Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Here went freaking nothing.
Because there I suddenly was. We both were. Duncan and I in our full glories. More vulnerable than if I’d been naked, in some ways. I took the bracelet off from time to time, but it wasn’t often, and never when I was around people like us, unless there was a statement I wanted or needed to make, like earlier. That was rare. I wasn’t the competitive type.
I watched and heard Henri take a tentative sniff, then another. Testing. After a moment, his brawny chest literally puffed out as he took such a deep inhale it would have made a yoga teacher proud when he held it for second after second.
If I hadn’t known he wasn’t human before, I would have then. His eyes widened, then widened a little more. His thick throat bobbed.
A couple of times, when I’d been younger, he’d let me sit next to him on the couch or at the dining room table. But back then, my true heritage had been a mystery. In Matti’s words, I hadn’t smelled magical, but I’d smelled magical. Those around me had been able to tell I wasn’t human-human, but what I was hadn’t been apparent enough. The same way that Duncan had been before his own nature had exploded across him physically and mentally.
Henri released his deep breath.
That stubbled jaw clenched even more somehow.
Slowly, he turned to his cousin and stared at him, hard.
Matti looked at him right back. Straight-faced. But there was a glint in his eye….
I didn’t think I imagined that Henri’s voice came out different, maybe slightly hoarse as he reached out. “I’ll take those, Sienna.”
My friend took the bracelet off and handed it over, along with the collar, and at the same glacial speed that he’d looked at his cousin, Henri brought both up to his nose. His chest rose and fell again. Then again. And for the second time, his intense gaze returned to Matti.
Henri’s attention slid back in my direction, and I smiled. He needed to like us. I rocked up to the balls of my feet and let the eighteen years of living among their kind help me take the next step. “Do you want to smell my neck?” I offered, thinking about how many times someone—werewolves mostly—had done that to me. With permission of course. It was like a crash course in getting to know someone, Matti had explained. You could learn a whole lot of things about people from their odor, and the least important of them was whether or not they used enough deodorant.
Henri’s jaw flexed again. “Do I want to…?” He sounded a little strangled.
Shifting Duncan’s weight on my arm, I tapped my neck with my other hand. “Smell me,” I repeated. Why was he making it seem like I was offering him a lit stick of dynamite?
I slid my gaze toward Matti, who was looking real funny at his family member.
Taking a whiff of another person wasn’t unheard of. It wasn’t weird. If anything, it was a formality. Good manners. An olive branch from me to him.
There was a lot I didn’t want him knowing yet, but this was nothing.
At least it should’ve been nothing.
“Or not,” I muttered, trying not to feel dejected.
Maybe I’d finally met the one werewolf who wasn’t a Nina fan.
But I refused to give up hope. Slowly, I lifted my shoulders and asked, “What about a hug?” We used to know each other. A reminder of the past might help.
It didn’t.
There was more staring. Eventually, he cleared his throat and looked away. “I’m going to hold onto these”—he moved his hand indicating our jewelry—“while we’re inside. I’ll give them back later. Let’s find the elders.”
I gave him a thumbs-up, not sure if he was wary over this whole situation, or just me, or Duncan, or what.
Henri had always been a serious potato.
But I guess it was a good thing he wasn’t telling us to get back into my truck or growling because he couldn’t control his dislike of Duncan or me. Henri didn’t seem overly interested in my donut either. He hadn’t focused on his tail half as much as I’d expected him to.
Maybe he knew something I didn’t.
I guess we’d see.
For now, we’d head inside and go from there. I’d forgotten all about these “elders” that Matti had mentioned. They were the main leadership here, the decision-makers. He’d explained it on the drive in a short, vague way: Henri was the CEO of this place, and they were his board of directors. One couldn’t act without the other.
With that, Henri headed in the direction of the main building. Matti followed, waving us to do the same. I held Duncan against my chest and took in the forest as we headed to the massive log structure. Nature was nothing new to me, but I couldn’t ignore or get over how this place felt. From the way Duncan’s sniffer was going too, tipped up high, maybe I wasn’t the only one pleasantly surprised and soaking up whatever special stuff was around here.