “Smart girl,” he said while taking in
my apartment. I wondered if he was talking about Rachel or about
me. We had been so intent on arguing with each other the first time
he was there that he studied nothing on that trip. I knew the
things he’d be thinking. Double-paned windows showed a cautious
side; Rocky Horror Picture Show posters hinted at my darkly
creative, fun side. His eyes darted to a picture of Rachel, Micah
and me at the zoo a month earlier, the dusk sky blanketing us in
gentle twilight.
    “Speaking of your esteemed babysitter,
have you noticed that your friend is knock-kneed?”
    “She’s not my friend. I know not to
confuse that fact. She’s an acquaintance and my roommate. And she’s
not knock-kneed—they’re just slightly crooked.”
    He snorted. “Either way, she cannot be
able to run very fast.”
    My eyes flashed to his face in
suspicion but he merely grinned wolfishly back at me.
    “Do you really think I would eat
her?”
    “I don’t know,” I admitted shakily.
“You’ve changed so much that I don’t know how you’ll react to
anything anymore.”
    “Yes, well, you live with a woman who
cares nothing for you, and then tell me if you feel like sunshine
every day.”
    “If you don’t like it, then
leave.”
    He shook his head violently and threw
the hand that wasn't wrapped around Micah. “You still do not
understand, do you, Emily? You cannot walk away from a Bond. It is
until death do we part—the human ceremony with your ways of divorce
makes a mockery of the Clan’s.”
    He put Micah down on the floor, which
delighted my son to no end as he crawled after Sita. She darted
away.
    I stayed silent, just watching Micah
crawl across the floor and stop to play with a toy. If Luka was so
cock-ready to honor the Bond even after what he knew about me,
about Brooke, and about himself, then let him. I would chase after
no man, especially not one so scared of the Lycanthrope. I had seen
Josh rebel against them and remained unpunished; the Lycanti could
and did defy the authority of the Lycanthrope and live. I knew that
now.
    “When do we leave?” I asked,
redirecting my attention to him after swearing myself away from
asking about his unhappiness again.
    “Soon,” he replied lowly. “Very soon.
You have your passport?”
    “Of course.”
    “Then I’ll book the flight tonight when
I get home.” He smiled fully then, and I saw a glimpse of the old,
less-tortured Luka. “Coach okay for