“It’s not an aura I’m seeing. To put it in perspective, I can see a square mile around us, but in my mind, the area looks like an inch. The lights within that area are small pinpricks, but I can see them so clearly that they might as well be the size of quarters three inches from my face. And all those dots are the same color. Every human around us has the same yellow light with a green halo.”

I handed her the drink and rescued the potatoes she’d cubed into tiny pieces. It would make cooking them quicker.

“Thanks,” she said, taking a sip.

While she continued talking, I resumed cooking dinner.

“You and I, in the middle of those dots, stand out. I have the same yellow light as everyone else, but my halo is orange. I’m different from the people around us. Even from you. Werewolves have a blue core with a green halo. At least, that’s all I ever saw in the past two years, until the night you were challenged. That werewolf had a blue-grey light.”

Was she saying there was another kind of werewolf? I’d never heard of any, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. We’d kept to ourselves until Charlene’s arrival and acceptance into Thomas’ pack. Who really knew what was out there? And another species would explain why that werewolf had challenged me before my time was up.

She continued her explanation, speaking slowly as if trying to figure out the right words to use.

“Now, imagine my shock when I opened the door and saw a man, who introduced himself as Elder Joshua, with the same color light. Only the difference in the color of his eyes kept me breathing.”

Her panic made sense, and I started to wonder. If there was another kind of werewolf, how could we have one as an Elder? Did the other Elders know about this? No, I doubted it. They were still trying to puzzle out why Charlene and Gabby were potential Mates for our kind. I wondered if the answer to that lay within what Gabby was telling me, that there might be more species out there than we were aware.

“I’ve been like this my entire life, and I have more questions than answers about this second sight. Why are all humans green and yellow except Charlene and me? We’re human. Why does Charlene have a red halo? Or me an orange halo? The only similarities are the yellow cores. I’ve been thinking the yellow cores mean human, but I don’t know what the halos mean.

“And I’m sure that you’ve caught on to the whole guy situation. I call to them, somehow, as if I’m a beacon or something. Do I really send out some kind of signal?”

She looked up at me questioningly as I turned from the stove with a loaded plate in each hand. I handed one to her and studied her for a long moment.

I had noticed the attention she received. Some of it seemed a little intense, but she was beautiful and amazing. I felt intense around her, too, but I knew that was just the animal side of me. Humans were different. Gabby more so because of her compatibility with me. However, beyond the Mate pull, I didn’t sense anything different about her.

I shrugged and shook my head.

“So nothing as far as you can tell? There’s got to be a reason, a connection to it all.” She sighed and played with the food on her plate.

I ate slowly, unsure how to react to everything she’d shared. Her revelation surprised me, but it didn’t change how I felt about her. I didn’t care that she saw lights in her head or that men found her attractive. It just meant we’d have an interesting life.

I quietly ate my food and waited for her to say more. Eventually, she did.

“I’ve never told anyone all of this. People figure out there’s something different about me if they’re around me long enough. But no one knows about the lights.”

That she’d chosen to share her secrets elated me. It showed trust and progress in our relationship.

“I’m torn. Do I call Sam and tell him everything? Do I tell him the light of the guy who challenged you is the same light as Joshua? There’s nothing concrete I can offer about the coloring or why I’m so worried about it.

“Why would a werewolf I’ve never met challenge you? And why does he share the same coloring as Joshua? So far, the lights have had a category: humans, werewolves, and compatible Mates. I don’t think the challenger and Joshua can be compatible Mates because Charlene and I are uniquely colored from each other.”

She shook her head then took her first bite. Her food had to be cold by now.

“Bet you’re wishing you hadn’t asked.”

I shook my head slowly, still watching her. She was everything I wanted and more. I only wished she would have trusted me sooner.

She quickly finished her meal, and I took both our plates and cleaned up the kitchen while she sat at the table and did her homework. Her anxiety remained high, and I didn’t know what to do to comfort her. I doubted she’d welcome a hug yet. At least, not from me while I wore my skin.

When I finished rinsing the sink, I left the room, stripped out of my clothes, and shifted. I returned to the kitchen, nudged her arm with my head, and looked toward the living room. She reached out and ran her fingers through the fur at my neck, then packed up her homework.

We watched some sitcoms before calling it a night.

Our lives settled into a pattern. I followed her to school, without her knowing, then went to work. On Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, Rachel spent her time at Peter’s place. On those nights, I made sure I was home before Gabby so I could have dinner ready. On the nights Rachel was home, I let Dale know I could work late if he needed me.

The money helped. I started getting the things Gabby needed or showed interest in. Simple things like movies she mentioned to Rachel, basic food items, and some spare clothes for me. I always wore what she’d given me on the nights we were together, though, and hoped she understood how much I treasured them, especially the shirt she’d sewn.

Each night together she peppered me with questions, making a game of getting to know me; and as the weeks passed, I thought we’d progressed nicely. She was comfortable with me and seemed to really trust me. I wasn’t ready to test our relationship yet, though. Fear that she would pull back stopped me.

When the questioning turned to what I did all day, I left my wallet on her dresser as a clue. Rachel was home when Gabby found it so she didn’t say anything, but her expression spoke volumes. Curiosity and excitement played across her features. I sat behind her as she quietly opened it and started poking through the contents.

Her hesitant glances at me before she looked at each new thing were adorable but not as much as when she stared at my license. They’d made me pull my hair back for the photo. It was her first glimpse of my face. She stared so long that I started to laugh, not at her fascination but because she was fascinated. Just another sign of how much she’d accepted me.

But acceptance wouldn’t be enough to keep the other unMated at bay, and our time to complete a Claim was running out.

Chapter 14

I sat on the bed and watched Gabby get ready. A female from one of Gabby’s classes had invited Gabby to a Halloween party. And Gabby had said yes.

She wore my favorite flannel shirt and a pair of my jeans. The jeans sagged on her and mostly covered the boots she wore. Thankfully, she’d belted the waist to keep the pants from falling off completely. I liked that she wore my clothes. It gave me a certain sense of possession...if only she weren’t planning to leave and go mingle with other men at one of those party houses.

Most of Gabby’s blonde hair was hidden under a ball cap. I tilted my head, studying her as she sculpted some thick sideburns with the hair gel. She was too cute to pull off being a man, but it was better than the cocktail waitress costume Rachel had given her.

When she started coloring manly looking eyebrows on her face, her cuteness dropped a level, and I started to worry. She was dressing tough. Human men weren’t rational when they drank. Someone might take her attempt at toughness as a challenge.