Damien and I had just stepped out of our car and into the school entrance to pick up our daughter when Riley’s teacher suddenly stopped us and brought us into the school office.

Now we were all sitting in front of the principal.

Riley was staring daggers at the poor old human man and I almost felt bad but there was a deep protectiveness within me that wanted to know what he did to make her mad.

“Mister and… Mister Sawyer, I’m glad you’ve taken the time to speak to me today.”

If Damien wasn’t already on the defense he was now after the obvious intentional pause between Misters.

“What’s this about?” Damien nearly growled.

Principal White shifted uncomfortably in his seat, “Well your daughter decided it’d be a good idea to disrupt class and start drawing all over the whiteboard and causing a ruckus. She ignored her teacher when he told her multiple times to go back to her seat.”

“I wasn’t causing a ruckus! I was teaching all the kids about vitiligo! My teacher was doing icebreakers and we had to do fun facts about ourselves!” Riley argued.

“You still ignored your teacher when he told you to sit down.”

“That’s because he never gave me a turn! I was trying to tell him but he said he didn’t!”

The principal took his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Miss Riley, you’ll be getting detention for disrespecting your teacher and disrupting his class-“

I was pissed.

“So, am I right to assume that every child in Riley’s class today was getting a chance to say some fun facts about themselves and the teacher had accidentally skipped Riley’s turn?” I asked innocent curiosity.

“Yes that-“

“Well, I’d be pretty upset if someone didn’t give me a chance to speak. Wouldn’t you Mr. White?” I smiled.

“Well-“

“Oh but if I was hearing everything correctly, Riley had said something to the teacher about her turn being skipped but,” I tilted my head, “the teacher ignored her, is that right?”

“That still doesn’t make it right that she disrespected her teacher, Mr. Sawyer,” Principal White spoke quickly like he was afraid of being interrupted again.

“Of course. But even I would get a little frustrated if someone wasn’t listening to me. And I’m an adult who knows how to handle my emotions. It must have been very overwhelming for my child to be getting blatantly ignored when she was excited to tell all the kids a fun fact about herself. I’m sorry, I just don’t see why my daughter is getting detention for having normal emotions and reactions.”

Principal White seemed annoyed now, “Listen Mr. Sawyer that doesn’t disregard-“

“Ah, I apologize Mr. White. I just checked the time and it seems I’m running late for an appointment. Let me give you my card and we can talk more on the phone,” I pulled one of my business cards out of my wallet and handed it to him. He scanned its contents and his eyes seemed to widen in recognition.

“Honey Pot Books…”

“Oh? Do you recognize the name? I believe my store donated a large sum of books to this school.”

“Yes…”

“I’m so happy I got to work together with the school to set up their own library here. I believe I’ll be helping out with the Annual Book Fair next week right?”

Principal White cleared his throat and smiled, “Ah yes. Yes! It’s nice to finally meet the owner. I don’t want to take up any more of your time so I’ll tell you what, I’ll just leave Riley with a warning and we can move on from this little misunderstanding. Sound good?”

“That sounds great Mr. White! I’ll see you next week. Let’s go, Riley. Papa said he’d treat us to that fancy steak place tonight.”

“I said no such thing,” Damien sputtered.

“It doesn’t matter. You do anything Daddy says anyway,” Riley chimed.

I laughed and winked at Damien.

As soon as we were out of the office Riley’s little mini wolf pack bombarded her with questions. Some just skipped the questioning and started saying the foulest things about the principal. 

As a human who was thrust into this supernatural world, I’ll never understand how the pack dynamics work. Obviously, these young werewolves can sense that Riley’s their future alpha after Damien and so they naturally gravitate towards her and are instinctually protective of her. I’ll just never understand how they’re just born knowing these things.

Damien leaned toward me, “You sneaky little demon. I saw what you were doing back there.”

I smiled, “no clue what you’re talking about.”

“Alright guys, I have to go. My Papa is taking me to get steak.”

Damien sighed and huffed out a small laugh as he shook his head, “Between the two of you, I’ll be broke soon.”

Riley beamed up at him, “I love you, Papa!”

Damien let out an agonized sound turned to me and asked, “What’s the word for the opposite of yes again?”

I shrugged my shoulders, grabbed a hold of my daughter and husband’s hands, and walked them to the parking lot.