Page 3 of Bound to the Beast (Interstellar Brides Program: The Beasts #9)
W arlord Iven, Gray’s Harbor, Washington, Three Days Later…
“What the fuck do you mean I have to take your place?” My beast bellowed the question, both he and I panicking at the thought of staring down an entire room of six-year-old human children.
“I have been ordered to return to Everis immediately. Today.” Lady Radu shoved the last of her belongings into a small travel bag and walked to the door of the small human house she had acquired for us to stay in while we were here.
“The boy’s uncle must have pulled some strings.
The Everian Council discovered my presence here.
Coalition citizens are not allowed on Earth unless there are extenuating circumstances.
You know this. Your group from The Colony received permission to appear on the Bachelor Beast television show in order to search for mates and improve interplanetary understanding and cooperation. I have no such excuse.”
“Explain the situation to them at once.”
“I intend to. I will return shortly. But I must present my arguments to the council in person if I am to have any hope of gaining their permission to interfere in a domestic matter involving humans on another planet.”
“There are assassins after the boy.” Were the leaders of Everis completely inept?
“The official report deemed his parents’ deaths an accident.”
“Convince them otherwise.”
“I will. And I will return as soon as I am able. Until then, protecting the boy is your top priority. The best way to do that is to be in the classroom with him.” She opened the door and walked out into the slight drizzle that seemed to permeate everything here with a damp, depressing wetness.
I followed her to the door like a lost puppy and shouted through the rain as she walked to the waiting car. “I cannot do this. I have no experience with children. They will run in terror.”
Lady Radu shrugged before climbing into the taxi. Without another glance in my direction, she slammed the door and the car pulled away.
Fuck. I stared down at the rumpled stack of paperwork she’d shoved into my hands before announcing her imminent departure.
Falsified documents stating that I was Mr. Iven Smith from Ohio, a certified teacher with nearly ten years of experience teaching young human children.
There was a document from the human woman, Jennifer, and the CIA, with an official request to allow me into the classroom due to extenuating circumstances, followed by a stream of bureaucratic language about it being an issue of National Security.
Lies, all of it.
I sighed and looked down at the horrifying uniform Lady Radu insisted I wear to pull off the deception.
Soft, bendable brown shoes made from the hide of an animal called a cow—that had no hope of stopping any weapon—hideous light brown pants she called khakis that no male of worth should ever place on his body, and something called a Polo shirt tucked into the too tight khaki pants, the bright yellow fabric stretched so tightly across my chest and shoulders I could barely move.
The shirt was obnoxious. Too bright. I might as well paste a target on my back.
I would probably glow in the dark. I wore a belt of thick leather, the only potential weapon I would have available to me, other than my bare hands.
Inside me, the beast snarled. Rarely did we need anything else.
“Where am I going to hide my weapon?” I twisted and turned, looking at my reflection in the mirror that hung in the hall. No fucking room for anything else under these human clothes.
I grabbed a duffel bag and shoved my armor, blaster, and mating cuffs—both beast and man scoffed at the small act of hope—inside the heavy black bag.
Zipped it closed. If I couldn’t wear them, at least I could keep them close.
I grabbed the keys to a large black vehicle we had acquired, something called an SUV, and drove to my first day of work as a new teacher.
By the time I arrived in the school’s parking lot, I had regained my calm.
I had battled the Hive in hand-to-hand combat, faced impossible odds of survival on so many missions I’d lost count, been captured, tortured and escaped from a Hive Integration base without losing control of my beast. Fought mating fever for years and retained my honor.
I now faced a room full of small, helpless human children.
How difficult could it be?
After a half-hour of scowling from the smallest adult human female I had ever encountered—an elder female who ran the school known as Mrs. C—I walked through the hall to the kindergarten classroom just as the bell rang and the outer doors opened.
Tiny human children streamed past me, parting around me like water around a rock in the middle of a river. Some looked up, their innocent eyes round and scared.
I tried smiling at them until one small girl screamed and darted behind her brother, who was perhaps a year or two older, but still so small I could have tossed him like a pebble.
To his credit, he wrapped an arm around her, pushed her behind his back, and skirted around me without breaking eye contact.
Brave little one. I saw a future fighter in his eyes. Perhaps, one day, he would fight for the Coalition Fleet and protect Earth, as I had for many years.
My beast snarled in approval, which pushed the boy’s courage to the breaking point.
He grabbed his little sister’s hand and ran.
I watched them over my shoulder as they ran down the hall and merged into the crowd.
When I turned back around, I stopped dead in my tracks, a small child standing squarely in front of me, staring me down, hands on his hips.
He had golden curls and brown eyes that showed curiosity but no fear.
I stood still and looked down at the young one as he spoke.
“Who are you?”
I cleared my throat and looked around. “I am Mr. Iven Smith.” A crowd had gathered, not just of children, but of adults as well, mostly female, all wearing the ridiculous string with photo attached around their necks that the bossy Mrs. C had insisted I wear as well. Very primitive form of identification.
Ah…the other string wearers must be the other teachers.
A few frowned. Two females who appeared to be closer to Lady Radu’s age stood with their mouths hanging open, as if shocked into paralysis.
One male looked me up and down as if assessing his odds of taking me in a fight.
He was in good shape. Strong, for a human.
I recalled Lady Radu’s debriefing and determined that he must be the gym teacher or a coach of some kind.
I dipped my head to him as a show of respect and he returned the nod. Never hurt to have potential allies when the boy I needed to find and protect had assassins after him.
“Hey.” The golden haired boy insisted I return my attention to him. I liked him instantly. “What grade?”
“Excuse me?”
“You said you’re a teacher. You’re new. What grade?” he demanded.
“Yes, this is my first day.” I smiled as my beast rumbled with approval at the boy’s courage. “Kindergarten.”
He let out a WHOOP and raised a closed fist in the air, twirled it around and around in a gesture I’d seen on human television programs. “Yes! You’re my teacher! Come on! I bet my cat would like you.”
Was that a compliment? What did small, feral felines have to do with teaching human children?
“He doesn’t like very many people. Come on. I’ll show you the way.” Without preamble, he reached for my hand and wrapped impossibly small fingers around my thumb to tug me along behind him.
My beast chuckled within as we allowed the tiny, determined human child to lead us to our new classroom. I opened the door to…chaos.
A rapid assessment using my Hive implants and years of combat training supplied me with information almost instantly.
Twenty-seven children, thirteen boys and fourteen little girls, were laughing, talking, sprawling on the floor and the desks, playing with blocks, and singing.
A group of five boys were playing a game of tag, knocking over their classmates, and a few desks, in their rush to escape one another.
Two shy little girls huddled against the wall, half standing in their cubbies to avoid being run over as one quiet little boy with blond hair sat patiently at his desk watching the chaos with assessing eyes.
My instincts leaped at the boy’s silent evaluation of the noise and chaos around him. That was what I would expect from the child of an Elite Hunter. Was he the one?
“Everybody! This is our teacher, Mr. Smith!” The boy holding my hand pulled me forward into the center of the room.
“Check him out! He’s huge!” With a giggle, he released me and ran to stand next to a small group that huddled around one of the boys who’d been playing tag.
This boy was obviously one of the leaders of the group, his brown hair and curious blue eyes assessing but not afraid.
“Are you really our teacher?” the brown haired boy asked.
“What’s your name?” I countered. He could very well be half Everian. He was one of the larger boys. His stance was confident, and the other children seemed to respond to an innate quality of leadership. Perhaps they sensed the truth.
“Connor.”
I cleared my throat and raised my hand into the air in a silent signal I’d used many times on the battlefield. The children responded as I’d hoped, quieting and turning to await my command. “I am Mr. Smith. I am your kindergarten teacher.”
“No way.” A hushed, feminine voice whispered behind me to a round of girlish giggling.