Chapter 9 – Cain
The red that had covered Cain’s vision was indescribable. He wanted to find whoever was threatening Nora and do more to them than the authorities would. The dead bird that had been delivered by a student was too much.
When he saw Nora’s face turn white, he knew this wasn’t the first time for her. He was upset that she hadn’t told him, even though before last night she never would have had a reason to tell him. He wished she would trust him now.
More than that he wished he could hold her and comfort her. He wanted to promise that everything would be okay, but until he had all of the evidence, there would be no guarantee of that.
He tried to look at it as if it was any other case he was working on, but there was an emotional tie amplifying every emotion he was feeling. He was hardly aware of grabbing Nora by the wrist and throwing her into the car. He drove without knowing where he was going; only becoming aware of his surroundings when Nora unlocked her door.
Everything had been intensified and was moving so quickly that Cain felt his control of everything slipping. He barely got the words out when he shifted, and even after that, after she accepted him things kept moving quickly. The day was the opposite of what he wanted it to be.
Nora had insisted on going back to school, and he let Ashton go with her. The perpetrator wouldn’t make any further moves today. The day nothing arrived at the school, the day when things became eerily suspicious, when the slightest thing was off, that was when he would act.
Whenever that day came, Cain was determined to be ready for it. He arrived back at his house, seeing through his dragon’s eyes, half-shifted, and barely in control of his own movements. His dragon wanted to fly back and kidnap Nora and Ashton, determined to keep its family safe, but Cain had to focus more on building Nora’s trust than keeping her safe.
He reminded himself that she was an adult. She took care of kids for a living. She and Ashton would be safe; they had to be.
Seconds after walking through the door, video calls with every one of his colleagues began. He barely had time to breathe in between each word he said.
“Cain, it’s one teacher, and we handle international threats. If Ashton’s teacher is being stalked, than she needs to go to the police.” Dominick was the one to speak.
All of Cain’s friends surrounded him on various screens. Dominick was not his closest friend, but he was someone he trusted deeply. He could always depend on Dominick to look at things objectively, which surprisingly, was needed a lot among this group.
“She’s not just a teacher.” Cain ran his hands down his face. “I don’t know how to explain it to you.”
“How did Ashton come to know about this?” Andi leaned forward with his eyebrows all scrunched up. He was the youngest and usually the most playful of everyone in the group.
“I never said Ashton found out about it.” Cain felt as if he would go mad trying to get them to all to understand the situation.
“If this is out of concern for Ashton, then pull him out of school. You’ve homeschooled before, this would be no different,” Sam suggested. He had baby twins, and often looked down on Cain’s parenting, especially since Ashton was often so independent.
“It’s not just concern for Ashton. It’s concern for everyone. Are we really going to let a whole school of kids deal with a maniac because you lot think I’m overreacting?”
His voice was rising with his anger. He wanted to smash every screen if it would get the importance of the situation across to them. He couldn’t understand why they were being so thick-headed.
“What is this teacher to you, Cain?” Marshal had had his arms crossed throughout the entire conversation. His voice brought clarity back to Cain’s sight and he knew what he was probably thinking.
“She’s Nora,” Cain cracked.
“What is Nora to you?” Marshal asked again.
Dominick said, “It’s not that we think you’re overreacting, because we all know and understand the seriousness of this threat, but you’re acting over-emotionally, and we need to know why.”
Echoing Marshal, Sam asked, “Cain, who is she?”
“She’s my mate.” His dragon curled up like a deep weight in his chest, and Cain wanted to howl. If he couldn’t protect her then what good was he?
In a low voice, dripped with pain, Marshal said, “Do you not consider yourself emotionally involved? You come and ask us for help, but you won’t help me?”
“I’m looking beyond just Nora. There is a school full of children and other teachers that could be in danger!” Cain hoped they were thankful they weren’t there, or else he would be swinging at all of them.
Sam said, “And that’s the caveat. Could but might not.”
“All in support of Cain’s campaign?” Dominick had his head propped on his hands and was looking bored.
No one said anything about a definite no, until Andi rubbed his hand on the back on his neck. All eyes were on him, waiting for him to speak. Cain held his breath, ready to declare Andi his favorite.
“Can we talk to her?” Andi asked.
“Why?” Marshal begged the question. “What are you hoping to learn from her that we haven’t learned from Cain?”
Ignoring Marshal’s question, Andi asked Cain again. It took Cain a minute to realize that Andi was giving him a chance. The boy might be young and foolish, but he was seeing something the others weren’t seeing.
“Yes,” Cain said in a desperate breath. “When?”
“How soon can you get her to the dark room?”
“In twenty minutes.” Cain was out of his chair quickly; before than they could say anything else. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Marshal toss his hands in the air, but he shoved the image from his mind as he raced to get Nora.
Now that he had her, he wasn’t going to let her go.
He thought about flying to pick her up, but thought it would be too risky to land in the school parking lot as a dragon.
When he walked through the cramped school halls he couldn’t wait to see Nora, but if he had any hope of getting his buddies to agree to help, he needed to keep a short distance. When he walked into her classroom, she looked green.
Cain shoved his hands into his pockets, forcing himself to resist taking her up in his arms. This was not the place and it wouldn’t help them. It hurt even more when she noticed his distance and snapped at him.
It would take a miracle for them to get everyone to be on his side.
“Ashton, normal routine tonight, okay?” Cain spoke as he closed the door. Ashton nodded his head in response and dashed up the stairs.
Nora kept her arms wrapped around herself, keeping a step away from Cain. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, and Cain wished he was the one comforting her. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt the tips of her fingers on his arm.
“You mentioned a dark room, earlier?”
He had, and it was time she saw it. He led her around the stair case, past the dining room, and there were the large doors with the dragon handles. Ashton had only seen the room once when he was little, mostly because Cain wanted him to be a kid before he owned himself as a dragon.
He heard Nora suck in her breath, and waited anxiously for him to move to open the door. When he did she was right behind him, just as eager to see the room as Ashton had been. They walked in and found his colleagues sitting around a large table.