Jim sent another giant wave of water our way. I shook my head and continued to listen while I helped Liam return the favor.
“I like the smell of strawberries, but I wouldn’t want my clothes to smell like them. It’s a good smell, but not right for clothes. It’s the same for finding potential Mates. Although my scent may be pleasant to several of my kind, it might not be just right for any of them. Because of the nuance between an alluring scent and the rightness of that perfect scent, nature threw in a backup plan. It’s something we feel deep inside ourselves, like a tug in our stomach, reeling us toward the one we’re meant to be with. The scent calls us, possibly from a greater distance than we can see, but the pull cinches the deal.”
Winifred paused for a moment, and I was about to look up when Winifred communicated with me.
By the scent of her panic and her quick look in your direction, I would say she feels a strong pull for you.
I agree, but, I don’t want her to bolt because she thinks she has no choice.
You want me to lie?
Of course not. I just wish you would have...I don’t know...softened the truth a bit.
“It’s a lot to take in, but nothing to worry about. With humans, we werewolves typically don’t feel or scent anything that would indicate we’re compatible with you. Oh, a few have tried to have relationships, but they were shallow connections that never lasted long.”
Not what I meant. I sent her a look that might have earned me a smack upside my head in my younger years.
Winifred ignored me and handed Michelle another bottle of water.
“Would you like me to tell you more about our kind?”
Michelle nodded hesitantly, and Winifred explained our history and how Mom had helped unite the small packs.
“Charlene put the backbone back in our pack and brought us together by sheer determination. It’s because of her plans for pack growth that I am here with Emmitt and Jim. We are trying to establish another pack location because the main one in Canada is growing too large for the space.
“Our society is like any other in that we each have a place in it. Elders are the keepers of knowledge and peace. Pack leaders keep the peace within their own pack, but Elders keep the peace between packs.”
Winifred’s explanation caused me a brief moment of guilt. She made it sound like there were many packs. There weren’t. Not really. There were still secluded families of three or four members who considered themselves a pack, but there weren’t packs like my father’s or like what my parents wanted me to start here. A large pack made up of many families gave the members a kind of strength and security in the human community that the smaller packs would never have.
People were depending on me to step up, and I wasn’t.
“Cut it out,” Jim said so only I would hear. “Guilt’s meant for troublemakers like me, not poster boys like you.”
I didn’t respond as Winifred continued.
“Almost all werewolves belong to a pack. However, some werewolves choose to live on their own. Those we call Forlorn. They can still hear the Elders and have the same compulsion to obey, but they follow no pack leader.”
“So Emmitt’s mom is the pack leader?” Michelle asked.
That made me smile. Mom would have laughed.
“Technically, no. Emmitt’s father is the leader. But, Charlene influences the pack in her own right.”
Michelle was quiet for a moment.
“Where in there does biting become involved?”
Winifred coughed to cover her laugh, Jim laughed outright, but I didn’t laugh at all.
Winifred, I didn’t say a thing about biting. Ask Jim if he did.
There was a pause before she confirmed he hadn’t either.
“Can I ask where these questions are coming from?” Winifred asked Michelle.
“Just curious. Maybe we should eat lunch.”
Michelle was obviously trying to change the subject.
I’m worried, I sent to Winifred.
I think you are right to be. I’m considering sending out a message to all werewolves asking for someone to step forward if they’ve shared information with a human or heard of someone sharing information with a human.
Let’s hold off on that. There will be questions, and Michelle isn’t ready for attention from any more of our kind.
Very well.
* * * *
After we got home from the lake, Michelle and the boys stayed in her apartment for the rest of the night. Restless, I went upstairs and