Sam had already thrown his bag on the foldout couch in the living room when I walked through the apartment door. I walked past him, tossed my bag on my own bed, and returned to the living room to watch him and to try to puzzle out his mood. The last few informal Introductions had been less than typical with an unusually high number of unMated males coming to the Compound from greater distances. I figured this one would be no different. Maybe he was worried about the number attending.
“So, when do we get started?” I paced around the room to stretch my legs after the long drive.
“Soon as you’re ready, I guess.” Sam riffled through his bag, looking for something.
“How many this weekend?”
He didn’t look at me. In fact, he seemed to be making an effort not to look at me and had been making that effort since breakfast. My stomach wanted to do a flip, but I firmly smashed down my emotions. I needed to figure out what was going on before I reacted in any way. Emotions around werewolves gave you away. They could smell some and hear others.
“I’m not sure. All of the Elders put a call out since it’s your last one. Ready?” He straightened, with pencil and paper in his hand, and still did not meet my gaze. He kept himself busy by tucking the pencil into the spiral of the notebook as he moved toward the door.
“Yep.” I fell into step behind him. “So, what does that mean?”
“That there are more ears than usual.” He opened the door for me.
A werewolf fun fact to keep in mind at all times: They have excellent hearing. I didn’t say anything more. Sam typically stayed very open with me, but something definitely felt different about tonight. I followed him down the hall. Our footfalls echoed softly on the hardwood floor.
Despite my effort not to react in any way to the oddities I kept noticing, a tension built inside of me. Not about the Introductions. I’d grown used to those. They could throw as many unMated at me as they wanted. I knew it wouldn’t work.
In the past two years, not once had I felt any physical interest in any werewolf. There’d been some nice ones I’d enjoyed talking to, but nothing more. No spark that Sam had insisted I would feel. He’d stressed that whatever I felt, the male would feel infinitely stronger, a compulsion that they wouldn’t be able to deny.
No, the tension wasn’t about meeting more werewolves. It was Sam. The tension continued to grow as I puzzled over whatever Sam hid, whatever made him act so nervous and guilty at the same time.
When we didn’t turn to go to the commons, but instead, went down the hall I knew housed the infamous Introduction room, his odd behavior suddenly made sense. They planned to go old school for my last Introduction. Since Sam had stressed a formal Introduction could be dangerous to me, his nervousness and guilt were understandable. But I didn’t understand why they thought a formal Introduction necessary. Did they really think the results would be different?
“Sam...you should have told me first.”
He said nothing as he stopped and opened the door at the end of the hall. He motioned me inside. Resigned, I entered.
The windowless room had the same comfortable log cabin design as the rest of the Compound. However, near the center of the room, ten worn X’s taped to the floor formed a gentle arch. A few feet away, a solid line ran from one side of the room to the other, separating the front and back halves of the room. On my half of the room, folding chairs waited along the wall, a place for Elders to wait and observe. Having Elders present meant disputes were resolved quickly and without bloodshed. It also meant better protection for the female. Each side of the room had a door.
According to tradition, five men would enter from the opposite door, which led outside, and remain in the room for five minutes. The Elders present would watch my reaction to these men and their reactions to me. Five minutes gave enough time for me to introduce myself to each of them. It seemed pointless to me, though. Through their own admission, true Mates would know within a minute of meeting each other.
All ten marks came into play during Introductions for older, unMated were-females. Once Introductions started, unMated males traveled from distant states until the Elder network announced a Claim.
The males competed aggressively for a Mate since fewer females were available to men. Sam had told me, statistically, the birth rate was about three to one. Some thought it nature’s way to keep the werewolf population low. Other’s disagreed. They argued that it didn’t make sense when human females appeared to be evolving to fill in the need.
I understood the seriousness of this Introduction and stood near the door I’d entered. If trouble broke out, I would step through the sturdy, thick door, lock it behind me, and run like hell. The locked door wouldn’t slow a determined werewolf. Without an Elder standing between an oncoming werewolf and me, I wouldn’t stand a chance. Still, locking it would make me feel better once I stood on the other side. Declared a safety zone, I was supposed to remain in the hall beyond to wait until the Elders calmed whatever disruption might occur.
Although the setting had changed, the rules hadn’t. They couldn’t force a Mate on me. It was up to Nature. One more weekend to play it cool, then...done.
The Elders began to enter behind me. During the informal Introductions in the commons, two or three Elders always remained nearby. If informal Introductions called for at least two Elders, I knew to expect more for a formal Introduction. Definitely three. Maybe four.
Sam already sat on a folding chair to my left. Gradually, four more filed in; four men, including Sam, and one woman. The number surprised me, but I didn’t mind the extra eyes. I’d met Nana Wini two years ago while still learning about Introductions. A kind and patient teacher, she’d explained so much to me. Having her here comforted me, and I looked forward to talking to her afterward.
Once the last Elder sat, the outer door opened and ten men stalked in. Ten? I successfully kept my feelings from my face, but I knew they would smell my confusion. Ten explained the extra Elders. Werewolves in their fur were all powerful and vicious, Elders more so because of their position in the pack.
In addition to the increased number of Elders, the ages of the werewolves who stood on the X’s ranged from young to old without restriction. Screw Nature. No way would I be even remotely interested in someone old enough to be my father. Especially when I had no clue who my father might be.
Wanting to get the Introduction over with, I stepped forward so the toes of my socks rested just behind my safety line and met the eyes of the first man. I nodded a greeting, turned with military precision, and paced to the next taped X to meet the second man’s eyes. I slowly walked down the line and met the eyes of each man I passed. At the last man, I turned around to face all of them.
“Thank you for coming.”
They all stepped back from the tape and turned to leave.
I stayed on my side of the tape and watched their retreating forms. The door on their side of the room opened so they could file out. It felt weird not learning their names as I usually did in an informal Introduction. But I knew this was typical of a formal Introduction. Any man interested in me would remain on his taped mark while allowing the others to step back to leave. This would give Sam a moment to note the interested party. Anyone on Sam’s list would have an opportunity for a second Introduction where I would actually converse with him. The second round had more danger.
Movement in the recently vacated doorway broke my chain of thought. The doorway had barely cleared before the next set of ten entered. Was it always this rushed?
Breaking protocol, I glanced at Sam. He watched the men, still not looking at me. Without frowning at him like I really wanted to, I turned back to focus on the men who now stood on their marks. In this group, all of them were over forty. I repeated the same process from the first group, acknowledging each of them as I walked past. One appeared to have the start of a black eye.