by Jae
The other boy followed uncomfortably close behind him.
Something about his scent made the hair on Danny’s neck stand on end, and he walked faster to increase the distance between them. He was glad to leave the subway with its artificial light and nauseating smells.
Paula’s place of work was two blocks away. She had shown him around the TV station’s newsroom once, so Danny knew he would have no problem finding the building again. It was his one skill that impressed even Rue. Once he had been to a place, he could always find it again. If he ever told her he let his sense of smell guide him, she would probably call him crazy. He had mentioned it to his audiologist once, and the doctor had told him that deaf people often compensated for their lack of hearing by developing a better than average sense of smell and peripheral vision.
A distinctive smell set WNY-TV’s studios apart from the neighboring buildings. They reeked of coffee, computers that never seemed to be shut down, and microwave lasagna.
When Danny entered the building’s lobby, a man tried to stop him. His mouth moved, but with his walrus mustache, he was hard to lip-read. Danny pointed to his ears, then shook his head and put on his sad-little-handicapped-boy face. “Need my mom,” he said, pointing to the elevator.
He wasn’t sure if the man understood his words, but as usual, it worked. The man stepped back and let him pass.
Danny slipped by him and entered the elevator before the man could change his mind. When he reached the fourteenth floor, he stepped from the elevator and looked left and right.
Behind the tall windows, lights flickered on the Hudson River in the distance. People bustled around the large bullpen, but there was no sign of Paula. The scent of her perfume was strangely absent too.
Danny frowned.
A hand touched his shoulder, making him jump and whirl around.
Instead of Paula, her producer girlfriend stood in front of him. Great. Brooke. Just what I need. He didn’t like her, and the feeling was probably mutual. She didn’t like sharing Paula’s attention.
She said something, but with her rapid-fire New York accent, she wasn’t easy to lip-read. Truth be told, he didn’t make much of an effort. He glared at her hand until she withdrew it from his shoulder. You might be allowed to touch Paula, but you better keep your hands off me, bitch. “Where’s Paula?” he asked, feeling his vocal cords strain as he tried for a clear pronunciation.
Brooke answered, but Danny caught only “not here.”
When he shook his head and tapped his ear, she repeated the answer more slowly, and this time, he understood. Paula was covering some event and wouldn’t be back until Monday.
Monday! Shit. Why didn’t she tell me? He clenched his jaw as the bitter feeling of betrayal burned in his chest. What now?
He started to turn, but Brooke again grabbed his shoulder, preventing him from walking away.
Something wild rose inside of him. Fire flared along his skin. “Let me go before I bite off your hand, bitch!” He felt the words fly out of his mouth, awkward and uncontrolled, but he didn’t care if she understood him or not.
A door opened, and a man stepped into the bullpen. Danny recognized him as Paula’s boss. “Oh, thank God. There you are. You’d better come with me, boy.”
Danny hesitated. His gaze flicked back and forth between Paula’s boss and the elevator.
Chapter 21
Fighting for hours against the growing urge to shift sapped Kelsey’s energy. Her skin burned, and she felt as exhausted as if she had run the entire three hundred and sixty miles from Clearfield. She pressed her left hand against her stomach and dug the nails of her other hand into the armrest.
It wasn’t just the imprisonment in the speeding car that set her on edge. Every time she thought about Danny, all alone out there or even in the clutches of a kidnapper, she felt her mutaline levels spike. A few minutes ago, the police had called and told them Danny had been seen getting into a woman’s car. The police suspected that he’d missed his bus and was now hitching a ride to New York. Kelsey sent a quick prayer to the Great Hunter, hoping that Danny had already learned to trust his nose when it came to judging people.
Next to her, Rue drove on, preoccupied with her own worries. The more the worry lines deepened on her face, the heavier her foot became on the accelerator. Now they were hurtling down the interstate at ninety-five miles per hour.
“Can you...?” Kelsey squeezed her eyes shut and quickly opened them again when vertigo set in. “Can you slow down a little?”
Before Rue could respond, her cell phone rang.
Rue broke another speed record answering the phone.
“Ms. Harding, this is Philip Stearns.”
“Paula’s boss,” Rue whispered to Kelsey. “Is Danny with you? Do you have him?”
Stearns cleared his throat. “Um…no. I’m sorry. He showed up earlier, but he ran away before I could stop him.”
“Goddammit!” Rue smashed her fist against the steering wheel.
When Kelsey looked away from Rue, she caught a reflection of flashing red and blue lights in the side mirror. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, she turned and glanced over her shoulder.
An olive-and-black patrol car was behind them, its lights cutting through the darkness.
“Um, Rue?”
Rue sent her a scowl that forbade Kelsey from interrupting. “Did he say where he was going?”
The patrol car closed in on them, lights still flashing.
“Rue!” Kelsey tapped Rue’s shoulder.
“Shhh!”
“No, I don’t think so,” Stearns said. “He didn’t say anything to me, but he spoke to Brooke.”
Sirens wailed behind them.
“Damn. This is all I need.” Rue tightened her grip on the steering wheel but eased up on the accelerator. Her jaw muscles clenched as she pulled over onto the shoulder. “I need to go,” she said into the headset. “If anyone sees Danny, call me immediately.”
Kelsey couldn’t help admiring Rue’s controlled tone.
The patrol car pulled up behind them. Kelsey watched the officer get out of his cruiser and walk over. When Rue pressed the button to open the window on the driver’s side, the officer leaned down a little and peered inside the car. “License, registration, and proof of insurance,” he said.
Rue took her license out of her wallet and handed it over, then leaned across Kelsey and searched in the glove compartment for the registration and insurance card.
A whiff of Rue’s refreshing ocean scent calmed Kelsey’s rattled nerves.
With Rue’s documents in hand, the state trooper returned to his cruiser.
“You can say it,” Rue mumbled through gritted teeth.
“Say what?”
“I told you so,” Rue said.
Kelsey wasn’t even tempted. While being confined to a fast-moving car made her skin burn, she understood why Rue had been speeding. “I wasn’t even thinking that. Let’s just get out of this situation and go find Danny.”
Rue’s startled glance made Kelsey wonder if Paula or other people in Rue’s life would have reacted with an “I told you so.”
Drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, Rue threw a glance at her wristwatch.
After what seemed like an eternity, the patrolman returned. He looked down at Rue without yet handing back her license and registration. “Do you know why I pulled you over?”
Rue met his gaze. “I was speeding.” As Kelsey had suspected, Rue didn’t try to make excuses or pretend to be oblivious.
“You were doing ninety-five. The speed limit on this stretch is sixty-five.” The patrolman tapped Rue’s license against his palm as if he wasn’t sure if he should give it back.
“Then just give me a ticket, Officer. I need to be on my way,” Rue said.
Diplomacy isn’t her strong suit. But it was Kelsey’s. She leaned forward and gave the patrolman a tentative smile. “Excuse me, Officer, I know you probably hear that all the time, but this really is an emergen
cy. Her deaf son ran off to New York. We’ve been driving all day, trying to get there and find the boy before something happens to him.”
The patrolman let his gaze wander from Kelsey to Rue, who nodded to confirm Kelsey’s words. “Did you file a runaway report?”
“Yes,” Rue said. Her gaze crept to her watch again.
“All right. Just this once, I’ll let you off with a warning.” The state trooper moved the documents toward Rue’s waiting hands but pulled them back at the last moment. “But I better not catch you speeding again. There’s a rest area coming up in two miles. I suggest you take a break, have some coffee, or even catch some sleep. You won’t do your son any good if you get into an accident because you’re driving like a maniac.”
“Thanks for your concern,” Rue said. “But we need to get to New York as soon as possible. If—”
Kelsey quickly put her hand on Rue’s arm and shook her head. Nothing good could come of butting heads with the officer. He smelled of authority and probably wouldn’t react well to having it questioned. “I promise we’ll take a break and get some sleep,” Kelsey said.
The patrolman finally handed back Rue’s license, insurance card, and registration. “Keep to the speed limit from now on,” he said and walked back to his cruiser.
Rue stabbed at the button to close the window, then jerked around and scowled at Kelsey. “We can’t afford to lose time by taking a break or catching some sleep.”
“I know. But the trooper meant business, and we can’t afford to be kept at the side of the road for endless discussions or be thrown in jail.” Most of all, Kelsey couldn’t afford it. She didn’t want to even imagine what being imprisoned in a tiny cell would do to her, least of all with a human she wasn’t sure she could trust. “I’m sorry, but this time, discretion was the better part of valor.”
Still grumbling, Rue pulled back into traffic and left the patrolman behind.
Minutes later, the blue sign indicating a rest area came into view in the distance.
But instead of taking the exit, Rue drove past the rest area.
Kelsey said nothing.
“You can’t seriously think that I’d sit down and drink coffee or go to sleep when we’re just three more hours from New York,” Rue said. “Danny is—”
“Rue,” Kelsey said softly. “I wasn’t about to protest.”
A quick glance hit Kelsey. “You weren’t? But you told the officer—”
“That we’ll get some rest. And we will—as soon as we find Danny and make sure he’s okay.”
A broad grin spread across Rue’s face. “And here I thought you’re someone who wants to follow the rules, no matter what.”
“I was,” Kelsey said before she could stop herself. For some reason, she kept slipping, telling Rue things she hadn’t wanted to reveal. She needed to be more careful.
Rue’s gaze flickered over, then back to the road. “So what changed?”
“I found out that sometimes, following the rules or orders can do more harm than good.” She clamped her mouth shut before she could say more. You wanted to be more careful, remember?
They spent the three and a half hours to New York in tense silence.
Chapter 22
Danny raced down the street and stopped only once he was out of sight of the TV station. His chest heaved. Fuck, fuck, fuck! What now? His other hand played with the phone in his pocket. He’d turned it off so Rue couldn’t call the cell phone company and have them locate him. But that was before he found out that Paula was not in New York. Should he text Rue and tell her to come get him?
No. He was no longer the little boy who ran to her, crying, when he’d skinned his knees. Rue already thought he was a loser, and calling for help would only confirm that. He could make it five days until Paula returned. He would prove that he didn’t need Rue.
Maybe he could find a cheap hotel somewhere and spend the week hanging out and watching TV. With that cheerful thought, he set down his backpack on the curb to check how much money he had. If he paid in cash, Rue wouldn’t find him.
The backpack’s zipper hung partway open. Frowning, he reached inside and groped around for his wallet. When his fingers came away empty, he pulled the zipper farther back and looked inside.
His wallet was gone.
A fist-sized lump formed in his throat. With trembling fingers, he lifted two T-shirts and peeked beneath.
Nothing.
He remembered the thin kid who’d trudged up the steps of the subway behind him. Had the boy unzipped the backpack and stolen the wallet without Danny noticing?
A kick made the backpack slam against a streetlamp. He bent over, pressed his fingertips to his temples, and rocked back and forth. Fuck! What am I supposed to do now?
Chapter 23
The urban smells of exhaust fumes, pizza, and countless humans hit Kelsey’s nose as soon as she got out of the car. The myriad of lights emanating from high-rise buildings all around her gave her a feeling of anonymity and loneliness. Her skin tingled. How could some of her fellow Wrasa live in a big city like this? Everything was too crowded, too confined, too noisy.
She shook herself and rushed to catch up with Rue, who was already hurrying into the TV station’s building and, with a quick explanation, past the security guard in the lobby.
The elevator doors pinged open.
A hint of peanut scent tickled Kelsey’s nose, almost drowned out by the other odors in the building. Danny had definitely been here.
During the inevitable elevator ride, Kelsey clung to the hand railing, letting the metal cool her sweaty palms.
Rue stared at the elevator doors as if willing the elevator to move faster.
Finally, the doors opened, and Rue stormed into the newsroom.
Since it was one o’clock in the morning, Kelsey had expected the newsroom to be nearly deserted, but instead, phones rang, people behind their desks clacked away on their keyboards, police scanners squawked, and large TV screens reported news from all over the world.
Rue didn’t stop to take in the constant hive of activity. She strode into the bullpen and grabbed the first person passing her by the shoulder. “Where’s Brooke?”
“What? Who are you?” The man struggled to free himself.
“Rue!” someone called from across the room. A tall woman appeared from a cubicle, her dark hair so short that it looked like a sprinkle of metal shavings.
For a second, Rue stiffened, but then she changed course and stormed over to the woman, with Kelsey trailing after her. She grabbed the woman by the lapels of her blazer. “Dammit, Brooke! Why did you let Danny get away?” She shook Brooke as if the woman weren’t almost a head taller and thirty pounds heavier.
“What was I supposed to do? Wrestle him to the floor?” Brooke clamped her hands around Rue’s wrists and tried to break free of her grip.
Rue held on for a few seconds more before shoving her away.
Brooke crashed against a desk.
“Hey!” The man behind the desk jumped up and positioned himself between Brooke and Rue. “Stop it, lady, or I’ll call security!”
Kelsey quickly stepped forward. “That’s not necessary. They’re just talking. Right, Rue?” She laid a hand on Rue’s forearm. The tendons and muscles under her palm felt like steel wires about to snap.
Slowly, still scowling, Rue backed away. “Yeah. Just a conversation between friends.” She managed to make the word “friends” sound like an insult. “How did Danny seem? Did he look okay? What did he say?”
“He seemed fine, I guess.” Brooke stepped closer to her colleague, as if she thought he could protect her from Rue’s wrath. “He didn’t say much, just asked for Paula. When I told him she wouldn’t be back until Monday, he ran out of here before Mr. Stearns and I could stop him. Why is he in New York all by himself?”
Instead of answering, Rue asked, “Did he say where he was going?”
“No,” Brooke said. “Even if he had any plans, I don’t think he would have told me.
Since you convinced him I’m the reason why you and Paula broke up, I’m not his favorite person.”
“I never told him that,” Rue said. “If he doesn’t like you, it must be because of your charming personality.”
“Rue, it’s not my fault that—”
Rue pushed past her. “I don’t have time for this.”
Kelsey hurried after her.
The smell of Rue’s agitation filled the confines of the elevator. Kelsey backed into the opposite corner of the elevator and gave Rue as much space as she could. Rue’s stormy emotions seemed to be contagious, adding to Kelsey’s own anxiety. Her chest constricted, and her breath rasped through her lungs.
After long seconds, the elevator doors opened in the lobby, and Rue shot through them like a cork out of a champagne bottle that someone had shaken. She marched toward the security guard. “Danny…the deaf boy who was here earlier…did you see where he was going?”
“He ran down the street like the devil was after him.” The guard pointed in the direction Danny had run. “Don’t know where he went after that.”
Rue stormed back toward the Mercedes.
While Kelsey followed her, she tried to catch a whiff of Danny’s scent trail, but the smells of the city and of Rue’s emotions drowned out anything else.
“You and Brooke...you obviously hate each other’s guts, but she wouldn’t lie to you about Danny, would she?” Kelsey asked when they got back into the car. Brooke’s scent hadn’t indicated a lie, but with the odor of Rue’s anger assaulting her nose, Kelsey couldn’t be sure.
“No, I’m sure she wouldn’t. She’s Paula’s girlfriend, and she knows that harming Danny means harming Paula.” Rue started the car and pulled out onto the street.
“Was Paula really cheating on you with Brooke?” Kelsey couldn’t keep the astonishment from her voice. She knew humans did this all the time, but to her as a wolf-shifter, cheating on a mate was a strange concept, and cheating on Rue with a woman like Brooke made even less sense. Rue’s dynamic vitality, her slender yet strong body, and the natural way she took charge were so much more attractive than the unremarkable Brooke. Stop admiring her. She’ll end up hurting Danny, remember?