Though she had sounded surprised, now that Paige thought about it. She remembered the strange vibe between Leonie and Conleth in the office, like he’d done something to piss off the head counselor. And Leonie had been pretty vague when Paige had tried to ask her what specific duties a ‘staff liaison’ was supposed to do…
She tried to shake off the sudden cold feeling of doubt. “I’m sure it doesn’t mean anything. Leonie said it was a last-minute change.”
Estelle snorted. “Yeah,reallylast minute. Tell her what you sensed, Beth.”
“Um.” Beth hesitated, eying Paige. “I don’t know if I should.”
“Grrrrrraaaaw,” the bear said, emphatically.Well, now youhaveto tell us.
“Go on, Beth,” Paige said, though the knot in her stomach was getting bigger. “It’s all right. I promise you won’t get in trouble.”
Beth folded under the pressure. “Well, I’m a pegasus shifter, ma’am. Like Uncle Conleth. And our type of shifter tend to have certain powers. Only, we don’t all have exactly the same abilities.Uncle Conleth can do things I can’t, and I’m better at some other things. That’s how it works, for pegasi.”
“Get to the point, Beth.” Estelle turned to Paige, jerking a thumb at her taller friend. “She can sense people. Tell where they are without looking, I mean. And she sensed Conleth in the dining hall.”
Thanks to her little brother, Paige was used to random conversations, but this was challenging even her ability to follow kid logic. “I don’t see how that’s relevant.”
“It is, because ofwhenI sensed him there,” Beth said. “It was while Archie was chasing him.”
“But Conleth didn’t go anywhere near the dining hall. Archie tackled him behind a cabin.”
“Graw,” the bear agreed with deep satisfaction.
“Yeah, which only proves that Conleth was up to something,” Estelle said. “There’s no way Archie should ever have been able to catch him.”
The bear bristled. “Grrr.”
“Chill,” Estelle told him. “I’m not insulting you.No onecan catch Conleth. He’s faster than anyone. That’s kind of his whole thing.”
“I was paying attention to Uncle Conleth’s location because Archie made such a scene, ma’am. Otherwise I would have missed what he was doing.” Beth bit her lip, then blurted out, all in a rush, “I think he realized he needed to change your assignment, ran to the dining hall to find Leonie, altered the information on her clipboard, darted to the office to modify the computer records to match, then finally ran back to Archie.”
Paige stared at her. “Inless than a minute?”
Estelle shrugged. “We said he was fast.”
“He’sveryfast, ma’am,” Beth confirmed. “Though he can’t maintain that level of superspeed for very long, and it leaves himdrained for hours afterwards. That must be how Archie was able to catch him.”
It was preposterous. Even a shifter couldn’t move that fast, surely.
Except… Conleth had looked unwell, during their conversation in the office. Pale and twitchy, as though he was strung out with exhaustion…
She shook her head, even more bewildered. “But—why would Conleth do that?”
“That’s what we keep trying to explain, ma’am,” Beth said patiently. “Because you’re his mate.”
Archie growled, showing his teeth.
“I can’t be his mate.” Her brain felt like a jigsaw puzzle that the girls had merrily upended, and were now shaking. “If I was, why wouldn’t he have told me?”
“Gee, I have no idea.” Estelle shot Archie a pointed look. “It’s not like he might have been worried about gettingattacked by a bearor anything.”
“I expect he wanted to tell you, ma’am,” Beth said loyally. “He just couldn’t in front of Archie. I’m sure he would have said something if he’d had an opportunity.”
“But he did have an opportunity!” Paige protested. “Conleth and I were alone. We were even talking about mates. He didn’t say I was his.”
Estelle cocked her head. “Did he say that you weren’t?”
Paige opened her mouth to say yes, of course he had… and stopped.
