Statera - The Balanced One

Chapter Twenty-One

At the house, Owen yelled out for Samantha, telling her it was all clear, and then headed toward the kitchen.

"Well, where is that girl?" Art asked.

Keitan gave an annoyed roll of his eyes.

Samantha has always been Uncle Art's favorite; he saw her more like a daughter than a niece.

The whole attitude his internal voice carried seemed petty.

That's a silly thing to be jealous or annoyed over Keitan.

"She must not have heard you, Owen," I announced. "I'll go down below and get her."

"I think I'll join you, missy," Art said as he followed me below the house.

When I came to a thick, heavy wooden door, I stopped. When I opened it, Samantha was growling viciously. The four cubs stood behind her, wide-eyed and visibly trembling.

As soon as Samantha saw me, she stopped growling, and her hackles went down. I blew out a breath of relief. Then, seeing who was with me, Samantha barreled the big man onto the cobbled stone floor. Seeing this huge man dwarfed by this larger-than-life wolf licking him to death was the funniest thing ever. Samantha's tail created a small torrent of air as it wagged.

Samantha stood up on her hind legs over where Art played dead on the floor and howled victoriously. I realized this must be a standard greeting for this family—one I'd have to grow accustomed to. The cubs seemed far less scared and decided since Samantha had jumped on him, they could too. So they all dogpiled on top, except Christian, who stood back, still wary. Nadia resumed her Human Form.

"Come on, Christian, jump on Owen with us," she said.

Christian just took a step back and crossed his arms across his chest. "No way! That's not Owen!"

Art waited for the girls to get off him, stood up, and walked over to Christian. "And how do you know that, son?"

Christian uncrossed his arms and pointed at Art. "Because you smell funny. It is kind of like Owen but different. Plus, I don't smell Mama on you at all. Mama's scent has been all over Owen lately, and you don't smell like Mama at all."

Art laughed long and hard.

"Well, don't you have a nose and a half on you! Owen and I smell almost identical. We are identical twins, so the fact that you can pick out the subtle differences must mean your trait is enhanced smell, just like me! So how long was it before you noticed the difference, son?"

Christian stood there momentarily, clearly unsure if he could trust Art, but a reassuring smile and nod from Samantha put him at ease.

"I could smell you and who you were with as soon as Samantha woke us up. I could tell you all got closer to the house because your scents got stronger. There were scents I knew and more I didn't. I also know two of you are female, and three are male. One of the females is older, and the other is close to my age. The other two males are younger than you but older than us."

Samantha kneeled down, so she was at eye level with Christian.

"Sweetie, how long have you been able to smell like this?"

He shrugged and said, "I don't know, a few months after Dad died. It started out weaker than it is now. As time goes by, I can smell more and more. At first, I could smell different things, and after a little bit, I could tell what I smelled, and then I could tell how old and if who I smelled was male or female."

Samantha and her uncle shared a creepy, devilish grin.

"Well, we need to go tell the others! Man, this is so cool!" Samantha said.