At the sound of her voice and the recognition in her eyes, he felt his heart resume its normal rhythm.
"You had a dream, Lalli," he"d said, his voice coming out hoa.r.s.e with concern. "One of those d.a.m.n Knowing dreams. Are you all right?"
"I am now. Now that I"m safe in your arms, being your Lalli," she"d whispered.
"You"ll always be my Lalli," Rone had a.s.sured her, cuddling her close to his bare chest. She snuggled like a little cub against him and he could feel how cold she was from the dream. He drew her closer, wanting to warm her up and she sighed contentedly against him.
Rone felt his heart swell. Kate hadn"t had a father growing up and he knew she liked curling up close to him and feeling safe and loved in the arms of a protective male, as she never had when she was younger. Out in public she was tough as nails-ready to stand down anyone, no matter how much bigger they were than her. She even had a gun-a projectile weapon from Earth-and could be deadly with it. But in the privacy of their bed chamber, she was his sweet little Lalli, small and cuddly and more than willing to let Rone shelter and protect and love her.
He adored their time together, cherishing and petting his loving mate. They might look mismatched on the outside but they fit together like two pieces of a whole. Which was one reason he got so worried and upset when she had one of those d.a.m.n Knowing dreams, he thought, glancing at her now.
She was still looking around and he saw her nod to herself once, as though finalizing something in her mind. This school might have a different name from the one that the big Havoc had seen in his vision, but it had to be the right one. Kate was never wrong about what she saw in her Knowing dreams.
"Come on," she said, taking his hand. "Let"s go in and talk to somebody. I"ll take the lead this time." She gave him an exasperated but loving glance. "You scare the shinola out of people."
"Not all of them," Rone protested as he let her lead him into the administration building. "It"s not my fault that the last school clerk was a Sensitive, like you, and could sense the Beast inside me."
Not all humans could put their finger on why he bothered them so much. But some, like Kate-and the last school official they had spoken to at the facility in North Carolina-were attuned to otherworldly things. They caught sight of him and knew something was different about him. Something besides his slightly pointed ears and glowing blue eyes-not to mention his huge, muscular form. They sensed his Beast-the creature within him that would spring free and rip them apart if Rone hadn"t been holding it on an iron leash at all times.
These humans or "Sensitives" as Rone thought of them, all had the same reaction to him-they grew pale and began to back away. All but Kate. The first time she"d seen him, her face had gone pale, all right-as white as snow. But she had stood her ground instead of trying to run. "Who are you?" she"d asked him. Then, narrowing her eyes, "And what are you?"
Rone had tried to put her off-feeling she was too small and delicate to be anywhere near the voracious Beast that raged inside him. But Kate wouldn"t go. Her courage and her stubborn refusal to leave him alone, even though she clearly sensed what he was and feared it, had earned his respect...and then his devotion and love.
His only regret was that she had never fully tamed his Beast. Oh, they had been introduced and because of Kate"s special gift she"d been able to make the wild, dangerous thing inside him a kind of acquaintance. But she was too small, too fragile to risk letting her meet his Beast in person, while he was in his fur-form. She had wanted to try but Rone had forbidden it. He locked himself away on nights he felt the Change coming on him and didn"t reemerge until the morning when it was safe to be around her.
The omission made their relationship unusual but it didn"t affect their bond-at least he was fairly sure it didn"t. And it certainly didn"t change the way he felt about her. Truly, there was no one as fearless and beautiful as his mate, he thought as he ducked his head to get through the stupidly tiny, human-sized doorway. G.o.ds, how he loved her!
"I love you too, honey," Kate sent back through their link. "Now let"s get down to business."
Inside the doorway, a long countertop bisected the room into front and back sections. At the back were several desks with computers and other communications devices as well as plentiful piles of paperwork scattered across them. A plump, pleasant looking woman with light brown hair gathered in a bun at the back of her neck and thick oculars the humans called "gla.s.ses" was sitting at one of them.
"h.e.l.lo, how can I help you?" she asked, looking up from her computer screen.
"Hi there, we"re new to this area and we"re looking for the best place for our daughter, Bella, to go to second grade." Kate stepped up to the counter, smiling. "I was told by a lady at work this was a good choice."
"Oh, where do you work?" the woman asked, smiling back.
"Tower Diagnostic," Kate replied at once. She always did some research into any area where they were tracking, which meant she never had trouble backing up their cover story. "I"m an MRI tech. And my hubby here is a Kindred medic but he"s working at TGH now, teaching some of the local doctors Kindred medical techniques."
"Oh, that"s nice." The woman"s smile faltered and she looked at Rone uneasily. "We, uh, I don"t think we have any other Kindred children here."
"You don"t?" Kate raised an eyebrow at her. "Is that a problem?"
"Oh, no-of course not!" the woman said hastily. "Everyone is welcome at our school-we value diversity."
Even from across the room Rone could smell the tinge of fear in her scent. Did she sense what he was or was she just unsettled by having a large Kindred warrior so close? It hadn"t been that long ago that the Kindred were briefly at war with the humans but that was over now and the two races were at peace.
"Well, that"s good. Anyway, I heard from my new friend that this is the school to be at," Kate continued brightly.
"Well, yes." The woman"s voice filled with pride. "George Washington Elementary has always had the highest standards. In fact, we"re the number one choice school in all of Hillsborough County."
Kate and Rone shared a look. "George Washington Elementary?" Kate sent through their link.
"Looks like your dream was right," Rone sent back.
"Is that right?" he rumbled aloud, daring to join the conversation. "But the sign outside says The Center for Academic Excellence."
"Oh, I keep forgetting!" The woman put a hand to her forehead. "I"m sorry-we were GWE for years and years. The name change is really recent-our princ.i.p.al pushed it through because she thought it sounded better."
"It does sound nice," Kate said earnestly, carefully concealing the excitement Rone could feel bubbling inside her. "My friend said you have the highest quality of education, the best teachers-in fact, she mentioned one teacher in particular-Ms. Brooks I think? She said her son had Ms. Brooks and she really helped him achieve his academic potential."
The woman behind the desk frowned. "Well, we do have a teacher by that name here-or we did. She"s not here right now and hasn"t been for a few days."
"Oh? I hope she"s not sick," Kate said anxiously. "I was really hoping to meet her. She sounded perfect for Bella. She has ADHD just like my friend"s little boy and I was hoping to find someone really patient and caring."
"Well, Ms. Brooks teaches kindergarten so your daughter wouldn"t be in her cla.s.s anyway," the woman said. "But I think you"ll find all our teachers are patient and caring."
"Oh, that"s disappointing-about Ms. Brooks, I mean." Kate sighed. "But since we"re here anyway, do you think we could take a quick tour?"
"Well..." The woman frowned uncertainly. "We generally like to schedule that kind of thing-"
"We really have to make up our mind about schools quickly though," Kate said, widening her big green eyes earnestly. "It"s between this one and Colbert Academy, down the road. They"ve already sent an acceptance letter for Bella and we only have until today to tell them if we want the spot or not."
The woman behind the desk bristled. "Colbert Academy might be private but they have nothing on GWE-I mean, CFAE," she corrected herself hastily. "I"ll tell you what, school is out right now so you can"t really see things in action, so to speak, but you can at least get a tour of the grounds. Come on through." She nodded at the open end of the countertop.
Kate went through and Rone followed, making sure to keep his mate between himself and the school official in case the human female was a Sensitive. Luckily, she was leading the way so it was easy to keep distance between them.
"Now, I can"t stay out of the office long because I"m the only one here," she was saying to Kate, who was nodding attentively. "But I"ll give you the general layout and you can wander around for five or ten minutes to see what you think. I"m sure you"ll find we have a beautiful campus. Now the media center is in that direction...and over there is the cafeteria..."
She went on, pointing out various buildings and structures but Rone was only half listening. He lifted his head again and scented the air. He caught a smell that seemed strange and out of place. It was faint and several days old but still detectable to his incredibly sensitive Wulven nose. Could that be...Beast Kindred? He sniffed again. It is-it has to be. But what the h.e.l.l would a Beast Kindred be doing here?
Well, possibly the same thing he was pretending to do. There were more Kindred living topside on Earth now so it was possible that one of them might be the father to a child going to this school. But the woman from the front desk had mentioned that she didn"t think they had any other Kindred children attending here. So if that was the case, why was there a Kindred scent in the air?
Up ahead, the woman seemed to be winding down her talk.
"...and that over there is the kindergarten and first grade wing," she was telling Kate. "Of course, that"s not where your daughter..."
"Bella," Kate supplied quickly.
"Oh, right-such a pretty name! Anyway, that"s not where she"d be but they have some really cute artwork up if you look at the bulletin boards on the outside of each cla.s.sroom."
"Thank you!" Kate smiled at her. "It"s so sweet of you to let us have a look around so we can make up our minds."
"I"m sure you"ll find that GWE-sorry-CFAE is the best school around." The woman smiled back but just then the phone started ringing from inside the office. "Oh, excuse me-I have to get that!"
"Go right ahead," Kate told her. "We"re just going to have a quick look around and we"ll be back in a minute."
"All right then, have fun!" With a final wave, the woman disappeared back into the office, finally leaving them alone.
"Whew," Kate said under her breath when the office door was safely closed. "I thought she"d never leave!" Then she took a closer look at Rone, who was still sniffing the air. "What is it?"
"I don"t know." He frowned. "A scent that doesn"t belong but I can"t figure out why it would be here."
"You think you should follow it?"
He shook his head. "Maybe in a minute. Right now, let"s go down to the kippergarden cla.s.srooms and see if I can get a scent for the girl."
"That"s kindergarten," Kate said, smiling.
Rone shrugged. "Whatever it is, if we can get into her cla.s.sroom to catch her scent, I"ll have a much easier time finding her."
"All right, let"s go." Kate led the way and he followed, still bothered by the faint whiff of Beast Kindred in the air.
The school was a series of long, beige, brick buildings all connected by covered walkways. Each cla.s.sroom door had the name of the teacher and many had large rectangular bulletin boards covered in artwork or essays in childish script. "How I spent my Summer" and "My plans for the future" and similar themes.
At last they came to a cla.s.sroom with the name "E Brooks" on the plate. The bulletin board outside it was hung with colorful self-portraits of children holding books. "Miss Brook"s Reading Rainbows" was written at the top of the board in letters cut from multicolored paper.
"Aww, look at that," Kate said, smiling. "She had them all draw a picture of themselves holding their favorite book! How cute!"
"Adorable," Rone muttered, trying the door handle, which was locked. "But not terribly helpful from a scent perspective. All I can smell is wax, ink, and paper."
He was about to force the door open as quietly as possible-he was easily strong enough to break the lock-when a voice behind them startled him.
"Hi, can I help you with something?"
Rone and Kate whirled around to see a slender blonde female with blue eyes and an uncertain look on her face.
"Oh, hi!" Kate slipped into character at once. "Our little girl goes to Miss Brook"s cla.s.s and we think she left her lunchbox in the cla.s.sroom."
"She does, does she?" The woman narrowed her eyes. "What"s her name?"
"Bella," Kate said.
"I don"t remember Emily-ah, Miss Brooks-having a Bella in her cla.s.sroom."
"Well, that"s because she just started here yesterday," Kate said quickly. "We"re new in town-just moved here. Only the second day of school and she"s already losing things-kids, right?"
"Yeah, they do that." The woman seemed to relax a little and returned Kate"s rueful smile with one of her own. "Well, Emily isn"t here right now but I have a spare key to her cla.s.sroom. I can let you in to look around but only for a minute."
"Oh, thank you so much, Miss..." Kate held out her hand, her eyebrows raised.
"Oh, I"m sorry-I"m Miss Lane-Julia Lane. I teach the cla.s.s right beside Emily"s and she"s my friend." She took Kate"s offered hand and Rone could tell his mate was "reading" her as she always did when she made deliberate physical contact with a new person. He wondered what she was seeing.
"We heard lots of good things about Miss Brooks but Bella says she"s been absent the past two days," Kate said, still keeping a firm grip on the other woman"s hand.
"Well, yes. Emily has been...absent for personal reasons." The woman"s voice faltered and Rone smelled a change in her scent-she was worried and uncertain suddenly.
"Oh dear, I hope she"s all right!" Kate said, releasing the other woman"s hand at last so she could unlock the cla.s.sroom.
"I"m sure she"ll be just fine," the human female said a little too brightly. "Okay, there you go. I can only give you a minute to look, though, and then I have to lock up."
"Of course, thank you so much!" Kate smiled at her and then nodded at Rone. "Come on, honey-you look in the front and I"ll look in the back." She nodded him in the direction of the large desk in the back which was clearly the teacher"s.
"I can help too, if you like," Julia Lane said, stepping in. "Do you know where she sits?"
"I"m not sure, exactly," Kate said, frowning. "But the lunchbox is one of those Frozen ones. You know-with Elsa and Anna?"
"Oh, of course!" The teacher laughed. "I swear over half my cla.s.s has the same thing-even some of the boys. They all just love that movie."
"Tell me about it!" Kate exclaimed. "We"ve had it playing in our house twenty-four seven for months now. I swear if I have to hear that one song again..."
"Let it Go!" Miss Lane was nodding. "Oh my G.o.d, yes! They sing it at the drop of a hat-and they"ll drop the hat themselves!"
Grateful for his mate"s masterful distraction, Rone left them giggling like a couple of little girls and made his way over to the teacher"s desk in the back corner. The papers and folders weren"t much help but hanging on the back of the chair he found a light piece of clothing he thought the humans called a "sweater." Picking it up, he brought it as un.o.btrusively as he could to his nose.
There were two different scents on the sweater but one was much stronger. Rone thought the stronger scent probably belonged to the owner and the weaker one was probably just from someone who had been sitting in the chair without bothering to move it. Could the stronger scent belong to Emily Brooks? Inside the pocket of the sweater was a small sc.r.a.p of stretchy fabric with a few strands of blondish-brown hair clinging to it.
"Hey, what are you doing with Emily"s sweater?" Julia Lane"s voice caught him by surprise.
"Forgive me." Rone turned to see she was right behind him. Hastily, he put it down, pocketing the fabric sc.r.a.p he"d found as un.o.btrusively as he could. "I was just looking at it because my mate, er, wife has one just like it."
"Oh my G.o.d, I do-just like it!" Kate exclaimed, coming to stand by him. "Or I did before it got ruined in the dryer. Do you know where Miss Brooks got it?"
"Oh, uh, actually no." The suspicious look faded from the teacher"s face. "Well, I really have to get going," she said, giving them an apologetic smile. "I"m sorry you couldn"t find your daughter"s lunchbox."
"That"s okay." Kate sighed dramatically. "She"ll just have to use her old Tangled lunchbox until she can remember where she left it. She won"t like it, but maybe it will teach her a lesson."
"Well, good luck with that," Julia Lane said, laughing as she ushered them out of the cla.s.sroom and locked the door securely behind them. "You should see the lost and found boxes by the end of the year-they"re just overflowing!"
"Yes, we checked there first." Kate shook her head. "No luck. It"s probably under the couch cushions or something."
"Could be." The teacher smiled politely and Rone had the feeling she was ready to be gone.
"Well, thank you for everything. And I do hope Miss Brooks will be back soon," Kate said. "Do you know when that might be?"
"No, I...I"m afraid I don"t." A strained and troubled look pa.s.sed over the human female"s pretty face. "But I hope so too." She nodded at them and turned away, still looking worried.
"Emily Brooks is the one-she"s missing and her friend is worried about her," Rone sent through the mental link he shared with his mate as the other woman left, her footsteps fading on the concrete walkway.
"Yes, very worried. I saw it when I shook her hand. Did you get what you needed?" Kate sent back.
Rone nodded and brought the stretchy piece of elastic carefully out of his pocket. Lifting it to his nose, he inhaled. It had the same scent as the sweater-it must have belonged to Emily Brooks.
"A hair scrunchy!" Kate exclaimed in a low voice. "Perfect! And I got enough from Emily"s friend to have a general idea of where she lives-let"s go!"
They left the school and it only took a few minutes of circling around the neighborhood for Kate to point to a little house mostly hidden by dense tropical growth. "There!"
They parked out front but found their way blocked by yellow police tape.