Wolf's Call (Wolves Next Door #2) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,11

a potential concern, but again, your wounds are the thing to worry about. Getting it on your skin isn't a problem. Into your bloodstream or mucus membranes is. Eyes, inside your nose, mouth, or genitals. It needs a way to get into the body, and your skin is designed to prevent that."

"So..." Elena let out a deep sigh. "If I have sex with an infected man, how do I stay safe?"

"Condoms," Dr. Bridget said. "They really do work. I'm assuming you're heterosexual?"

"I am," Elena agreed.

"Ok, then I'll relate all of this for your perspective. Vaginal and anal intercourse with a condom is fine. The chances of exposure are minimal. Oral sex performed on you by an infected individual? So long as there are no open wounds - not just minor things like a nick from a razor, but a significant injury - then you're fine. Oral sex on an infected man will require a condom due to the secretions from the penis. I know it's not as sexy or as spontaneous, but it's safer. Semen in your mouth is not ok. While the risk is still low, repeated exposure increases the likelihood of one time being just too much. It could be the first or the millionth, but there's approximately a two percent transmission rate with unprotected sex of any kind."

Elena blew out a heavy breath. "And the chances of someone my age surviving it? Being turned, I mean?"

"You are young, healthy from what I can tell, and aware of the risks. All of those combined increase your survival rate. And I was told there are secure walls around the entire community, so that helps even more. Alpha, most converts are lost to things besides the disease. Cars are right at the top of that list. The change makes one scared, confused, and delirious. They don't even see the roads, let alone the cars. All they know is that they have to run, and here? You can run safely."

"So, I could make it?" she asked.

"You would have a better chance than most other converts, but I can't guarantee it. There's still around a twenty to thirty percent chance that you just wouldn't survive the shock to your system or the trauma to your mind. The transition isn't easy. It isn't gentle. The more support and preparation you have, the better you will do, and with your mate being the Pack Alpha, that helps even more. He can help you return to your human form, but helping isn't the same as doing it for you. I would say that if you were turned today, you'd probably have an eighty percent chance of coming through it with no problems."

"And a twenty percent chance of leaving my daughter alone, without a pack, and living among humans," Elena said softly. "I just don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"Condoms," Dr. Bridget said again. "If you include the chances of one failing, the exposure rate from sexual intercourse, and the other statistics, by using condoms, you have about a ninety-nine percent chance of being fine. I'm not telling you what decision to make, just giving you the numbers, but the odds are in your favor. That's why we all use them, because the risk is so low, and the chances of a human believing what we are? Astronomical."

"Thank you," Elena told her.

Which was when Ashley turned, walked to her desk, and grabbed a contract from the top. She held it up and smiled, then mouthed, "You're welcome," at me before opening the door again. "I think we have everything we need, Dr. Bridget."

CHAPTER 4

I was still thinking about what the doctor said when I got off work. Condoms meant I had a one percent chance of becoming infected. One percent wasn't much. Not at all. It was minuscule, really. But that meant out of one hundred times, one would be the bad one. A hundred days was just over three months. I'd have just over three chances a year, for at least four years. That made it more like twelve percent, didn't it?

The numbers were making my head spin, and my math was probably all wrong since I certainly wasn't going to have sex every day, but things were different when I had someone whose entire life depended on me. The decisions I made were no longer just about my own happiness. Unfortunately, I also couldn't expect a relationship as new as ours to last for four years without sex. Those men were young enough