True Nature

by Jae

  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.

  Chapter 8

  Against her usual habits, Rue finished work an hour early and headed home, curious to see how things were going with the new tutor. Knowing Danny, he has driven Kelsey out of the house by now and is playing some video game.

  When she unlocked the door and entered the foyer, the sounds of Danny’s favorite racing game from the living room confirmed her suspicions. Gritting her tee
th, Rue crossed the foyer—and stopped abruptly.

  Kelsey hadn’t left. She was sitting on the couch next to Danny, clutching a game controller with both hands. Neither Danny nor Kelsey seemed to notice her arrival, both entirely focused on the game. The tip of Kelsey’s tongue poked out from the corner of her mouth, and her brow furrowed in concentration as she steered a monster truck around a racetrack.

  Cute. The tension drained from Rue’s muscles, and she found herself smiling as she watched Kelsey, who looked like a little girl with her tongue sticking out. But she’s clearly all woman. Rue’s appreciative gaze slid over Kelsey’s slender body and her gentle curves. Down, girl. She’s Danny’s tutor, even if she’s much nicer to look at than the last one.

  Kelsey’s laughter filled the living room, making it appear much brighter than usual.

  Danny pointed at something on the screen and laughed too. The unrestrained sound drowned out the revving of engines for a moment.

  Rue stared at him. Hurt sliced through her. How long had it been since Danny had laughed that way with her? After a minute, she gave herself a mental shove. Put away your ego. At least he’s laughing. Kelsey might really be good for him. She walked over to them.

  Kelsey looked up. Her eyes widened, and she dropped the game controller as if she had burned herself. “Um, you’re home already.” She signed even though Danny pretended not to be interested in their conversation.

  Nodding, Rue took in the snacks, the video games, and the textbooks covering the coffee table. “Interesting teaching methods.”

  “Applied geometry.” Kelsey kept a straight face, but her eyes, the color of African mahogany, twinkled. “Actually, we were taking a break. Work hard, play hard, right?”

  Rue glanced at her son, but Danny said nothing, obviously waiting to see how she would react. “We’ll talk about it later. I want to get some work done in the woodshop before dinner.”

  “More work?” Kelsey asked. “How about some playtime?” She held up the game controller.

  Rue hesitated. She remembered how she had helped Danny set up the Xbox two years ago. That had been before she and Paula split up. Before everything between Danny and me went to hell in a handbasket. “Maybe another time. There’s a project I need to finish.” She looked at Danny, who slouched against the back of the couch and pretended not to follow the conversation. “Want to come? I could use some help.”

  Danny shrugged. “I guess.”

  “Give me a few minutes to get changed, then meet me in the woodshop,” Rue signed.

  Danny nodded and went back to his game.

  * * *

  Half an hour later, Danny still hadn’t joined her in the woodshop. Had he changed his mind, or was he making her wait on purpose, playing stupid power games just to annoy her? If that’s what he’s doing, it’s working.

  Rue used the chisel with more force than necessary but stopped herself before she could ruin the dresser drawer.

  The door to the woodshop opened, and Danny strolled in. He didn’t apologize or explain what had held him up; he just leaned against the workbench, his hands stuffed into his pockets, a clear sign that he didn’t want to talk.

  Rue set down the chisel and tried to forget her annoyance. “How is it going with the new tutor? She seems nice, doesn’t she?”

  Danny shrugged and slid one finger over the drawer as if to test its smoothness.

  “I was thinking…maybe you miss going to school.” Playing video games with his tutor was probably not a good replacement for seeing his friends at school every day. “If homeschooling with a tutor isn’t working out, I could look for a public school or a school for the deaf, if you want.”

  Danny shrugged again and used his favorite sign, “Whatever. It’s not like my opinion really counts.”

  “Why would you think that? Of course it counts.”

  “Yeah, right.” Danny rolled his eyes. “You didn’t even ask me if I wanted to move here.”

  Rue clamped her fingers around the workbench. The decision to move had seemed like the only logical one. Every street corner in Syracuse reminded her of Paula, and she couldn’t stand to sleep in their bed anymore, not knowing if Paula had brought her lover home while Rue was at work. Starting over someplace else had also seemed like the best option for Danny after he’d been kicked out of school in Syracuse. “I thought you liked it here.”

  “It’s all right.” Danny signed slowly, as if he was reluctant to admit it.

  “The woods here are beautiful. You said so yourself. Maybe we could go hiking this weekend. You used to love it, and we haven’t done that in a while.” Fondly, she remembered their last hiking trip two years ago. A squirrel had bombarded them with pinecones, and they had laughed so hard that Rue’s sides had hurt the next day.

  Danny shook his head. “I’m staying with Paula this weekend.”

  “Right.” Rue tried not to let her disappointment show.

  “We could go the weekend after that,” Danny signed after a few moments.

  A smile started on Rue’s face. “I’d like that. So, want to help me?”

  “Sure.” Danny picked up the chisel Rue had set down on the workbench.

  “Uh, I think I better take that.” Once, she had seen a chisel like this cut off a man’s finger, and she didn’t want that to happen to Danny. “Why don’t you…?” She looked around for another, less dangerous task she could give him. “You could get me two clamps and the cordless drill for—”

  “What do you think I am? Five? I can do more than just handing you things!”

  “I know you can. But…” Rue trailed off when she realized Danny had whirled around and could no longer see her signing.

  Seconds later, the door banged shut behind him.

  Rue kicked a piece of wood against the wall. Damn.

  Chapter 9

  “So,” Rue said once she’d finally joined them at the dinner table, “how is the tutoring going? Are your unusual teaching methods getting good results?”

  Danny kept shoveling down his food, pretending not to watch or care, but Kelsey saw him peek up through his bangs to read Rue’s lips.

  She set down her fork so she could speak and sign at the same time. “It’s going well. Danny’s really good at math. He solved every math problem I gave him.” Since they hadn’t progressed beyond the first exercise, that didn’t say much, of course. They had done a little reading for his English lit class, but not much else. Bonding over video games had been more important.

  A forkful of peas rolled across the table as Danny almost dropped his silverware.

  Kelsey suppressed a smile. He had clearly expected her to rat him out and tell Rue that he had barely participated in the lessons. Maybe other tutors had done exactly that, but Kelsey knew a Syak like Danny would never forgive such a betrayal. A Syak pack stood together and defended its members, even if those pack members had done something wrong.

  Yeah, like you helped Jennings and the rest of the pack to hunt down Jorie even though he was acting against council orders. She hadn’t known it at the time, of course, but still, it weighed heavily on her conscience.

  Rue’s incredulous stare brought her back to the present. Kelsey’s answer seemed to surprise Rue as much as it had surprised Danny. But before she could further question Kelsey about Danny’s participation in the tutoring, her ever-present cell phone rang.

  “Excuse me,” Rue said and pushed back from the table. “I have to take this call. I’m working on expanding Harding Furniture Incorporated into an international company, and this is one of my VPs who’ll hopefully have some good news.”

  Kelsey watched, startled, as Rue climbed the stairs to her office, but neither Danny nor Mrs. Mangiardi seemed to find Rue’s sudden departure anything out of the ordinary. They continued eating as if nothing had happened.

  Humans are weird. In Syak families, dinner was an almost sacred affair, a time for the pack to be together without interruptions from the outside. Even her mother had always tried to be home i
n time for dinner, except when she was on concert tour. But this was a human household, not a Syak family. Kelsey’s determination to get Danny away from here and into the care of a Syak pack grew.

  * * *

  A few hours later, a knock on the door to the guest room startled Kelsey just as she was about to call Jorie. She hastily put her cell phone away. “Yes?”

  Mrs. Mangiardi stuck her purple-tinted head into the room. “Danny has gone to bed, and I’m leaving for the night, dear. Do you need anything before I go?”

  The housekeeper reminded Kelsey of a pack’s good-natured beta, forever making sure that all the pups were okay. Kelsey sent her a warm smile. “No, thank you. I’m fine. Has Rue gone to bed too?”

  “No. She’s behind the house, in her woodshop.”

  The woodshop. Her personal retreat. Kelsey got up. “I’ll walk you home if that’s all right. I have to talk to Rue for a minute.” Rue hadn’t made her sign the employment contract yet, and she didn’t want to give Rue a chance to change her mind about hiring her—especially not after catching her playing video games with Danny instead of tutoring him.

  Mrs. Mangiardi led her through the backdoor and over to the woodshop.

  Kelsey had seen the large shed behind the house when she had explored the perimeter, but she hadn’t given it another thought.

  “Good night, dear,” Mrs. Mangiardi said.

  “Good night,” Kelsey answered. She waited until Mrs. Mangiardi reached her cottage and then knocked on the door.

  “Come on in,” Rue called.

  As soon as Kelsey opened the door, the scents of a dozen different kinds of wood brushed along her olfactory cells—cherry, oak, birch, and a few others. Sharper odors drifted up from buckets of paint and varnish. Another, spicier scent mingled with the other aromas, and Kelsey stepped farther into the woodshop for more of that intoxicating scent.

  It took her a moment to sort through the smells and realize that she was following the scent of Rue’s sweat. She stopped abruptly and scrunched up her nose to block out the smell. Cut it out. Since when do you like the scent of human sweat? She told herself it was just the fresh wood that made the woodshop smell so good.