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He chuckled lightly at my obvious frustration, but started talking before I became impatient. “The easiest place to start is with the basics. You’ve figured out we’re shifters. Specifically, wolf shifters. So are the Hanleys. We just have very different pack rules.”
“Clearly,” I interjected. “They like to kidnap women into their pack while you take the time to woo them.”
“Woo?” He choked out and I grinned.
“Well, yeah. I am a breeding female after all.”
His laugh boomed through the forest, so loud it actually startled a bird into flight.
“I didn’t think it was that funny!”
“You don’t even know what a breeding female is,” he retorted as his laughter died down. “But you’re actually close.”
“Ha,” I sputtered, quickening my steps to keep up with him. He noticed and shortened his strides once more.
“Don’t get too pleased with yourself,” he retorted, giving me a dry glance and I shrugged. “Breeding females can have cubs. You carry the gene for it.”
“That’s it? I can have babies?” I asked, somewhat disappointed. It didn’t sound that special to me.
“You can have shifter babies,” he specified and my eyes narrowed. “And yes, it’s worth killing for.”
“Why?”
“We’re not a prolific bunch to begin with, and for years…centuries, packs didn’t understand genetics. They bred for stronger wolves, but eventually the female births dropped and there were fewer and fewer cubs being born each generation.” He paused to see if I was following and I nodded. “We know now that it is all genetics. Some carry the gene, others don’t. In some individuals it may be recessive, and others dominant. To simplify it, you’re a carrier.”
“Which means?”
“If you mate with a male who can shift, there’s a high chance the babies you have together will be able to shift.”
“You say, ‘able to shift’ like some might have the gene and can’t shift?”
“Yes, Caleb’s older brother is an example,” he answered and I blinked in surprise. He saw it and smiled. “Yes, the alpha has a son who isn’t a shifter. He does carry the recessive gene though.”
“How does that work?” I asked, truly fascinated by how something that seemed magical to me was so scientific.
“Well, his father, the alpha, fell in love with a girl who didn’t have any shifter genes. Carter was the result.”
“And Caleb?” I asked, sniffing a potential love story.
“Has a different mother,” Dominic stated evasively. “What makes you different is that you were not raised in a pack. You have the gene from your father, but he’s not a shifter and there are no indications either of you were aware of shifters before coming here.”
“My dad was adopted,” I told him as I processed the information. “How did you know though?”
“Know?”
“That I have the gene.”
Suddenly, he looked uncomfortable and I raised my eyebrow, “Really? Spit it out.”
“Your scent.”
“Back to that. You seem really bothered by my scent and so did those Hanley’s but Caleb doesn’t seem to care.”
“Caleb isn’t old enough to mate,” Dominic said with a growl. He bristled beside me, his body seeming larger and I edged away.
“Okay, chill. I wasn’t asking for myself,” I said, knowing any implication that he was jealous would snap him out of it.
“Good thing,” he snapped, not calming down in the slightest. “That little mark on your neck would be a hell of a lot more permanent if you were.”
The mark chose that moment to burn as we stood there tensely staring at one another for a second.
“Sorry,” he muttered as I lowered my gaze. “That was uncalled for.” He rubbed the back of his neck, and started walking again. “I never realized how strong the mating desire was until I met you. We instinctively know by scent a female that can bear our young. The longer we’re in contact the stronger the desire becomes to claim.”
“So, you don’t develop an immunity the longer I’m around you?” I joked.
“No, afraid not. And when you’re in heat…”
“What?” I shrieked, suddenly thinking I was emitting some scent that was calling all the dogs to the yard.
“It’s not like a wolf. Not exactly. Women ovulate. When you’re fertile, you’re difficult to resist,” he finished awkwardly, but it was the tightness on his face that clued me into how difficult.
“The Hanleys. The day they chased me,” I murmured, that day finally making sense.
“Yes,” he broke off and I didn’t press, my mind flashing back to another moment that day. His sudden, inexplicable desire now made sense, and it was starting to dawn on me how much danger I’d been in.
“I guess I should thank you,” I mumbled quietly and he gave an unamused chuckle.
“You should thank me every day you aren’t pinned to the ground and mounted,” he responded tightly and a flash of heat went through me so hot I thought my insides might melt.
“Another topic?” I asked faintly and he nodded, edging a little further away.
