going off with one of the female werewolves. The implication seemed to be that they'd gone off for a little one on one. So, no search, but I wasn't happy about it. I wasn't even sure exactly why I wasn't happy about it, but I wasn't.
Nathaniel needed to know some rudimentary greetings because he was mine. No one had ever met a lupa that was also Nimir-ra for a leopard pard, but Verne had decided the leopards would be included because they were mine. So they needed the little greetings lecture. I'd sent Damian and Asher out to find Nathaniel. No one in Verne's pack expected the vampires to be part of the official greeting. In fact, it had been requested that they not touch any of the werewolves unless offered. Strongly requested.
So it was just the four of us watching Jamil pace. He finally stopped in front of me. "Stand up."
It sounded far too much like an order for my taste, but I stood, looking up at him.
"Richard says you have a degree in biology."
Not the opening I was expecting, but I nodded. "Preternatural biology, yeah."
"How much do you know about natural wolves?"
"I've been reading Mech," I said.
Jamil's eyes widened just a bit. "L. David Mech?"
"Yeah, you seem surprised. He is one of the leading authorities on wolf behavior."
"Why have you been reading him?" Jamil asked.
I shrugged. "I'm lupa of a werewolf pack, but I'm not a werewolf. There are no good books on werewolves, so the best I could do was research real wolves."
"What else have you read?" he asked.
"Of Wolves and Men, by Barry Holstun Lopez. A few other books, but those were the two best I've found."
Jamil smiled, a quick baring of teeth. "You have just made my job a lot easier."
I frowned up at him.
"The formal greeting is like one friendly wolf greeting another. The point is to get the nose back here," he touched the hair behind my ear, gently.
"Do you rub the cheek along the other person's cheek like a real wolf would do? I mean in human form, you don't have any glands on the cheek to help you scent mark another wolf."
He looked down at me, solemn almost, nodding. "Yes, you do rub cheeks even in human form. Then you bury your nose in the hair behind the ear."
"How big is Verne's pack?" I asked.
"Fifty-two wolves," Jamil said.
I raised eyebrows at him. "Please tell me that I don't have to rub faces with every single one of them."
Jamil smiled, but it left his eyes serious. He was thinking something. I wanted to know what it was. "Not with all of them, just the alphas."
"How many?"
"Nine," he said.
"Doable, I guess." I looked up into his thoughtful face and just asked, "What are you thinking so hard about, Jamil?"
He blinked at me. "What -- "
"Don't tell me it's nothing. You went all solemn and thoughtful about five minutes ago. What gives?"
He stared down at me. The concentration in his dark eyes was almost touchable. "I'm impressed that you bothered to research natural wolves."
"That's the third time you've used the term natural wolves. I've never heard it before."
Jason rolled off the bed to his feet. "We are real wolves part of the time. We're just not natural."
I looked to Jamil, and he nodded.
"So calling you guys real wolves is an insult?"
"Yes," Jamil said.
"Anything else to watch for?" I asked.
Jamil looked at Jason. They exchanged a look that made me feel excluded. Like there was some unpleasant surprise coming and no one was telling me.
"What?" I said.
"Let's just do the greeting," Jamil said.
"What are you guys hiding from me?"
Jason laughed. "Just tell her."
A low growl trickled from Jamil's human throat. The sound alone raised the hair on my arms. "I am Skoll, and you have no name among the lukoi. Your voice is only the wind outside our cave."
Jason took a few steps closer. "The trees themselves bow before the wind," he said. It sounded way too formal for Jason.
"Good," Jamil said, "you do know some lukoi phrases."
"We were afraid to touch each other," Jason said, "not to talk to each other."
Zane pushed away from the wall, moving between them, standing close to me. "The moon is rising. Time is passing."
I frowned at all of them. "I feel like you're speaking in code and I don't know how to crack it."
"Apparently, we have some phrases in common," Jamil said, "between the lukoi and the pard."
"Great, the wolves and the leopards share some common ground. Now