Page 12 of The Scent of Seduction

“Hi, honey, you’ll love Clint’s short stack. Famous around these mountains. So fluffy they’ll melt right in your mouth.”

Nicole looked up and smiled at the waitress. Her short blonde hair and bright blue eyes seemed friendly. She wore a traditional diner uniform. Maybe they were keeping with the 1950s theme? Sarah, Nicole’s friend back home who taught U.S. history at the same school where Nicole worked, always talked about how even though nearly a century had passed since the atomic era, there was something about the period that still spoke to the American people and reminded them of simpler times and good old-fashioned fun. Looking around the diner, Nicole finally understood what Sarah had been trying to explain. In here she felt young, innocent and free-spirited.

Wonder if they pump something into the air system?

“Sounds great. Can I have a glass of orange juice and a coffee as well?”

“Anything for Jaryn’s mate. I’ll bring out your coffee right away, and the food will be right up! Oh, by the way, I’m Gillian.”

The waitress took off before Nicole had a chance to correct her. She looked around the diner and felt her face heat as she found several other patrons’ stares trained her way. Nicole ducked her head and played with the salt shaker sitting on the table. The sound of a car door slamming outside caught her attention, and she looked out through the large windows into the street. Stonepass’ principal thoroughfare stretched out before her, and Nicole did a bit of people-watching while waiting for her food to arrive.

Her coffee arrived, and Nicole set about doctoring the heavenly smelling brew. It appeared the population of the small town was taking advantage of the nice fall day, as there were several people walking up and down the sidewalks. Young, old and everywhere in between. She didn’t know how many of the residents were part of Jaryn’s pack. Did the humans and shifters coexist peacefully, or were there hidden tensions beneath the affable façade?

Having grown up in Chicago and then attending school in Madison, Nicole was more familiar with larger cities. She’d only been in Wausau for a little over four years. But even that Wisconsin town still had a population around forty-five thousand. Stonepass was probably a fraction of that. She tried to establish relationships with some others sequestered with her on Adam's compound, but they were only given limited freedom. She thought of Kenneth and hoped the young man was doing okay.

Kenneth had told her he could read people’s minds. She’d been sceptical until he’d demonstrated his ability to her one day a few months after her arrival. That kind of power was a tad scary, in Nicole’s opinion, but Kenneth had quickly explained that he’d never use it to hurt her. He was such a sweetheart, always eager to help everyone. A fact that Adam exploited for his own gain regularly.

Kenneth had confided to Nicole that he wasn’t the only non-shifter with special talents being held at the compound, and Nicole wondered just what other talents existed in the world. Nicole was worried that if Jaryn and the council could take down Adam’s organization that the hostages who’d been there the longest wouldn’t be able to readjust to the world out from underneath Adam’s thumb. Adam kept most of his ‘pack’ locked in cells in the buildings on the far side of the property. During the day, Adam and his goon squad released them to perform assigned tasks, but in the evenings, they sent them back to the custom-made prisons.

During her dinner with Jaryn, Nicole hadn’t got the feeling that he controlled his pack members’ lives. Instead, Jaryn talked as though he was more of an advisor. Nicole knew enough about shifter communities that there was always a leader and a small group of executives—for lack of a better word—that kept everything organized. Each species structured themselves a little differently, but the overall premise was the same. She’d met a couple of eagle shifters back in Wisconsin. There were a few coyotes, some black bears, and at least three jaguars. They mostly kept to themselves, but the wolves were by far the most social and friendly of the bunch.

When the world became exposed to the existence of shifters, there was a lot of bickering between human officials in the government and leaders of the shifter communities. Initial talks of having all the shifters register with the government had sparked heated debates and protests worldwide for several years.

Eventually, everyone calmed down enough to realize that the shifters had always lived among the human population, and there really was no need to rock the boat. Outwardly, a few things changed. There were now awareness groups for shifters and ambassadors who worked with governments worldwide to act as liaisons between the government and shifter councils. What most people had seemed to forget for a time was that shifters were people, too. They’d been productive members of society from the beginning of time—earning income, paying taxes, voting for leaders and in general living their lives. That they had a genetic ability to change shape was only one part of their existence.

“Here you go, sweetie! One order of pancakes with strawberry topping and fresh OJ. Say, do you know when Jaryn going to have a pack meeting to announce your mating? I guess it would make sense to do it the night of the Harvest Moon. We usually have a big to-do out at the pack lodge.”

“Well, the thing is… we’re not actually mates.”

Gillian sat in the booth across from Nicole. “What do you mean you’re not mates? I heard from Mia, who heard from Kris, who’s friends with Amanda—Landon’s mom—that Jaryn checked his mate into their motel two days ago. Now see, the thing is, I know for a fact that none of these women would lie about something as important as our Alpha finding his mate. Seeing as how you’re the only newcomer in town, it must be you.”

“Wow. That’s… how did everyone… Geez…”

“Oh, honey, we’re a small town. Everyone knows everyone.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “And it’s hard to keep a secret in the pack. Us wolves are notorious busy-bodies. Now tell me about this not being mates bologna.”

To stall for time, Nicole took a bite of her pancakes. The fluffy layers melted in her mouth, and Nicole moaned. She had had nothing this good in years. The strawberries added the perfect touch of sweetness, and when she took another sip of coffee, Nicole’s belly felt as though it’d met its new best friend.

“Told you it was good,” Gillian said, smiling.

Nicole nodded and gobbled another bite. Gillian continued to sit at the booth, and it made Nicole self-conscious to eat in front of a woman she didn’t know—which was probably Gillian’s tactic all along. Nicole slowly placed her fork on her plate, then twisted her coffee cup around. The heat from the ceramic warmed her hands and the scent of the freshly ground beans scattered the last of Nicole’s lingering tiredness.

“The thing is, Jaryn and I haven’t actually mated.” She knew the heat on her cheeks had nothing to do with the cup of steaming coffee in her hands.

“Shoot, sweetie, that changes nothing. If our Alpha says you’re his mate, I believe him. Not that he has, mind you. Jaryn is a gentleman, so there will be no spreading of gossip from him, but like I said, this is a small town. The word is out, so in the eyes of our pack, whether or not you’ve done the deed won’t matter a lick.”

“But… I don’t know if I want to be a shifter’s mate.”

“Darlin’, want has nothing to do with it. When we find our mates, it’s a true blessing from above. All those silly questions a person asks themselves during a relationship of whether their partner is the right one for them go right out the window. A true mate match means that the couple of has the blessings of the universe. That they’ve found the one perfect soul to complement their own from the population of the world over.”

“So you’re saying that Jaryn and I are destined to be together? That fate, should I choose to believe it, has decided how I’m supposed to live my life?”

Gillian covered Nicole’s hand on top of the table. "Now, I'm not sure why you didn't grow up in a pack, because they should have taught you about the mating bond from the cradle, but that's neither here nor there. Instead of thinking about a mating as your choices being stripped from you, think instead that the universe handed you a perfect set of tools with which to create your life. It’s up to you and Jaryn what shape it takes from here."

Gillian was now the second person to say that they detected at least part shifter blood in Nicole. She really did not know what gave these wolves that impression. She assumed that, had that been true, her parents would have said something when she was young. Gillian’s advice did actually make Nicole feel better, though. Not that she’d found fault with Jaryn, at least not yet, but she really didn’t know him. It was a tad disconcerting that suddenly she was supposed to trust in the fact that some great cosmos had dropped her into the arms of the man who she was blindly supposed to accept was ‘the one’.

“I know you have a lot to think about, sweetie. So I’ll leave you to your breakfast. Know that you can always come to me if you need anything. I’m kind of the resident den mother around here,” she said, smiling.

“Thank you, Gillian. You did help. Be sure to tell Clint thank you as well for the delicious breakfast.”

---