“I hope your scent isn’t going to get us into trouble again on this latest holiday.”

(Excerpt of Sororate Chapter One)

            Last year, Declan started to grow orchids amongst our vegetables as a hobby.  They needed constant care but they became his pride and joy, especially since they were ‘our flower’.  Before we were formally acknowledged as mates, he used to give me orchids which were grown by other members of the tribe.

            “OK Brandon.”  He looked warily on our great, great, great, great grandnephew, Brandon Sabre.  He handed the 14 year old, a list of things to do in the greenhouse while we were on our tour of Asia. “I know these lands and I know where you live. With my sense of smell, I can track you no matter where you go on this planet.  If I come back to a dead garden, your ass is grass and I doubt your parents will miss you THAT much.”

            The poor boy’s eyes widened as he visibly gulped whilst looking on his tall, muscular Great x4 Granduncle standing before him, glaring menacingly.

            “Declan, don’t traumatize the kid!”  I rolled my eyes.

            My husband handed over the list to Brandon whilst he stared long and hard to instil his threat.

            “Er, no sweat Uncle.” The boy nervously licked his lips.

            I walked over to his side to pat him on the back reassuringly, “Don’t worry Brandon, the job’s pretty easy and the list of instructions is straightforward.”

For some reason, his eyes widened further as he now looked in my direction.  I even overheard him inhale deeply, which Declan caught as well.  My mate rolled his eyes in a weary manner.

“Frickin’ hell woman…” he complained, “…I can’t take you or your pheromones anywhere!”

My husband suddenly pulled me into his arms which were away from the teenaged boy, whose face fell as soon as my scent was removed.

“Dude, she’s your Great x4 Grandaunt and she’s also a married woman.” He growled. “Now scat!” 

I watched Brandon quickly turn around and leave the greenhouse before he broke into a run and disappeared from our property. 

Then my mate shook his head, “I hope your scent isn’t going to get us into trouble again on this latest holiday.”

“What do you mean ‘again’?”  I looked on unimpressed. “When have MY pheromones gotten us into trouble?”

“Gee, let’s see now…” he pretended to think, “…how about in Russia when the European Vampires tried to feed on you?”

“That wasn’t just because of my Lokoti Werewolf pheromones, it was also because of my aura as a Circulator.”  I refuted.

“And that other European Werewolf Marcus, who tried to claim you?”

“That was because there aren’t many female Werewolves left in the world.” 

Out of the blue, Declan picked me up in his strong arms as he laughed evilly, “I know and you’re mine!  MINE I say!”

I squealed with laughter as I squirmed out of his grip and then I too ran out of the greenhouse and back into the house to finish my packing… 

…

… now here we were, hiking the Great Wall of China with our large backpacks strapped on.  The Wall was busy with other tourists and we passed a couple of other people also with backpacks who had the same idea as us.   However as the afternoon grew late, Declan pulled us aside to check the GPS on his mobile phone.

“Right.”  He looked on his watch and then back at the GPS.  “It’s 7 PM and it’s still 5 km’s to the town where our hotel is.”

“So what if we have to walk in the night?”  I shrugged. “We’re ‘different’ Declan, we shouldn’t be afraid of the dark.”

My mate gave a peculiar look as he put his phone back into the front pocket of his backpack. “You think I’m afraid of the dark?”

“We are creatures of the night, aren’t we?”  I smirked.  “With your big build even in human form, you’re still intimidating.  I doubt we’ll get mugged.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.”  His scowl deepened as he looked around at the surrounding countryside whilst sniffing the air. “We’re on somebody else’s territory.”

“Huh?”  I gave a funny look. “Well, yes we are.  It’s called China, Declan. Chinese people claim ownership of this country.”

Rather than laugh, my husband looked indignant.  “B, sometimes I wonder whether you’re more ‘Light Person’ than you are like me.”  He hinted at my being a Circulator as well as a Werewolf.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked offended.

“Smell the air!”  He barked.

I closed my eyes to help me concentrate as I breathed in deeply through my nose… I smelled vegetation, I smelled moist earth, I smelled the warm humans walking past, I smelled the distant aroma of somebody cooking somewhere and then I smelled something else… This something was like a pungent animal smell, so strong that it left behind the realm of the natural and entered the supernatural. 

My eyes snapped open to look on in surprise before I managed out quietly so no passersby could hear, “Is - is - is that Asian Werewolf?” 

The European Werewolf for my husband, nodded as he looked down the side of the Wall at the valley below. 

“They’ve marked this as their territory, as a kind of invisible fence warning off other supernatural beings.  We should be safe in the hotel, but I don’t want to be out here when it’s dark. They could mistake us as hunting on their territory.” 

I looked on impressed at how he knew this, or sensed this with his intuition. I guess being a Circulator could interfere with my Lokoti Werewolf instincts, but my husband was attuned to his.  He immediately knew things about the European Vampires or the European Werewolves we encountered without ever reading the SSIT Reports.

After a moment, Declan noticed how I was still looking on him, or smiling rather. 

“What?”  He gave a funny look.

“You’re hot when you go all authoritarian about this kind of thing.” 

To which he smirked back, “I’ll remember you said that later on in our hotel room.”

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