A drop of something cold splashed on my stomach, startling me awake, and I sat up with a squeal.  Emmitt stood over me.  I squinted up at him.  The sight of him glistening in the sun, without a shirt, made it hard to swallow.  In his hand, he held a sweating bottle of water, the source of the drip.

He apologized with a grin, not looking very repentant.  Before I could say anything, he sat behind me and handed me the water.

“Your head will start hurting again.  Drink up.”

As usual, my stomach went crazy with him so close.  Unable to lie back down, I accepted the bottle and eyed the water level.  It didn’t reach the top.  He shrugged and grinned when I arched a brow at him.

I took a few large swallows and handed him the bottle, expecting him to leave.  Instead, he settled back on his elbows and looked out at the water.

Nana mumbled something I didn’t catch, stood, and joined the boys at the water’s edge.

“About last night,” Emmitt started.

“Don’t want to talk about it.”  I moved over to Nana’s spot and lay back.  My head hit abs, not sand.  I sat up again and did a double take.

“How did you move...”  I didn’t finish my question.  I didn’t want to know.

“I thought after showing you what I am, you’d have more questions for me.  Other than if you could wear my shirt.”

My face flushed.  I tilted the hat to block his view of me and wrapped my arms around my knees.  “Nope.”

“You sure?”

“Yep.”  I didn’t really have questions, just a whole ton of worry and what-if’s.  Nothing I could talk about without getting into the deeper subject of me.

“Green.”

The random word caught me off guard, and I turned to look at him without thinking.  “What?”

“It’s my favorite color.  What’s yours?”

“If I tell you, will you let me lay down again?”

He flashed me a wide grin but didn’t answer.

“I don’t know that I have one,” I said honestly.  It wasn’t anything I’d given thought to.  “I like looking at the sky, though, so maybe blue.”

He moved over on the blanket.  His attention stayed on the water.  I drank some more, and after a few minutes of quiet, I cautiously lay back down.  With the hat blocking the sun and a light breeze to keep me from getting too hot, I gradually relaxed.  My breathing slowed.

Lying in the sun’s restful rays, I floated on the cusp of sleep.

“What kind of music do you like?” Emmitt asked quietly.

“I don’t remember,” I mumbled.

“Why not?”  His soft voice neither lulled nor intruded on my peace.

“Blake hated the noise,” I said on an exhale and drifted away to that leg-twitching place between awake and asleep.

A gentle tug on my hair anchored me to the beach.

“Who’s Blake?”

A good question, and I wished I knew the answer.  The memory of Blake’s contorting face bobbed to the surface in an ocean of memories.  This time his long teeth didn’t draw my attention.  Behind him, the men at the table changed in small ways, too.  Hairier arms, miss-happened ears.  Nothing I noticed that last night but saw easily, now.  Richard’s ashen face, shaking hands, but otherwise calm presence as he sat at the table.  Run as fast as you can. He’d known.  Richard’s dead.  This changes nothing.  And Blake had killed him.  Why?  He had a plan.  Scent you...bite him...establish a Claim.

Another memory bubbled to the surface.  Emmitt leaning close as he held me still.  His breath tickling my neck on an exhale.  His nose gliding along my hairline, near my temple on an inhale.

*    *    *    *

I sat up abruptly.  Twisting, I saw Nana reclining in the spot Emmitt had occupied when I fell asleep.  Water splashed.  Giggles erupted.  Squinting against the glare of the reflecting sun, I spotted the other four in the water.

Nana glanced up at me.

“How long was I out?”  I asked.

“About an hour.  Almost time for lunch.”

I waited for my stomach to rebel at the thought of food, but it remained steady.  A good sign.  Digging my toes into the hot sand at the edge of the blanket, a sigh escaped.  I rested my chin on my knees and watched their water play.  Emmitt showed the boys how to cascade a wave of water at Jim, using his fisted hands.  As he spun, the muscles on his back rippled.

“Can I ask you a question?” I asked quietly, recalling the way Emmitt had held me when he’d begged me to stay.  Nana set her book down, an indication of her willingness to answer.  “Do I have a scent?”

“Everyone does, dear.  As unique as a fingerprint.”

I liked that she didn’t ask me what I meant.  I needed to face the truth.  Get the facts.  Start learning.  I watched Emmitt in the water.

“Why would a werewolf want to scent me?”

Emmitt’s head swiveled my direction.  Instead of blocking Jim’s spray, he unflinchingly caught it on his left side.  I bet he had an ear full of water.  He didn’t move as he stayed intensely focused on me.

“I’d be happy to answer that question, but I need to explain more than that for you to understand.  If you’re willing...”

I nodded.  Liam tugged on Emmitt’s arm, encouraging him to get revenge on Jim.  Emmitt turned away to rejoin the fun.

“Emmitt shared with me that he showed you who we are.  People use the term werewolf, but we are more than a shape-shifting creature of the night.”

I briefly gazed down at the sand the first time she used we, having a hard time picturing her with teeth like Blake.

“We are the opposite of a person with multiple personalities.  We are one personality with two bodies.  Who we are doesn’t change, no matter the form we choose.  However, there are benefits to each form we wear.  We are faster on four legs than two, but not by much.  When in our fur, we have better protection because of our teeth and claws.  However, some things don’t change.  Our sense of smell, hearing, and sight.

“Our sense of smell is more vital to us than our sight.  We can smell an object long after it has disappeared.  A scent can tell us more than we could ever see.  Emotions like fear and desire can flavor a person’s usual fragrance.  Through our senses, we read the world and react to it.

“Scenting is when we use our sense of smell to identify potential Mates.  Their scent calls to us.  It’s more than just liking the fragrance.  It’s the rightness of it.”  She paused for a moment and smiled kindly at me.  “I’ve never had to explain this to someone who didn’t have our noses.  So let me know if I’m not making sense.

“I like the smell of strawberries, but I wouldn’t want my clothes to smell like them.  It’s a good smell, but not right for clothes.  So, although my scent may be pleasant to several, it might not be just right for any of them.  Because of the nuance between an alluring scent and the rightness of that scent, nature threw in a backup plan.  It’s something we feel deep inside ourselves, like a tug in our stomach, reeling us toward the one we’re meant to be with.  The scent calls us, possibly from a greater distance than we can see, but the pull cinches the deal.”

My eyes locked on Emmitt, and my stomach summersaulted as usual.  Panic flared.  What was Nana telling me?  Emmitt continued to play with the boys, but I could tell by the cant of his head that he listened.  Was he waiting for me to try to run?

Nana reached over and patted my hand.

“It’s a lot to take in, but nothing to worry about.  With humans, we werewolves typically don’t feel or scent anything that would indicate we’re compatible with you.  Oh, a few have tried to have relationships, but they were shallow connections that never lasted long.”

Emmitt cast a quick scowl at Nana over his shoulder before returning to the game he played with my brothers.

Nana picked up a water bottle lying in the shade of her bag and handed it to me.  “Would you like me to tell you more about our kind?”

Until she mentioned the last bit about humans and werewolves not working, I’d been tying my mental running shoes, thinking my vision an inevitable outcome.  Could I take more?  Think of your brothers, I told myself.  If I wanted to avoid the fate Blake had planned for me, I had to understand what his words had meant and why he’d forced those monthly dinners.