Page 27 of The Mating Quest
She glanced up. For a moment he saw her gaze brighten, then she saw his expression and assumed a boredlook.
“Yes?”
“Where the hell were you? I was ready to start searching foryou!”
“I’m not accountable to you,” she saidcalmly.
Curbing his temper, he laced his fingers around her wrist. “While you’re here with me, on this mission, youare.”
“Let go of me,” shehissed.
The dark-haired child with her looked scared. Ethan forced himself to calm down, sat beside her and smiled at thechild.
In the corner, a fairy like Lily watched him, but curiously, this one didn’t stride over and threaten to turn his skin insideout.
He couldn’t handle Ilana the way he did one of his pack, with harsh words and discipline. She wasn’t one of his. Yet he worried abouther.
Ethan picked up one of the blocks with alphabet letters on it and turned it over in his hands. “I thought… something might have happened toyou.”
Ilana’s expression blanked. “Jenny was supposed to tell you I was fine. On my own. I can handle myself, wolf. Have foryears.”
“It’s a big ranch. Anything can happen.” He thought about Tristan’s child being kidnapped and his blood rancold.
Then he turned his attention to the child. “Hi. I’m Ethan. Sorry if I scared you. I was worried about your friendhere.”
The child, about six or seven, merely tilted his head. Ilana touched the child’s arm and the boy’s scared expression smoothed out. Henodded.
“Tate can’t hear you. He was born deaf.” Ilana handed the boy another alphabet block. “His Lupine parents abandoned him two years ago and went to run in the wilds of Alaska. They left him here, with Aiden and Nia. Zoe and Snake, two of the pack, want to adopt him, but they can’t get through to him. No onecan.”
She made some gestures to Tate, who smiled and began assembling the blocks into hisname.
“You can,” Ethan observed, his curiosityrising.
Ilana shrugged. “I know ALS, American SignLanguage.”
Yet he had seen her communicate with the child without using her fingers. Ethan glanced around. Tate and Ilana sat isolated away from the otherchildren.
“No one else can helphim?”
She shrugged again. “The fairies can, because they communicate telepathically. Tate tells them his needs. But the other children refuse to get near him. I think they fear him because he’sdifferent.”
“Sign language,” he mused. “Teachme.”
She looked at him as if he’d asked her to teach him how to shift into wolf. But finally she obliged. Aiden excused himself to return to the lodge to helpNia.
For the next half hour, he absorbed thebasics.
“It’s not that hard. Maybe you can teach others in this pack so Tate doesn’t feel so isolated.” Ethan signed to the boyI Am YourFriend.
Tate signed back.ThankYou.
“You’re different. You’re a fast learner. I don’t know about the others,” she said as Tate assembled his name in theblocks.
Ethan tapped on his arm and mouthed, “Greatjob!”
His reward was a small, shy smile. His heart clenched. Damn, this kid was so sweet. It hurt to think of him here alone, in the midst of all these children, not having anyfriends.
Ilana looked at him oddly. Ethan scanned the room. “Are Tristan’s kids here?” He asked as a means of drawing attention away fromhimself.
