Kelsey looked at the rippling water of the nearby lake while she pressed her cell phone to her ear and waited for Griffin to pick up.
“Yeah?” Griffin’s voice came through the phone.
Kelsey tried to relax her tense shoulders. “Tas, it’s Kelsey. We need to act fast. Danny is closer to his Awakening than we thought—and he has no idea that he’s Wrasa.”
The sharp breath of surprise Kelsey had expected didn’t happen. “I was afraid of that,” Griffin said. “I didn’t have enough time to check his birth certificate before you flew to North Carolina, but now I did and it seems he doesn’t have one.”
“No birth certificate?”
“Well, a foundling report serves as his birth certificate.”
“Foundling?” Despite her excellent Wrasa hearing, Kelsey wasn’t sure she’d heard right. “You mean someone abandoned him when he was a baby?” She had never heard of Wrasa parents abandoning their child.
“Seems like it. I’ll try to find out more, but so far the information is limited.” Griffin’s voice sounded grim. “The birth certificate was worthless. The place and date he was found were used as his birth info. The rest of it was blank. No father or mother listed.”
Kelsey shuddered at the thought of not knowing where you came from or who your parents and ancestors were. While she wasn’t overly close to her family anymore, she couldn’t imagine what it must be like to not have those roots. “So Ms. Harding adopted him when he was a baby.”
“No. Daniel spent the first few years in the foster care system. He was placed in half a dozen foster homes before he even entered school, but none of his foster parents wanted to take him permanently.”
No one but Rue Harding. Reluctant respect flickered in Kelsey, but she quickly smothered it. Don’t give her the mother-of-the-year award just yet.
“Ms. Harding adopted him when he was seven,” Griffin said.
“Just Ms. Harding? Not her partner, Paula, too?”
Griffin huffed. “You know the humans’ foolish laws. Joint adoption for gay couples wasn’t allowed back then. Most states still don’t allow it.”
“Right.” So why had Rue, not Paula, been the one to adopt Danny? Was it simply because Rue was more financially secure? Curiosity stirred in Kelsey. But in the end, it probably wouldn’t matter.
“I’ll fly down to North Carolina tomorrow and help you take the boy to safety,” Griffin said.
Part of Kelsey was relieved that someone would take the heavy burden of responsibility off her shoulders. The bigger part of her, though, wanted to prove that she could handle the assignment on her own and be worthy of Jorie’s trust. More importantly, she worried that getting Griffin involved would do more harm than good. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, Tas. At least not yet. If we take him away from his home by force, his adrenaline and mutaline levels will spike. The risk of him shifting is too great. And if we give him drugs to make him sleep—”
“His system might go into overload,” Griffin said. “Do you think you can win his trust and get him to come with you? And you need to do it fast. If you’re right, we don’t have much time—maybe a month, maybe a week or just a few days.”
Kelsey inhaled a lungful of air and exhaled slowly. “I can do it.” Her voice shook, and she hoped Griffin didn’t notice.
“All right. But if you need help, call me immediately,” Griffin said. “In the meantime, I’ll try to find out more about the boy and send you the information. But with no other Saru to help me, it’ll take some time.”
When Griffin ended the call, Kelsey put her cell phone into her pocket and wandered back inside.
Danny was sprawled on the couch, a wireless game controller clutched in both hands while he drove a dirt bike over the track that filled the TV screen. He ignored her when she wandered over.
Calmly, Kelsey placed herself between Danny and the TV. “Listen,” she signed.
With his trademark smirk, Danny set down the controller and pointed at his mouth, then his ear, signing, “I’m deaf. I can’t listen.”
Growing up with a deaf brother had prepared Kelsey for this. She was no longer embarrassed by little gaffes. “You know what I mean. It’s just a figure of speech. So listen, if we—”
The ringing of her cell phone interrupted her.
Did Griffin find more information so soon?
Kelsey circled her fist on her chest to sign an apology. “My cell phone is ringing. I need to take this call.” She walked over into the kitchen area and turned her back to Danny for some privacy before she lifted the cell phone to her ear. “Yes?”
“Kelsey, it’s me.”
The baritone voice needed no further identification.
Kelsey winced. She’d forgotten to call them. “Hello, Dad.”
“We called your apartment several times, but you didn’t answer,” Franklin Yates said. “Your mother was worried.”
The familiar words made Kelsey smile. Right. Mom was the one who worried. Sure. That’s why you’re calling me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to worry you. I’m not in Michigan right now, but I forgot to let you know.”
“You’ve been sent on a mission?” If he had been in his wolf form, her father’s ears would have perked up.
“You know I can’t talk about my work,” Kelsey said, neither denying nor confirming that she was on a mission.
“Are you at least lead on this investigation?” her father asked.
“Yes, Dad,” Kelsey answered before she could stop herself. She squeezed her eyes shut. Giving in to her father’s authority was still second nature. Well, at least it wasn’t a lie. Since she was the only Saru on this mission, she could probably be considered the lead investigator.
Her father gave a satisfied hum. “Make sure your commander lets the council know what a good job you’re doing.”
“Yes, Dad.” Now that was a lie. If she did a good job, the council would never even know of this mission.
“You’re long overdue for a promotion. You should be a commander with your own unit by now.”
Kelsey rubbed her temples. He said the same thing every time they spoke. “Dad,” she said softly, “maybe I don’t want my own unit. Not every Saru can be an officer, you know? Someone has to follow the orders, not just give them.”
“Nonsense.” Her father growled. “What kind of Syak wouldn’t want to be a tas?”
“A nederi,” Kelsey said.
The sudden silence cut Kelsey like a knife.
“You don’t need to be a nederi anymore.” Her father’s baritone rumbled through the phone. “You are my daughter. You can be whatever you want to be.”
Just not a submissive Syak. Her father’s stubborn refusal to accept her nature hurt. Kelsey hung her head. “All right, Dad.” She turned and pressed her hands to the maple countertop, letting the cool wood soothe her churning emotions. “I’ll try.”
“If you get your act together, you could one day lead one of the most powerful packs in America, like generations of Yateses before you.”
The weight of the family responsibility pressed down on Kelsey, and she struggled against its burden. “I’m not sure I’m cut out for that,” she said, barely above a whisper.
“Of course you are. It’s in your blood. You’ve got so much potential if you would only try.”
Kelsey never had anything to counter the force of her father’s formidable will. She had become a Saru because he encouraged it, and she still hadn’t learned to say no to him. “Dad, listen, I need to go. Don’t worry if you don’t hear from me for a while. I don’t know how long this mission will take.”
Her father chuckled. “So it is a mission after all.”
Kelsey winced. She wasn’t used to top-secret undercover assignments.
“You take good care of yourself, girl. Your mother couldn’t stand it if something happened to you.”
“I will,” Kelsey said. “Give my love to Mom.”
When she put away her cell phone and looked up, her gaze met Danny’s across the counter separating the kitchen from the living room. With slow steps, trying to settle her skittish nerves, Kelsey walked back into the living room.
Apparently, Danny had finished his video game, so maybe she’d have better luck talking to him now.
He watched her as she settled into an easy chair across from him. For the first time something other than bored indifference shone in his hazel eyes. “You said something about a mission. Were you talking about me?”
Oh, Great Hunter. She had forgotten that Danny would be able to lip-read since no walls separated the kitchen from the living room.
Her thoughts raced as she tried to remember when she turned back toward the living room. Had it been before or after talking about being a Saru and a nederi?
She remembered the feeling of smooth wood beneath her fingertips. I think I turned after saying all those words in the Old Language. And even if Danny were the world’s best lip-reader, he probably hadn’t understood every word she had said. Her muscles loosened in relief, and she slumped against the back of the easy chair. Don’t relax just yet. You’ll mess this up for good if you’re not more careful.
“Well,” she signed, “with the way you treated me so far, I feel like a soldier sent on a mission into hostile territory.” She added a soft smile to take the sting from her words.
For a heartbeat, a grin curled Danny’s permanently sullen lips, but then it disappeared. “You only took this job because your old man wanted you to.” Danny’s signs had a hard edge, but Kelsey couldn’t tell whether disdain or hurt hardened his movements. The lingering aroma of peanuts kept her nose too busy to identify the smell of his emotions.
Apparently, Danny had seen her reluctantly give in to her father’s wishes, but since he couldn’t lip-read Franklin’s part of the conversation, he had misinterpreted.
“No.” Kelsey smacked her first two fingers against her thumb as if forceful signing alone could convince Danny of her truthfulness. “I’m here because I want to be here.” She stopped herself from adding, “I’m here because I want to help you.” She knew any suggestion of his needing help would insult Danny’s youthful pride and end the conversation.
“Then your old man doesn’t want you to be a tutor?” Danny asked.
Why the sudden interest in me? Something about her conversation with her father had clearly caught his attention. She stared into his eyes, trying to read the emotions in the hazel depths. This isn’t about me and my dad. It’s about him and Rue.
“He thinks I’m wasting my potential,” she signed, using Rue’s words.
A stiffening of his facial muscles told her the words had hit home.
“I’m a constant disappointment to him. He thinks I should be a professor or something by now, not just a lowly tutor.” Even if her words weren’t true, her emotions were. She wasn’t sure how well Danny had learned to use his sharpening senses, but she suspected he would smell it if she tried to fake her way through this conversation, so she dug into old wounds. “Or at least marry a professor, but I didn’t even manage that.”
She had refused to be courted by not one, but two of her former pack leaders. Each time, her father hadn’t spoken to her for months.
“To hell with him!” Danny’s hands slashed through the air, and his fingers quivered like the tail of an agitated wolf. “You should man up and tell him to mind his own business.”
“He’s my father,” Kelsey answered, her signs smaller and softer. “I can’t tell him that.”
Danny gave a careless shrug. “Why not? You’ll never fulfill his expectations, no matter how hard you try, so you might as well stop trying.”
“Is that what you did?”
Instead of answering, Danny dropped his hands into his lap. His lips parted in a silent snarl.
“Is it?” Kelsey asked.
Hesitantly, Danny lifted his hands. “She wants me to be perfect.” After a pause, he added, “Hearing.” For a moment, he looked young and vulnerable, not like a devil-may-care teenager at all. Then he raised his chin. “To hell with them.”
The smell of burned peanuts drifted through the house, and after a few seconds, Kelsey realized that it wasn’t the stink of a cooking experiment gone wrong but the odor of Danny’s pain. She reached across the coffee table and laid a hand on his arm.
He leaned into the touch like a puppy, then wrenched himself away and jumped up.
“No, don’t run away.” Kelsey’s thoughts raced, trying to come up with something that would keep Danny in the room. Finally, her gaze landed on the abandoned game controller on the coffee table. “I want to offer you a deal.”
“A deal?” He scrunched up his face. “I’m not interested in whatever you have to offer.”
“Why don’t you hear me out first before you make a decision?”
Danny rolled his eyes but gestured at her to go on.
“Let’s play that racing game you were playing before. If I beat you, we’ll continue that math lesson. If you win, the lessons are over for today.” Actually, it didn’t matter to her if she won or lost. Playing video games with her brother had taught her to be a graceful loser. All she wanted was to spend some time with Danny and prove that she was someone he could have fun with. Someone he could trust.
Danny’s gaze flicked back and forth between the game controller and Kelsey. A grin lurked at the edges of his mouth.
Oh, you think I’m too old to be good at video games? Kelsey hid a grin of her own. It had been years since she had last played, but she hoped playing video games was like riding a bike.
“Today and tomorrow,” Danny signed. “Two days without lessons if I win.”
“All right. But then you attend the lessons for two days without complaints if I win.” It didn’t matter, since she hoped to have Danny out of here before that, but if she wanted to gain Danny’s trust, she needed to be accepted as an equal, not a pushover.
Danny hesitated before he nodded. He handed her one of the game controllers. “The left stick moves the handlebars of the bike. The right stick is for the rider.” He demonstrated, having his rider lean to the left and right. “And you press here to speed up and this button to jump.”
Kelsey sat next to him on the couch and tried the sticks and buttons to see how the dirt bike reacted. “Anything else?”
Danny flashed her a wolfish grin. “Prepare to eat my dust.” He started the game.
Engines revved, and a countdown started. Then they were off. They careened down a hill, with Danny in the lead. His bike quickly gained on hers. He even did a backflip at the peak of a jump.
At the first sharp turn, Kelsey nearly lost her balance when she leaned the rider too far to the side. Her rider almost landed facedown in the dirt. Only her quick Wrasa reflexes allowed her to straighten the bike in time. She sped up an incline and took two more turns. Finally, she could see Danny’s bike up ahead.
Before she could catch up, he crossed the finish line. He let go of the controller and pumped his fist.
Kelsey looked at him, prepared for some bragging and sarcastic comments about her lack of gaming skills.
Instead, Danny tilted his head and signed, “Two out of three?”
He’ll be a good alpha one day. Not humiliating opponents by lording his victory over them was one of the first things an alpha taught his offspring. Kelsey nodded and picked up the controller again. Now she was more used to the controller and to how the bike reacted. Focus. Even if you don’t win, you need to gain Danny’s respect. With narrowed eyes, she watched the countdown, index finger hovering over the accelerator button.
When the start signal came, her bike shot forward immediately. She cranked both sticks into the first turn, making her bike turn in a tighter circle. She was racing head to head with Danny now.
Every now and then, they threw glances at each other out of the corner of their eyes. Danny’s cheeks were flushed, and his mouth opened into a silent laugh.
They jumped at the same time. At the peak of the jump, Kelsey whipped the bike sideways, making her bike touch the ground faster. Ahead of Danny, she flew up a hill and shot into the next turn without slowing much.
At the next jump, Danny copied her trick and nearly overtook her, but Kelsey managed to stay in the lead.
Inches ahead of him, she crossed the finish line.
Danny dropped his controller and stared at her. “Did you play this game before?”
“No, not this one. My brother had the first PlayStation console fifteen years ago. We spent hours playing a motocross racing game. Nothing as good as this,” Kelsey gestured at the TV, “but I really liked it.”
“Is your brother still playing?” Danny asked.
“No.” Kelsey lowered her head and stared at the package of peanuts on the table. “He’s dead.”
Danny dropped his hands into his lap, clearly at a loss for words. Finally, he met her eyes and signed, “I’m sorry.”
Kelsey nodded. He’s much more compassionate than he lets on. She took a deep breath. “Two out of three we said, right? So you still owe me a game. And don’t you dare let me win.”
Danny snorted. “You wish.” He reached for the controller and started the game again.
For a moment, it was almost as if she were playing with Garrick.