Jim chose that moment to send a wave of water my way. It hit me in the side of the head, filling my ear. The boys giggled loudly.
I didn’t care what Winifred said, I needed to understand what Michelle was asking. Was it when I’d stopped her from leaving? How would she have known I was scenting her? We’d never discussed that.
Michelle blushed and dropped her gaze, and Winifred gave me a warning scowl before responding to her.
“I’d be happy to answer that question, but I need to explain more than that for you to understand. If you’re willing.”
Liam tugged on my arm.
“Aren’t you going to get Jim back?”
“I think Emmitt needs to walk a little deeper into the cold water,” Jim said.
I turned away from Michelle to give Jim a discreet gesture of brotherly affection while still paying attention to what Winifred said next.
“Emmitt shared with me that he showed you who we are. People use the term werewolf, but we are more than a shapeshifting creature of the night. We are the opposite of a person with multiple personalities. We are one personality with two bodies. Who we are doesn’t change, no matter the form we choose. However, there are benefits to each form we wear. We are faster on four legs than two, but not by much. When in our fur, we have better protection because of our teeth and claws. Yet, some things, like our sense of smell, hearing, and sight, don’t change.
“Our sense of smell is more vital to us than our sight. We can smell an object long after it has disappeared. A scent can tell us more than we could ever see. Emotions like fear and desire can flavor a person’s usual fragrance. Through our senses, we read the world and react to it.
“Scenting is when we use our sense of smell to identify potential Mates. Their scent calls to us. It’s more than just liking the fragrance. It’s the rightness of it.” Winifred paused for a moment. “I’ve never had to explain this to someone who didn’t have our noses. So let me know if I’m not making sense.”
Tell her she smells like warm pancakes, I sent to Winifred.
I will not. Mind your business.
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 continued my work across the hall. It didn’t take long for Jim to join me. While I painted, he leaned against the island cabinets I’d installed and sipped one of the beers he’d brought with him.
“Spit it out,” I said after a long silence.
“Why? It’s good beer.”
I shook my head and grinned. I’d forgotten just how much he goofed around.
“You know what I think?” he said.
“That we should go to the bar and drink a week’s wages in an effort to get drunk?”
He laughed. “That would have been my thought if Winifred hadn’t threatened to command me never to drink alcohol if I ‘wasted pack money’ like that again.”
“Ouch.” I moved to paint under the hanging cabinets.
“Yeah. Did you know she commanded me to go a whole day without eating?”
I stopped painting to look at him. His expression was entirely serious, and I couldn’t tell if he was lying.
“She wouldn’t do that.”
“She would if she wanted me to learn what it felt like to be compelled to do something that I was completely against doing.” He shrugged. “Training exercise.”
“And, how was it?”
“I nearly died,” he said before tipping back his beer.
“Doubt it.”
“She baked all day. I could smell the cookies. I could see the cookies. I could even touch the damn things. But I couldn’t bring myself to put them in my mouth. Man, I wanted to. I really did.”
He cracked open another beer.
“When my time was up and I could eat again, I nearly ripped her door off trying to get to the cookies.”
“Bet she had something to say about that.”
“Yep. She did. Just like Michelle will when she finally gives you the go-ahead to have her cookies. Don’t let your obsession control you, Emmitt, or it will drive her away.”
I stared at him, really seeing my brother and what he had to offer.
“When did you get to be so damn smart?”
“If you ask Winifred, I’m not.” He grinned, then sauntered out the door. I stayed in the apartment, working until exhaustion won out over my need to be close to Michelle.
The next day, Michelle brought Liam and Aden out to play. They ran for the sprinkler, but she was pensively quiet as she sat on the porch. Considering everything she’d been through in such a short time, I left her to her thoughts and played in the water with the boys.
The following day, I twitched with what I felt was a growing distance between us. After Jim left for work, I went upstairs to the new apartment. It was coming along nicely. Another week or two and it would be ready for Michelle and the boys. Then, I’d be living right across the hall.
Around seven, I heard the boys run down the steps, and Aden came back up crying not long afterward.
Problem? I sent Winifred.
He wanted to play with Jim. They’re growing bored.
I can come play.
No, I think it would be best for you to finish the apartment. I have a better idea to keep them busy.
I went back to grouting the backsplash in the kitchen and listened to Michelle negotiate with Aden to calm him down. A few minutes later, Winifred knocked on Michelle’s door.
“Good morning, Michelle. Liam mentioned he didn’t know the ABC song. Would you mind if they spent some time with me a few days a week so I can work on their alphabet with them?”
Silence greeted the question.
“There’s nothing wrong with them not knowing their ABCs, yet. Four and five is just the right age to start learning. I have so many of my old materials left, and, frankly, I miss working with children. I thought I would offer.”
“I need to make cookies,” Aden said firmly.
I could just picture him crossing his arms in a stubborn stance and grinned.
“I’ll send him down when we’re done,” Michelle said.
Since both the apartment doors were open, I heard the two of them make the dough and Aden tromp downstairs when his part was done. Michelle quietly put the cookies in the oven, and heat began to drift into the hall. Even with the windows open, it was growing too hot to work inside. I finished grouting the tiles on the bathroom floor then went to gather what I needed to paint the exterior. I figured I’d start with the third floor and work my way down.
When I stepped out onto the porch, I found Michelle lying on her stomach on a blanket. She looked up at me with a smile. The usual t-shirt she wore over her suit was missing. I swallowed hard at the sight of all that honeyed skin and almost dropped half the painting supplies.
She jumped and offered to help me. I barely noticed surrendering two cans of paint because I was staring at the prettiest bikini top that ever existed. My mind went into overdrive imagining what lay beneath.
She lifted a can. “What are you doing with all of this?”
With effort, I met her gaze. My head was fuzzy, and my ears were ringing. It was like her chest had a gravitational pull on my eyes. They wanted to drift down again. Sweat coated my forehead. I hoped my teeth weren’t getting longer. Her expectant gaze had me scrambling to recall what she’d asked. The supplies. Right.