Gods and Mortals: Fourteen Free Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Novels Featuring Thor, Loki, Greek Gods, Native American Spirits, Vampires, Werewolves, & More (311 page)

I glanced at all the faces at the table. Sam still smiled, Barb focused on me with an alarmed expression, and Tim glanced between me, Barb, and Sam. I took another bite of burger to stall.

In private, Sam had asked about my plans for the future. Barb’s baby bump was hard to miss now. He had mentioned he had a spare room at his place if I ever needed it. He’d also mentioned he would like to take me on a trip to meet others of his kind. I felt fairly certain that’s what he meant now. Having him ask tonight without any warning took me off guard. I could have done some prep work, like dropping hints that I had an interest in spending more time with him or something. But it did make sense that he asked now. Why try to delay the inevitable? The doctors saw no reason Barb’s pregnancy wouldn’t go full term this time. School would let out soon, and I had no summer job.

Setting down my fork, I picked up my glass and took a long drink of water. They all waited. I decided to save the adults the long dance around a subject none of them wanted to face full on. I turned toward Barb and Tim.

“I’ve spent a lot of time getting to know Sam over the last two months and told him about the baby on the way.” I looked at Barb, meeting her beautiful dark-brown eyes. “We all know that I won’t be able to stay once the baby’s here.” Barb started to tear up and speak but I stopped her with a raised hand. “I also know that you want me to stay. I don’t doubt that for a minute. You’ve both been so great to me, and I thank you.”

I turned to Sam. “You said that you live in a three bedroom house and that I was welcome to visit anytime. What about visiting until I graduate?” I didn’t want to go back into foster care.

Sam continued to smile at me and nodded.

Barb started to sniffle, and Tim reached over the table to pat her hand.

F
riday night
, Barb and Tim dropped me off at Sam’s. Though it was only for a weekend, they knew what it would mean if everything went well. So I willfully squashed my discomfort and endured Barb’s hug. Tim, thankfully, settled on a nod and a wave as I climbed into Sam’s truck.

I used the eight-hour drive to ask Sam direct questions about werewolf life, and tried to soak up everything he said. I stopped talking when we turned off the blacktopped road onto a deeply rutted dirt lane I doubted saw much use. For a mile, I braced myself against the rough ride. Finally, we emerged from the tree-lined path into a wide clearing.

A large two-story log cabin style structure dominated the space, its wings branching out to connect to outlying buildings. Sam parked on the combination of old gravel, stubborn grass, and plain dirt in front of the buildings.

The werewolf community reminded me of an old wilderness resort, one closed for a few years. If not for the lights pouring from several of the windows, I would have locked the truck door instead of getting out.

I shouldered my bag and trailed Sam onto the covered porch. Sam pulled the solid wood door open without knocking. Inside, an eclectic array of rugs along the perimeter of the large main entry accommodated numerous sets of shoes. Hooks on the walls held a bounty of coats, jackets, and overalls.

“We don’t have to worry about stealing here,” Sam said when he caught me looking at the mass of shoes. “And it keeps the rest of the place cleaner if we leave our outside things here.” He started taking off his shoes, and I bent to remove mine.

“You would not believe how messy this place was thirty years ago,” a voice called from the hall.

I looked up from untying my shoes. A tall woman with blonde hair and a gentle smile walked into the entry. I estimated her to be in her late twenties.

“Hello, Gabby,” she said coming to stand next to me. “I’m Charlene. Sam’s told me about you. I’m so thrilled to meet another person like me.” She held out her hand in greeting as I stepped out of my shoes.

Excitement coursed through me. Finally! Sam had mentioned Charlene, another human among the werewolves, during one of our many talks. The possibility that I wasn’t as alone as I thought obliterated any hesitation I might have had, and I reached out and clasped her hand.

Charlene’s grip was firm and sure, but I barely noticed it. The darkness of my other sight had burst open and the brilliance of the sparks surprised me; their normal soft glow amplified so much that the blinding light obscured their gentle colors. I let go of her hand while maintaining my focus. The lights dimmed considerably so I could again discern their soft colors.

Sam’s spark glowed blue with a green halo and hers, while still containing the yellow center like any human, had a red halo. I’d considered the possibility that my orange halo was because I couldn’t see myself correctly using my other sight. But seeing Charlene’s assured me our uniqueness was real.

Beyond our sparks, I noticed other blue-green lights. Not in the immediate area, but spread throughout my area of awareness. The coloring of those lights matched Sam’s. Werewolves then were blue-green, I thought. Color by species made sense, but Charlene and I didn’t match. Why?

“Like me?” Her words suddenly penetrated my study of the sparks. Could she see lights too?

“So far, we are the only two humans who seem to be compatible with werewolves,” she said, still smiling in welcome.

My hope sank. So we were human and...wait, what?

“Compatible?” I looked at Sam in confusion. I knew that I smelled differently to werewolves, but he hadn’t mentioned anything about compatibility. Charlene answered before he could.

“Yes, werewolves choose their Mate—husband or wife—instinctually. They have no history of ever before selecting from humans for their Mates, but here we are. Whatever it takes to become a Mate, we apparently have it, too.”

My mouth popped open in shock as I understood. I turned on Sam.

“You brought me here to hook up with a werewolf?”

“No, Gabby. I apologize for upsetting you,” Charlene said from behind me. I turned to look at her. “Yes, we’re different in that a werewolf might choose us, but that doesn’t mean that they must choose us or that we have to choose them. At your age, there will be no hooking up.”

She looped her arm through mine and gave me a motherly pat. As soon as she touched me, all the sparks around us brightened again. I didn’t even need to focus. The lights just flared and continued to glow brightly without effort. Weird.

She led me toward the hall from which she’d entered. After a few steps, she stumbled and pulled her arm from mine. With relief, the lights in my mind extinguished, and I concentrated on her words.

“I asked Sam to bring you so you and I can talk. As I said, there is no one else like us that we’ve found. I came here when I was younger than you—long story—and met Thomas, the pack’s leader. It was a very hard adjustment with a huge learning curve on both our sides. I don’t want you to have to face any of that on your own. We’ll introduce you slowly to this new world you’re now a part of. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask them.”

She led us down a second hallway and stopped in front of a closed door. When she opened it, I saw it led into a very small apartment.

“This is still a work in progress. Let me know if you need anything,” she said, looking at Sam. He nodded.

I took a moment to take in my surroundings as Charlene walked away. The small, main room had only a few mismatched pieces of furniture. The bedroom, which I suspected had once been a walk-in closet, barely held a twin-sized bed, nightstand, and lamp. Sam insisted I take that room as he set his bag on the foldout couch. I didn’t complain. I figured sleeping in a half-sized bed ranked higher than Sam’s sleeper sofa.

A tiny bathroom right off the main living area completed the suite. The apartment definitely qualified as rustic, but I didn’t mind.

S
am woke
me after a few hours of sleep.

Despite Charlene’s assurances that my stay didn’t include finding a boyfriend, I still felt leery over Sam not telling me about the compatibility thing. I’d thought I could trust him, and his omission stung a little.

I wanted to excuse it—maybe it’d slipped his mind—but it’d taken eight hours to get here. Granted, most of that time we’d talked about the progress the community had made and the customs, like pack hunts, that they no longer followed. Still, he could have mentioned that doozy.
By the way, Gabby, werewolves will want you as their Mate.
I paused then shook my head at the thought. Yeah, I would have reached for the door handle and tried to jump from the moving truck. Maybe, he’d made an okay call. Only time would tell.

I got out of bed and dressed. Sam already had his bed made when I opened my door.

We left the apartment and he led me to a large room, which he referred to as the commons, to get a bite to eat. The space served as a cafeteria and an entertainment area with sitting arrangements scattered around the room. It even had a pool table set in the back corner.

Charlene saw us and came over to our table. Two young men followed in her wake. She introduced them as Paul and Henry. She thought I might like the opportunity to talk to people my own age. She even suggested we go into the woods so they could show me more about the werewolf way of life. Sam heard my panicked heartbeat, and before I could refuse, he suggested we use the lounge in the commons to get to know each other, instead.

Paul and Henry didn’t treat me the same as human boys did. As curious about me as I was them, they asked a myriad of questions.

“What’s school like?” Paul, the boy with dark hair and a carefree smile, asked while sitting on a padded dish-chair close to me.

“You don’t go to school?” I couldn’t believe it.

“Nah,” said Henry, a short stocky kid with bright blue eyes. “We’re home schooled here. It’s way quicker to graduate since we can study at an accelerated pace because we don’t have to break for holidays or anything.”

“That actually sounds pretty great...what school should be, minus the no breaks part.” I cringed inwardly at the thought of school year round then answered his original question. “The majority of the teachers spend their time hating their jobs and finding ways to be as disagreeable as possible while the students look at it as a popularity contest and spend more time worrying about who’s dating who than studying,” I explained.

“Date?” Paul glanced at Henry, who wore an equally puzzled expression. “I heard Charlene talking about that once. Sounds weird.”

“Really? You guys don’t date?” I didn’t ask what they did to get to know a girl instead of dating.

“No, we get invited to Introductions,” Paul said as if reading my mind.

“What’s that?” Sam hadn’t mentioned anything like that to me, and I wondered if I should add it to his list of omissions.

“When a female comes of age, she’s brought to the Introduction room where she can meet werewolves she has never met before. The Elders are there to make sure the girl is safe and to give the guys a few minutes to talk to her. You know, to really get her scent. When there’s a connection, a guy just knows and Claims her. If not, the next group comes in for their chance.”

I started to sweat as I sat there. First, what did he mean by Claim? Second, they kept a girl in a room while guys came in to look her over and smell her? I reached for my water that sat on the coffee table in the center of our sitting arrangement. My hands shook a little, and I tried really hard to calm down and not let my imagination run away.

“Hey, Gabby, you okay? Did Paul say something wrong? Charlene said we could ask any questions we wanted...”

They had no idea how foreign what they just said sounded to me.

“Hey, Gabby, you don’t have to worry about Introductions if that’s what’s scaring you.” Paul looked at me with concern. “For you and Charlene, the attraction works different. She explained it to us when she said that you were coming. You guys have a level of appeal, or chemistry, with just about all werewolves.” He is not helping, I thought while he continued. “Because the level of attraction to you varies, it wouldn’t be safe to put you in an Introduction room.”

“Yeah,” Henry agreed and, with a spark of excitement in his eyes, leaned forward in his chair. “That’s when the mating duels happen. It’s rare with a werewolf couple, but when Charlene was first brought here, I heard the guys went crazy because they didn’t know what was happening. They fought over who had the strongest tie to her. But you don’t have to worry about that with us. Paul and I think you’re okay, and you smell good and everything, but we knew when we met you that you’re not right for either of us. That’s why Charlene left you alone with us.”

My stomach churned. Werewolves were going to start fighting each other for me? No thanks. They both smiled at me encouragingly. They probably thought their explanations helpful, but the information they threw at me stunned me.

“What did you mean by ‘Claim’?” My voice came out light and airy with anxiety, but I needed to know.

“It’s when we bite our Mate. The bite draws blood but doesn’t hurt,” Paul explained reassuringly.

“What?” I nearly shouted. My freak-o-meter bypassed meltdown. My head spun dizzily, and no doubt, all the color had drained from my face.

“Oh, not for you, Gabby,” Paul said, quickly leaning forward. He made shushing motions with his hands. “We can’t Claim humans like that. When your Mate finds you, it’s up to you to Claim him.”

So, I would need to bite someone? Not going to happen. It was easier to calm down now that I knew I had control. I didn’t want to be “the right one” for anyone at this point in my life. I hoped that the rest of the werewolves, like these two, would correctly use their keen sense of smell to determine my unsuitability.

I heard the main door swing open and saw Sam walk in with an older woman and another older man. Sam nodded to me and then moved with his group to another area of the room. They sat down and started talking. Paul and Henry shifted their attention to the new people, listening. I couldn’t hear the conversation but had no doubt they could. Just as I knew Sam would hear if I asked either Paul or Henry to tell me what the group said. I decided to change the subject.

“What about sports? I noticed there are no TVs. Do you guys play or go watch any sports?”

“Nah, we don’t get good reception out here, and the television tends to hurt our ears, but we do like to play football. There aren’t enough of us for a team, though.”

The door behind us opened again, and I watched two younger men, about our age, enter. They glanced our way but headed toward the group with Sam. I turned around and took another drink of water while thinking about this Mate business. According to these two, I needed to watch for a werewolf who acted as most human men would toward me, intense and weird.

Sam startled me out of my thoughts when he spoke next to me.

“Gabby, I’d like you to meet Eric and Derrick. They are the twin sons of a couple who lives here. They’re home from college and have to leave again tomorrow.”

I smiled and said hello. They both nodded to me but didn’t speak. Awkward.

Uncomfortable, I looked back at Sam, who nodded at the two. They turned and left. If they represented the normal reaction to me, I needed to watch out for someone even more intense and weird. Maybe I just needed a plan to avoid them all.

Sam waited until they’d walked out of the room to explain.

“I want you to get to know the people who live here. In summer, we’ll spend a lot of our weekends here.” He looked at Paul and Henry. “You two keep an eye on her. I’m counting on you to help explain our ways.”

Sam walked back to the group, and I looked from Paul to Henry with an arched eyebrow. Was it just me or did that feel weird? I wanted to ask but remained quiet. There were still too many ears to overhear. They seemed to understand my unspoken question and both shrugged in return.