Werewolf single dad, p.20
Werewolf Single Dad, page 20
After some consideration, I decided to give Dayzee, the Alpha-in-standing who was currently living there, a call.
I’d saved his number onto my phone when I went back into Trent’s study to fill out the WereCare enrolment form, and after a few rings, I heard my future pack member pick up.
“Ayo?” a disgruntled male voice answered the phone, and I could immediately tell this was someone who was trying to come across as tough.
“Hey, is this Dayzee?” I asked, though of course I already knew it was.
“Depends. Who’s this?”
“My name is Mike--”
“Who?”
“Mike. I had a meeting with Grace yesterday about taking over your patch as the new Alpha…?”
“Ohhh!” Dayzee’s guard suddenly dropped. “Mike! What’s up, man? Yeah, yeah, Grace gave me a call last night and told me she’d spoken to you, my mind went blank for a second there. So, you’re gonna come take over Fernview as the Alpha instead of me?”
“I’d like to,” I said as I weaved my way through the crowded streets. “I don’t know what Grace told you, but I just thought I’d speak to you first so we can get an idea of how this is going to work. I’ve got a few stipulations before I agree to do this.”
“Sure, sure!” Dayzee said. “Grace mentioned you had some things you’d want to talk about, but she said you’d probably be in touch. What did you want to go over?”
“Well…” I said. “When I spoke to Grace yesterday, I mentioned my past with packlife and how I was through with all that, and she said I only needed to be an Alpha in name alone. So, I just want to set our expectations up right here. I’m not looking to run a pack. I’m letting you and the others say you’re in my pack, but I’m going to be living more of a lone wolf lifestyle. Do you understand?”
“Ah… Y-Yeah, man, that’s cool, I get you.” There was a little bit of nervousness in Dayzee’s voice. “I mean, are you sure, though? You don’t even want to call a pack meeting and meet everyone? They’re good guys. Won’t give you any trouble. Or if you don’t want to do that, maybe we could make a group chat just so we’ve all got each other’s deets? You know, for just in case we did need to all get in touch.”
“A group chat full of werewolves is the last thing I want to get involved with again,” I chuckled. “Look, from what I know about how things work around here, if you say you’re in a pack, then you’re left pretty well alone, and by having me as your scapegoat, you’re not likely to be attacked by an Alpha anyway. So, you can say you’re with me, and you’ll be left alone, then I’ll be left alone. Does that sound good to you?”
“S-Sure, Mike.” Dayzee sounded flustered. “If that’s what you think is best. But things do get dangerous out there. In fact--”
“Such is the nature of our kind,” I interrupted. “Look, you can use my name to get yourself out of trouble, but I don’t want to give you the expectation that I’ll be there to come running at the first sign of trouble. The way I see it, this is a perfectly mutually beneficial understanding. Do you understand?”
“Y-Yeah, I understand,” Dayzee said with just the hint of deflation in his voice. “Alright, man.”
“Great,” I said. “I’ll call Grace later and let her know we chatted. I’m pretty sold on this deal, but I think it would be good to talk with her one last time before I sign anything in blood, so to speak.”
“Alright, man,” Dayzee said. “Well, thanks for calling.”
“No problem, Dayzee,” I replied. “You take care now.”
I felt a bit bad about coming across so harshly with Dayzee, but I was concrete on my feelings toward this whole arrangement, and I didn’t want to waste either of our time by staying to chew the fat on the matter.
I’d planned to call Grace immediately after I got off the phone with Dayzee, but as I’d walked and talked, I didn’t realize how close I was to almost being back at the preschool.
There was a little bit of a spring in my step as I touched back down on neutral earth, and a combined sense of giddy accomplishment and relief fell over me.
I walked back to my parked van with Charlie in his stroller, and I caught Whitney and the other teachers with the preschoolers just as they were leaving the classroom to walk into the woods on their way to the frog pond.
I was going to try and approach the teacher calmly, but Dionne saw me and squealed with delight before she ran up to me and grabbed hold of my hand in a surprisingly vise-like grip.
“D’ya wanna see the frogs, Daddy?” Dionne asked in an extremely loud voice.
“Ah, baby, I’d love to, but I don’t know if daddies are allowed.” I shot a glance at Whitney, who was smiling at me from the threshold of the white building. “Maybe this is something you and your school friends can do, and you and Archie can tell me and Uncle Tent all about it tonight at home. Why don’t I wait in the car with Charlie?”
“Nuuuu, Daddyyyyy,” Dionne grumbled as she pulled me toward the group of children.
“Hey, I can’t just gatecrash your pond party,” I laughed. “Whitney, help me out here!”
“That’s right, Dionne,” Whitney said as she walked toward us. “Your Daddy will need a staff member to tell him he’s allowed to join our group, we can’t just let anyone see the frog pond.”
“Well, can’t you tell him?” Dionne asked, and Whitney and I both let out a small shocked laugh.
“I suppose I can.” Whitney smiled and then looked at me wryly. “I’ve got Daddy’s name and details as your parent on file, after all. Though, he’ll have to wear a visitor’s badge.”
“Woohoo!” Dionne cheered.
Whitney laughed and walked back into the classroom, and she came out with a lanyard with a visitor’s pass attached to a clip at the end.
Though I was extremely conflicted about it, being a father, I couldn’t deny that hearing Whitney call me ‘Daddy’ awoke a strange, tingling feeling inside of me.
“Wear this, and behave,” the blonde beauty said as she handed me the lanyard. “Make sure you listen to the adults.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said as I put the pass around my neck. “Please, lead on Miss Whitney. It is Miss, isn’t it?”
“It is.” Whitney couldn’t help but blush, and she turned around to lead the children through the woods. “Okay, kids. Make sure you all have a partner, and you hold their hands through the woods. Remember to stay behind a staff member for the whole of the walk. Judi is our walk leader today, because she’s holding the leader’s stick, okay? So follow Judi, and make sure you keep holding each other’s hands.”
As Judi led the trail of children with the brightly painted leader’s stick in hand, and Sarah, the staff member from the morning, walked in the middle of the line, Whitney and I rounded up the back.
Part of me kept trying to summon the courage to make a comment to Whitney along the lines of “We’re walking in a pair, doesn’t that mean we should hold hands?” but I just couldn’t make it feel appropriate, and there was still a lingering guilt about the fact I was even fantasizing about flirting with another woman so soon after losing Katherine.
Plus, pushing Charlie’s stroller with one hand over the bumpy terrain of the woods while holding Whitney’s hand in the other would surely have led to at least one of us ending this walk with a faceful of dirt.
So, I didn’t make the comment, and I didn’t hold Whitney’s hand, but I did remember that I’d bought her the cardigan, and I managed to stop Whitney walking for one second while I fished out the paper shopping bag from underneath the stroller.
“Oh, my goodness!” Whitney gasped as I held the bag out to her. “What’s this? Did you get me a present?”
“Yeah.” I smiled and shrugged lightly, like I hadn’t been planning this from the moment Whitney mentioned it being cold. “You said you were worried about getting cold earlier, and I dunno, I just saw this and thought of you.”
“Oh, Mike.” Whitney pulled the white cardigan from the bag and smiled that Hollywood smile at me. “It’s so, so beautiful.”
“Aw, well, I’m glad you like it!”
“I love it.” The teacher put the cardigan on right away, and she lifted the bottom to check out the wooly knitted flower bed. “Oh, how cute are these?”
“I’m glad you like it,” I said, and I was surprised to find I was feeling a little bit sheepish now. “I just thought it suited your style. It’s cute and fun. Plus… a flower garden for ‘Whitbee.’”
“I take it Dionne’s been talking about me at home?” Whitney asked with a smile. “It’s so cute that she calls me that.”
“She doesn’t stop.” I grinned. “You’re a hot topic in our house, Miss Whitbee.”
Whitney giggled as the apples of her cheeks flushed cherry-red, and she put her head down to gather her composure and wait for her adorable overwhelmedness to pass.
The remainder of the walk to the frog pond was spent chatting and joking, and this time, we were definitely flirting.
When the parade line of kids dispersed as we reached our algae-infested destination, several of them came up to Whitney and marveled at the knitted ‘fwowers.’
When a little boy asked if Whitney bought it, the schoolteacher replied that a very important new friend in her life had given it to her as a present, and my heart beat heavily in my chest.
We spent a lovely hour or so watching the children observing the tadpoles gliding in the pond and guessing how many days left they had until they would become frogs.
The answers were astonishingly varied, it was anywhere between ‘Tuesday’ and ‘Eleventy billion,’ and I couldn’t help but laugh when one kid didn’t understand the evolutionary process of frogs to tadpole and boldly answered ‘Or maybe they will be sheep?’
From the mouths of babes.
Somewhere along the way, a few of the children, Dionne included, had gotten confused and thought they’d be allowed to get in the frog pond and swim with the tadpoles. There were a few tears and harsh realities learned that day when Judi, Whitney, and Sarah had to explain over and over again why that wouldn’t be a good idea, for the children or the tadpoles.
The crestfallen children counted as many tadpoles as they could and drew pictures of their growth on their tadpole charts, and they grew a little brighter.
When the kids were told it was time to go back to the classroom and that there’d be cookies there, the heartbreak of a denied swim with the fishies wasn’t even a blip on their radars anymore.
We formed our merry marching band, and we all walked back to the classroom.
I declined Dionne’s invitation to come in for a cookie, because Charlie was starting to gurgle for food, and it was such a sunny day, I was happy getting some fresh air and feeding him outside.
Whitney got me a plastic baby spoon from the daycare and took the stroller back, and I put Charlie in his car seat and sat with him on the grass to feed him his lunch of salmon paste from the jar.
And when I tell you that little wolf-boy devoured it…
I’d never seen my baby look so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
I chuckled as Charlie gurgled loudly and happily. It was like he was trying to express his opinion at how awesome his first taste of fish was, but just didn’t have the words to do so yet.
I carried on feeding my baby, and soon enough it was just about time for the kids to go home.
As werewolf parents pulled up in their cars at the top of the woodland path, I was hit by a wall of Beta scents, each similar enough to the other, but just that bit unique for every pairing.
I decided I still didn’t want it to be known I was the Alpha daddy, so I took Charlie back down the path to the frog pond, and I waited within earshot of the class.
I heard the odd whisper about an Alpha in the area, but for the most part, everyone seemed totally nonplussed by my presence. Again, I guessed Alphas had lives to lead and children to put into preschool, too.
I sent Trent and Whitney both a short text asking them to wait up for me and telling them I’d just gone back toward the frog pond to wait until the crowd had cleared.
After a while, I heard Dionne and Trent talking loudly together, and I heard my name being repeated by Trent a few times, so I knew he’d gotten my message and was keeping Dionne entertained for me.
When the scent of the Beta parents seemed to have dispersed enough, I made my way back up the path to join my small gang.
“Daddy!” Dionne ran up to me with an upset look on her face. “Where did you go?”
“I went back to see the frog pond!” I said. “I just couldn’t believe some of those tadpoles, and I had to see it again.”
“As long as you know you’re not allowed to swim in the pond,” Whitney said with a faux warning tone to her voice.
“Yeah!” Dionne laughed. “Daddy’s not allowed to swim in the pond.”
“Aw, man, just a little paddle?” I pouted.
“No!” Archie and Dionne shouted together and began laughing and jumping up and down.
“Hey, Archie!” I said with a smile. “I haven’t met you properly yet! I’m Dionne’s daddy. I was at your house last night watching the dinosaur movie, but then I had to go quickly. How are ya?”
“Oh, yeah, the din’saurs,” Archie said as he thought back to the movie. “I didn want the baby din’saur to, to lose his family when the big rock came f-from the sky.”
“Oh, yeah, that was a scary part, wasn’t it?” I said. “But it’s okay, he found his family in the end didn’t he?”
“Uh-huh.” Archie nodded.
Archie didn’t seem to be quite the talented conversationalist that Dionne was, but he was a sweet kid all the same.
Whitney sent Judi and Sarah home, and her, me, and Trent carried on chatting in the small parking lot while Dionne and Archie had their own little happy conversation and did dinosaur roars at each other from behind the trees.
A little way into our conversation, Whitney, Trent, and I became distracted as a strong smell gathered in the air.
I knew what the smell was instantly, and by the looks on Trent’s and Whitney’s faces, I knew they had recognized it, too.
There was another Alpha approaching us.
Chapter 12
When I turned around, I saw a tall, buff guy with dark eyes, black hair, and a black beard walking slowly onto the grounds of the preschool. He had a deep scar on the back of his right hand, and he kinda reminded me of Bluto from Popeye.
This was the first time I’d encountered another Alpha since fighting Silas and Orville, and I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of inherent rage rising inside of me.
At first, I tried to keep myself level-headed, because I knew Alphas could be a little more tolerant to one another in the city, and I didn’t yet know what this guy’s intentions were.
But I could soon tell by the stern look on his face and the hostile pheromones that were flying from his body that this guy wasn’t approaching us to have a friendly conversation.
“Hello, can I help you?” Whitney asked in a loud voice, but she sounded cautious.
“I’m the Alpha round here,” Bluto said as he pointed a thick finger at me. “You’re on my turf.”
The blood inside me turned into molten lava, and my instincts wanted to propel me ten feet through the air to lunge at this guy right then and there, but I couldn’t be the one to throw the first stone. Not in a neutral zone while I was on yellow alert from AWOO.
I had never had to control my fighting instinct like this before, and it was overwhelming.
I focused all my energy on staying as calm as I could, but I made sure to shoot this asshole a look that would kill him if it could.
“This is neutral ground, it’s not your territory,” Whitney said loudly. “I’m on duty here, if you’re coming for a fight, then I’ll report you to AWOO immediately for causing a disturbance.”
“I run the territory that neighbors this space, and this guy has been stinking up my patch all day,” the man snarled as he glared at me. “I’ve been warned about this new Alpha in town. Well, I ain’t scared of ya. I have to protect my patch and my pack.”
“What patch are you talking about-- Oh, shit!” A flash of furious realization fell on Trent’s brow. “You mean that tiny ten foot square public memorial garden? Get the fuck outta here!”
“Trent!” Whitney hissed through her teeth and nodded her head toward the children who were now watching.
“Sorry, Whit, but this guy’s nuts,” Trent scoffed. “Are you really starting a turf war over a tiny patch of grass and a duck pond?”
“The size of my territory doesn’t matter,” Bluto growled. “I’m still going to fight for it.”
“Take the kids inside, Whitney,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’ll take care of this.”
“O-Okay, Mike. Be careful. I’ll report this right away.” Whitney ran to the children and ushered them inside.
“You go, too, Trent,” I said without taking my eyes off my opponent. “This guy’s clearly got beef with only me, and as the new Alpha in town, I need to fight my own battles.”
“You sure, man?” Trent asked.
“Yes.” I held Charlie’s car seat out for Trent to take him inside. “Go and look after the kids with Whitney.”
Trent took Charlie inside, and then it was just me and Bluto left standing on the neutral ground outside the preschool.
I wasn’t sure who had ‘warned’ this guy about me, or why he was taking me to be such a threat. But I was being goaded into a battle for dominance, so of course my instincts to fight were already bursting at the seams, and I didn’t really have the mental capacity at that moment to decipher the ramblings of a madman.
“So, where are we taking this then?” I growled
“I’ll bring you to my patch,” Bluto said as he puffed out his chest. “Since you’ve been hanging around here waiting for a good chance to take it, I might as well invite you over and let you see the place before I shut your lights out.”
“I can assure you I don’t want your shitty patch,” I growled. “Now, I just want to beat the crap out of you for coming here and threatening me in front of my kids.”
