Well, maybe she cared a little, but Sara and her mom were more important.
They had just about gotten to the end of the path when someone called, "Wait up." Kylie turned, and Ellie, with a bright smile, came running up to join them.
Ellie grinned and reached over as if to hug Della. The fast embrace knocked Ellie's cap off.
Della backed up. "I'm not a hugger, Ellie. Nothing personal. But most vampires aren't huggers either."
"I'll work on that." Ellie grinned and snagged her hat from the ground. "Della voted me into her circle. I'm officially a member of the Shadow Falls vampire family."
"Cool." Kylie was happy for Ellie, but somewhere deep inside, this stood as another reminder that she didn't belong to any group. Odd, how she'd helped Ellie do something that she couldn't seem to do for herself.
Della frowned. "It's nothing. Don't make a big deal of it."
"It is a big deal," Ellie said. "I was leaving today, but you guys changed my mind. Heck, you could have saved my life." She looked ahead and saw a couple of other vamps. "I need to run. But seriously, thank you!"
Della stared after her. "I still think she's way too touchy-feely."
Kylie watched Ellie run up and chat with the others. She wasn't sure why she believed Ellie was the vamp the death angels warned would die, but the tiniest bit of hope that she'd saved Ellie offered Kylie a shimmer of reprieve from her own troubles.
Or it did until about thirty minutes later, when Kylie saw the parents start to pour in. Everyone but her dad. Had he forgotten again?
Chapter Thirty
As the room filled with parents, Kylie really began to worry her dad was a no show. Her throat felt tight, her heart started breaking. Wanting to get away from the crowd, she escaped outside and went to sit on the office porch ... to wait. If he didn't show, it wouldn't matter, she told herself. It wasn't as if he hadn't let her down before.
So why did it hurt so much?
It wasn't until she got settled in her chair that she remembered she was still being shadowed. She wasn't supposed to leave the dining hall without Holiday.
She started to get back up when she heard, "Hello, Miss Galen."
The female voice startled her and she yelped.
She turned in the chair and found herself staring at Lucas's grandmother Mrs. Parker. The fact that Lucas's grandmother knew who she was was a surprise.
"I'm sorry, I didn't see you. You startled me," Kylie said, still holding her hand over her heart. "It must run in the family." She smiled. "Lucas is always sneaking up on me."
"It's a werewolf thing." She motioned to the chair. "Do you mind?"
"Of course not." Kylie leaned back in her chair and tried to appear relaxed. But she got the feeling that this wasn't just an accidental encounter. What could Lucas's grandmother want with her?
The woman sauntered across the porch. For someone who moved so slow, it surprised Kylie that she did it so silently and with an amazing amount of grace. She lowered herself into the chair, and even the wood didn't creak. She folded her aged hands in her lap, looking the epitome of propriety. She stared out for a few minutes, whether looking at the sky or the woods, Kylie didn't know.
The silence seemed awkward, but Kylie got the feeling it would be rude to rush her. For a second, she stared at the woman's hands, remembering the hands of the elderly woman who had come into the camp pretending to be her grandmother.
Mrs. Parker glanced at Kylie. "My grandson is quite smitten with you."
Smitten? Kylie didn't know people still used that word. But since the woman was well over a hundred, Kylie supposed it fit her vocabulary.
"Uh, I ... like Lucas, too."
She nodded and leaned in a bit. "He mentioned that you knew him when you two were young."
"Yes." The concerned look on the woman's face told Kylie what this might be about. Most supernaturals believed that a supernatural raised by rogue parents was unsalvageable-once a rogue, always a rogue. For that reason, Lucas had lied and stated he'd been raised by his grandmother all his life. "But I would never tell anyone that he lived with his parents."
"Good," she said. "He has high hopes of making something of himself. He is being considered in line to be a grand leader of the pack-to sit on the werewolf council-and this news could tarnish his reputation." She tightened her brows and studied Kylie's pattern and frowned.
"I'm sorry," Kylie said, assuming the woman's frown was about Kylie's unwillingness to let her see past her pattern. "I don't mean to be rude. I still don't know how to open up. I'm assuming Lucas explained my situation. That I'm not sure what I am."
"Yes. Lucas enlightened me on the matter." She continued to study Kylie. "Tell me, Miss Galen. Do you think you're werewolf?"
The question hung heavy in the air, reminding Kylie that Lucas had asked much the same question. Kylie's stomach knotted, and instantly she suspected what this conversation was really about. Obviously, his pack weren't the only ones wanting him to stay away from her. "I'm not sure."
Mrs. Parker smiled. "For your sake and my grandson's, I hope so."
"What do you mean?" Kylie asked, even though she suspected.
Leaning forward, she touched Kylie's shoulder. The touch was warm like Lucas's, and while Kylie wanted to pull back, she felt no animosity in the older woman's hand, nor did she see it in her eyes. There was only concern and love for her grandson. "The bloodline running in my grandson's veins is pure. His life mate will have to be one of his own kind."
"And if she's not?" Kylie asked.
"If she is part were, but shows loyalty to her heritage, they may overlook her lacking. But if she is not from our blood, then not only will he be forced to step down from his place, but the pack will no longer accept him as one of them. A were must never put another being who is not of our blood before he puts his own people."
"That sounds like racism," Kylie said.
The woman shrugged. "I cannot speak of what is right or wrong. I only speak of what is. Oddly enough, it is to correct a wrong that Lucas has fueled his long held desire to be a part of the council. Since Lucas was seven and came to live with me, he has been forced to lie to his own people and to the world about his upbringing. His goal has been to make it to that respected place and then change the views of our people about children born to rogues. He aches to show that the mistakes of the parents are not always passed down to the innocent child."
She rose from the chair as silently as she sat.