Wolf's Pack (Wolves Next Door #3) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,24

"Evidently, it's pretty normal."

"For wolves, yeah," he agreed. "Stories say that your kind are pretty accepting of most things. Homosexuality, polyamory, and such. Bears tend to be more one and done. Our women keep their own space as much as the men, and there aren't a whole lot of them around."

"Why not?" Elena asked.

He blew out a breath. "Um, the ease of finding an unrelated human? It's a lot less work than tracking down a male and then making nice when we cross paths. Same kinda goes the other way around, though. Jax said his mom was a convert. Got swept off her feet, turned, got pregnant, and then went to claim her own space. Downside of being an isolated species, I suppose. Happily ever after doesn't usually work so well for us."

I came back with a handful of beers for the table. Ian got the first, then Lane. Pax came next with Seth right after, and then I passed one to Vic. "So, you guys don't date?" I asked.

"We date," Vic assured me. "Families are a little harder. Us and a few of the cats don't really repopulate our kind so well." He looked over at Ian. "And speaking of cats, I happen to know a tiger who's also very interested in what's going on here. Single dad, has a teenage son."

"Tigers?" Ian nodded slowly. "Because bears aren't bad enough?"

"A bear can take a tiger," Vic reminded him. "I mean, it's a rough fight, but there's three of us and two of them, so we definitely have the advantage."

"Uh huh." Ian didn't seem completely convinced.

"Got it!" Gabby announced as she came back in. "Ok..." And she reclaimed her chair, setting her laptop up in front of her. "So, historically speaking, race integration has always been chaotic, right?"

"Not really the time for a history lesson," I told her, reclaiming my seat beside Pax.

"Kinda is, Trent," Gabby said. "See, that's why this is so tense. Over and over, all we've seen is the stronger group subjugating the weaker. The Spanish made slaves of the Indians. The White men enslaved the Blacks. British put the Middle East under their heel. One way or another, you start mixing cultures, and you get a pretty serious clash. So, the point is that if we want to avoid that, we need to plan for it upfront."

"How?" Vic asked her.

She shrugged. "Isn't that your job, big guy? I'm a wolf. I don't know a thing about bears, but I'm willing to bet that you don't want to be the subjugated ones, right?"

"Would prefer not to be," he agreed.

"So, we identify the problems," she said. "Look, I've got all these examples..." And she flipped through her notebook, showing dozens of pages with writing on them. "From religions to races. They all come down to your way interrupting my way, and I have more people than you. So, how do we make this work? Where are the conflicts, and how can we both meet in the middle?"

Seth made his way around the table to look over Gabby's shoulder. She tilted her computer, which let me see just enough. On the screen in front of her was a browser with at least ten tabs open. Her notebook was filled with scribbles that I didn't want to try to make out. The kid had taken this seriously, but she also had a point.

Then Seth's face lit up. "Easter," he said.

Everyone around the table turned to look at him like he'd lost his mind. "What?" Ashley asked.

"Easter," Seth said again. "It used to be a pagan holiday. Fertility, I think. Christians wanted to integrate the people - whichever people it was - so they made that day for the resurrection of Christ. The intent was to force the pagan to choose, and if they were caught worshipping the wrong god, then they were punished. Probably killed, but I'm not sure about that. But the pagans weren't that picky, so they celebrated Easter and added in a few little touches of their own. Why else do you think there's a bunny with eggs? Both are fertility symbols, and today Christians use them in their holiday."

"Meet in the middle," I said, realizing what he meant. "Nice, Seth. So, how do we do that with the full moon? Because I think that's the biggest problem."

"And," Elena said, looking at Vic, "we're not going to make you hide while we run and howl, forcing you to suffer all night."

"We just need an hour," he begged.

Gabby