I sat up abruptly. Twisting, I saw Nana reclining in the spot Emmitt had occupied when I fell asleep. Water splashed. Giggles erupted. Squinting against the glare of the reflecting sun, I spotted the other four in the water.
Nana glanced up at me.
“How long was I out?” I asked.
“About an hour. Almost time for lunch.”
I waited for my stomach to rebel at the thought of food, but it remained steady. A good sign. Digging my toes into the hot sand at the edge of the blanket, a sigh escaped. I rested my chin on my knees and watched their water play. Emmitt showed the boys how to cascade a wave of water at Jim, using his fisted hands. As he spun, the muscles on his back rippled.
“Can I ask you a question?” I asked quietly, recalling the way Emmitt had held me when he’d begged me to stay. Nana set her book down, an indication of her willingness to answer. “Do I have a scent?”
“Everyone does, dear. As unique as a fingerprint.”
I liked that she didn’t ask me what I meant. I needed to face the truth. Get the facts. Start learning. I watched Emmitt in the water.
“Why would a werewolf want to scent me?”
Emmitt’s head swiveled my direction. Instead of blocking Jim’s spray, he unflinchingly caught it on his left side. I bet he had an ear full of water. He didn’t move as he stayed intensely focused on me.
“I’d be happy to answer that question, but I need to explain more than that for you to understand. If you’re willing…”
I nodded. Liam tugged on Emmitt’s arm, encouraging him to get revenge on Jim. Emmitt turned away to rejoin the fun.
“Emmitt shared with me that he showed you who we are. People use the term werewolf, but we are more than a shape-shifting creature of the night.”
I briefly gazed down at the sand the first time she used we, having a hard time picturing her with teeth like Blake.
“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. However, some things don’t change. Our sense of smell, hearing, and sight.
“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.” She paused for a moment and smiled kindly at me. “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.
“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. So, although my scent may be pleasant to several, it might not be just right for any of them. Because of the nuance between an alluring scent and the rightness of that 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.”
My eyes locked on Emmitt, and my stomach somersaulted as usual. Panic flared. What was Nana telling me? Emmitt continued to play with the boys, but I could tell by the cant of his head that he listened. Was he waiting for me to try to run?
Nana reached over and patted my hand.
“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.”
Emmitt cast a quick scowl at Nana over his shoulder before returning to the game he played with my brothers.
Nana picked up a water bottle lying in the shade of her bag and handed it to me. “Would you like me to tell you more about our kind?”
Until she mentioned the last bit about humans and werewolves not working, I’d been tying my mental running shoes, thinking my vision an inevitable outcome. Could I take more? Think of your brothers, I told myself. If I wanted to avoid the fate Blake had planned for me, I had to understand what his words had meant and why he’d forced those monthly dinners.
I nodded, took a sip of water, and tried to relax.
“Werewolves live in packs. Historically, at least as far back as we can remember, packs were small with an alpha pair leading maybe three other Mated pairs and their young. Since Charlene came to us, Emmitt and Jim’s mother, there have been several changes, which include all of the smaller packs merging into a large one. 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. 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?” I asked trying to wrap my head around everything she’d shared.
Nana laughed softly. “Technically, no. Emmitt’s father is the leader. But Charlene influences the pack in her own right.”
I mulled over the information. General information about werewolves was helpful and none of it sounded too bad, but I didn’t see how it connected to what Blake had said the night he pinned me to the wall.
“Where in there does biting become involved?” The question slid out of my mouth before I could consider how it sounded.
Nana gave a little cough, Jim roared with laughter, and Emmitt gazed at me, looking troubled. I dropped my eyes to the sand, feeling a flush creep into my face. Apparently, biting wasn’t a polite topic of conversation for werewolves, either.
“Can I ask where these questions are coming from?” she asked after a moment.
“Just curious,” I mumbled. “Maybe we should eat lunch,” I suggested diverting the direction of our conversation.
I didn’t ask any further questions for the rest of the day even though Nana offered to continue her explanation of their race. Instead, I moved away from the water to sit in the shade of the trees that lined the beach. Humidity weighed the air, making it difficult to breathe as the day progressed.
Before the sun set, we packed up and headed back home. I insisted on dinner in our own apartment. No one liked my answer. My gaze locked briefly with Emmitt’s before I turned to go upstairs.
If werewolves and humans weren’t a thing, why had Blake’s men scented me? More to the point, why had Emmitt? I had no doubt that was what he’d done when he held me just outside of Nana’s door. Were they all just looking for a “shallow connection” with me because of my premonitions? That answer would make sense if Emmitt knew about my premonitions.
****
My stock market premonition struck before the boys finished breakfast. It marked the end of our second week away from Blake. So much had happened in that time yet, other than moving locations, nothing fundamental had changed. Blake still trapped me. He held me through my fear of discovery. That, and the fact that werewolves were still present in my life, kept me wary. I’d been used for my predictions for too long to trust easily.
Liam and Aden raced downstairs to bug Emmitt and Jim, and I absently followed. How could I smoothly pass along the information without being obvious?
The humidity from the day before still lingered. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I sat in the shade of the porch. Jim eyed our glistening faces and ran into town, returning with a sprinkler. The boys squealed with excitement once he explained its purpose. Another first for them.
I watched them from the porch, not feeling up to joining in the fun. Emmitt stayed close, watching me. I struggled to hide any visible sign of the worry I felt as the ticker continued to run.
Nana stepped onto the porch, making her first appearance of the day. She held her cordless phone to her ear.
“Michelle, I have my friend on the phone from last week. He wanted to thank you for your recommendation, which looks really good so far, and he wanted me to ask if you had any other advice.”
I stared at her for a moment, thinking. This was perfect, but I couldn’t just spew out the information again with Emmitt watching so closely.
“Uh, I haven’t looked at the paper, yet. If we have one, I can take a look at it. Maybe you could give your friend a call back later this afternoon?”
I hoped it would look like I had researched the information and had just been very lucky. I would have to figure out something else for the next one, though. Three in a row wouldn’t go unnoticed.