“Yay!” Elizabeth jumped up and down. Chloe and Ava swayed on their feet and smiled.
Connor and Tyson remained on either side of Brody, who was glaring at Lady Radu as if she were a Hive Soldier who’d come to kill him.
Surely the boy was not so upset that I would no longer be his teacher? I’d just assured him I would remain…
My Hive Integrations snapped my senses with a jolt of electrical charge. I activated my scanners.
Ten armed human males were moving into tactical attack position just outside the classroom. Four in the hallway and two at each of the windows. Their vital signs and heat signatures indicated they were human, not Everian. The weapons they carried were of human origin as well. Every single one of them was dressed as a human law enforcement agent complete with odd human badges and primitive Kevlar vests.
What the fuck was going on?
The bell rang and Mrs. C waited with a cheerful smile on her face as the children lined up to go to lunch. When Brody moved to join them, Lady Radu reached out and grabbed him by his shoulder. “Not you.”
Mrs. C noticed the strange interaction and glanced at me.
I had no idea what Lady Radu had told the poor woman, so I nodded. We needed to get the innocent little ones as far away from whatever was about to happen as possible. “Go ahead, Mrs. C. I’m sure everyone is hungry.”
Giggles and jostling ensued as the tiny principal led all but one of my students out of the room.
When the door closed quietly behind them, Lady Radu’s smile turned cold. “So nice to finally meet you, Broderick.”
Brody shoved at the hand twisted in his shirt, to no avial. “Who are you? Get off me!”
My beast prowled. Paced. Assessed. I activated every Hive enhancement in my body. Speed. Strength. Hearing. Vision. I watched the human soldiers shift in place on the other side of the walls, my infrared and heat sensors easily outlining their movements. They were trained soldiers, that much was clear.
But I doubted they’d ever faced an Atlan Warlord. Their nerves were overcoming their training.
If they wanted to survive this threat to my mate and son, they’d already be fucking running.
10
Krystal
* * *
I came out of my classroom just in time to watch Mrs. C march the kindergarten class right in front of me—minus one.
“Mrs. C? Where’s Brody?”
One of the little girls trailing the end of the line looked up at me. “The mean lady wouldn’t let him go to lunch. I think she’s the one who made Mr. Smith so sad.”
Mean lady? Sad? “What—” I lifted my gaze as she darted past me and saw four federal agents—looked like S.W.A.T.—in position outside the kindergarten classroom’s door. Serious looking men armed with semi-automatic rifles.
I ran. I had to get to Brody.
One of the officers grabbed me around the waist and swung me away from the door. “No, you don’t.”
“Let me go!”
Instead of releasing me, he tilted his chin down to speak into a radio attached to the front of his shoulder. “Woman outside. Trying to get in.”
I didn’t hear the response, but three of the men stood and burst into the room, weapons pointed at Iven. The fourth dragged me along like luggage, tossing me in front of him once we were inside the room. With a cry of relief, I held out my arms and Brody ran to me, his arms locking around me in a tight hug. “I’m sorry!”
“For what?” I hugged him close and looked at Iven. “What’s going on?”
“He’s coming,” Brody whispered. “He knows. He’s coming.”
“Who?”
