No, Dragos said, which was the strict truth.
He didn’t mention what Hugh had already told him about Liam’s two confrontations at recess. While Dragos planned on telling Pia everything, he still hadn’t figured out what to say about those incidents.
He was proud as hell of how his son had handled the bullies, and he was both surprised and intrigued at Liam’s newly emerged talent for breathing fire in his human form, but Dragos wasn’t sure that Pia would feel the same way. Sometimes family dynamics were an interesting puzzle.
He also planned on having Andrew and his family investigated. As Hugh pointed out, the boy might need counseling or even special schooling.
Dragos kept his cloaking spell tight around them until after he had landed and shapeshifted back into his human form. Taking Pia’s hand, they strode quickly into the school building and to the administrative offices.
The school secretary escorted them into the principal’s office. Inside, the principal, Doreen Chambers, waited with an older woman, and with Liam.
Dragos took in everything about the older woman at a glance. She was of mixed race, part human and part Dark Fae, and she wore a tight-lipped, self-righteous expression. He turned his attention to his son, who sat with such quiet dignity that it took Dragos a moment to realize Liam was trembling. He clutched his phone tightly in both hands and didn’t look at either the principal or the older woman.
A silent snarl built at the back of Dragos’s throat. As Pia rushed to Liam, Dragos rounded on the other two women. He said in a quiet, rigidly controlled voice, “Explain this.”
As the older woman had caught sight of him and Pia, her expression had changed. Clearly she recognized them. Instead of looking self-righteous, she started to look worried.
She should.
Doreen Chambers walked around her desk, hand outstretched to Dragos. She said, “Lord and Lady Cuelebre, this is Liam’s teacher, Elora Teaberry. I owe all of you a profound apology. You see, we have a policy that children aren’t allowed to have cell phones at school. . . . And with everything involved with the start of the school year, I simply forgot to tell Elora that we would make an exception in Liam’s case.”
Dragos ignored the principal’s outstretched hand. Instead, he focused on Liam’s teacher. Not only had her expression changed, but she was starting to smell nervous too.
On its own, that wouldn’t be enough to pique his interest, because people smelled nervous around him all the time. However, when he combined her nervousness with Liam’s upset, he didn’t like the picture that was starting to emerge.
Elora Teaberry’s chin came up. “Mr. and Mrs. Cuelebre,” she said stiffly. “Had I been told that your son would be in my class, things might have gone very differently. As it was, I insisted he give me his cell phone, and he growled and snapped at me. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that this is not acceptable or safe behavior—”
Tuning her out, Dragos turned to Pia and Liam. Whispering soft words of comfort, Pia squatted by Liam’s chair. His head lowered, Liam turned in his chair to lean toward her. Pia slipped an arm around him, cupped his shoulder and squeezed.
With an indrawn hiss and a grimace, Liam pulled away from her hug, and everything in the room changed drastically.
Frowning, Pia asked him sharply, “What’s the matter, sweetheart—are you hurt anywhere?”
Liam muttered, “Not really. It’s okay.”
Pia’s eyes flashed to Dragos. Shifting so that she crouched in front of Liam and blocked him from the rest of the room, she went silent. Liam looked at her, nodded then shook his head. They had gone telepathic. She eased the neckline of his shirt to one side to reveal bruises in the shape of fingermarks on one slim shoulder.
“Oh my God,” said the principal, blanching.
Dragos’s silent snarl turned audible. Pia whirled to face Elora Teaberry, her expression blazing with incredulous rage. “You put your hands on him. You shook him?”
The teacher’s nervousness turned to outright fear, and her gaze darted around the room. “Everything I did was in self-defense. Your son snarled at me—he acted like he would bite me. He had partially shapeshifted, and he had claws and teeth—”
Liam said in a clear, strong voice, “You’re a liar. You’re lying.”
Sliding out of his chair, he stood beside Pia’s crouching figure and put his arm around her. To Dragos’s eyes, it looked like a protective stance. Liam was guarding his mother.