“I’ve enrolled in college—one I chose—despite Sam’s opposition. Do you know why I picked it? Because it was far enough away that I knew it’d be harder for people to tell me what to do. Major decisions, up until this point, have been made by others based on what they thought would be best for me. Sure, they ask me what I think and try to consider it, but not always. How do you think Sam got me to Introductions for the past two years? It wasn’t by asking me each time if I felt like going.”
The ratcheting stopped, but he remained facing the engine.
“I don’t mean to sound heartless. I’ve been through enough Introductions to know what they mean to your kind. I’m not trying to throw your traditions back in your face. I’m just asking for some compromise. Don’t ask me to forget the one thing I’ve chosen on my own.”
My pleading didn’t appear to sway him any further so I switched tactics and offered him a little hope.
“If you’re serious about me, then come to the city with me and learn while I learn. We can get to know each other. I need that in order to even consider there being an us.” He still didn’t move. Frustration crept into my words. “I know I’m asking a lot. You’d need to start talking, stop growling, and bathe. No offense meant, but you look like a crazy man the way you are.”
He moved slightly as if I’d poked him in the ribs. So he did understand how bad he looked. Inside, I jumped up and down on the balls of my feet, clapping my hands excitedly. I leaned against the truck to take some weight off my bare feet and pressed my case further.
“I know it wouldn’t be easy on you. You’ll be surrounded by people. It’ll probably be uncomfortable after you’ve been on your own for so long. But we’d be able to spend time together, to get to know each other—the normal, human way—and see how things go. We’d both be giving a little, then. Well, you’d be giving a little more, but...will you think about it?” I didn’t wait for his reaction. I turned and walked back to the Compound. It had to work. Please let it work.
I spent about five minutes trying to wipe my feet clean on one of the entry rugs before I gave up and walked back to my room. My speech continued to run through my head. Either it would work or not. We both knew I couldn’t live in the woods. He would need to rejoin society. He’d see I wasn’t worth the effort.
With a mental sigh, I pushed it from my thoughts and focused on the present. I planned to lounge in the apartment and finish the novel I’d started over a month ago. My stomach rumbled loudly. And eat.
The next morning I woke early. I’d grown so bored reading the day before that I’d gone to bed by eight. So it was no surprise when I opened my eyes and saw my phone flashed five a.m. Sam would kill me if I woke him up. I only hesitated a moment before I threw back the covers and got out of bed. In the pitch-dark room, I managed to pull my zipper hoodie on over my tank top, tiptoe to my door, and open it without a sound.
I only managed three steps into the living room when the light near the sofa clicked on, blinding me for a moment.
“Doesn’t anyone sleep around here?”
“Sorry. I should know better than to try not to wake you.” His hearing made him a very light sleeper.
“What are you doing up already?” He sat up and ran his hands through his hair as if trying to wake himself up more.
I doubted it would work and didn’t think he would appreciate an offer to make him coffee given the time. He’d rather just go back to bed.
“I was going to check on the truck. He had it mostly taken apart yesterday afternoon. I wanted to see if he’d started putting it back together.”
“What did you say to him yesterday?” Sam surprised me by getting out of bed and stripping the sheets. We always changed the bedding just before we left so it was ready in case anyone else ever used the rooms. But it was five a.m....
“What do you mean?” I took a few steps backward to lean against my door and watched his progress. He almost tripped over his bag while pulling off the fitted sheet.
“Do you want me to start some coffee?” It wasn’t normal for werewolves to be anything less than agile. Coffee couldn’t be good for him.
“No, I’m fine,” he said, answering my last question first. “I mean, he asked for the keys to the truck last night and brought them back earlier this morning. Truck’s fixed. I checked myself. So, I’m wondering what you said to him.”
My mouth popped open. I couldn’t believe he’d actually listened to me. A silly smile tugged at my mouth. Did this really mean he’d let me go? My barely formed smile faded. Or would I just wake up back in this apartment tomorrow morning if I tried to leave?
Sam continued to remake the bed with the clean sheets from the hidden compartment in the matching sofa ottoman.
There had to be a catch. Sam had told me a tied pair didn’t part until completing the Claim. When Clay had scented me, and I’d recognized him openly, the Elders saw us as a pair. They, in turn, announced it to everyone over their mental link. Every werewolf, whether in a pack or Forlorn, recognized our tie. If my words truly changed Clay’s mind, great—but Sam’s question caused me to begin to doubt that possibility, and I struggled to come up with what I’d overlooked.
“The truth,” I said answering Sam’s question. “Let’s say he is my Mate. He’s an uneducated man from the backwoods. How are we going to live? I can’t turn on the fur like you guys can and live as a wolf like he’s done for most of his life. Where does that leave us? I just pointed out that I had to go to school to get the education I needed to land a good job to support myself because he can’t.”
Sam had stopped remaking the bed and looked at me in disbelief.
“Well, I said it nicer than that.”
He gave me a disappointed look.
“You don’t know anything about him, Gabby. He may have lived most of his life in his fur, but it doesn’t mean he isn’t intelligent or that he’s more wolf than man. You may have caused yourself more trouble than you intended.”
I shifted against the door. “Hold on, I didn’t say either of those things to him.” Granted, I did tell him he needed to bathe. “And what do you mean ‘more trouble’?”
“He said that you suggested he live with you so you could get to know each other better.”
I froze in disbelief. That is not what I said.
“Wait. Did he actually talk to you?”
“Well, I had to put on my fur to understand him since he was in his, but yes.”
Sam’s kind communicated in several ways when in their fur—typically, through body language or howls. Claimed and Mated pairs shared a special bond using an intuitive, mental link. Once establishing a Claim, the pair could sense strong emotions as well as each other’s location. Mated pairs had the same ability to communicate with each other as the Elders had with everyone in the pack.
I closed my eyes and thought back to my exact wording.
“I didn’t say we should live together, but that he should come back with me to get an education.” Fine, I hadn’t worded it well, but how did he get “hey, we should live together” out of that?
“Like I said, you’ve got trouble.” He gave me another disappointed look, folded the bed back into the sofa, then picked up his bag from the floor. He strode to the bathroom and closed the door on any further conversation.
Crap. I needed to talk to Clay again and find out what he intended. I’d been counting on his feral upbringing and his need for freedom to cause him to reject my suggestion—a suggestion that hadn’t included him living with me. I’d meant he should find a place nearby so we could go through the motions of human dating, which was the extent of my willingness to compromise. I hadn’t thought he’d take any of it seriously but that, instead, he would just let me go.