House Of Prodigy [M/M]

I frowned at the man who married my grandson. Dagger, the man who had also married my son many years before. The love marks on his neck standing out from the robe he was wearing. His white robe was like an insult to me and the entire line as the first family. But it was my fault he wasn’t fond of the black robes that clothed us. I didn’t hate him, but I couldn’t stand him sometimes. The reason I disliked the male was a petty one, but that was my business. Most of it stemmed from my dead son, not the male himself. He had done next to nothing wrong.

“Wick wants you to come for Christmas. It’s really important to him you do, Prodigy.”

“I will try. You can let him know that.”

They had invited me to many other holidays I didn’t attend. I didn’t hate my grandson. Despite his being a bastard, I loved him. I just found it hard to show him I did. It had taken a year after his marriage, for him and me to truly hash out our issues like adults. But we still had some issues. I told him I didn’t want him to end up as another worthless male. He had taken it to heart and told me he wouldn’t bother trying to please me because he just felt no need. My grandson and I had a strange but slow mending relationship. Dagger, however, couldn’t stand me still and always got irritated when I came around Wick. But I couldn’t fault him. I wasn’t the nicest to the male. I hadn’t been the nicest to my grandson, either. While he was married to my son, I made his life hell. Married to my grandson now, I wanted to at least try to be nicer to him, but it wasn’t as easy as it seemed. I had an issue biting my tongue and not saying insensitive things or sometimes my words didn’t come out the way I wanted them to and that was just frustrating.

“Do more than try. He wants you there. He is trying to have a relationship with you, Prodigy. Think about it.”

“As I said before, Dagger, I will try.”

Dagger left my office. His temper was once that competed with my own, but still nothing like my grandson’s temper, which was surely from my side of his DNA. Surely if I didn’t come, he would hunt me down and make me wish I had gone. Wick was trying to have a relationship with me, after all I had done to him. But I knew he didn’t see me capable of getting along with him and his husband for longer than a few hours. But that didn’t stop them from coming and invading my home to force their time on me. My ex-wife called it exposure therapy.

Without even glancing at the clock I left the office, I was the boss of a company that helped Skorwn families settle and build homes in August. It was a company that was around for as long as the first family had been. The business would go to Wick if he wanted it later on, when I had decided I had enough of it.

The air outside was chilly, but nothing a coat couldn’t stop. We got cool weather, but nothing extremely bone chilling. Buttoning up my coat, I locked the office door before sticking my hands in my pocket. Passing by the alley, I stopped when I heard a sound. I heard it again a moment later. I identified the sound as coughing. My legs wouldn’t allow me to just leave, and my brain was screaming for me to go back. So I did.

Walking down the alley, I saw nothing until I turned, and there he was propped up against my office garbage cans. My legs moved quickly to assist him. He didn’t have any ID or any other items to say who he was when I checked all his pockets.

Carefully exposing his teeth, he had no fangs. That alone told me he had yet to go through his awakening. He could, and most likely would, die if I left him there. Thinking nothing more about it, I lifted the small male up and teleported. It was a colossal waste of my energy, but it was life or death.

Once at my house, I called for the maid to call the house doctor. She took one look at the boy and ran for the phone.

Laying the male down in my spare bed, I didn’t know what the hell was the reason I grabbed him, but I couldn’t put him back now. I frowned. This was not my problem, but I had made it my problem. I had a habit of getting involved where I wasn’t needed.

Carefully cleaning the blood off his face with a warm washcloth. It was clear this kid had the shit kicked out of him. He wore normal clothing that wasn’t any house colour of robe. The only thing that even screamed this male was a Skorwn was the colour of his eyes, a deep coral. They were shocking. The colour was honestly breathtaking; it wasn’t a normal eye colour; it was more rare.

The doctor came shortly after and gave me the rundown on the male. He said whoever had done this; they damaged the kid pretty badly and he would heal slowly. He also was quick to mention from the sign of extra magic in the blood that he was around twenty-two. That meant his awakening was on its way.

His injuries were a few broken ribs, one of his hands and wrist also broken, split lip, and a few other wounds. The doctor told me he probably also had some head damage, so just to look out for a concussion. He gave me some medications for the male and told me to make sure he took it easy. He clarified that if I felt anything was wrong to call and he would be over as soon as he could, no matter the time.

Once the doctor left, I just stared at the kid. Whoever his parents were, they were going to need to be contacted. They still considered this kid a minor and his parents’ ward because he wasn’t through his awakening. Slowly leaving the male to rest in the main floor spare bedroom. Hopefully, this male will wake up soon. I really wasn’t sure what to do with him.

Taking a deep breath, I moved away from the door of the bedroom where I had been standing and gave a head a soft shake. I needed to go somewhere else, before I went back to the bedroom and hovered around the kid. He was damaged, and it sparked something inside of me, some kind of protective urge. I was quick to push it down, however. The kid was not my child, and I didn’t need to protect him.

Seeking the bourbon, I wouldn’t say I had a drinking problem, not in the slightest, but I enjoyed a glass to calm down my nerves. If someone had beaten either of my children, like how this kid had been. I would have turned their skin inside out, at the very least.

I slowly strolled to my study, grabbing a random book from the stack beside the door. The content of the book did not interest me. I was more so looking for something to fill my time. The kid would wake up at some point, he would have to. I wasn’t writing off on using my blood to further heal the kid either, if it kept him from dying in my spare room. That was the last thing I needed.

I yawned, a book in my hand, propped up on the couch in the study. The thought of doing work seemed like a good idea at the second, but there was no way I could concentrate on that. Even reading, I had my ears tuned in to make sure the kid was still breathing and his heart was still beating.

It had been a long while since anyone had stayed here that wasn’t a family member who had no choice. I was everyone’s last choice. But that was because of my behaviour. I knew this. It was the same reason my wife Willa had finally divorced me. She was doing well for herself these days. She had a pleasant house and job working with our leader, Pyro. Our nephew, though he wasn’t much younger than I was.

I closed the book. I couldn’t focus on the words any longer. I wasn’t even sure if I was flipping the pages or just rereading the same page over and over, unable to comprehend it because my thoughts were encompassed by the smaller male in my spare room.

I was just going to add this strange caring up to me, not wanting another parent or parents to suffer the same loss that Willa and I had a handful of years ago. Willa would be shocked to find out that I had set my pompous behaviour aside for a moment. But only for a moment. And only because this male was at death’s door.