Broken (Otherworld 6)

After a moment of silence, Clay looked around the almost empty cafeteria. "I don't see--oh, there she is."

I smiled. "Don't sound so thrilled."

"I don't know why she needed to do this in person." He looked over at me. "No, I do know. I just wish she could have saved us the bother."

I performed introductions.

"My, my," Zoe said, checking out Nick. "You boys don't come in ugly, do you? It's a good thing I wasn't born a werewolf, or I might have had some serious conflict."

Nick grinned, that easy grin of his that makes women's stomachs flip, and the most blatant come-on sound almost sweet. "If you do start feeling conflicted, I can help."

"Oh, I bet you can," she said with a lilting laugh. She laid a hand on Nick's arm. "I appreciate the offer, but I worked it out long ago." She flashed a smile my way. "I'm willing to extend the same offer to anyone who hasn't."

I touched my belly. "I think I've worked it out too."

Zoe started to respond, but was cut short.

"Dr. Danvers," a voice called from halfway across the cafeteria.

Clay didn't turn. Maybe he was intentionally ignoring the hail. More likely, he was so unaccustomed to the form of address that he didn't recognize it.

A heavyset young man appeared at our table, smiling at Clay, his hand extended. Clay hesitated--he hates physical contact with outsiders--but the pause lasted only a second before he took the student's hand in a firm, if brief, shake.

"Are you teaching next term?" the young man asked. "I didn't see your name on the schedule."

"Just visiting."

"Damn. I didn't get a chance to tell you how much I enjoyed your lectures. That's exactly what I'm interested in, and I've read all your--" He stopped, flushed, then laughed. "Sorry. Academic fan boys--what geeks, huh? Anyway, I wanted to thank you for the comments you made on my paper. I really appreciated the encouragement."

Clay's gaze slid my way. I only smiled.

"Oh, and it's Mrs. Danvers, right? I remember you from class." He looked down at my stomach. "Don't remember that, though. Congratulations."

"Thanks," I said. "And I read your paper too. It was great. Clayton will have some competition in a few years."

The young man blushed again, thanked us, then hurried off after imparting a warning to be careful. "Not a good time to visit Toronto," he said. "Weird things happening."

When he was gone, Clay looked at me.

"Comments on his paper?" he said.

"You said it was very good. Damn good, and he shows a lot of promise. So I wrote it down--without the damn."

"I gave him an A. That's not enough?"

"Comments help."

"Comments won't get him into grad school."

"Hard-ass."

Zoe had followed our volleys with a half-open mouth. When we stopped, she said, "Doctor? Please tell me he was kidding."

"He was kidding," Clay said. "Now, you called us here--"

"You're a professor? In...what?"

"Phys ed. You called us here--"