Chapter 41
Valen POV
Valarian and Casey excitedly pull me down the halls of their run–down school. The floor alone is filthy with scuff marks, and I shiver with disgust, fighting the urge to start scrubbing the floor. The classrooms aren’t much better, the desks are falling apart as the chipboard flakes, some kids are even sitting on milk crates. I look around to ensure this is a school and not some homeless shelter.
Valarian shows me to his desk. His is definitely the cleanest one in the room. I watch as he removes a white table cloth from his bag and sets up his desk. His pencils sit neatly in a row as he places each one out carefully. However, Casey opens her pencil case and upends it on the table, and I see him cringe before he glares at her and starts rearranging her pencil in a straight line.
I didn’t want to touch a thing in here; this place is a bacterial infection waiting to happen when the teacher comes in. I have to do a double–take of the woman. She indeed had a poodle’s hair, like she chose the style out of a dog magazine. It was short and curly on top, and then a poof of hair cascaded to her shoulder, her round glasses perched on the end of her nose. She taps her ruler on the desk, trying to grab the students‘ attention when the ruler snaps, and she stares at it before tossing it over her shoulder. It landed in the bin, making me wonder how many rulers she had broken.
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“Oh, Alpha Valen, and why are you here?” She looks around nervously at the students like she thought I was somehow a danger to them.
“My son,” I tell her, pointing to Valarian, and she giggles. The sound was more like a hyena; damn, she was a strange lady. She waves me over, and I glance at Valarian, who rolls his eyes at her. I gave him a pointed look at his rudeness, but I now understood why he called her a poodle. I had to fight the urge to straighten her poofy hair as I walk over to her when I got a whiff of something that smelt strangely like weed, the kind you smoked. I sniff the air as I stop next to her.
“Are you high?” I whisper to her.
“You would be too if you had to teach this lot, want some, got a bit left.”
I blink at her, she just offered me drugs, I glance around the classroom wondering if I imagined it, surely she didn’t? What sort of school was this?
“Ah no, but I, my son, and Casey will be leaving now,” I tell her, motioning for both kids to come with me. Valarian starts picking up his stuff off his desk when the woman taps my shoulder with her finger. Which makes me glance at her.
“I’m sorry, sir, but you are not on either of their contact lists, I cannot allow you to take those children,”
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“He is my son, and I brought Casey here,” I tell her.
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“Unless you are on the documentation, I cannot allow you to remove them from class, and as far as I know, Valarian has no father. Everly Summers never mentioned you being his father; he is a rogue, sir and you cannot just come into a school and claim a child as your own. We have rules and regulations.”
Rules, I wondered briefly what their practices were on drugs and teachers offering parents to get high. This woman is getting on my damn nerves; not only is she high as a kite, but she also looked ridiculous and was unfit to be teaching primary age children or anyone for that matter.
“Valarian, Casey, grab your stuff,” I tell them. The entire class watches on as Mrs. whatever her name frantically steps in their way as they move to the front of the classroom.
“Sir, I am sorry, but I can’t allow you to take them,” she screeches.
Ignoring her, I reach over and grab Valarian’s hand, tugging him gently over to me when her hand falls on my arm. The growl that tears out of me makes her quickly step back away from me.
“Touch me again, and you will find yourself out there with the forsaken,” I grit out, and she gasps. Casey rushes over to me, stepping beside Valarian and I turn on my heel leaving the classroom. This was unacceptable, and I couldn’t believe Everly would allow our son to be taught here by a high
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woman. What was she thinking?
“Where are we going, dad?” Valarian asks.
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“Anywhere but here,” I tell him stalking off down the hall. I slow my steps when I see both kids struggling to keep up with my long strides.
“Aw, and today is the show and tell; I brought Mr. Scruffy,” Casey whines.
“You show Mr. Scruffy every week, Casey,” Valarian tells her.
એક પ્રતિતિ ક કાર્ય ને આગળ અને પાલકન એપલ નાનો થયો પ
“I do not,” she pouts.
“You do too.”
“Na.”
“Aha, you do, every show and tell,” Valarian and her bicker on the way to the car.
“You can do a show and tell at home. Marcus will love to hear about Mr. Scruffy,” I tell her, needing them to stop arguing while I thought of what to do about this entire schooling situation. When my phone rings, I stop just outside the school’s entrance and pull it from my pocket. Everly’s name pops up on the screen, so I answer it.
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“Why has the school rung me to say you have kidnapped Valarian and Casey?”
“I have done no such thing. Technically I am still on school property,” I tell her.
“Valarian’s teacher just rang me, Valen. Where is my son?”
“Beside me, with Casey. Do you know his teacher is a stoner?” I whisper the last part through gritted teeth. She falls quiet for a second before I hear her sigh.
“Yes, most are, a lot of the teachers there are from the rogue commune. What do you expect?”
“It is unacceptable.”
“Well, I have not got time for this. I am in a meeting with….ah… with someone,”
“That’s fine, I will watch them. I am not leaving them with her.”
“No, Valen, they need to be in school, and I am supposed to pick up Taylor today.”
“And who is this Taylor?” I demand. If she has a boyfriend, he will be very much a dead one.
“Huh, Macey’s daughter, it’s my turn to pick them up today.”
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I sigh, looking back at the school before heading back into the corridor. I stop and look at all the open classrooms before glancing down at Casey and Valarian.
“You know which one is Taylor’s class?”
“Valen, you can’t just kidnap other people’s kids,” Everly screeches through the phone at me.
“I’m not. Get Zoe and Macey to ring and give me permission to take them. You have five minutes,” I tell her, hanging up.
“Taylor was in our class, dad,” Valarian tells me. Great, I start off walking back to the classroom to see his incompetent teacher.
Pushing the door open, the teacher jumps before a smug smile splits onto her face.
“I see you come to your senses before I had to ring the authorities,” she says.
“Yes, I have. Which one of you is Taylor?” I ask, and a little girl at the back raises her arm in a cast.
“Psst, Taylor, we going with my dad, we breaking out of here,” Valarian tells her, and her eyes dart to the teacher. Oh, right, stranger danger, I think. Shit, I would technically be
kidnapping that one when the teacher’s phone suddenly
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rings. She answers while getting between the rest of the class and me. Like her tiny, withered frame would stop me.
“Hello, Ms. Summers.”
I tap my foot impatiently, listening when her eyes dart to me before she looks at Taylor and shakes her head.
“Ms. Summers, I can’t allow him to take her.”
“Oh, oh right, well put Ms. Aldrene on then.” The teacher chats to whoever she was handed over to when the teacher suddenly holds the phone out to me. I raise an eyebrow at her.
“Ms. Aldrene wants to speak with you,” I take the phone from her grip and place it to my ear.
“Hello?”
“Are you seriously kidnapping our kids?”
“Not kidnapping, babysitting, this is not a school,” I tell her.
“Well, if you don’t like the schooling Mr. Solace do something about it. It is the only school here for rogue children, but I swear to God you try to take my daughter out of this city; you won’t need to fear the forsaken. Alpha or not, I will skin you alive and put you on ants‘ nest.”
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“Are you finished?” I ask her.
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“Yes, I trust Everly and Zoe’s judgment of you. Now put Taylor on. She will not go with a stranger, Macey tells me, and I walk over to the girl and pass her the phone. She talks to her mother for a second before grabbing her school bag, and she nervously hands the phone to her teacher when Casey grabs her hand. We leave the school, and I put the kids in the car before jumping in the driver’s seat. I look in the mirror at the three kids. Now, what do I do?
“Where are we going, Mr. Valarian’s dad,” Taylor asks, and my eyes dart to her in the rearview mirror. I think for a second, I have never babysat a child in my life.
“What about the movies?”
“We can’t go there.”
“Why not?” I ask them.
“Because we are rogue, it isn’t in the rogue areas,” Casey says, playing with her Mr. Scruffy dog that was missing an ear and
an eye.
“Well, today you can because you are with me, but first I need to ring Uncle Marcus,” I tell them, pulling my phone from my pocket and dialing his number. I listen to it ring.
“We have until 12:30, plenty of time to watch a movie before I
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have to pick up your mother,” I tell Valarian.
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“Can we watch the new Trolls movie? I saw an ad last night for it,” Casey chirps excitedly.
“Ooh yes, I want to watch trolls,” Taylor says.
“Trolls suck,” Valarian says.
“Majority rules. We will watch these trolls, whatever it is,” I tell
him.
“Marcus,” I say when he answers.
“Yep, what’s up?”
“We are going to the movies.”
“You’re not my type.”
“It’s not a date fool.”
“Are you saying I am not dating material,” Marcus says.
“You are babysitting material.”
“Ah. Fine, but you’re paying for our non–date, and I want a snow cone. What are we going to see?”
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“Apparently Trolls.”
“Never heard of it, horror?”
“Ah.”
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“I glance at the kids in the back. “What are the trolls?” I ask them.
“These ugly monster things they love,” Valarian answers folding his arms across his chest and pouting.
“I think it is an action movie, fitting maybe trolls under a bridge or something,” I tell him.
“Ah, fine, and why are we going to the movies?”
“I need help babysitting,” I tell him.
“You need help to babysit YOUR son?” he asks.
“No, I have acquired two extras for the day.”
“Everly has more than one kid?”
“I will explain when I see you. Just meet me at the cinema,” I tell him before hanging up and starting my car.
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Chapter 42
