10. Emma

"You're Charlotte?" A beautiful, yet curvy brunette with big blue eyes smiles at me. She's so tall, she must be a wolf. I return her smile although I'm less than confident, "You're a shifter aren't you?" Even though I'm the one dressed in only a shirt, she's the one who appears shy. She nods. "Yeah. I'm a shifter."

I wouldn't be in the hall if I didn't truly need a restroom. I woke up about a half an hour ago and immediately grabbed a shirt from a dresser in the corner of the room. I awoke alone and a bit groggy. My entire body is sore, and I just want to soak in a hot bath. I didn't get far down the hallway to snoop in search for bathroom before I ran into Charlotte. Thank God she's clothed, at least. After relieving myself, she's there waiting for me and walks me back down to the bedroom.

"I hear you prefer clothes too."

I already like her. "Yeah, naked isn't really something I'm used to." I follow Charlotte back to the bedroom and that sick feeling comes back to the pit of my stomach. I don't like that she knows where the bedroom is. I rub my arm and look out of the window, trying to gather the courage to ask. Oh, fuck it. What's it matter anyway? It's not like I'll be here long. "So you hang out with the Luke and Owen a lot?" It's not really a question, just a statement.

"Yes, I do the promotional work for the company." She gives me a tight smile. "They suck at marketing." She shakes her head. "How the hell they thought they'd be successful with no advertising is beyond me." Her eyes widen and she holds up her hand. "Don't get me wrong, they're smart and everything, but they really weren't thinking when it came to actually selling. They had no clue."

I respond for the sake of responding even though all I can think about is how comfortable she is in their bedroom. "I totally understand."

She sits on the edge of the bed, and I'm surprised by the spike of jealousy that hits me. I suppose it's natural to be jealous of a woman who's slept with the men you're currently sleeping with, even if you are trying to stay emotionally detached and planning your exit. I swallow the lump growing in my throat.

"So you do the advertising." A thought resonates in me and I decide to take advantage of the situation. It's good for an interviewee to feel comfortable. I can get some information out of her. "So do all the shifters here work for the company. Is that how a pack works?"

The beautiful woman broadens her smile. "No, we do whatever we like, so long as we contribute a fair share. The foxes like to garden, so they make sure to plant enough vegetables for those who want them. And a few of the bears like to build the houses. The cats like to do the nitty gritty, like plumbing and electrical." I keep my mouth shut and try not to show my surprise. The foxes were shifters. Holy shit. We have foxes back home, they could easily be shifters and I would've had no clue. This is going to make such a good story. It will give us ammunition to demand more information about the shifters. The Authority keeps so much a secret it's fucking criminal.

"I'm not sure what everyone does exactly, but as long as the Alphas approve of their role, we don't question it. There's no reason to." Although this is all good information, I find myself focusing on the fact that she may or may not have slept with Owen and Luke. I shift my weight onto my left foot and decide to ask some questions to hint around it. I don't want to make an enemy of her.

"So I always thought shifters were monogamous."

She seems surprised by my confession, her brow arching. "Well, most are." She looks down and toys with the threads on the comforter. The comforter that I slept under with Luke and Owen. "Some species don't have fated mates, so they aren't— Like dragons. Dragons aren't known for mates at all anymore. But bears and wolves are, and cats prefer to be monogamous, but they don't always have fated mates, so you know. It doesn't always work." Her eyes go sad at the thought, but only for a moment. "And then some mates deny the connection. Which is just really awful."

"What do you mean?" That sick feeling in the pit of my stomach grows.

"About what?"

"About denying mates." I hope I'm not giving her the impression that denying them is exactly what I plan on doing.

"Oh, well from how I understand it, it's the animal part of the shifter that feels the connection. So long as the human and animal are on the same page, it's easy to feel their mate. But if they aren't, they could miss their mate or feel it, but not give in to the pull. And then there are instances where one person doesn't feel the connection and denies their mate's animal of their partner and it completely wrecks the animal."

"Wrecks the animal?" I question as my blood pressure rises.

"Yeah like, sometimes they lose their ability to shift altogether. Or an Alpha who has a mate, like Owen and Luke having you, well they get more powerful, stronger, and their ability to use their dominance over others grows. But if they're denied, they become weaker. So it's fantastic that Owen and Luke found you!" Her voice is all peppy at the end as she fills with excitement.

"But they aren't monogamous." Suddenly I find myself hoping that she has fucked them. It would give me a good push to leave and forget the fact that I would be hurting them simply by leaving. Their wolves will get weaker, but that doesn't seem that bad.

She tilts her head and gets a sad look in her eyes. "They aren't? Why would they do such a thing?"

"I just assumed." I close my eyes; the weight of her response denies that she's been with them.

"Well as far as anyone here knows, they've only ever been with you." She scrunches her nose. "And I can tell you I've never smelled them on anyone else before."

I heat with embarrassment and bite my lip. "Are all you wolves good at smelling?"

She laughs at my irritation. "I'm not a wolf, but most shifters are good at smelling."

"What are you?"

"Lion."

"So you can shift into a lioness?"

She smiles and nods. "I don't much though."

"Why?"

"She's a bit aggressive. It's rare that a female possesses so much dominance. I try to repress her, but she doesn't like it when I do. So I just don't shift much."

"I don't understand. That sounds awful."

Her tone drops slightly, almost uncomfortably so. "Well when dominance is expressed, it's challenged. For a female surrounded by stronger males, especially males who aren't her mate, that's not good for her." She offers me a sad smile. "It's why I left my pride."

"Oh my God, they didn't—" I can't even finish my thought, but she adamantly shakes her head, stopping any assumptions from turning dark.

"No, my family would never hurt me. But my lioness kept picking fights and would sulk when she would be beat in a match. It was just too much for both of us to handle. I think she wants to be tamed, but only by her mate. And I haven't found him yet. We were both miserable, so I left, hoping to find my mate." She shakes her head. "But after a year, I never found him so I just stopped looking." She looks sad but resigned. "A lot of shifters never find their mates. When you get to a point in your life, you just have to make a decision of whether you'd rather have a small bond with someone else, or no bond at all."

My eyes search hers. "What did you decide?"

"I haven't made my decision yet, but I'm getting to the point where I need to." My heart aches for her as she changes the subject, not so subtly. "Ooh I can smell your heat hitting you." She wrinkles her nose comically.

"So heat means what exactly?" I find myself sitting on the bed beside her. All of this is exactly what I was hoping for. My fingers itch to snag my recorder but I resist on the off chance that she'll stop giving intel if she knows my intention.

"It's the time of the month when you're most fertile." I nod my head and immediately feel like an idiot for not figuring that one out on my own. Heat…like a dog. "And shifters get super, forgive my bluntness, horny around that time."

"Well good thing I'm human." I don't expect her to laugh, but oh she does and I find my face heating.

"You aren't feeling horny at all? From what I've heard it hits humans just as hard and sometimes harder."

I sit uncomfortably on the bed, tug down the tee shirt, and feel the ache between my thighs. Oh shit… I remember Luke's remark about begging him and I hope it's not true. I won't be able to handle that. Being so degraded and having no control over it. "Maybe I should stay with someone else until the heat's over."

She looks at me like I've lost my mind. "Why would you want that?" She doesn't wait for a reply, instead she just shakes her head. "The Alphas won't allow that so I wouldn't suggest it. They aren't going to be able to let their mate be anywhere but with them. No mate would ever want their partner somewhere without them during their heat. It's awfully painful to be apart." Before I can reply she adds, "And I'm sure they're going to want to bond with you before the claiming."

A cold sweat breaks across my skin as my gut drops. "What's the claiming?" Every inch of my skin tingles.

"For wolves it's when they bite you, to mark you as theirs." I nod my head. Okay, that doesn't sound so bad. "The bite lets their magic mix with your blood. That way everyone will scent you as theirs and they'll always be able to find you and know how you're feeling. It's wonderful." Her tone and smile brighten once again. "And the claiming moon is only four days away."

Fuck. I need to get the hell out of here in less than four days.