McCloud spoke to you about what she’s been doing?”
“Sharing her interests with her friends,” I said. “Sure.”
Leeroy stepped in. “She’s a bad influence, Markos. Hate to say it, but she’s got the Whitefangs’ and the Everruns’ kids thinking they can read the future. It’s not good.”
“That’s right,” said one of the other parents. “Our daughter has been talking about wanting to go to divination school! She’s never talked about anything like this before. It makes no sense. If it’s because of your daughter, you need to get her to stop bringing that nonsense into school.”
“It’s not nonsense,” I said. “It’s a very old and very respectable trade. Trust me, to learn how to do divination is probably beyond any of us. You should be proud if your kid wants to pick it up. Probably means they have a brain.”
“Please, Markos, buddy,” said Leeroy. “C’mon. Your daughter has enough problems learning as it is.”
“Don’t talk about my daughter, Leeroy,” I said calmly. “You don’t know anything about her.”
He raised his hands in mock surrender. “Alright. But you don’t believe in that dogshit, do you? Seriously, it’s a big waste of time.”
“You could ask Kole,” I said. “He owns the Moonstar Dating Agency downtown. Graduated from the Dawn Academy. Ever heard of it?”
“I mean, no offense,” Dani said, “but it’s just an arcane practice. You’re not actually divining anything. That’s just…that would be nonsense.”
I looked over at Kole. The brim of his hat shaded his eyes, and he reached up and touched the side of his glasses. “Perhaps you’ll feel differently in two years when you seek me out to ask if you’ll ever find your fated mate.”
Her eyelids fluttered in surprise. “Excuse me? I have my fated mate.” She reached out and took Leeroy’s hand.
Kole took off his hat like he was paying respects at a funeral. “Mm, I’m afraid that’s not correct,” he said, as evenly and pleasantly as if he were giving directions. “Because he’s been sleeping with him.”
Dani swallowed a lump in her throat.
“Yes,” Kole said, nodding. “The omega you’ve been worried about. It’s been happening for at least a year and a half. In the…” He closed his eyes. “The hotel across from the office.”
Her hand flew away from Leeroy’s, like it’d suddenly become scalding hot. Her face went from pale white to cherry red. Leeroy was blinking stupidly.
“You BASTARD!” she shouted.
The other parents exchanged stunned glances and stared speechless as Dani tackled Leeroy into the desks. I grabbed Kole’s hand. “Alright, time to go,” I whispered, and we escaped out the door before we got dragged into the fight.
We ran to the parking lot, and I had a big, stupid grin on my face. I couldn’t believe what had just happened.
“Hounds of hell, Kole,” I said after we got back into the car. “I had no idea you could be so stone cold. That was… that was awesome!”
“I probably shouldn't have done that, but I couldn’t stand the way they were talking about you and Elise. And calling divination ‘dogshit’ was very rude.”
“Oh, they deserve it. Dani and Leeroy have always been horrible, and the rest of the parents hang on to their every word. That’ll probably change now, though. You really were able to see all that stuff you told her, huh?”
“Somewhat. I made some educated guesses based on what I did see. Glimpses and impressions. But I’ve been doing this long enough that I can fit the pieces together.”
“Well, you have me completely convinced after tonight,” I said.
“So, you’ll go through with having a reading done?” Kole was looking at me expectantly.
“Yeah,” I said. “Of course. I said I would, so I will. Trust me, if it weren’t for this, I would’ve been at your place. I did forget.”
“I know,” he said, folding his hands in his lap.
I wanted to reach over and take his hand again—I could still feel his warm impression on mine. He’d held my hand tightly as we’d ran, just as tightly as I’d held his. I’d tried to play it off like it was no big deal that I’d grabbed his hand, because I’d honestly done it without even thinking. But it’d felt nice, and it seemed like he liked it, too.
Shit, this was how out of touch I was. I hadn’t had a single ounce of romance in so long that holding hands was one of the most exciting things I’d ever done—and it was on accident!
But since Kole had reciprocated, then… maybe he was feeling the same