Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
I lifted my hand and waved, and from the other side, he had to see me, because he waved back before disappearing.
All right then….
I scooped Duncan into my arms, even though I wanted to listen more, and said, “Let’s drop you off, and I’ll tell you anything I find out later.”
His floppy ears drooped, and it made me laugh just as we arrived at the door to the classroom.
“I’m sorry, Donut. We’ll be nosey later,” I told my puppy. “I’ll tell you, if you’d like to know too, Agnes.”
All that offer got me was a mini glare tossed over her shoulder as she left us behind and went inside, and I set Duncan on the ground.
He licked my forearm.
“Have a good day. Love you,” I told him, ignoring that itty-bitty sense of grief that still hit me when he left for “school.”
But it was what it was, and his happiness was more important than anything. New normals weren’t supposed to be easy, and one day, I would look back on this period in our life and be grateful for just getting to carry him to his classroom. One day, he probably wouldn’t let me go near it.
That was the single worst thing in the world I could have thought of.
Those red eyes peered up at me suspiciously, but then he sent me “love” and turned on those growing feet to push through the doggy—or was it wolfy?—door. Through the window, I peered in, met Maggie’s brown eyes, and waved. I’ll be back later, I mouthed to her. She smiled. Other than Randall and Henri, she was the most interaction I had with anyone here. We hadn’t gotten very personal with each other yet, other than the uncomfortable pregnancy conversation I’d forced on her, but she invited me back every day, and when I’d asked Duncan if he thought she liked having me around, his answer had been a solid “yes.”
Not for the first time, I wondered what kind of magic was in Maggie. Whatever it was, it was real subtle. She didn’t feel like a werewolf, but she had their height.
Besides her, I’d also talked to some of the parents when they came to pick up their kids, just not for long. But now that Henri had given me his explanation for the distance the residents kept between us, it didn’t bother me so much.
A touch to the middle of my back had me flinching like someone zapped me. That’s what I got for zoning out. I hadn’t been paying attention to the magical presence coming down the hall.
It was Henri.
Henri who had irritation stamped all over his face, and I meant a lot of it. He was in normal clothes—jeans and a T-shirt. He must not have shaved that morning because his scruff was thicker than normal.
He tugged at the collar of his shirt. “Can you come with me?” he asked, not beating around the bush.
“Morning,” I greeted him, trying to read his body language some more. “Sure.”
Henri blinked. His tone was a little softer after that. “Morning, Nina.”
Setting my hand on his elbow, I gave his forearm a little rub. “You okay?” He was so tense.
His eyes flicked down to where I was touching him before meeting mine again. “I’m all good,” he answered, actually sounding sincere. Maybe not all good but better than he’d been a second ago.
He cleared his throat after I dropped my hand. “One second.” Henri leaned toward the little window built into the door, lifting his hand, a brief smile flashing across his features that made me smile. A second later, he stepped away, his expression melting off like it had never been there in the first place. He was so good at doing that. “The elders are in the media room.”
I followed him down the hall. “It sounded like there was some arguing going on in there a minute ago.”
Henri didn’t even try and muffle his growl. “You heard that?”
“Little bit.”
I wanted to ask what they’d been arguing over, but I figured the elders could probably hear us, so I kept my mouth closed and focused on following him, which reminded me of what he’d looked like from behind when we’d gone back inside the house last night. Those sweatpants had hugged tight, high muscles just right….
I put a lid on that thought just in time to spot multiple elders seated at the table. All of them minus Franklin, who was still missing in action.
These people had allowed me to join their community, then disappeared without a trace until now.
I wasn’t sure why it hit me then, this sense of hurt, but it did. Did they all really think we weren’t going to last?
Almost instantly, a solid weight landed between my shoulder blades. “What’s going on?” Henri asked against my ear.
The urge to make something up was in my mouth, but I squashed it when his breath puffed against my skin. This was the wrong moment to answer him. The wrong place to say what was in my heart, so I glanced over my shoulder and shook my head.