He talked to him for a few more moments and then told him that he needed to go back to his class. Ethen did not seem too happy about that, but he finally ran along when Vincent made it clear that he wasn't joking.
“You have a lot to learn, Ethen. You have to be very serious in your studies. Then, you will be able to learn everything I know and you will be ready to be a great dragon.”
“Just like you!”
Vincent agreed. That made the boy happy and he looked up at him in such a way. It certainly made Vincent happy that he listened so well. The little boy was really too precious.
He watched the little kids battle it out for a while and then went to find Nathan. He was the one that Vincent was going to yell at. If Nathan did not have good news, he was not going to have a lot of good to say about it.
When Vincent caught up to Nathan, he was in his own office doing paperwork. There was a whole lot of paperwork at the Academy, even though they were secret and nobody outside of their little world knew that they even existed. It was funny how much paperwork there was, and Nathan did not look like he was in a good mood.
“Something bothering you?” Vincent couldn’t even ask the question without a grin.
“You know that I hate this shit, that’s why you make me do it.”
“Or, you hate the fact that I'm back and now I'm going to bitch at you because you came up with squat on Mallory.”
“Like that’s anything new. You know that sometimes these things take time.”
“Maybe you’re not looking hard enough.”
For a moment, Nathan had a strange look in his eyes, like he’d been caught doing something and it made Vincent pause. He had never seen him look like that before, and he was questioning why that was. Why did Nathan look guilty?
He chalked it up to the fact that he hadn't done what he asked him to do. That had to be it.
“Look, Vincent, I'm looking for her. As soon as I find her, I'll let you know.”
“I know that. I just wish you would have found her. I was hoping that when I got back, you would have handed me an address and said you were joking. That's not going to happen, is it?”
Nathan agreed that it wasn't. “It looks like she went underground. She doesn't want to be found, and she is pretty good at hiding. Like, really good. No one in the shifter community has seen her.”
“I bet not. You know that leaving a mate is not something that is taken lightly. She would be shunned by everyone that knew her and knew about it.”
“Are you ever going to tell me why this is so important to you? All of a sudden, you want to find her, and I don’t get why.”
Vincent scoffed at Nathan. He was losing his patience again and he didn’t want to have to explain himself at all.
“Just find her, damn it, will you?!”
Nathan said that he would. He asked him how his trip was, but Vincent didn't want to talk about it. He had not found what he’d gone there for and really that was all that mattered to him. After finding Mallory, nothing really mattered. He didn't find her, so it was a wasted trip, as far as he was concerned.
“It was alright. Find Mallory and stop asking so many questions.”
Nathan looked like he was going to say something else, but he closed his mouth and Vincent was glad for it. Most likely he didn't want to hear what his friend had to say, anyway. He was going to try to talk some sense into him, but obviously he was way past the point of any of it making sense. The truth was that Vincent felt like he was on his own. He was going to have to find her personally.
Chapter 13
Mallory let Nathan in, and she gave him a guarded grin. She didn't have quite a smile on her face, though, it wasn't because she wasn't happy to see him. It was because seeing him meant that something had gone wrong.
“What are you doing here, Nathan? I thought we decided that it was too dangerous for you to be here?”
“I also told you that if things changed and he started asking questions, that I wouldn't be able to lie to him.”
“I don't want you to lie to him. I just would like you to keep this quiet for a little bit longer, if at all possible.”
“Why don't you just tell him? He's really taken a shine to Ethen. I think that he would be over the moon if you told him that was his son. Trust me, from what he’s said, he wants a son.”
“You think so, huh?”
