Willing Sacrifice Read Online Free Page B

do for washing?" He eyed the sink as if he already knew the answer. When I didn't bother explaining it to him he shook his head. "Why do you live this way? I understand you've been hurt and all but..." He looked up at me and froze having obviously gone too far. For a second he reminded me of the squirrel, he actually looked scared of me. Someone was coaching this guy, helping him enter my life. He knew way too much about me.
    I let my anger dissolve, reminding myself that he had no way of knowing everything I had gone through. From the books I had read on anger management, the key phrase was always the same. Don't react to your anger, regard it, control it and subdue it.
    "I don't trust the humans,” I answered. “So I can't live among them." I shook a chunk of ice loose from a long sleeved shirt and it landed on the top of the wood stove, bouncing and hissing on the hot surface. "I can't live among the wolves, because I don't trust them either." I pinned the shirt in place. I cleared my throat nervously, "I'm sorry I threw your clothes out the window.” With that sentence I knew I wanted him to stay.
    I realized I didn't know his name. "Maybe this isn't a good place for you." I felt regret at saying that because I was selfish enough to know it was nice to have another person around, and I didn’t know if Jack would try to hurt him too.
    He regarded me before continuing. "So you don't trust your own kind?"
    My face reddened with anger and again I squelched it. I realized he was probably trying to trigger me now; I knew my temper was somewhat legendary.
    "What's your name?" I finally asked him. It made me think of a time I found a stray cat in the park and named him. My foster mother told me that since I had given the cat a name, it belonged to me now. I hoped it didn’t work that way with stray wolves.
    "Gage."
    Wow, sexy name. "How did you know about me?"
    "You weren't all that hard to find." He skirted the question.
    I waited a few long moments before asking anything else. I hoped my silence told him I didn’t believe him. "I think you should tell me how you lost your pack."
    "Are we a pack yet?" He asked barely looking at me. I decided he had a crappy poker face.
    "No, I just want to know before any decisions are made."
    "Then, I'm not going to tell you." He flashed an annoyingly handsome grin.
    "Why not?" I whined.
    "I don't have to." He smirked again.
    "That’s a really dumb answer. What if you're a raging psychopath looking for your next victim?" I considered a Born werewolf from my past, David, and thought that it would be just my luck to end up with another crazy Born werewolf; it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
    "I'm not one of them." He answered seriously.
    "I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be advertising that fact if you were." I snapped back.
    "So, how would your interrogation change anything?" He sneered.
    "I am going to be honest with you, Gage. I was married to Jack Coon for a grand total of less than a week before he died. Before that I was imprisoned and tortured by a really sick Born wolf named David. He murdered my family and took Jack from me. Then I was left alone to manage a pack. It didn't take long for me to lose that too. Now I’m exiled. I’m not exactly the most desirable eligible bachelorette.”
    I fiddled with my fingers, pretending to clean my nails. “When I first came to be... as I am, I assumed the animal in us would override the lesser human instinct to conquer and destroy. I was wrong and I don't want to the play political games any longer because they are just a really immoral carbon copy of a monarchy, hiding behind a labyrinth of bureaucratic bullshit that no one can really follow because as soon as you start to figure out what's going on, they change the rules of the game and call it a revised political directive." I paused for breath and glared at him some more.
    At this he gently sat down in the only kitchen chair making it squeak under his weight. "Those rules are