“It’s nothing personal,” Dakota protested. “She’s just kind of antisocial.”
Sarah snorted. “Then why’s she the head schoolteacher?”
“I guess she was given the job because she could make all the kids behave. We’ll visit Naomi and Baldwin next week. They can meet us in town. Now, Sarah, let’s start working on your essay.”
Sarah couldn’t just do it without making one last play for sympathy. “This is how you repay us for our loyalty?” she said, letting out a martyred sigh.
Dakota shrugged. “You want rewards? I can bake you a cake.”
They all glanced at each other. “Again, this is how you reward us for our loyalty?” Sarah said.
“Yeah, not saying that Naomi was the real chef there, but…” John said, then trailed off.
“But we had to saw through the pancakes this morning with a hacksaw,” Sarah finished for him. “How do you ruin pancakes?”
“I will buy you a cake, after you finish your lesson plan! Argh, you guys. Get to work! This is not a democracy, and that was not a request!” Dakota pushed her chair back and stalked off.
“What’s a democracy?” Mary asked.
“Who knows? She sure is crabby without Miles,” she heard John grumble as she headed outside to grab a breath of fresh air.
She made a concerted effort to be more pleasant for the rest of the afternoon, but Sarah had apparently decided to give her the silent treatment. Dakota went to bed early that night, sinking into an uneasy slumber and determined to make the next day a better one.
She woke up with John urgently shaking her. They were all crowded around her, yelling, and it took her a minute to figure out what they were saying.
“She’s gone! She left us!”
“You have to get her back!” John yelled. “Sarah ran away!”
Chapter Seventeen
Still wearing pajamas, she stumbled out of their room and down the hallway to Anthea’s room…only to find a note on the door saying “Need some privacy. Be back tomorrow.”
When she ran to the cave of the clan leader, Bryant, he threw open the door yawning and grumbling. Bryant was Anthea’s older brother, and he was every bit as grouchy as Anthea. “I’m sure she’ll be back in the morning,” he growled.
“You don’t know that! There are men who are after her!” Dakota cried, panicked. “You have to help me search for her!”
At that, he drew himself up and let out a snarl. “I don’t have to help you do anything. You don’t give me orders. You wolves think you own the place. Get out, now.”
“What?” Dakota felt panic squeezing her throat. “I’m not giving you orders, I’m begging for your help!”
“Oh, and now I’m a liar?” He reached to the side of the door, grabbed a set of keys off a key rack, and threw them at her. “You and the cubs. Get out. I’m being a nice guy and letting you drive my truck, and you’d better bring it out tomorrow. That offer lasts for the next sixty seconds.” And he slammed the door in her face.
Had the whole world gone mad? How could he think that Sarah was all right?
Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Sarah needs you. She grabbed the keys, rounded up all the cubs, and drove over to the Fenris Pack grounds, trying not to let them see how worried she was.
“Miles will help us find her,” she assured the cubs. They were surprisingly calm, considering the circumstances. She knew they thought of their big sister as invincible. She wasn’t as confident. She knew Sarah was tough and scrappy, and sneaky, but Sarah also weighed about eighty pounds soaking wet. Scrappy would only get her so far, especially if she was up against more men sent by her grandfather’s pack.
As they headed down the drive that led to the pack property, Dakota reached out with her mind and tried to feel for Miles, but she couldn’t sense him anywhere. Did that mean he wasn’t home, or was their connection broken? She couldn’t bear to think that was the case.
Quickly, she parked in front of Miles’s cabin. Baldwin and Naomi ran over as she climbed out.
“You came,” Naomi cried, looking relieved. “I’m so glad you’re here. Maybe you can talk him down.”
“Talk who down? I came because Sarah ran away, and the bears won’t help me, and…”
The cubs had all scrambled out of the truck by then, and they crowded around Naomi, hugging her.
“I missed you!” Naomi said.
“We missed you too! Her cooking is terrible,” John announced.
“It’s very bad,” Mary agreed. Then she looked up at Dakota and shrugged. “Sorry.”