"Honey, you better take the boys inside. It may be nothing, but I'll go check this out."
Knowing what that tone in Samantha's voice might mean, Frances gently (but quickly) ushered the boys inside and offered to fix them a snack.
However, other than a drink, not even Ben was interested in eating.
"What do you think it is mom?" Ben whispered to her, while they were in the kitchen.
"I'm not sure," admitted Frances. "There's nothing wrong on our end," she added, meaning werecats, "so whoever they are might be there to visit William about Yvette. We better get back to the others," she said, carrying her share of the drinks back to the living room.
Meanwhile, Nate couldn't help noticing all the rose petals on the carpeting leading from the front door to the dining room table, and then trailing off to somewhere else in the house. They really did it up fancy last night to initiate mom, he realized. The table was cleared, so Nate was unaware that the three women never had dinner in favor of more intimate pleasures, but made up for the lack of traditional food with a big breakfast.
If Eric was aware of the rose petals' significance, he never said.
As Frances and Ben came back into the living room, they overheard the tail end of Nate telling his younger brother about meeting his new Alpha and his excitement about becoming a werewolf himself a few short hours from now.
"I'm very happy for you," replied Eric. He meant every word, but there wasn't much enthusiasm in the statement. Eric Anderson was developing a new appreciation of were-society and all its various members, but had no plans to ever become one himself.
At least, no immediate plans, he admitted to himself, wondering about the long term prospects of his budding friendship with Julie, and whether or not it would or ever should be anything more.
"Say, I forgot to ask. How was your afternoon outing?" asked Nate, as he popped the top on his soda.
"Fine," said Eric.
"Oh? You're making friends here in Moon Lake?" asked Frances.
"Yes ma'am," replied Eric politely.
"Forget that ma'am stuff. I'm Frances."
"Okay. I did go over to a friend's house for a while this afternoon," admitted Eric.
Werecat and werewolf senses both detected the scent of another person on Eric, but neither Frances or Ben could figure out who, because the smell was very diluted. Did he go swimming? wondered Ben, noticing the wet towel peeking out through the opening of Eric's travel bag. If so, I don't smell any chlorine.
"Who?" asked Nate.
"A friend," replied Eric.
Nate immediately recognized the defensive tone in his younger brother's voice, and realized that could only be because, "You had a date!"
"Really?" asked Frances, smiling. Not knowing about Nate's preferences because he was the more outgoing of the two, Martha admitted she was worried about Eric being too bashful and shy for his own good. Then another quick sniff silently told her Eric was still fully human, so that and the smell of a freshly washed child didn't add up. "Can I ask who?"
Eric actually started to blush as he said, "Julie is a friend who also happens to be a girl. I don't have a girlfriend." Yet? he couldn't help asking himself.
"No rush man. You're still young," said Ben. "I've been on a few dates, but no actual relationships, short or long term," he told Eric in a supportive tone of voice. No point in letting the kid know I'm sexually active as both a teenager and a werewolf.
"Julie who?" asked Nate.
Eric thought about that for a moment, but didn't see no reason not to say. "Julie Stovall. She's my age and a freshman too, although we don't have any classes together this semester. We just meet in the cafeteria and hang out every lunch period."
"That's cool bro," said Nate. "A friend is a friend, no matter how often you get to see them."
Eric can't mean the mayor's daughter, can he? thought Frances. I'll have to ask Samantha about that.
"Say Nate, I was wondering," began Eric. "When you do become a werewolf tonight, how does that happen?"
Nate looked to Ben and Frances, wondering what, if anything, to say; when Samantha walked in the front door.
"Everything all right?" asked Frances, as she started to get up.
"It's all okay, but unless we hear otherwise, we'll have to keep the Anderson boys here a little while longer," replied Samantha. "The Skulk leader is meeting with William. Probably to discuss Yvette and all the ins and outs about being a werefox. You know how big they are on formal ceremonies," she added, before going into the kitchen to get herself a drink.
I keep telling her Moon Lake should invest in getting that old handbook updated, thought Frances, as she sat back down.
When she came back out with her soda, Samantha told the Andersons, "I can see in your eyes you kids have a lot of questions, because Ben already knows a lot of this. Well, I can tell you that werewolves and werefoxes are probably tied for being the oldest group of weres in the world. Unlike most of the packs, prides, and other collectives around Moon Lake; werefoxes have just one large group, called a Skulk. While that is divided into smaller chapters, or dens, those are all presided over by a single leader. A woman named Tachibana no Akane."
"Neat," said Nate, while Eric just sat there. "Can we—" began the older Anderson child.
"No. Unless they ask you over for some reason, I'm afraid you'll have to stay here until the meeting's over kid," said Samantha, to Nate's disappointment.