Mark's Prodigy

Chapter Two

Liam

"Uncle Lee, can I go play with my friends?" Emmy tugs on the bottom of my shirt while I finish making her a snow cone.

"What about your snow cone?"

She shrugs her shoulders. "I'll eat one later. You can eat that. PLEASEEEE, can I go? I'll stay right over there where you can see me."

I let out a sigh. "Fine, but you stay right there."

"Okay!" I watched my niece skip off to go play with the other little kids. Her braids bounce as she moves along. Only to be that young again...

I take a bite of the snow cone and have to choke it down. Emmy wanted a rainbow one, so all the flavors were used and they didn't taste wonderful once they had all been mixed together. I have spent most of the summer here at school, helping to get things ready for the school year. We had a few teachers leave at the end of the year and they needed extra hands to get all the classrooms ready for the children. Once we completed that, they then convinced me to help with the planning for today. A back-to-school festival. The kids get to come and meet their teachers. They get to play with the other children. The teachers that left weren't exactly happy that the proposal for a divided school didn't pass a vote by the board. The board consists of Uncle Theo, my father, Greyson, River, Noah, Uncle Todd and myself. The teachers that left were werewolves. They felt that Blood Moon should have their own school on our territory. Instead, for the last hundreds of years, we have been sharing a school with the locals of the town. It consists of werewolves and humans. I understand their point of thinking that kids need to have their own school. Have some place where they enjoy who they are without hiding it. On the other hand, we turned down the proposal for two simple reasons. First, don't try to fix something that isn't broken. And secondly, these kids are going to have to grow up and learn how to hide their powers from humans anyway. We will never be able to show our true identity to them or else we could risk exposing ourselves to a race that completely over powers ours. These kids might as well learn at a young age how to conceal it and, well, at the end of the day...practice makes perfect. It just made more sense to keep things the way that they were.

"So Mr. Grolle, have you given any more thought to our proposal?" I was so interested in watching Emmy that I didn't see Principal Dean approach me and it startled the heck out of me. "Ope, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to give you a fright!" He laughed, amused by his sneak attack.

"A fright? Your lucky I didn't go full on karate kid on your ass, Dean." More like he's lucky I didn't grow canines and snap his neck. What the human doesn't know won't kill him though.

Principal Dean barked out another huge laugh. "See, that is why it would be nice to have you around. You're hilarious, kid." He bumps my shoulder. "In all seriousness, school starts next week. Have you decided yet?" I watched Emmy laugh with her friends and they take off running for the slide. Knowing that she would be occupied there for a few minutes, I decided I could turn my attention to Dean now.

"Actually, I-" My eyes bugged out of my head and I was hit with the most delicious smell of strawberries. A glimpse of long black hair caught my attention. The long black hair, against her creamy white skin, is absolutely breathtaking. The mystery woman is just a tiny little thing...she looks like she is barely even five feet tall. She is wearing a pair of dark washed jeans with a red t-shirt. She is bent over talking to a little boy it looks like. I watch as she tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear and then her gaze turns in my direction. When her eyes meet mine, I swear my heart stops beating. Her big dough eyes have me stuck in a trance. This woman is unbelievably gorgeous. A little voice inside me speaks out loud. 'Mate.' I swallow hard. This is the moment I 've been waiting for my entire life and here it is and I'm frozen like a damn i***t that got his tongue stuck to a frozen pole. I watch her, waiting for the moment that her wolf recognizes mine...except it doesn't come. She looked almost shocked for a moment, then again, maybe I imagined it. I'm not sure, I have so many emotions and things running through my body right now. I don't know what's real and what's not. Some how and some way I finally got my voice again. "Dean, who is she?" I asked him, but I didn't take my eyes off of her until she quickly looked away and took off in the other direction. That's okay, I have her scent...I'd be able to track her down now if I had to.

"Who?" He looks around and then follows my line of sight. "Oh, Ms. Hill? She is one of the new teachers that we just hired." Interesting...so, she is working here? I wonder if she belongs to our pack and I missed her initiation. Although I'm sure I would have been summoned. Maybe she hasn't officially moved or she lives in a near by pack. "She just moved into town. Actually, she moved into my mother's old home. We decided to rent it out the week I offered Maggie the position."

'Maggie' my wolf and I say at the same time. Testing the name out at the same time. A pretty name for a pretty girl. Wait... "She lives in town?" With the humans?

"Yeah, It's a cute little place, it was like she fell in love with it immediately. Honestly, it was a relief off my back, now I don't have to worry about renting it to some wild youngsters that end up trashing it." I stopped listening to him the moment he confirmed my worst nightmare. Of course she didn't recognize me as her mate...She's a human...right? I mean, what are the chances? Does the Moon Goddess hate me that much for doing something like this to me? To play another dirty game with our family? Our kind doesn't interact with humans on a daily basis. We don't mate with them, and we don't bring them into our lifestyle. I honestly don't know if any werewolf has ever been in this position. I know this is a terrible position to be in and I should probably decline Dean's offer, just as I was going to before I spotted her. Maggie Hill.

"I accept your offer."

"What?"

'I said I accepted your offer. I'll come help out at the school. I won't be able to be here constantly but I will do what I can and when I can. We can work out all the fine details later." I rushed out to him as I started to head toward the playground to grab Emmy.

"Sounds good, Liam. I'll see you Tuesday!" I gave him a curt nod before sprinting to the slide where Emmy was with all her friends giggling away. I couldn't help the smile that spread over my face as I approached, even given my current situation. Goddess, what is my situation even? I mind linked my father really quickly. 'Hey Dad, Can you meet me at the border and take Emmy home? I have something I need to do before the party.'

His response was quick. 'Sure thing kid. Your Uncle Theo and I will be right there.'

I walked up behind Emmy and lifted her off her feet to throw her over my shoulder.

"Uncle Lee! Put me down, you silly goose!"

"No can do. You have a party to prepare for." I tickled her sides before I moved her to cradle her in my arms. I whispered in her ear. "I linked Paw Paw GG and he is going to meet us at the border to take you back."

She nodded her head and then began to tell me about all the fun she had playing with her friends. She asked me about the taste-bud killer snow cone she made and how delicious it was...of course, like the amazing uncle I am- I lied right through my sugar-coated teeth and told her it was amazing.