Chapter 15


    Chapter 15: The Game


    Edrick


    Moana and I both shot each other a somewhat annoyed nce as E decided, against our wills, to


    volunteer us to participate in the game as her parents. I didn’t know how to exin to the staff member


    standing in front of us that Moana was just E’s au pair, not her mother — and we were certainly not


    married, nor would we ever be.


    The teenage staff member looked back and forth between Moana and I with a somewhat disbelieving


    expression on her face. I knew she could tell that Moana was human and I was a werewolf, but


    thankfully she didn’t say anything.


    “Right this way,” the girl said, stepping out of the way and gesturing toward the center of the park where


    a group of parents and children had gathered in front of a gazebo with a small stage.


    Moana and I followed reluctantly, E tugging on our hands with even more excitement than she had all


    day, if that was even possible. As we approached the crowd, we started to get some strange looks from


    other parents.


    I was still wearing my mask, so my identity as one of the world’s most famous Alpha CEOs was still


    hidden, but I knew that people could tell there was something off about our pairing. I was still wearing


    my work clothes — a sleek white button-up shirt with the cor partially undone and the sleeves rolled


    up from the summer heat, a pair of tan trousers that had been freshly pressed, and my hair was well-


    groomed — but Moana appeared rather in next to me. She was a pretty woman, but wore a in


    linen dress and sandals. I hadn’t quite gotten around to taking her shopping yet for some new clothes


    that would be more appropriate for an au pair of a wealthy family, although if I was being honest I


    wasn’t quite sure if she would’ve epted my generosity anyway.


    What was even more jarring for the other parents, aside from our differences in appearance, was that


    Moana was human and I was a werewolf. It was extremely rare for a married couple to have such


    differences, and it was often frowned upon. I was just d that my identity was hidden, because as


    attractive as I found Moana, I didn’t want people thinking that I, Edrick Morgan, was married to… a


    human.


    Regardless of the difort, we made our way to the waiting area and stood along with all of the other


    families. While most people gave us snide looks and pulled their children away, there were —


    surprisingly — a couple of women who approached Moana with warm smiles.


    “My, what a lovely couple!” one woman eximed, making Moana’s face turn red. “And what a cute


    little girl…” she stooped down to E’s height and pinched her cheek, which made E giggle.


    The woman stood, then, and eyed me up and down before turning back to Moana and whispering


    something to her that made Moana’s face turn even more red than it was before. Moana nced over


    her shoulder at me with a sheepish look in her eyes for a split second before turning back to the


    woman, muttering a word of thanks, and staring embarrassingly at the ground with wide eyes as the


    woman walked back to join her family.


    “What did she say to you?” I asked quietly, leaning a bit closer to Moana.


    She cleared her throat, obviously seeming embarrassed by the entire interaction.


    “She… congratted me on having such a handsome husband and a cute daughter,” she said.


    Below us, E, looked up with a mischievous look in her eyes and put her hand over her mouth, stifling


    laughter. At some point I would have to give my daughter a talking to about how rude it was to put


    Moana and I in a situation like this, but I simply couldn’t bring myself to disappoint her on her birthday,


    so I would y along with it for now. E was right about her birthdays; I hadn’t exactly been the best


    father because I was so afraid of our identities being discovered by the papa ra zzi in public, but it


    wasn’t fair for me to make my daughter miss out on her birthday just because of my own nerves.


    The game announcer stepped up on stage then and cleared his throat into the microphone, quieting


    the small crowd and breaking me out of my deep thought.


    “Good evening,dies and gents,” he said with a stic smile as he addressed the crowd. “Thank you


    all for participating in our family event tonight. I hope you all have fun as youpete to win prizes!”


    The children in the crowd began to stir excitedly as one of the staff members pulled a sheet off of a


    table with a flourish. E gasped as the grand prize was revealed to be an extremely rare doll that she


    didn’t yet have in her collection. There were other prizes as well, but I could tell already that she was


    going to be hell-bent on winning that grand prize.


    “For tonight’s game, you will all be trying to find your way through a maze,” the announcer said. “But —


    not just any maze! One parent from each couple will volunteer to stand at various pre-assigned points


    throughout the maze, while the other parent will be tasked with finding them…”


    This sounds easy enough, I thought to myself.


    “But there’s a catch,” the announcer continued, holding up a small ck blindfold. “Both parents will be


    blindfolded. It will be the child’s job to use their Mindlink to guide their searching parent to the waiting


    parent, as well as the searching parent’s job to use their child’s advice and their own sense of smell to


    find their partner!”


    “Ooh, how fun!” the woman from before said, sping her hands together. I looked over at her to see


    her casting an almost condescending nce at Moana — she certainly knew that Moana was a


    human. This game was clearly geared solely toward werewolves, which put us at a major


    disadvantage. I let out a small sigh as I looked down at my excited daughter. If we didn’t win, I would


    definitely have to figure out a way to buy her that doll or she would never forgive me.


    Staff members came around and handed out blindfolds next while other staff members guided the


    children toward a tall tform that allowed them to look down into the hedge maze.


    “I guess I’ll be the one to hide,” Moana said, looking a little embarrassed. I nodded and watched her


    follow the attendant that was leading the waiting parents to their hiding spots, then watched as she


    disappeared in the maze.


    “Now,” the attendant said after a couple of minutes, once all of the parents were hidden. “If all of the


    seekers could line up, we will begin. And please, put on your blindfolds.”


    I got into ce and nced up at E onest time, who shot me a grin and a thumbs up, before I put


    my blindfold on.


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    “On your marks… Get set… Go!”


    “Go forward,” E said immediately using our Mindlink. “Now left… Now right…”


    Unsurprisingly, E seemed to have already studied the maze thoroughly before we even started, and I


    realized that it was thanks to her amazing intelligence that I was actually getting a lead on the rest of


    the parents. She guided me through the maze with ease, as though she had done this a million times


    before.


    “You’re almost there… Just one more turn to the right…”


    I turned right, keeping one hand on the hedge to guide myself.


    “She’s there, daddy! Just go forward!”


    As I groped my way forward, I felt a strange scent fill my senses… It was faint, but it was there, right in


    front of me. A sweet, pleasant smell that made my wolf perk up suddenly. This couldn’t be Moana —


    she had no scent as a human!


    But as we lifted our blindfolds…


    It was, indeed, Moana.