wasn't completely informed about. He'd meant what he said—he did believe whatever she said. The problem wasn't in what she said. The problem was what she didn't say. The same held true for his nephew. He'd watch, listen, and pay attention so he could get to the bottom of things.
When War called Lorelei the next night, she was in bed asleep. He loved hearing her sleepy voice in his ear. He couldn't wait until he could crawl in that bed with her. If he wasn't so tired himself, he would have talked sexy to her and got her to touch herself again. It was a sign of just how beat he was that he couldn't even stay awake long enough to do that.
He told her he'd be home sometime the next morning but would have to go straight to work. He insisted that he'd drop in on her during the afternoon near the end of his shift. She was so sleepy, he didn't know how much she'd remember.
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Chapter 10
When the Sheriff pulled his truck in behind the ballet school, he noticed several familiar cars parked there. His nephew's truck was there, of course. He noticed his sixteen-year-old cousin, Maria's, car. Next to that he saw Alec Fountain's car. Alec was lupine, too. He was Maria's boyfriend and Renaud's best buddy. Looking around, he was surprised to see that Zierra's car was there, too.
Zierra was the young lupine trying to snag Renaud. War had been pretty sure she'd succeeded, but now he wasn't so sure. Zierra was very spoiled, and she had definite ideas about what her boyfriend should do with his life. Mainly, she seemed to think her man should do exactly what she wanted him to do. If that was the case, War thought, she should take a wide walk right past his nephew.
War entered the back hallway of the building and took the stairs two at a time. He found himself on a landing with two doors. One door would take him downstairs to the sidewalk in front of the building. The other door was the ballet school.
He was amazed at how excited he was to be here. He knew he'd be holding Lorelei in his arms very soon. This felt stronger than the first infatuation he'd had as a teen. It was as if he'd never made love to a woman before.
War entered the ballet school and followed the chattering voices. There was a room to the left with cushioned bleachers and a window to look out onto the main studio.
Music could be heard and he could see several tiny bodies swaying back and forth, along with the one body he'd been looking for all his life. That thought was hovering on the edge of his mind.
He'd looked for her all his life. He took a deep breath. Lorelei was his mate.
“Oncle War!” or “Sheriff War!” came from several young people as they crowded around him. He grinned at all the young people and did his best to fit in, although none seemed to need his input.
Finally he told them that, of course, he'd come to watch them today. He'd recently run in to Mademoiselle Allemande in town—literally. He winked at Renaud. She had told him they'd all be performing today, so he should come and watch. Now, here he was, at their service. Needless to say, they were quite excited.
He watched as the younger students spilled into the anteroom. Several of the teens made their way into the larger room, undressing as they went. The little magpies that had just finished their lessons were very excited to have such an important audience.
One little girl, Maria's little sister, Anna, was thrilled to stay with her Oncle and watch the big kids. Importantly, she explained what the older kids were doing.
Several teens who were not dance students were there to watch as well. Zierra was one of them. She was flirting with two other boys, but her eyes constantly strayed to Renaud.
Anna explained that this was “free dance” day. Everyone would warm up and then someone would pick a song, and those who wanted to would dance to it. Sometimes Mademoiselle Rory would join in, and sometimes she danced away after a minute.
Sometimes, Anna whispered, sometimes if everyone
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