Genre Police! Relying on Genre Terms in Werewolf Romance

I’ve been bringing my werewolf romance novel to a weekly writing group. Young adjuncts, stay-at-home mom’s, science professors, and recent retirees make up just some of the members, writing everything from religious poetry to YA to thriller. They’re smart people with valuable feedback, but none of them write or read my genre. So there’s been some confusion:

“What do you mean he ‘shifted’? Shifted his weight?”

“How often do they find their fated mates? Don’t they always? Wouldn’t they just wait to find the person destined for them? How do they know that’s them?”

I read enough werewolf romance that I didn’t think twice about using the word shiftedfor changing into animal form. But I had to explain this and other typical lore, such as heightened senses, rapid healing, what an alpha is. I added explanations in the story, too, for their benefit, thinking if this book is the…