Paul and Henry’s assurance that I would never face the Introduction room clicked everything into place. Sam had started slowly introducing me to the entire eligible male population of this little community.
After the third set left, I caught Sam’s eye. “Sam, would you mind showing me around outside for a bit?” I stood and made my way to the main door, not waiting to see if Sam followed. After three months, I’d felt sure enough of Sam that I risked coming to an unknown destination with him, alone. His actions and omissions devastated my confidence in him.
Already familiar with the layout of the compound, I didn’t hesitate to walk out the front door and stride purposely toward the road leading away from this place. Sam didn’t take long to catch up to me. If I told him I wanted to go back to the Newton’s now, would he take me? If he did, then what? I couldn’t stay there forever.
“Sam,” I said when we walked side by side, “I don’t want to be on the streets, but that’s where I’ll go if you think you can pull this crap if I move in with you.” I didn’t look at him, I was too angry. And scared. “I understand the condition of living at your place is that we come up here. But my condition is that you have to be completely honest about our purpose in coming up here. Each time,” I stressed. “I don’t know if I can trust you.”
“I’m sorry Gabby. You can trust me. I have your best interests in mind. This is another one of those things that is easier to believe when you experience it first-hand.” He kept pace next to me as I led us down the old dirt driveway further away from the compound.
“No, Sam. You need to lay it out for me straight.”
He stayed quiet for a few minutes and I wasn’t sure he had anything to say until he actually spoke.
“Well, I heard what Paul and Henry told you. That part’s right. We do Introductions for young werewolf females in a controlled way to keep them safe until they find their mate.
“We learned from Charlene’s time here that you’d need to be handled differently. I told you that werewolves would find your scent interesting. Since we’re branching out into more urban areas, it would be only a matter of time before you attracted attention. So, we’d wanted to control your Introduction. A formal Introduction without mass challenges was out of the question.
“This is the compromise; they come into the commons say hello to you and then talk to the Elders. Because the level of attraction varies, we interview them asking them to explain their interest. They must formally request permission from me to come see you again if they think of you as more than just ‘interesting’. They are not allowed to approach you while you are on your own. If they were to approach me for a second meeting, I would speak with you first before approving or denying their request.”
The light filtering through the canopy cast the road into dusky shadow. I turned to Sam, “What you’re saying is, eventually werewolves would find me, but if I stay with you, you’d be my buffer?” He nodded. I studied him, thinking. “And I’d only have to say hi to these guys. It’d be up to me if I wanted to spend any additional time with them?” He nodded again.
I liked Paul and Henry. They oozed useful information and didn’t react to me at all. The ones I’d already met hadn’t seemed too interested either. When Paul and Henry had mentioned mating duels, I’d imagined drowning in a writhing mass of fighting bodies, all in various stages of shifting. I still dreamt about Sam shifting. The dreams and my fueled imagination bothered me. But since arriving, everyone remained in a single form. Nothing freaky happened. The general population of werewolves couldn’t be all bad. I just didn’t like the way I had to meet them. But I’d be better off living with Sam knowing he’d keep the others away than to try it on my own now that they knew I existed.
“Fine, let’s go back.”
Paul and Henry played cards when we got back, eating their way through a stack of sandwiches set out on the coffee table. They waved me over and I gladly joined their game grabbing a sandwich for myself. Several more werewolves came in. Sam led each one to me. Most left after nodding a polite hello. A few asked for a second meeting. Each time Sam would look at me and, at the shake of my head, reject the request. It relieved me to see him keep his word, restoring some of my shaken confidence in him.
We packed up and left Sunday morning. During the drive back, I mostly paid attention to the scenery since I’d missed the majority of it on the way there. While I watched the trees flash by, I thought about the weekend. None of the guys I met seemed too upset over any type of rejection. For as much emphasis as they’d put on my smelling good to just about all werewolves, their laid-back attitude didn’t make much sense to me.