After being trapped on a plane for hours, Kelsey’s legs were still trembling when she headed toward the baggage claim. Her skin burned where she had scratched her forearms during the flight. As soon as she walked out the airport’s exit, she turned on her cell phone and pressed number one on her speed dial.
Jorie picked up on the first ring. “Yes?”
“It’s Kelsey. My plane just got in.”
“Good. Are you okay? You sound out of breath.”
Rubbing a spot over her right brow, Kelsey took a calming breath. “I’m fine. Must be a bad connection.”
“All right. Listen, don’t rent a car, okay? We sent a picture of you to one of Griffin’s cousins and his wife who live in the area. They’ll be there any minute to drop off a car for you. We don’t want a paper trail.”
That made sense. “Okay. Did you or Griffin find out anything else I should know before I meet Rue Harding?”
“We found out why Ms. Harding wants to hire a private tutor for Daniel,” Jorie said. “He wasn’t just expelled from the school in Syracuse. Two months ago, he was kicked out of his new school too.”
Urgency vibrated through Kelsey. He’s the typical rebellious teenager, right in the middle of the Awakening. We need to get him out of there before his First Change. “What happened?” Kelsey asked.
“He got caught smoking dope.”
Kelsey frowned. “Smoking cannabis? That can’t be true. No matter what kind of shifter he is, he’d be very sensitive to all kinds of drugs. I guarantee you he wouldn’t touch them twice.” Her stomach did a slow roll when she remembered her first sorority party in college. A few fellow students talked her into trying a Long Island Iced Tea. After the second most miserable night in her life, she realized that the drink contained anything but tea. She hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol since.
“Weird. That’s what the school’s records say, though. And that’s not the only time he’s been in trouble. Apparently, he got kicked off his baseball team because he got into his coach’s face. He also had to repeat sixth grade because his grades dropped. And he has a juvenile record. Nothing too serious—trespassing, disturbing the peace, and vandalism—but still...”
Kelsey’s fingers tightened around the cell phone. Time to get him out of there. A Wrasa teenager needed a mentor who kept a strict, but loving eye on him, not a human woman who would end up hurting him. “Anything else?”
“Tons of information on Rue Harding’s business,” Jorie said.
“You said her company produces furniture, right?”
“Yes, but it’s not just any furniture manufacturer. Remember that beautiful desk Griffin gave me for my birthday?”
Kelsey nodded even though Jorie couldn’t see it. Sometimes, Griffin was the typical cat—she loved to spoil her mate with presents. Well, at least a desk is better than bringing home dead mice.
“The desk was made by Harding Furniture Inc.,” Jorie said. “It’s an old family business. Rue Harding’s grandfather started a woodworking business in a barn behind his house in Oregon forty years ago. He built custom cabinets and barely made enough money to get by. Since Rue Harding took over as CEO ten years ago, she went from owning one small store to being one of the largest furniture manufacturers in the US, close to breaking into the Fortune 500. They have manufacturing facilities in New York, Oregon, and North Carolina with a total of four hundred employees.”
From a small store to the Fortune 500 in just ten years. She’s probably a tough businesswoman, a corporate shark willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants. Kelsey gnashed her teeth. She needed to get the boy away from that ruthless woman.
“What about Rue Harding?” Kelsey asked. “Any information on her personally?”
“Not much beyond the work-related stuff. She has an MBA from Fuqua, Duke’s business school. Graduated at the top of her class. No history of child abuse, violence, or any other criminal record, just a few speeding tickets.”
Kelsey didn’t relax just yet. Maybe the lack of a criminal record just proved that Rue Harding was adept at getting away with whatever she was doing to Daniel. With her kind of money and power, maybe she could make things go away before charges could be brought against her.
“Oh, and something else that might be helpful to know.” Jorie paused before she said, “She’s family.”
Shock zapped through Kelsey. “What? She’s Wrasa? But you were so sure she’s human.”
Jorie laughed. “No, not that kind of family. She’s a lesbian.”
“Oh.”
“You are a lesbian too, right?” Jorie asked.
Kelsey blinked. She rarely talked about herself, and she was sure she hadn’t told Jorie about her sexual orientation. “Yes,” she said. “How did you know?”
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but the house is small, and I heard you on the phone with your parents once. You told them if you ever find a mate, it’ll probably be a woman.”
Not that it stopped her parents from encouraging her to accept the wooing of her former alphas—her male alphas.
Kelsey felt her cheeks heat. Great. They sent me to spy on Jorie, and instead, she’s the one who finds out things about me. I must have been really distracted not to realize she was within hearing distance. She cleared her throat. “How do you know? About Ms. Harding.”
“She filed for a domestic partnership with Paula Lehane, an out lesbian news reporter, a few years ago.”
Maybe the reporter is the second person in the room when Ms. Harding hurts the boy.
A blaring car horn interrupted before Kelsey could voice her suspicion. She looked up to see a man wave at her. Behind him, a woman waited in another car. Their blond hair made it easy to guess they were Kasari, lion-shifters, like one side of Griffin’s family. “Griffin’s cousin is here to bring me the car.” Kelsey suppressed a sigh. Just what I need. Another enclosed space. “I’ll report back as soon as I’ve met Rue Harding.”
“Good luck,” Jorie said. “Or, as you say, happy hunting.”
“Thanks.” Kelsey ended the call, gathered her courage, and walked toward the car.
* * *
Kelsey stuck her nose out of the car’s open window and breathed in Clearfield’s unfamiliar smells. The cold air made her cheeks burn and her eyes tear, but at least it cooled her itching skin and lessened the feeling of being trapped in the car. She tried to distract herself by focusing on her surroundings while she drove.
Clearfield sat on top of a plateau, looking down on gently rolling hills and mixed woodland. Kelsey drove past a lake and hiking trails at the edge of town and caught sight of the modern high-rise buildings downtown.
The city was bigger than she had expected. Well, after living in tiny Osgrove for six months, a city with a population of 100,000 is practically a metropolis.
As she got closer to her destination, trucks with the furniture company’s logo passed her.
Great Hunter, the woman’s even got her own trucking fleet.
Acid burned in her stomach. Was she really a match for a rich, formidable opponent like Rue Harding? Could she manage to kidnap the boy from under her nose?
When she pulled into Harding Furniture’s parking lot, another furniture truck zipped past her. Kelsey pushed open the door and, with a sigh of relief, got out of the car. She stretched stiff muscles, glad to shake off at least part of her lingering tension.
The smells of resin and freshly cut wood saturated the air, and she deeply inhaled the soothing scents as she crossed the parking lot.
The company headquarters sat at the western edge of Clearfield, its fifteen-story building looming over the town like a medieval castle made of glass, steel, and concrete. Warehouses and woodshops flanked the tall building, and a log yard connected the premises to the forest beyond.
Glass doors swished open, and Kelsey walked past a beautiful armchair, a cabinet, and a rolltop desk on display in the lobby. A plaque on the wall told her these were the first pieces of furniture the company’s founder had produced in 1971.
At the sound of Kelsey’s steps echoing across the marbled floor, a receptionist looked up from her computer screen. She sent Kelsey a smile and a questioning look.
“Good morning,” Kelsey said. “I’m Kelsey Forrester.” It was the name on the fake résumé Griffin and Jorie had put together for her. “I have an appointment with Ms. Harding.”
After two clicks on her computer screen, the receptionist nodded. “If you’ll wait just one minute, my colleague will take you upstairs.” She waved at a young man and slid a thick book over the counter. “Sign right here, please.”
While Kelsey signed the fake name into the visitor’s book, the receptionist prepared a badge with her name.
For a furniture company, they’re pretty careful about visitors. Is Ms. Harding just worried about industrial espionage, or does she have something else to hide? Kelsey clipped the name badge to her cashmere sweater and followed the young man.
He led her toward a set of metal sliding doors.
“Um, do you mind if we take the stairs?” she asked.
The young man shook his head. “We better take the elevator, ma’am. Ms. Harding’s office is on the fifteenth floor.”
Suppressing a sigh, Kelsey squared her shoulders and marched toward the elevator. Her skin sent a warning tingle up her spine as she stepped into the elevator and the doors whooshed shut behind her.
Her watchdog pressed the button for the top floor.
Kelsey clung to the rail with stiff fingers.
Going up the fifteen stories felt like an eternity, but finally the doors pinged open.
Kelsey left the elevator so quickly that she almost collided with her companion.
“Allow me.” He guided her through a door and into the outer office.
A woman in a business suit sat behind a desk that blocked access to the offices beyond.
Like a sentry guarding the castle’s king...or queen.
Kelsey took a deep breath, nodded a thank-you at the young man, and walked up to the desk. “Good morning. My name is Kelsey Forrester. I have an appointment with Ms. Harding.”
The woman looked up from her large computer screen. “Oh, you’re the tutor, right?”
A nod from Kelsey earned her a strange look. Did she just give me a thank-God-I’m-not-you smile? Kelsey’s stomach bunched into a Gordian knot. She nodded. “Yes, that’s right.”
“My name is Reva Mulvey. We spoke on the phone. Hang on a second, please.” She leaned forward and buzzed her boss. “Ms. Harding, your ten o’clock, Ms. Forrester, is here.”
After a few seconds of static, a firm voice answered through the intercom, “Send her in, Reva.”
Ms. Mulvey stood and guided Kelsey to the inner door, then opened it after a short knock and made an inviting motion. “Go on in.”
Kelsey glanced down at herself, making sure there were no wrinkles in her slacks and no stains on the cashmere sweater she’d chosen for the occasion. One calming breath and she was ready to face the woman who would hurt a young pup. Not if I can prevent it.
Holding the portfolio with her résumé in front of her like a shield, she entered Ms. Harding’s office.
Controlled chaos engulfed her. A fax machine spat out two sheets of paper, a computer hummed, and a digital pad blinked next to it. A woman sat enthroned behind an L-shaped desk, her profile to Kelsey. She lifted one long index finger in a “give me a minute” gesture but didn’t look up from her computer screen. A headset was attached to her ear, and on the other end of the line, someone lamented about preparations for a trade show.
Kelsey stopped just inside the door and took a moment to study the woman’s office. Her father always said that you could tell a lot about a person by looking at her den.
Whatever the office said about Rue Harding, it wasn’t what Kelsey had expected.
Most offices of powerful Syak were trophy displays, designed to impress subordinates and intimidate rivals. She had expected the same for this human’s office—a woman who attacked a helpless teen thrived on intimidation. But while this office reeked of power, it was clearly not just for appearances.
Papers, folders, binders, and notes covered one side of Ms. Harding’s huge cherry-wood desk while the other side was loaded down with enough technology to launch a spaceship.
To Kelsey’s right, the smell of leather drifted up from a caramel-brown couch and two upholstered chairs, and a round table added the aroma of wood polish. The warm earth tones surprised her. What did you expect? A gray dungeon?
She took in the rumpled jacket hanging over the back of the couch and then slid her gaze upward. Instead of expensive artwork or the usual wall of fame—diplomas, awards, and certificates—that she had expected, simple charcoal sketches of dense forests covered the walls.
The detailed sketches made Kelsey long for a run through the forest in her wolf form. She’s got pictures of the forest hanging in her office when she destroys forests for a living?
Movement drew Kelsey’s gaze back to the desk.
Rue Harding swiveled from side to side in her high-backed chair while she clicked a mouse around her flat-screen computer monitor. “That’s not up for debate, Spencer,” she said into her headset. “Tell him either I’m the one cutting the red ribbon at the opening of spring market, or I’m taking my business elsewhere. And let him know I want our company logo larger than that.”
She wasn’t yelling. She didn’t need to. The power of her authority hit Kelsey’s nose with the force of a kick to the head.
With the floor-to-ceiling window showing the town below her, Ms. Harding looked like the queen of Clearfield making her underling wait for an audience. She finally finished her call but kept clicking away at her computer.
Kelsey knew she should step forward and force the human to finally turn her attention toward her, but her natural instincts told her to linger at the back of the room and wait until Ms. Harding had time for her.
You wanted to be more assertive, remember? She gave herself a mental kick and cleared her throat. “Ms. Harding?”
Two more clicks and the human twirled her chair around to face Kelsey.
The movement made golden hair brush against the top of an unbuttoned black vest. For a moment, Kelsey was reminded of a blond, blue-eyed angel that she had once seen painted on the ceiling of a human church. Don’t be fooled. Looks can be deceiving. Angels don’t hurt innocent children.
And surely an angel wouldn’t pierce her with such an intense stare. Rue Harding stretched her athletic body, leaned back in her leather chair, and folded her hands behind her head, elbows sticking out to both sides. She studied Kelsey without saying a word, apparently not feeling the need to fill the silence by exchanging pleasantries.
Kelsey fought against the urge to look away and returned the appraisal.
Instead of the chubby cheeks of a cherub, a firm jaw, sculpted cheekbones, and brows knitted in concentration gave Ms. Harding a fierce look. The gaze of her piercing pale blue eyes slid up and down Kelsey’s body, making her skin tingle, until, finally, the human gave a tiny nod and leaned forward. She placed her elbows on the desk and twirled a silver letter opener between her fingers as if she wasn’t used to sitting idly. The sleeves of her white shirt were rolled up, and slender muscles danced beneath her skin while the letter opener spun around and around. “So,” she said, “you’re the tutor my assistant found?”
Kelsey stepped forward. “Yes, ma’am.” She bit her lip. This is you being assertive? She would act just submissive enough to make the woman think she would make a good employee, but it would just be an act. At the first opportunity, she’d remove the boy from the woman’s influence. She made her voice firmer. “Kelsey Forrester.”
The human nodded but didn’t offer her own name since Kelsey obviously already knew it.
Kelsey’s submissive instincts raged and screamed, telling her that initiating a greeting wasn’t a nederi’s place. But shaking hands was a human tradition, so she forced herself to take two more steps and extend her hand.
Instead of reaching across the desk to accept the handshake, Rue Harding stood to bridge the distance between them, leaving Kelsey with her hand extended. Powerful strides carried her around the desk. When she stopped in front of Kelsey, her spicy scent engulfed Kelsey.
Strangely, Ms. Harding’s scent reminded Kelsey of sitting on the large deck of her parents’ home overlooking the Pacific, breathing in the scent of pine trees and ocean while she listened to the hypnotic music of the pounding waves.
Again, she had to force herself to meet Ms. Harding’s gaze and blinked when she realized that she barely had to look up to do so. The human was just an inch or two taller than Kelsey’s five feet six inches, but with her commanding presence, she appeared taller.
Rue Harding finally gripped Kelsey’s hand and shook it twice, firmly, but without trying to display her superior strength by crushing Kelsey’s fingers. Calluses rasped along Kelsey’s palm and made her skin tingle. Calluses on a rich armchair athlete like her? How did she get them? The human might be more dangerous than she appeared.
When Ms. Harding finally released her hand and leaned against the edge of her desk, Kelsey exhaled. “I brought my résumé.” She held out the portfolio.
Ms. Harding made no move to take it. “My assistant already gave me a copy. Quite impressive, at least on paper. But I’ll only hire you after I see how you deal with Danny.”
Kelsey’s throat tightened. Don’t mess this up. You need to get hired, no matter what. “I understand.” She bowed her head, using her natural submissiveness to let the woman think she was agreeing with her wishes. “When can I meet Daniel?”
“No time like the present. Let’s drive over to my house. Since I grounded him, Danny should be home.”
If she wanted me to see Danny, why did she have me come to her office instead of her house? Did she want to see if I passed inspection first?
The human didn’t leave her any time to figure out the answer to her question. She grabbed the jacket hanging over the back of the couch and strode past Kelsey without glancing back, clearly expecting her to follow.
Easily falling back into old patterns, Kelsey hurried after her.
* * *
Way ahead of Kelsey, Rue Harding’s silver Mercedes zipped through the upscale neighborhood, but Kelsey didn’t try to keep up with her. Being trapped in the car made her skin itch enough without speeding. Now she was glad that she had looked up the way to the Hardings’ home and knew it by heart.
Through the open car windows, she took in the impressive homes and luxury villas nestled on top of a hillside. Each house sat far back from the road at the end of long private drives, half-hidden by carefully trimmed shrubs. The road snaked upward.
Finally, the Mercedes slowed, allowing Kelsey to catch up. She watched as the ornate wrought iron gate swung open before Ms. Harding’s car. The tires of Kelsey’s car crunched over the gravel of the circular drive as she followed her.
One door of the three-car garage swung open, and the Mercedes disappeared inside.
Kelsey parked next to a fountain. She got out of the car and swept her gaze over the two-story mansion. With its large, arched windows, white walls, and red-tiled roof, it had an almost Mediterranean look.
A house like this in North Carolina? Clearly, she’s not afraid to stand out.
Kelsey had grown up in a wealthy family, but compared to this place, her family’s pack home looked like a leaky old shack.
Ms. Harding left the garage through a side door and waved at Kelsey to follow her up the five steps to the front door.
Two snarling stone lions guarded the entranceway, and Kelsey silently snarled back while she waited for Ms. Harding to open the door.
When she looked up, the human had turned around and was staring at her.
Oh, wolf poop. She saw. “Um, just something stuck in my teeth. Sorry.”
Ms. Harding gave a nod, her expression not giving away her thoughts. She swept out her arm in an inviting gesture. “Come on in.”
Stepping carefully, Kelsey set foot into a semicircular foyer and then followed the human deeper into the house. The scent of wood smoke and beeswax wafted around her with every step.
Once again, what she found surprised her. Instead of the antique chandeliers and marble she had expected, sunlight danced over light maple floors. No walls blocked Kelsey’s view. A counter separated the kitchen from the living room, and three steps led up to the raised dining area. Beyond that, Kelsey could see a glass wall looking out toward a nearby lake. From the living room, French doors opened up to a large deck, and a winding staircase probably led up to the master bedroom and Daniel’s room.
Kelsey instantly liked the open airiness of the house. In Jorie’s tiny house, where she and the other bodyguards didn’t even have a room of their own, the walls sometimes seemed to close in on her.
As she stepped farther into the house, Kelsey caught the scent of several humans—and one Wrasa.
“Seems he’s in the living room,” Ms. Harding said. Her eyes narrowed. “And he’s not alone.”
Kelsey turned and followed Ms. Harding’s gaze.
Three teenagers were sprawled across the large couch, empty cans and bags of junk food strewn around them.
Kelsey sniffed the air. Soda. Not beer.
An action movie flickered across the flat-screen TV a safe distance away from a wood-burning fireplace. The sound was off, and the captions at the bottom of the screen read, “Boom!” as a bomb exploded.
A second later, Kelsey felt as if she were in a real war zone.
Ms. Harding whirled toward her, her eyes glinting with cold fire. “Would you mind waiting in the foyer for a minute?”
With a shocked nod, Kelsey retreated to the foyer but peeked back over her shoulder.
Two long steps carried Ms. Harding to the living room. She grabbed the remote control from the coffee table, pointed it at the TV without looking, and turned off the movie.
The three teenagers glanced up, only now noticing that she was in the room.
“What the hell are you doing?” Ms. Harding managed to sound as angry as a wet lion-shifter without even raising her voice. Her words were accompanied by signs, the palms slapping against each other, but the human wasn’t signing fluently. “I told you you’re grounded!”
With deliberate casualness, the boy looked up at her, his feet still up on the coffee table and his baggy jeans hanging low on his thin hips. A shock of black hair fell into his pale face. His hands moved lazily, the signs much more refined than Ms. Harding’s. “I didn’t leave the house,” he signed. “Just ask my friends.”
Kelsey breathed in deeply, testing his scent. One whiff was enough to identify the boy’s species. Syak. He’s a wolf-shifter. His scent was as familiar to Kelsey as her own. She blinked. Syak, wood, and peanuts. Her chest compressed as she breathed in that rare mix of scents. For a moment, she saw her brother Garrick sprawled in front of the TV, his feet on the coffee table, marking his territory the same way Danny did. But then her glance fell onto the packages on the coffee table and she exhaled and shut the old memories away. It’s just some snack he ate.
“Grounded means no TV and no having friends over, you know that!” While she spoke, Ms. Harding slashed her hands through the air, her signs so large and sweeping that Kelsey could make out a few of them even from behind.
“No, I don’t,” Danny signed. “You should have been clearer. Have your secretary send me a binding agreement to sign.”
Ms. Harding lowered her head like a bull seeing red. “You think that’s funny?”
Daniel nodded a yes with his fist and made the sign for “hilarious.” A smirk spread across the youthful face, but his gaze kept veering away from her. His stance said he didn’t care, the typical rebellious teenager, unimpressed by authority.
His smell said something else, though. The moment Ms. Harding loomed over him, the biting odor of acute nervousness permeated the house. Kelsey wasn’t sure if it was just the reaction of a busted teenager who had been caught by his mother returning home early or something more.
“Goddammit, have some respect and watch your mouth when you’re talking to me, Danny.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not using my mouth.”
“Enough!” Ms. Harding leaned over the still sitting boy and grabbed his upper arms.
Daniel’s friends jumped up but didn’t intervene.
No! She’s hurting him! Instinct propelled Kelsey forward to protect Daniel.
Two yards into the living room, she paused.
The human wasn’t hitting or choking Danny. She just had his upper arms in a firm grip and glared down at him, but she wasn’t grabbing him hard enough to hurt.
Danny didn’t struggle. He stayed perfectly still, not attempting to pull away or cross his arms to protect himself. His shoulders slumped forward, and his gaze dropped to the coffee table.
He’s reacting like a Syak when his natak takes a dominant stance with him. The tension in the room made Kelsey’s skin itch.
Abruptly, Ms. Harding let go of Danny and backed away as if embarrassed by her momentary lack of control.
The boy looked up and saw Kelsey.
Their gazes met and held.
His nostrils flared, and for a moment, the fake casualness disappeared as he stared at her.
Is he recognizing me as a fellow Syak? Does he even know he’s a wolf-shifter? Kelsey wasn’t sure.
“Who the fuck is she?” Danny directed his signs at Ms. Harding, probably not expecting Kelsey to understand his language.
Ms. Harding whirled around and pierced Kelsey with a sharp gaze.
Kelsey froze.
Then Ms. Harding’s gaze softened, and she waved at Kelsey to come closer. “That’s Kelsey Forrester.” She finger-spelled the name slowly. “She’s...” Her hands faltered while she searched for the correct sign.
One of the other boys slapped Danny’s shoulder. “Ooh, your old lady’s got a new squeeze.” He finger-spelled the last word in rapid succession so that Ms. Harding wouldn’t understand. “At least she’s got nice tits.” He quickly finger-spelled the last four letters.
Kelsey sucked in a breath. She struggled not to look away from his leering stare.
“What did you say?” Ms. Harding asked the boy. “I didn’t catch everything.”
No one answered her.
Kelsey felt the weight of the moment. If she hoped to deal with Danny and earn Ms. Harding’s respect, she needed to do something now. Praying her cheeks weren’t flaming red, she stepped forward so that the boys could see her hands—but Ms. Harding couldn’t. “Thank you,” she signed. After practicing on the plane, her hands easily found the familiar shapes and movements. At least she didn’t have to speak and give herself away by stammering nervously. “I always thought they’re rather nice too, but it’s good to have confirmation.”
The three teenagers stared at her. Danny and one of his friends roared with laughter, untamed, rough sounds that echoed through the living room.
Kelsey laughed with them, showing them that it was all in good fun. She had learned to defuse provocations and insults with humor at a very early age.
“What did you say? I couldn’t see,” Ms. Harding said, a deep line carved between her brows. She clearly didn’t like being left in the dark.
“Oh, I just introduced myself as Daniel’s new tutor,” Kelsey said and signed at the same time. “It seems they find my West Coast accent funny.”
Danny and his friends stared at her, probably wondering why she hadn’t ratted them out.
Ms. Harding fixed Kelsey with a narrow-eyed gaze but then gave a short nod and turned back to the teenagers. “You two. Get out of here and go home before I call your parents and tell them you’re not in school.” Again, she accompanied her words with signs, sometimes hesitating and searching for the right sign. Her index finger pointing at the door was unmistakable.
The two teenagers rolled their eyes but finally ambled to the door.
Danny stomped the floor to get their attention. When they turned back around, he signed, “Come on! Don’t let Rue boss you around.” Instead of using the sign for mother, Danny crossed his middle finger over the index finger to make an “R” next to his chin.
But his friends shook their heads. “Later, man.” Then the front door fell closed behind the two teenagers.
Danny whirled back around. “You had no right to throw them out!” His hands hurled angry signs at his adoptive mother. “I invited them.”
“What? Please sign slower.”
With exaggerated slowness, as if talking to a child, Danny repeated what he’d said.
“You had no right to invite them when you’re grounded.” Ms. Harding pointed at the stairs. “Go to your room.”
“But—”
“Now!”
After sending first Ms. Harding, then Kelsey an angry glare, he rushed out of the room and stomped up the stairs.
Seconds later, a door banged shut.
“Don’t you dare lock that door!” Ms. Harding shouted.
As if on cue, Kelsey heard a lock being turned.
The human didn’t react, so she probably hadn’t heard it.
Shouting after a deaf boy isn’t very helpful. How long has she been living with him without figuring that out?
“Jesus Christ,” Ms. Harding mumbled. Then she shook her head as if to clear her mind and sat on the couch. “Take a seat,” she said, pointing at an armchair.
It sounded like an order, not a friendly invitation.
Kelsey perched on the edge of the seat, clutching the armrests. Her insides quivered. Had she ruined her chances at being hired by entering the living room even though Ms. Harding had told her to stay in the foyer?
Ms. Harding made her wait to find out. She reached for one of the half-empty snack bags and crunched a handful of peanuts as if she wanted to grind them into submission. Finally, she swallowed and looked up. “I don’t appreciate my wishes being ignored.”
“I’m sorry.” Kelsey lowered her gaze to the maple floor and watched Ms. Harding through her lashes. “I was just worried. The argument looked as if it might get out of control.”
Ms. Harding narrowed her eyes at Kelsey. Her jaw bunched as she annihilated more peanuts.
Oh, no. That was the wrong thing to say, idiot. A woman like her doesn’t like looking as if she’s losing control. “It won’t happen again. I promise.”
Slowly, Ms. Harding set down the bag of peanuts and wiped her hands on her tailored slacks, apparently not caring that they must have cost a few hundred dollars. “All right.”
Kelsey flicked her gaze up to meet Ms. Harding’s. “Does that mean I’ve got the job?”
“Do you still want it?”
Excitement bubbled up in Kelsey, and she struggled to conceal it, not wanting to appear desperate. “I do.”
“Then you’re hired,” Ms. Harding said. A grin warmed her glacier blue eyes. “After all, I still need to find out what you really said to the boys.”
Kelsey suppressed a surprised cough. Be careful. She’s not easily fooled. She hurriedly changed the subject. “He calls you Rue,” she repeated the name sign Daniel had used, “not Mom.” Maybe the simple observation would help her find out more about the relationship between Danny and his adoptive mother. Now that Ms. Harding had hired her, it was time to dig for information.
Ms. Harding shrugged. “Guess it’s a teenager thing.”
Kelsey couldn’t imagine calling her mother anything but “Mom,” no matter the physical and emotional distance between them, but Ms. Harding seemed indifferent. Does she really not care? Even with her sense of smell, Kelsey couldn’t tell because the aggressive sting of the confrontation still hung in the air.
“You can call me that too,” Ms. Harding said. With a grin that others might have found charming, she added, “Rue, I mean. Not Mom. I have enough people calling me Ms. Harding at work.”
“Rue,” Kelsey repeated, testing it out. The name tasted as bitter on her tongue as the herb with the same name. “So, what kind of help does Daniel need from me?”
Rue snorted. “Well, it would be faster to list the areas where he doesn’t need help. He’s fallen behind in nearly every course, especially English, Spanish, and Social Studies.”
Kelsey wasn’t surprised. Her brother had also struggled with courses that depended on language or required a lot of class discussions. “I saw that Danny’s signing well, but that won’t help him in a public school. Does he wear hearing aids?”
“He has the best hearing aids money can buy, but he’s too stubborn to wear them all the time.” Rue rolled her eyes. “Even when he does, he can’t understand speech, just detect very loud noises like the doorbell ringing.”
That meant Danny’s wolf form would probably be deaf too. Even shape-shifting couldn’t heal an almost complete hearing loss. “So maybe he has trouble following the classes,” Kelsey said. “How are his lip-reading skills?”
“Danny had speech and lip-reading training since he was two,” Rue said. “If he pays attention, he’s pretty good at it, especially if he’s talking to a person he knows well. His deafness isn’t making it easy, but it’s not why his grades dropped.”
“So you think the problem is an academic one?” Kelsey asked even though she knew what the real source of the problem was. No teenager could focus on school during his or her Awakening—and certainly not if he lived in a human family who couldn’t help him deal with the changes and confusion he was going through.
“Not really.” Rue rolled down her shirtsleeves and buttoned the cuffs. “He’s not stupid. He could make straight A’s if he only tried, but he’s wasting his potential.”
Tension rose in Kelsey’s jaw, and she realized she was clenching her teeth. She had heard the same accusation from her parents a few thousand times. Her determination to protect Danny increased. “But even if he can lip-read, it’s very exhausting. Have you tried an interpreter?”
“He had one for a while, but that just made things worse,” Rue said.
Kelsey tilted her head and lifted an eyebrow.
A grim expression settled on Rue’s face. “He only lasted for a month, then Danny got into a fistfight with him. He said the interpreter was going through his stuff. According to the interpreter, he was just getting a book for Danny, but Danny still refused to ever work with an interpreter again.”
So he’s fiercely territorial, defending what’s his. Most dominant Wrasa teenagers were. Kelsey’s chest constricted as she remembered borrowing her brother Garrick’s favorite soccer shirt when she was eight. She could still feel his grip on her shoulders and his hot breath on her face when he let out a territorial growl.
She had never touched Garrick’s stuff without permission again, no matter how much her stuffed cocker spaniel needed a blanket. For her next name day, Garrick had given her his soccer shirt. A good leader will always give you what you need, but it’s not yours for the taking.
Her lips curled into a smile at the memory of a lesson learned, and she quickly wiped it off her face. “So that’s why you prefer a female tutor—less risk of getting into a fistfight with Daniel?”
“Well, either that or I wanted to look at something more attractive than an unshaven face across the breakfast table,” Rue said. Toothpaste-ad-white teeth flashed as she grinned.
Is she flirting with me?
It took Kelsey a moment to react to what Rue had said. “Breakfast table?”
“Didn’t the job ad mention that? I made it clear that I want someone available at all times, so you’ll stay here and homeschool Danny, at least until I get him enrolled at another school. So?”
Piercing blue eyes met Kelsey’s. Clearly, “no” wasn’t in Rue Harding’s vocabulary.
“That’s not a problem,” Kelsey said. “I’m happy to stay.” And she was. Now she didn’t have to come up with excuses to hang around the house for longer than a lesson or two.
“Then come on.” Rue stood.
When Kelsey stood too, Rue guided her, one hand resting on the small of Kelsey’s back.
The touch seemed to sear through Kelsey. She couldn’t stand the thought of being touched by the same hand that would hurt an innocent boy.
“I’ll show you the way,” Rue said. “Elena agreed to let you stay with her.”
“Elena?”
“Elena Mangiardi, my housekeeper. She lives right next door in what she calls the servants’ cottage. I hope you like dogs because she has one.”
“I love dogs,” Kelsey said before she could stop herself. The problem was that dogs rarely liked her. While Wrasa could easily fool humans with their dulled senses, dogs smelled that shape-shifters weren’t the humans they pretended to be.
Kelsey bit her lip. Sharing space with a dog that constantly barked and growled at her would be a distraction, and she didn’t want to scare the poor animal. Also, if she stayed in the cottage next door, she couldn’t intervene when things got out of hand between Rue and Danny. Her imagination showed her Rue choking him while Kelsey slept in the cottage, unsuspecting. “But wouldn’t I be of more help if I stay here in the main house?” she asked, keeping her voice gentle. If Rue was anything like her former alphas, she would probably react better to indirect questions than demands. “Assuming, you have a guest room.”
“I do, but—”
“If I’m close-by, I could even tutor you in sign language.” At Rue’s furrowed brow, Kelsey quickly added, “Not that your signing is bad, but I noticed you have a few problems when Danny signs too fast or starts with the four-letter words.”
Rue regarded her through narrowed eyes for a moment, and Kelsey winced, hoping Rue hadn’t read it as an accusation. She needed to stay close to Danny, not just to protect him, but also to gain his trust and keep an eye out for any signs that his First Change was approaching.
“I’ve only been using ASL for a few years,” Rue said. “When Danny first came to live with us, I thought it would be better to focus his education on speech training and lip-reading. I wanted him to be able to function in the hearing world, not be an outsider. Paula was the one who insisted on using signs with him.”
Kelsey hadn’t been born yet, but her brother had told her that their parents had gone through the same debates when they had first found out he was deaf. It had been particularly hard for her mother to accept that her son would never be part of her hearing world, would never be able to listen to her music. I bet it took her a few years to accept that her adoptive son would never be able to speak like a hearing boy, no matter how many speech therapists she hired.
“Paula?” Kelsey asked.
“Danny’s other mother.” Rue bit her lip but didn’t explain why Paula wasn’t part of their lives anymore.
The scent of her emotions filled Kelsey’s senses. Was that grief? Had Paula died? Was she Danny’s biological mother and a wolf-shifter? But except for Griffin, no Wrasa Kelsey knew had ever risked violating the First Law by entering into a relationship with a human. And no Wrasa would ever let a human adopt a shape-shifter pup.
“All right,” Rue finally said. “I’ll show you the guest room, then I need to get back to work. Can you keep an eye on Danny?”
“No problem.” Kelsey followed Rue’s powerful stride upstairs. I’ll keep both eyes on him. And on you.