15 Targeted (46 page)

“What?” She had looked around, obviously confused. “What happened?”

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 hoarse with concern. “One of those damn 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 assured 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 damn 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. Gods, 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 “glasses” was sitting at one of them.

“Hello, 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 principal 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 class 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 hell 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 classroom.”

“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 classrooms 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 classroom to catch her scent, I’ll have a much easier time finding her.”