A date with Baxter was nothing I had ever experienced before, not because they were extravagant but because all the pieces of him fit with the pieces of me. I felt like he was my best friend all my life. I wouldn't be surprised if we soon had inside jokes and secret codes, as if we had been friends since childhood. 

"Is it weird that I don't want our date to end?" Baxter asks me as we walk to his car. I let him drive me this time. 

"Well, we still have time tonight. What do you want to do?" I ask

"I think I should show you around the place I grew up," he said

"We grew up in the same town and attended the same schools." 

"No, I mean the community in the woods," he said, and I stopped in my tracks. This should be a small thing. He was probably just trying to get me back to his place, but it felt big since town people were not welcome in the woods. This also answers the question in my mind: He would definitely expect me to move to the woods. 

"Well, let's go then." We got in his car, and he drove to the gated community. I saw lots of people milling about when we pulled past the gates. "Does the gate go all the way around the property?" 

"No, it is only on this side with roads into the community; the other side is open to the woods," he explained. I looked out the window and saw a group of dogs chasing each other. While I find dogs scary, they seemed fine just running around free, but I was worried that they didn't seem to have owners around. 

"Where are the owners of those dogs there?" 

"Oh, I'm sure they are around, but all the wolves here know their way home," he said, wolves, not dogs. I stared at him for a moment, but he seemed to be ignoring me. I could feel in my bones that he said that on purpose, but why? I could feel the tension coming off Baxter in waves as we got out of the car, but I also noticed the stares of all the woods people as I walked with him. 

"I grew up in a house behind the main building like we placed Alexis in. but I still spent a lot of my childhood in the main building since my dad was in charge of the ... community." he paused awkwardly at the word community. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. He was hiding something. 

"You were close with your dad?" I asked if his hesitation might have stemmed from a bad relationship with his father. 

"I was, but he has passed now. I wouldn't be a community leader if he were still around." He hesitated again, using the same word. Maybe he resents the community for tying him down. 

"so you took over, young. Did you even get to travel" I asked 

"Oh, I travel to other ... communities all the time. There are conferences in a different city every year, and traveling for training and ... paperwork." he led me to his office. I recognized it from my first visit. 

"This was your father's office?" I walked around, really taking in details. Some of the clothes seemed to fit Baxter, but other pieces didn't fit who I saw him as. 

"yes, I haven't changed it much. I try to spend as much time as possible outside." I stared at him, looking for the stumble in his words to figure out what was happening with him, but I couldn't. He was just acting off.

"Have I done something to upset you since we left the restaurant? I felt like there was something that you wanted to tell me." I relented and simply asked 

"I mean, we only just met. I shouldn't scare you away yet." He ran his hands through his hair and laughed. So, he was hiding something. 

"Tell me, I'm hard to scare. Unless you are a serial killer or something like that, it probably isn't as big of a deal as you think it is." I have learned, though, that being a counselor and working with kids, people really care about what you think your biggest flaw is. 

"You promise not to run, and you will hear me out and let me explain?" His eyes were wide as if he were a child, shocked that someone would listen to him. It may have been too soon for this big show of trust, but I simply could not let him down. 

"I promise to stay and hear all of this and not judge you." This was probably an embarrassing habit or a past relationship trauma I could deal with, and isn't it better to know now. 

"You are amazing. I can't believe that I met you." He kissed my cheek after he spoke, and I let his praise wash over me. "Because I am a werewolf." 

"I'm sorry, what!"