Page 11 of Kian

She dropped some on the ground, which took the mother’s attention for a fraction of a second.

“Now, there is only one way to do this,” she said out loud as she slowly knelt by the baby’s side, holding out her hands so that it was clear to both animals where they were. “I’m going to have to untangle you. And you’ll have to cooperate.”

The little mammoth flailed a bit when her hands began slowly stroking his back. But he settled quickly.

Kian noticed with a flash of pride that Kinsley was stroking him in the same manner the mammoth couples had stroked each other’s backs.

He wondered if having her own baby with her was soothing the animals, as if they knew she was also a mother, and meant no harm.

Otherwise, he simply couldn’t imagine a scenario where the two would submit to her so calmly.

After a few moments, he could see that she was trying to see and feel exactly how the baby was trapped.

“Let’s have a look at your foot,” she said calmly, lifting it.

Kian almost gasped when he saw what was going on. The little mammoth’s foot had slid into one of the spaces between the ropes, and in the ensuing struggle, he had tightened it.

Getting him out would mean touching almost every inch of that net.

I’m not doing it,he told the dragon.

But he was already hopping out of the sled, and reaching for the sheath on his belt.

He took one step toward his mate.

The mother mammoth snorted and turned to him, her eyes gleaming with rage, and lowered her head to charge.

5

KINSLEY

Kinsley felt a blast of hot air from the mother mammoth’s snort and looked up from the tangled net.

Kian stood just out of the sled, his hand on the laser sword in its scabbard.

“Absolutely not,” she said to him crisply in her schoolteacher voice, hoping the frantic look in her eyes would convey what her tone could not, if she wanted to keep the baby calm. “You will get back in that sled and you won’t come out again unless I ask for your help.”

Behind her, she could sense the big mammoth shifting her weight.

To her intense relief, Kian did as he was told, though the expression on his face told her he was as surprised by his obedience as she was.

In Kinsley’s experience, it could be disastrous to order a man around, even when she was technically in charge, like at the school fundraisers. But it seemed the men with the lowest self-confidence were always the most trouble, and she didn’t think Kian was lacking in that department.

She turned her eyes back to the baby mammoth. Having taught finger-weaving to three-year-olds, she had a pretty good eye for tangles.

If her assessment was correct, she needed to lift one portion of the net from the baby’s head to loosen the section that had trapped his foot, and then the rest should fall away from him when he stood.

But to lift that portion, she would have to reach underneath him and handle his head and neck from the ground.

It would probably frighten him, and his mother certainly wouldn’t like it.

She racked her brain for ideas.

She was already running through her repertoire quickly. She was using her firm, bright teacher’s voice, which always helped calm and focus her kids. She had already deployed a snack.

There was only one surefire winner left, and she wasn’t sure it would work on a mammoth.

“Song time,” she told the little fellow.

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