Tightly Held [Werewolves of Hanson Mall 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Cara Adams

although the water wasn’t clear or fresh looking.
    He saw Nolan staring at the floor of the car, and a quick glance in his rearview mirror showed him Georgia looking out the window. He’d really have liked to talk about it, but decided he’d better keep his mind on driving. There could be hidden potholes or anything under the murky waters.
    Once they came out of the water, a sort of net thing came down over the car and a red light ahead of him flashed on. Instinctively, he stopped. Water poured over the car then brushes scrubbed it and more water poured over it again. The light, which had sat firmly in front of him while this was happening, retracted to the side of the road. He took his foot off the brake and began driving slowly once again.
    “That’s the weirdest car wash I’ve ever seen,” said Nolan.
    “They definitely take this First Seeds Project seriously,” said Georgia.
    “What’s the First Seeds Project?” asked Nolan.
    I’d like to know that, too.
    “I expect we’ll hear a lot more detail about it while we’re here, but it’s about preserving the original plants from this land. Things that may already have died out or are endangered.”
    “Oh, so that’s what you mean. I expect it’s very important they breed true, not get cross-pollinated. Okay, I get it now,” said Nolan.
    That made sense to Ethan as well, but he still concentrated strictly on his driving. Who knew what might pop out of the trees for him to deal with next? There was another river or moat or whatever it was to cross, and another car wash before he pulled up in front of what had presumably once been a huge old house, but which now had several multistory wings sticking out of each side of the central two-story section.
    “I guess everyone lives all together in this house,” said Georgia.
    A man in a security guard’s uniform came out of the house with a long-handled broom wrapped in white paper, which he rubbed across the roof of the car. He inspected his broom carefully, pulled one sheet of paper off it, and balled it up, leaving another sheet of paper visible on the broom, and brushed the underside of the car, before checking the broom again. Finally he nodded, pulled the second piece of paper off the broom, and put the broom down. Only then did the Alpha—well, Ethan assumed it was the Alpha—come out of the house followed by a man with half a dozen pairs of shoe coverings like people wear in a hospital.
    Okay, this is going to be really interesting.

Chapter Four
     
    Georgia was incredibly excited about being allowed to visit this pack. Until they’d arrived it hadn’t occurred to her how much trust the pack had placed in her to let her come here. Georgia, being a wolf herself, was well aware that some packs had been unfairly targeted and discriminated against by bigoted humans who didn’t understand the reality of shape-shifters. No bite from a werewolf was going to turn someone furry, mad, and howling at a full moon. Shape-shifting was a gene, passed from parent to child, much the same way she’d received the blue eye gene from her two brown-eyed parents.
    In her case, her eyes were blue because she’d been given the recessive blue eye gene from both parents. There was a one in four chance of that happening and she’d beaten the odds and ended up with blue eyes. If a human married a werewolf, their children would have a fifty-fifty chance of being a shape-shifter. Part of the family history project’s work was to track whether human offspring of werewolf-human matings who later mated a werewolf had a three in four chance of having a shape-shifter child, or if it stayed as fifty-fifty. Finding that out would be a huge help to the project.
    The car doors were opened and everyone was handed protective coverings to put over their shoes before the Alpha escorted them inside. “We’re grateful you came back to talk to us again. We’re hoping to add more information to your study. I’ll explain everything