“A human raising a Wrasa… I still wonder how it’s possible,” Griffin said after swallowing the last bite of her breakfast.
Jorie pointed at the laptop. “According to the adoptive records you found, she adopted him.”
A frown wrinkled Griffin’s brow. “Wrasa don’t give their children up for adoption—and certainly not to a human. If for some reason parents can’t raise their cub, the whole pride acts as substitute parents.”
Kelsey nodded. It was the same for wolf-shifters. She couldn’t imagine how a human had gotten her paws on the boy.
“Apparently, it didn’t happen this time.” Jorie looked from Kelsey to Griffin. “But if he lived among humans all these years, why didn’t anyone discover that he’s not human? Wouldn’t a simple checkup at the doctor’s office give him away?”
“If the checkup is really thorough, yes,” Griffin said. “But a human doctor wouldn’t know what to look for, and before puberty, Wrasa and human physiology is much more alike than in adulthood.”
“Yeah, your physiology is clearly different from mine.” Jorie looked from Griffin’s empty plate to Kelsey’s quickly disappearing breakfast. “It never ceases to amaze me how much you eat. I’m stuffed. Anyone want the rest of my eggs and sausages?” Without waiting for a reply, she cut her breakfast sausage in two and deposited half of it on Griffin’s plate, then pierced the other half with her fork and was about to put it on Kelsey’s plate.
Kelsey quickly pulled her plate away, out of Jorie’s reach. “Oh, no, thank you.”
Jorie sent her a puzzled smile. “Don’t tell me you aren’t hungry? Normally, you eat like a starving pack of wolves.”
A growl from her stomach answered for Kelsey. She blushed and pressed one hand against her traitorous stomach, not daring to look at Jorie or the piece of sausage. “I am hungry, but I can’t take your food.”
“Unless,” Griffin reached out one long arm to pat Jorie’s shoulder, “you want to start your own harem.”
Kelsey slouched in her chair, her cheeks burning.
“Harem?” Jorie looked from Griffin to Kelsey. “What’s going on? Did I miss another point of Wrasa social etiquette?”
Griffin laughed and trailed her hand down Jorie’s arm. “Sharing food is a Wrasa courtship ritual. If Kelsey ate food from your plate, she would accept more than just breakfast.”
The fork with the piece of sausage clattered back onto Jorie’s plate. “Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.” Griffin took the remaining sausage from Jorie’s plate and swallowed it in one big bite. Finally, with all food gone, she leaned back and patted her stomach.
“I’m sorry, Kelsey,” Jorie said. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you or get you into the...um...doghouse with Griffin.”
“It’s okay. It was a misunderstanding.” And Kelsey knew she hadn’t done enough to avoid such misunderstandings. She had never sat down with Jorie and told her what to do and what to avoid when she was around Wrasa. Jorie was the Wrasa’s only dream seer, a sacred person, so Kelsey was the one who had to adjust to Jorie’s needs and wants, not the other way around. As Jorie’s subordinate, she felt it wasn’t her place to impose rules on the maharsi.
Jorie reached over and pinched Griffin, making her hiss. “You should have told me.”
“Sorry.” Griffin rubbed her thigh. “I thought you knew. We talked about Leigh and Rhonda sharing food, remember?”
“Yes, but I thought it was a cute little thing those two do, not an official tradition.”
“Sorry,” Griffin said again. She tried one of her charming cat grins on her partner. “You adjusted to living with a Wrasa so well that sometimes, I take too much for granted. I’ll try to do better.”
Kelsey looked away as her alpha pair exchanged a kiss. She gathered the empty plates and carried them to the kitchen while Griffin and Jorie returned to the living room. With her Wrasa hearing, Kelsey could still overhear their conversation.
“We need to move fast to rescue the boy,” Griffin said. “We need a cover story that allows us to sneak into the Hardings’ lives.”
“Maybe there are vacancies in Rue Harding’s furniture company,” Jorie said.
In the living room, the laptop’s keyboard rattled under impatient fingers.
Kelsey rinsed the plates and put them in the dishwasher while she listened to Griffin mutter and curse.
“No vacancies,” Griffin said. More typing on the keyboard. “There!” Griffin let out a triumphant growl. “I got something better. Someone in Clearfield, North Carolina, is looking for a private tutor, preferably a woman who knows ASL. It’s got to be Rue Harding. There can’t be too many deaf boys in need of a private tutor in Clearfield.”
“A woman who knows ASL,” Jorie repeated. “Does that sound like someone we know?”
Kelsey froze, hands clenched around the frying pan. In the sudden silence, her heartbeat drummed in her ears. Me? She wants to send me? No, no, no! This is not a good idea. They needed to send a more experienced Saru, someone who’d been on undercover missions before and could handle herself with more confidence than Kelsey had. After all, the life of a young Wrasa depended on the mission’s success.
The burden of responsibility constricted her chest. The last time a life had depended on Kelsey making the right decision, she had messed it up with her instinctive submissiveness, and she never wanted that to happen again.
Calm down. Griffin will never agree to send you. She doesn’t trust you.
“I still don’t know if sending Kelsey would be a good idea, Jorie,” Griffin said.
“But sending her is the logical choice,” Jorie whispered back. “She’s fluent in ASL. We’ll just tell the other Saru she went to visit her family for a few weeks. No one will miss her.”
Kelsey winced.
“Uh, Jorie, remember Wrasa hearing? Kelsey can hear us from the kitchen.”
“Shit.” Jorie rushed toward the kitchen and lingered in the doorway. “I’m sorry, Kelsey. I didn’t mean it like that. What I meant to say is—”
“It’s okay.” Kelsey swallowed against the bitter taste in her mouth. She turned away from Jorie and pretended to wash the frying pan. “You’re right. I don’t have pack bonds, and my family lives far away in Oregon. No one will even realize I’m gone.”
“That’s not why I want to send you,” Jorie said. “I really think you’re the best person to go on this mission.”
Despite Kelsey’s own doubts, Jorie’s trust warmed her like a ray of sunlight in the middle of the cold Michigan winter. She let go of the frying pan and turned to face Jorie. “You do?”
Jorie stepped closer and nodded. “I believe in you. But if you’re not sure you can do it...”
What then? There are no alternatives. Kelsey inhaled deeply and then blew out a breath. “I’m not sure, but I promise I’ll do my best to save the boy’s life.”
“Do you remember enough ASL to pose as a tutor?” Griffin asked. “We need to get to the boy as soon as possible, so you don’t have much time to practice.”
A wave of unease crept up Kelsey’s spine as the pressure of Griffin’s gaze rested on her. How long had it been since she’d last used sign language? Most days, she avoided thinking about the past. Did she still know enough ASL to talk to Daniel Harding? “I think so.”
For a few moments, no one said anything as Griffin and Jorie seemed to converse in silence. Jorie looked at Griffin, both eyebrows raised in a silent question, until Griffin nodded and turned toward Kelsey.
Griffin studied Kelsey for so long that the tiny hairs along Kelsey’s forearms started to tingle. “All right,” Griffin finally said. “Then at least that part of the mission shouldn’t cause any problems.” She stabbed her index finger in Kelsey’s direction. “Stay just long enough to find out how the woman got her hands on the boy and if she knows about our existence, then take the boy and get out of there as fast as—”
“Not so fast, you two,” Jorie said. “We can’t just take the boy from his mother unless we’re sure she’s out to hurt him.”
“She’s not really his mother, Jorie,” Griffin said what Kelsey was thinking.
Her gaze somber, Jorie looked from Kelsey to Griffin. “You mean like my mother is not really my mother?”
Griffin flinched and slid her arms around Jorie. “I’m sorry. I know your mother couldn’t love you more if she had given birth to you. But this is different.”
“We don’t know that,” Jorie said.
“Yes, we do. The boy is a Wrasa about to undergo his First Change. Leaving him with a human who has no clue about shape-shifters would put both of them in danger. It’s best for the boy and the woman if we take Daniel away from her.” Over Jorie’s head, Griffin sent Kelsey a firm glance. “Are you up for it, wolf?”
The edge of the sink dug into Kelsey’s back as she leaned heavily against it. “I promise to do my best. I won’t betray your trust in me.” After participating in the hunt that nearly got Jorie killed, this was her chance to prove herself and to save a Wrasa’s life. This time, nothing would stop her from doing the right thing.