(‘Scent’ Excerpt Chapter 5)
Just then I jumped from the
sound of footsteps behind! I turned my
head sharply, to see Grant easily leap up the steep rocks. He casually came and sat beside, to also look
out at the view.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to
startle you.” He greeted. Nervously I looked away, back over the
forest, as I felt shy for the first time in his company. Grant said seriously, “I thought we should
talk.”
“I don’t want to talk.” I
said petulantly.
“Yes you do.” He said
evenly. “I’m sure you have lots of questions.”
“Only one; how much do my
parents hate me to be doing this?” my eyes welled with tears.
“Thanks a lot!” Grant burst
out laughing. “I’ll try not to take offence.”
I didn’t say anything else, so he spoke again. “I was a bit surprised
when the pack and the Elders first spoke to me about the idea. But I can see their logic.”
“There’s logic?” I asked
bitterly.
“You’re the first female
Lokoti Werewolf. Because you’re also a
Circulator, you’re faster than any member of the pack. You need to be trained
and if you took a mate, it will help settle your bloodlust as you would be
driven to hunt with your mate. He would
guide you towards other quarry than the forbidden fruit.”
“I don’t see how marrying me
off to somebody is going to stop me craving human flesh.” My head dropped to
stare on the fungus-stained surface of the rock.
“It will help.”
“But you’re not married so
how would you know?”
“If I was married, then we
wouldn’t be engaged.” He tried to joke, but I didn’t laugh. “I know this is so because of the experience
of the pack and from a millennia of knowledge down our bloodline.”
“But I’m the first female
Lokoti Werewolf in history, so a millennia of knowledge doesn’t seem helpful.”
I looked out at the view once more.
“You have the same bloodlust
that a male Lokoti Werewolf has, so we know it to be true.” He answered
patiently.
We sat quietly for a couple
of minutes, the both of us looking out at the forest underneath.
Grant spoke again, “Look B,
I can understand how you’re nervous about this…it’s taken you by surprise,
that’s all. When Lokoti Werewolves mate, it goes beyond simple marriage that
you’ve read about in your books or seen in your movies. We would bond together in a way that we would
become attuned to each other’s thoughts and feelings. When we take a mate, it’s a rewarding
experience which is why it’s held with reverence and it’s taken very seriously
among our people.”
“But I’m not the one.” I
ducked my head.
“What was that?”
“I’m not the one.”
He paused for a moment,
before his eyes widened in recognition.
“You remember that conversation?”
“It’s a bit hard to
forget! That night you babysat me was
the only time that we ever talked.”
“We’ve talked plenty of
times.”
“No we haven’t. We’ve said ‘hallo’ plenty of times, but the
night you babysat me five years ago was the only time that we talked.” I said
as I stared at my shoes.
“I remember that night…I
taught you a couple of card games which you picked it up pretty quickly and won
a few hands too.” He gave a playful nudge.
“You brought over soda and
let me stay up until midnight.” A smile escaped.
“So how did I go for my
first babysitting job?” He asked in good humor.
“Not bad.” I shrugged. “Ten
out of ten.”
“Cool.” He sat back as he
leant on his hands. “After I looked after you, my older sisters and brother all
roped me into looking after their kids now and then too. I think the fact that
you managed to live through the experience spoke well of my child care
skills. Mind you, they’re not so
impressed that all their kids are card sharks now and can even fleece half the
adults in the tribe.”
That made me laugh and I
almost relaxed in his company, which I guessed it was what Grant was trying to
do.
“What made you think of our
conversation on why I wasn’t married?” He asked as I shrugged back. “Because our marriage will be arranged?” he
guessed before I nodded. Grant moved
closer, which made me feel awkward. “Did
you know that in our tribe’s history there have been other arranged marriages?
I shook my head to show that
no, I didn’t know that. I briefly looked
back his way to show that I was listening, before my eyes skipped away once
again.
“There has never been a case
where an arranged marriage in our tribe has turned out badly.” He started to
rub my back, which the gesture surprised me. “And I doubt that we would be the
first.”
“But I’m our tribe’s first
female Werewolf.” I said in a small voice as I fidgeted with my shoes.
“That just adds to
exoticness of our situation. And
B?” Next, he used his forefinger to turn
my face towards him. “You’re not being
married to me as a punishment. I see
myself as lucky to be marrying you. I
know that we’ll be happy together and in a way, I feel like I’ve won a prize in
a competition I didn’t even know I had entered.”
Oh no! Now I felt really
rotten, as I tearfully turned away. I should tell him that I was in no way like
that, instead I was like a booby prize!
“B?” He looked on, puzzled.
“Grant…” I began.
“Yes?”
“Grant I’m – I’m – I’m…”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not a prize!” my face
burned. “I’m not a virgin!”
“OK.” He raised his eyebrows
but he didn’t remove his hand from my back.
“Er, would it be helpful for you to know that neither am I?”
I looked his way in
surprise, “I thought we weren’t supposed to have sex unless it’s with the one
who is meant to become our mate?”
“That’s what our Elders
would prefer, sure.” He shrugged. “But I guess you’ve come to realize yourself
that certain things happen by their own accord.”
“How did you manage to have
sex without mating yourself to somebody?” I asked bluntly.
Grant cracked up laughing
again. “You’ve still got a curious
mind.” I quickly looked away,
embarrassed. “No, it’s cool.” He cleared
his throat. “Um well, male Werewolves can hold themselves back.”
“Oh.” I thought on this in
befuddlement.
“If you don’t mind me
asking, what was it like for you?” He queried.
“What?!” I looked on him in
alarm as I had no idea how to answer that!
He leaned in to sniff me. I
leaned away shyly. “What are you doing?”
“Phew! You don’t smell like
you’ve mated with anybody.” He said in relief.
“Huh?” I wondered what the
hell he was going on about?
“If you were mated to somebody,
I would have smelled him on you.” Grant said plainly. “If I had smelled him on you, it would have
been a little embarrassing to return to our families and say that you already
had a mate.”
“Oh...!” My eyes widened in horror at the idea of
everybody finding out about Declan.
“Since I can’t smell him on
you, it means that the last time you were with this person was a while
ago. If you had mated with this person,
his smell on you would be strong because you would see him frequently. If you were mated to this person, you
wouldn’t be able to go for long periods of being separated from him.”
“OK…” My eyebrows rose as my
brain digested this piece of information.
This would explain how Gran
and Grandfather, Nana and Grandpa and even Mum and Dad behaved as if they were
joined at the hip. I had always thought
that Werewolf couples were the soppiest in the tribe, which was in direct
contrast to the Werewolf’s dangerous bloodlust.
Does this mean that this could one day be me too?
“Smell me.” He suddenly
offered.
“Excuse me?”
“Smell me.” Grant said
simply.
“Why?”
“Just smell me!” He laughed
at my hesitation. I leaned over closer
and inhaled. He looked expectant,
“well?”
“Well what?”
“What do you smell?”
“Um, I don’t know…”
“Did you smell perfume or
human female scent or anything like that?”
“No.”
“Then you know I haven’t got
a mate either.” He stated. “Or you would be able to smell her on me.”
“Oh, OK.” I raised my
eyebrows, impressed at learning something new about myself. “Can humans do
this?”
“Some can, but it’s
generally just Werewolves because of our keen sense of smell.”
“Cool.” I smiled.
“See?” Grant grinned. “It’s not so bad being a Werewolf, is it?”
“Um no, I guess not.”
“There are many benefits in
being who you are,” he rested his hand on the back of my neck, “and when you
take a mate? You’ll find out many more
things that make you special and what you have with your mate is unique.”
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