Chapter 4: Welcome to the Pack

It took about two hours before Zoe had gotten Toby to calm down enough to revert back to human form. They both were covered in sweat and panted heavily after Zoe finished him off. She looked down at him with a cocky grin telling him, “I was wondering why you've been able to overpower me" she told him before she groaned rubbing her lower abdomen. “Ow…heh heh, still worth it" she muttered.

Toby groaned rubbing his lower back, and he struggled to get up. “Ow, ow, ow! My back" he muttered before he slowly made his way to the bathroom.

Zoe followed him in and snickered. “Don't think you can avoid everyone finding out about your little growth spurt. You're coming to our barbeque, nuff said!" she said before she started playing with his bicep. “You know, Sasha has pretty much figured you out. Well…almost. You know…I can show her what you really like" She told her before her tone turned seductive as her feeling up his pectorals drifted southward to scratch at his abdominals and beyond where she groped and kneaded him. He gulped to her gnawing into his neck while he tried to shower.

Later Zoe came back down stairs which his mother looked at her curiously. She sat down on the loveseat before Lilian finally asked, “So are you still with Toby or..."

She looked over at her oddly but then she laughed. “Nah, we're just friends now. Our personalities clash too much, you know? He's a dominant, and I'm a dominant…it would never work out" she said before she kicked her feet up on the coffee table. “Why? What's up?" she asked casually.

His mother rubbed her forehead. “Well…there's a nice girl who just moved in and…well…I wasn't sure if you two were still" she said.

She blushed waving her hands up. “No-no-no…uh…I mean yea, we kind of still…well…you know…" she said before she looped her fingers and stuck another finger in the loop simulating coitus.

His mother blushed to Zoe's honesty. “Oh! Oh…Oh. Um…so he was alright with it?" she asked.

She closed her eyes and nodded with a smirk. “He's pretty much the only male who isn't intimidated do those kinds of things with me, but, hey, at least my scent kept the other females off him. I'm the strongest female after all" she said proudly.

His mother gulped. “I see…so once your scent fades from him…" she muttered.

She smirked. “Oh, well then he's open game" she said.

His mother lowered her hands to her lap. “Why didn't I ever have this problem when I was human?" she asked.

She smirked at her mischievously. “You don't know much about teen wolves do you?" she asked. His mother nodded before Zoe sighed deeply. “Well, I don't know exactly why, but Haley says it has something to do with all the hormones. Though maybe most wolves get settled in by the time whatever age Toby's dad was at" she said.

His mother thought for a moment. “So…maybe it is a bad idea then?" she muttered.

She shook her head. “Nah…He'll do fine…after what I saw him just do online. He'll be able to protect her" she said before she tapped her foot against the table.

“That's not what I'm worried about" his mother said.

“She lives literally next door mom, he'll protect her" Phoebe said as she cracked open a can of raspberry flavored seltzer water. She came around and leaned up against the wall to join in on the conversation.

“Phoebe, he's going to end up getting her pregnant. Sasha doesn't go through estrus like we do"

“There's a thing called protection so wear it" Phoebe stated.

Zoe laughed at her. “Heh, you might not know this, but…do you know how funny it is to watch a werewolf put a condom on and not rip it? Good luck trying to open the package in the first place" he told her before she smirked evilly. “Do you know what we call a werewolf like your brother who have a huge knot? We call them condom busters"

Phoebe choked on her soda midway through drinking it. “Ew, Gross! I don't want to hear about how huge my brother's dong is"

“I was just telling you that from my experience they break a lot. Though…" she said before she looked towards Lilian. “I don't think Sasha would have the courage to go all the way with him. Heh heh" she told her still with a cocky grin.

Lilian looked at her curiously. “So why weren't you affected like all the rest of those teen wolves?" she asked.

Zoe laughed. “Oh, well. I was…in middle school, but Toby was enough for me. I guess I've grown out of it, or maybe it's because I'm into not just guys; although, I guess I do have cravings for meat from time to time" she said.

His mother nodded. “I see…well…I hope all girls grow out of that like you have, but I am aware of breeding cycles very well" she said.

Phoebe looked towards the floor. “So what am I going to do once breeding season comes? What will going into heat be like? Will I go crazy too?"

Zoe snickered. “You won't go crazy…just uh…maybe your mom can explain it. She is a doctor"

They heard Toby's heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. He wore a black t-shirt, black shorts, and black spandex leggings and sleeves. He slipped on a tan beanie and his black skateboard shoes. “You're not talking about girl stuff are you?" he muttered.

“Actually, we were talking about you accidently Sasha preggers" Zoe joked.

Toby's eye twitched and scowled at her. “Gee thanks…you act like we're in a relationship" he said before he started to raid the fridge.

“Heh heh heh heh, we can all see where this is going Toby. Unless you're an insufferable ass to her" She remarked.

Toby stuck his head into the fridge before his mother walked over to him. "You know, there's some ground beef in the fridge if you are that starved. Just remember that Bernie's having a barbeque later on" she reminded him.

He grabbed a slab of raw meat from the fridge, and he ripped open the plastic packaging with his claws. He threw the plastic to the side, and he licked his chops. He devoured the six pound chunk of ground beef with a voraciously. He soon felt the food quelling the pain as it hit the pit of his stomach.

“Honestly, Toby…we have a microwave…you know how they work" Phoebe scolded him.

Toby glared at her then snorted. “So where's Sasha? Did you scare her off?"

“She went home after I told her mom was going to kill you"

Lilian's cellphone began to ring again, which she reached into her purse and looked at Haley's name on the caller ID, and she smiled. "Hey…You watched the news didn't you?" she asked.

"Yea, I can't believe that Ian got so close to the city! Why was it only Toby, Terry, and Zoe who were asked to be there?" Lilian asked.

Zoe picked up her longboard and waved for Toby and Phoebe to follow her before Lilian lost her temper again. They did not hesitate to sneak out with her knowing that Haley would spill the beans.

Haley took in a deep breath and sighed. "I was there, so was Ulf. Trust me this isn't just an Ian problem. You remember the story between Steele and Amarok? Do you remember what drove them apart? Dad couldn't tell any other wolf because…"

"…I know. So they are involved with this?" Lilian said.

“Yea, I think so…Dad didn't say much to Toby and Zoe, but he has told us that they were going to do to him like they did to Steele if we did not capture Ian. Can you imagine if the wolves found out that these guys are pulling the strings?" Haley asked.

“Haley…are we in danger?" Lilian asked.

“I don't know. They have the NSA spying on us. They know where we live, where we work, who our friends are, everything. My gut tells me everyone is in danger"

“Haley…this is really bad. Something really bad is going to happen"

“I know…" Haley said lowly as a car door slammed shut on her end. "Is Toby okay?"

Lilian sighed heavily. “He's walking. Peter just got done talking to him…It was so bad that Toby slipped past his anthro form" she said.

"That can't be good for him to be making him stressing out so much…Why doesn't Toby realize he can beat the shit out of Peter? Hell, Zoe could beat the shit out of him, no contest!" Haley said before she sighed.

“Oh I think he's figured it out. He just had another growth spurt. I think he's maybe seven-foot one now…and did you hear what he called Peter?"

“What?"

“He called him an Omega"

Haley began to laugh hysterically. “No way! Way to go, Toby! He's finally grown a pair and became a wolfman. Good for him"

In the background Bernie was laughing and started rambling about what piece of garbage Peter was then how Toby was going to be a beast like his old man. “Is your dad with you?"

“We're coming back from Waremart"

“It's Winco dad"

“It's the same thing" He grumbled before he chuckled. “Yup, just getting my secret ingredients for my special sauce"

“It's miracle whip…"

“How could you" Bernie gasped.

“It's not even your recipe! It's Bob Corey's" Haley corrected him.

“Who's that?"

“Okay, so there was this burger chain called Bob's Burger Express way back when. They had 20 cent hamburgers…"

“They were 19 cents!" Bernie corrected her.

“Ergh, anyway they had this sauce that got all the werewolves in the valley addicted to it. Dad somehow got the ingredients to their sauce, and they mysteriously went out of business"

“I had nothing to do with them going out of business!" Bernie protested.

“Honestly? You're joking right? We were their biggest customers…and you were their biggest eater!"

“Don't poke me!" He grumbled. Lilian was sure that Haley had poked at her father's gut. "…Oh, I've seen that neighbor girl. Zoe and Terry brought her to the house yesterday…That girl has a huge crush on Toby. She would not stop asking us if we saw strange things going on in town. She's very inquisitive that one is" Haley said.

Lilian laughed. "Toby likes her too…I think he might be too worried about the other shewolves to be making a move on her. I don't really blame him" she said.

"Well, I think she's might be more compatible than you'd think. She's very odd for a human reminds me a lot of Randal's wife. She is very into the supernatural and the occult. She loves animals…" she said before she was interrupted.

Lilian laughed. "Well, She's perfect for Toby then isn't she?" she said playfully. She giggled. "I guess I could encourage him to go on a date with her" she said.

“Yea, well we've already invited her over to the Barbeque…you coming over too then? Everyone is going to be there. You know you want to brag about Toby…I know you" Haley asked.

Lilian paused for a moment. “Well…I guess I can pop over for a little bit" she said before she grabbed her purse.

"That sounds like a plan…Talk to you later" Haley said.

"Okay bye" Lilian said as she hung up.

•••

Meanwhile at Zoe's house, Haley had just pulled into the driveway. Bernie got out of the car and immediately approached Toby. He no longer was having to look down on him, and he snickered to himself. “Had a little growth spurt have we?" he teased. Toby blushed before Bernie continued to praise him. “So…you…uh…huh, I didn't know you could fight like that. You really must have been holding back on Zoe. You're just as strong as her".

Zoe scowled at him with her arms crossed over her chest. “He better not have" she muttered.

Bernie laughed and slapped Toby shoulder roughly causing him to yelp out in pain. “Oh sorry, I forgot you were still tender there!" he apologized. Toby glared at him, and Zoe shook her head at him. “If I was a little faster, we could have captured him myself" he said as he patted his beer gut.

Haley carried the groceries rolling her eyes at her father. “Are you upset that you were surpassed by your daughter and your rival's son?" she asked. She stopped and took a look at Toby. “You look good Toby"

“My rival? Steele was never my rival!" Bernie grumbled.

“Wasn't he?" she teased.

Nathan, Bernie's twelve year old son, stood at the door next to Tommy gawking at him. He was a whole two feet shorter than Toby with dark hair and skin tone like his sister. “Nate, did you see Toby's fight? That's how I expect you to fight" he told him.

He looked back down at his tablet nervously. “Y-y-yea…everyone online is talking about it" he said before he stared at Toby once more. “I didn't know he could go full on, Therian" he said.

His father grinned. “Toby's gone way past that even…hopefully with Jean's help, he can master transformations completely in a couple months" he said.

He frowned. “Huh? I thought that getting to lycaon form was mastering transformations?" he asked.

“Wait wait wait! Toby went all the way to Lycaon!?" Haley interrupted. Toby tried to escape, but he got his shirt collar snatched up by Haley. “Okay, explain! Did you really go all the way?"

Zoe raised an eyebrow. “Yea, did he really? Since when!?" she asked skeptically.

Bernie watched Toby carefully as he stared down Haley. She let him go realizing that she had triggered him. After Toby went inside, she looked towards Bernie alarmed. “He didn't have an episode did he?"

Bernie nodded slowly. “It happened the past couple weeks…I shouldn't have said anything"

“Why? Isn't it cool that he turned?" Nathan asked.

“He didn't do it intentionally, nor could he control it…he went completely feral"

“You mean, Like a Thrall?"

“No, it's something different. You wouldn't understand…you haven't suffered the same amount of pain he has" he told him.

Tommy stared at him. “Mom says the same exact thing. What happens if he loses it again?" he asked.

“It's none of your concern. That's only for me to worry about"

“You wouldn't kill him would you?"

Bernie started to walk inside. “Don't ask such stupid questions" he muttered. Tommy whined and Zoe looked towards her sister concerned.

Haley looked away not knowing what to say to them. “Just forget about it. It's nothing to be proud of. It's just…sad" she told them as she followed her father inside.

“Just what that heck am I not going to understand?" Nathan asked.

Zoe and Tommy both walked in before Bernie pulled Zoe aside into a room with Toby. He stood in front of the door preventing it from being opened, and he looked down at them sternly. “I want to make this clear to the both of you. I am very proud of how much you have grown…" he said until there was a loud pop inside the house causing Toby to flinch and clench his fists.

“Terry told me about what happened. I'm not angry with you. Having said that, I don't think it would be a good idea for you to spar until we get your episodes under control. Jean agrees with me about this. You two can work out together, but after everything that has happened and Terry going back to school, I think that it would be best" he told them.

Toby hung his head low feeling like a disappointment, which Zoe seemed angry although not at Toby or her father. “Dad…you have to keep Peter from harassing him. He's the reason why Toby's been getting worse"

“He's not Zoe…at least not the entire reason"

“Then what's the real reason?" Zoe asked.

“I'm not going to discuss it with you right now" Bernie raised his voice. He shook his head at her. “I've seen his father when he got like this. Jean helped him…and I know he can help Toby" he concluded.

Toby looked up at him worried. “What about that human girl? What if she gets too close?"

Bernie kept a stern look on the boy. “Well what does your wolf see her as? Is she a threat? Have you thought about hurting her?"

Toby shook his head. “N-n-no, but…" he mumbled.

Zoe took in a deep breath and sighed. “Let me handle it"

Nathan turned the door knob and tried to open it bumping his father with the door. Bernie leaned back onto the door closing it. “Dad?"

“Not right now!" Bernie spoke firmly.

“Dad, Aren't you going to make the special sauce?"

“Crap! Alright I'll be out!" Bernie told him before he turned towards the two. “Toby…if that weasel keeps biting your ankle, you have my permission to stomp him" He told them.

He walked out of the room where Nathan and Tommy both looked up at him worried. “Toby is going to be okay right?" Tommy asked him.

“Dad, is there really something farther than Lycaon? You can't get more wolf than being a giant wolf right?" Nathan asked.

Bernie continued into the kitchen not bothering to answer Tommy's question. “There's something farther than Lycaon. It's just a name of a form after all. When you finish growing into your paws, I will start to teach you how to focus on learning to transform individual body parts at will. It takes decades to perfect, and on top of that they have to learn how to manipulate the environment" he said.

Nathan and Tommy both stared at him in shock. “Like what?" he asked.

A smirk crept upon his lips. “Well, in short, these abilities were things that inspired old folklore. Like blowing down houses" he said.

Nathan eyes squinted with skepticism. “Are you serious? We can do that?" he asked.

“Heh heh heh, of course we can. We are the descendants of the Big Bad Wolf himself!" Bernie remarked.

The young pups got extremely excited. “That's so cool! What else can we do?" Tommy asked as he and Nathan hung off the edge of the bar.

 Bernie grinned as he stirred up his batch of sauce. “From what I've heard, we could summon fog, whirlwinds, and thunderstorms. Just remember, it takes a lot of time to learn how to do each art, but I can just do the basics. Nothing too fancy, but I was hoping one of the Elders will come and teach you at least some of them" he said.

Nathan's excitement turned to skepticism. “Wait…you aren't screwing with me are you?" he asked.

Bernie chuckled to himself and slapped his son on the back. “There are a lot of arts that died of and lost through time, but there's a lick of truth to all those tales" he muttered while he dumped his sauce into a dispenser.

“No way!"

Bernie shook his head snickering to himself before he left to go into the garage to start piling up supplies into his truck.

Haley came inside from the back before Nathan asked. “Dad's not telling fibs is he?"

“About what now?" asked Haley.

“Dad said that we could blow down houses and make fog"

“Tch, sure, he can…Out his ass" Haley scoffed. She ruffled his head and smiled. “So, how was school?" she asked.

Nate glared at her. “It's not fair that Toby and Zoe get an extra week of summer break!" he shouted.

Yvonne entered the living room and looked at them cheerfully. “Hey, Why don't you all go play. Maybe you can go in the pool and cool off? Where's Toby and Zoe?" she asked them.

“Toby's in there having another one of his break downs" Nathan spoke as if it were no big deal.

“Oh…" Yvonne muttered. She quietly made her way into the other room. She saw Toby on the chair with his hands to his face with Zoe watching on distressed. She sat down on the chair across from him. She reached out patting at his knee. “Hey, you know he's proud of you" she spoke softly. She looked down at the ground finding the courage to say something.

“I know what you are feeling right now. I know what it's like to relive it…the past" She said. Toby moved a hand away. His eye fixated on her still remaining silent. Yvonne continued. “I know it's hard. I try to do things to keep my mind off it all…The pain"

She ran her fingers through her hair and withdrew her arms in. “I have been beaten many times by my ex…I have watched my brother and my father both end their lives. I've seen the place where I grew up been whipped off the map. Most of everything that is who I am lies at the bottom of that lake" she fought back her tears before she took a deep breath. “I am grateful to have been given this new life, and…You know, for as bleak as things may seem. You being here bring us a lot of hope and strength. A new generation of wolves to pass down the torch" she told him.

She laughed at him. “Just wait until they see you. You're nearly as big as your father, and I think you could overpower almost all the adult wolves in around here. Hehe, you do act like him a lot" she added before she stood back up. “Why don't you two go assert your dominance over your siblings. I think they need to be put in their place" she joked.

Zoe snickered and ran into her room then came back out with two Nerf dart guns. She handed one to Toby, which his mood had perked up. He grinned knowing what to do and they both rushed outside getting into their hiding spots waiting to ambush Nate and Tommy.

Yvonne shook her head laughing at their mischievousness, and she went into the kitchen to pull out sodas and beer and store them in the cooler before she dumped ice in it pretending not to see anything. Nate and Tommy both ran out oblivious to their surroundings, which they were instantly bombarded by a rapid fire of darts from both sides. “Ow! Ow! Ow! Cut it out!" he shouted.

There was a long pause before Nate uncovered his body, and he was suddenly once more shot this time in the back of the head. “Come on, Zoe! That was a cheap shot" he shouted turning towards her. Zoe aimed a little bit lower causing him to flinch covering up his most vulnerable parts.

Toby shot Nate next, and Zoe laughed. “Ha! Got shot in the butt!" she shouted and pointed at him.

Zoe got really close to Tommy and pulled the trigger. *Pop!* Tommy flinched, but nothing happened. She was out of ammunition, but Toby shot Tommy in the back of the neck point blank range.

Yvonne walked out with a baby and looked at them amused. “It's not fair ambushing them!" she said before the baby started babbling and wagging his finger at them agreeing with his mother. She smirked and ruffled her child's hair. “That's right Steele" she said happily.

•••

Meanwhile at Sasha's house, Sasha was inside of her fully set up room. She lay on her bed looking into her tablet as she worked meticulously on some research on werewolves. She scanned through articles on while talking to her friends on a chat line.

"Hey did you see the news?" Ninjachicken_0

"Yes, but I've seen some strange things around here…and not just Ghosts. The guy next door is totally unhuman that's for sure. I think he's one of the werewolves on that was on TV" Sasha typed.

 "Wow, you sayin you met a werewolf on your first day in Oregon?" GIR12

Sasha smirked. "I don't think he knows I'm onto him ;)"

"Is there a werewolf problem over there? I mean you saw that video and the clip from your stream. Sux that they took it down. I wanted to see a horde of werewolf action!" Ninjachicken_0

She leaned back and sighed. "It's not like the place is crawling with 'em. I'm going to have to investigate a little more. It's a lot more dangerous than tracking ghosts I can tell you that much"

"You best be hiding your basket of goodies from big bad, ya hear? LMAO" DrkPriestess

Sasha laughed. "Why?"

"What do you mean why? Those cookies are mine! XD" DrkPriestess

"Too bad they can't eat Chocolate" GIR12

"Why?"

"Chocolate can kill 'em. Just like dogs!" GIR12 typed.

Sasha opened a new window and looked up “Werewolves Chocolate" in the search engine and she read the sites that popped up. She raised an eyebrow at some of the information before she clicked back on the chatroom window. "So what about silver thing? Doesn't that kill werewolves too?"

"I've read that silver was used for symbolism in the wolfman films, and it was more of a vampire thing. That was why they couldn't appear in mirrors or film. It has nothing to do with killing a werewolf. And silver would make a shitty bullet anyway. Science beats mythology. Besides, the beast of Gevaudan was a fraud anyway" Ninjachicken_0

"That makes sense, but I don't have a reason to kill him. He's actually pretty nice guy, though he's incredibly dense"

"Sounds like he's a perfect match for you" GIR12

Sasha's eyes widened and her heart began to race. "What's that supposed to mean!? B( "

"I was talking about being really nice >_>" GIR12

"I'm so jealous your neighbor is a werewolf. I bet he's cute too" DrkPriestess

Sasha smiled. "He is really well built. I mean asides from his size, he doesn't look like a stereotypical werewolf"

"None of that bushy eyebrows, curled fingernails, hairy palms, pointed ears, and the index finger thing?" DrkPriestess

"Not by what I could tell. I was distracted with how big the guy is"

"So how is he a werewolf?" GIR12

Sasha huffed. "He jumped and backflipped over my fricken Jeep! He growls and acts like a wolf! He practically unloaded our moving truck by himself just because he wanted to work out! Then there was those two werewolves on TV! What else is there to point out that he's a werewolf!? >B( "

"Are you just wanting for him to be a werewolf?" GIR12

"He's not a vampire, I can tell you that much since he actually has skin pigment. Are you jealous too? ;)"

“I believe you, Sasha. He might not be fully grown after all" Drkpriestess

“Jesus! He's already taller than seven feet tall…just how big can he get!?" Sasha asked.

"I'm a little scared for you. Your neighbor could tear you limb from limb if he's actually a werewolf! Don't you watch those movies!?" GIR12

"I don't think it works like that…" Sasha typed. She looked at her Husky/Malamute on her bed who was looking out the window. "Makita has been acting weird. I think she knows too"

“See even she's warning you! I watched the stream!" GIR12

“Could you manage to film him doing one of these feats? This isn't one of your hyperbole's is it?" Ninjachicken_0

“It's not hype! You gotta believe me!" Sasha replied.

“Proof Sasha! We can't be accusing someone of being a werewolf without evidence. You have a camera on your phone. Use it" Ninjachicken_0

There was a knock on her bedroom door. "Sasha, can you take your brother to that barbeque you're going to? I'd like for him to make some friends…real ones" her mother told her through the door.

"G2G, I'll tell ya more about Toby tomorrow"

"Alright" GIR12

“Chao!" DrkPriestess

"Don't become werewolf poo!" Ninjachiken_0

"LMAO, I won't! Byebye!" she typed before she closed her laptop and stowed it away.

“What an ass" Sasha muttered to herself. Her dog looked at her anxiously, which Sasha reached over and stroked her dog's shoulder. "It's okay, the big bad wolf isn't gunna get'ya" she said.

She got up and looked out her window like her dog was. "I hope he's nice like" she said before she left. As she came downstairs into the living room, her mother looked at her dog that followed. “Hey, Why don't you take Makita to that park also. You can't expect her to be cooped up in here all day do you?" she asked as their dog yipped and whimpered impatiently.

She blushed once more as her mother handed her the leash. She hesitated in taking the leash, which she finally took the leash from her. Her mother looked at her oddly. “Are you alright? I thought you love to take your dog for a walk?" she asked.

She stiffened up and gulped. “No, I do…" she said.

“There's a guy there she likes" Her brother chimed in. She shot him and angry leer, and her mother laughed as if knowing just how it was. She shook her head and a smirk before she went back inside.

“Why don't you go with her? Zoe's got a brother around your age. Go make some friends!" their mother told him.

He looked at her with alarm. “What? But why!?" he shouted.

“Todd! You need some exercise! I don't want you gaining more weight! They'll be a good influence on you!" their mother raised her voice.

He looked at his obese mother and glared at her hypocrisy, but Sasha looked at her overweight brother and smiled. “Come on! We might as well both get are fat butts out there!" she said.

“My butt? Yours is a big as a beanbag chair!" He pointed out.

Their mother growled at him, and she took his game away. “Look here young man! This took decades to happen to me…I don't want both of you to end up like me! Lipedema is a very painful condition!" she said as she set her hand over her plush belly. “You already have the genes in you I'm sorry to say. You're going to have to work harder to stay in shape" she said before she turned around and shuffled back into the family room.

“Come on! Makita is ready to go" His sister shouted nudging him before she walked off with her dog.

A half an hour later passed and Sasha and her brother walked down the sidewalk slowly. She noticed her brother looking bummed out and not in his element with his games taken away. She smiled at him warmly. “What's wrong? You mad that mom is making you go to the park?" she asked.

Her brother looked at her despairingly. “It's not that…it's just…" he said before she looked at him confused. “…it's nothing…" he muttered before he looked back at the sidewalk. “Everything is so different" he muttered to himself.

She laughed and smiled optimistically. “Different is good…I think it's a lot better here. A lot more than spooky stuff out here I'll tell you what" she said before she looked at Toby running through the park with Zoe and some neighbor kids shooting their nerf guns at each other. She and her brother stared at him in amazement.

“That guy's fast" her brother remarked.

She bit her lip and sighed thoughtfully. “Yea…and so tall…so handsome…so strong" she muttered to herself. Her brother looked at her strangely but said nothing. He was nearly taken out by Tommy and Phoebe from behind. Phoebe grabbed Todd arresting his fall to the ground.

“Way to go you turd! Look where you're going!" Phoebe shouted at Tommy. She helped Todd off the ground. Todd was not hurt, but he felt like he was hit by a truck.

“You're Toby's little brother and sister aren't you?" Todd asked.

“Yea…you got that right" Tommy said.

“How old are you" He asked.

“We're both 13" Phoebe said which Todd wheezed and shook his head.

“No…you can't be serious! You're taller than my teachers" he protested. Tommy laughed, and Phoebe sighed heavily annoyed that he was pointing out the obvious.

Todd noticed their dog acting very strangely around Phoebe and Tommy. Tommy took off like a rocket, but Lilian had caught up with them which she smiled warmly. “Are you coming to the barbeque?" she asked. Sasha nodded and Lilian clapped her hands together. “I'll walk with you" she told them.

They walked with down the pathway into the park picnic area, which it was much longer than it looked. The music was blasting 80's rock tunes, and there was an impromptu football game in the field only no pads and full on tackling. Sasha and Todd could hear the body blows and take downs from 50 yards away.

Their dog was very nervous trying to dragging Sasha away from the brutes. “What's up with Makita?" Todd asked. Lilian and Phoebe both watched on puzzled with what that crazy dog was up to.

Sasha struggled to keep her dog restrained, but her dog looked back at them whimpering. “Easy girl! They aren't going to eat you!" she whispered in a low calming tone. Her dog conceded, but she barked impatiently and shivered. Sasha looked back at them and smiled awkwardly. “She really really likes y'all, especially Zoe" she said before she picked up her pace.

They got even closer, which they began to organize a huge water balloon fight. Toby and a countless number of kids lined up across from Zoe and another line of kids with a coolers filled with balloons similar to a game of dodgeball. Tommy and Nathan had both strapped water guns to their backs and concealed them under their shirts wanting to pay back Toby and Zoe from earlier.

Once the whistle was blown, Toby and Zoe ran to the coolers both grabbing the same ones and fighting over it. Toby saw Tommy pull out a gun, and Zoe saw Nathan pull out a gun. They dropped the coolers, and they overturned dumping out the balloons onto the ground. Zoe and Toby managed to scoop up a couple of balloon before Tommy and Nathan opened fire. They leaped out of the way, which Todd took notice that a ten yard side jump was something out of the ordinary. Sasha stared at Zoe in disbelief not anticipating her to be capable in doing the same feats as Toby could.

“Oh wow…Is Zoe gifted as well?" She asked.

Lilian glanced over and laughed nervously. “Yes, yes she is"

“Toby! Quit showing off!" Phoebe yelled. He did not hear her, or at least, he kept at lobbing water balloons from fifty feet away making his brother jump and dodge out of the way. Some of the balloons ruptured in his hand drenching him and the kids around. The same thing happened for Zoe.

Sasha snickered with how mortified Phoebe was with her brother's antics. “You know Zoe's not any better" she commented. Phoebe glared at her, and Lilian rolled her eyes going into the massive crowd of people. Todd wondered off towards another group of kids digging a moat in the sand, which it was being fed by a fountain. There were a lot of kids at the park, which Sasha became lost and overwhelmed. She avoided the chaos and sat at a picnic table near the playground equipment.

She looked around seeing a huge group of people under a nearby sheltered picnic area. A lot of the men were impressive colossal monstrosities not to the extent of Toby, Terry, or Bernie but still they were not folks you would want to get into a bar fight with. A lot of the women were athletic, tall, and drop dead gorgeous, but they were not to the extremes of Zoe. She could tell this was Zoe's family members. Some of the in-laws came in a lot of shapes and forms.

Smoke rose up from a huge barbeque trailer, and next to the trailer was another trailer filled with meat with brutish hairy men pulling out slabs and stacked them onto the massive grill. A small group of people were busy making sandwiches and hot dogs. What was strange about most these people was they had little to no body fat on them, they were young, and most of the men were more rugged and animalistic than the rest of them. She also noticed that they were talking in some sort of code, but when she saw Bernie's truck pull up, she nearly fell over at how enormous he was compared to all of them temporarily forgetting his stature.

“Holy crap! Man Zoe's dad is big" Sasha asked before she saw another imposing man crawling out of the trailer with 30 racks of ribs vacuum sealed in plastic all bundled up in his arms. He looked more like a bodybuilder except no part of him appeared shaved or waxed. “Who the freak is that!?" she asked Phoebe motioning towards her.

“That's Randall, he's Bernie's nephew. If you think he's impressive, you should see his wife Gwendolyn" she answered.

“Why?" Sasha asked. Phoebe gestured over to the table where his wife was, and Sasha's jaw hit the floor. His wife appeared to have basketballs hanging off her chest, and she continued to stare at them before her eyes wondered down to the woman's six month pregnant baby bump. Phoebe snickered to herself, and Sasha rubbed her arm. “Holy…her back must be screaming out in agony" she mumbled.

“Oh well, she makes it work. Are you familiar with a show online Little Red?" she asked.

Sasha shook her head and blushed. “She isn't the one who does naughty stuff does she?" she asked.

“Well, she does that on the side, but she's been doing this Elvira kind of act. Only, she dresses up in a revealing little red riding hood costume. She's got over five million followers" she told her.

“I know who she is!" Sasha snapped. Her stare had shifted to animosity, disgust, and envy. She sank in her chair uncomfortably. “I could never bring myself to lower my standards and sell off my body like that. I ain't a piece of meat" she told her.

Phoebe seemed to be irked with this statement telling her, “What you've been staring at my brother like he's a piece of meat all day. You really don't have a clue what work she does…do you?"

Sasha stared at her confused before she looked back over at the massive water fight, and it was moving towards them. Toby and some other teens were retreating, while the younger group threw water balloons randomly. She realized that they were approaching way too fast for her to get out of the way, and her dog dove under the picnic table. She froze as the stampede jumped over and around the table, and she was caught up in the laughter and shower of spray.

Lilian were slightly annoyed at their antics beginning to go way out of hand, but most of the adults under the shelter including Yvonne laughed, while others felt sorry for her misfortune. Sasha turned and watched them circle around running through the parking lot. Her dog emerged from under the table and wagged her tail barking happily wanting to run. She laughed to herself as she brushed a strand of wet hair from her face. “Alright, alright!" she said softly as she unlatched her dog's leash.

Her dog pranced around the field as Zoe approached them from the shelter. “Hey, sorry about that! We get kind of get crazy during our barbeques" she said awkwardly.

She looked up at her at laughed. “It's fine" she said before she looked off at the mass of children. “They are really fast!" she muttered to herself.

Her friend giggled. “You should have seen the look on Toby's face when I flipped his team's bucket of water balloons" she said.

She snickered at that description. “He must have been devastated" she said.

Her friend shook her head. “Well, he was more like…oh snap! Then he ran with his tail between his legs" she said before she looked over at the shelter. “You want some food? There's plenty to go around" she said.

Sasha glanced over towards Gwen and rubbed her arm. “Um, is that really Little Red over there?" she asked.

Zoe gave her a weird look. “Why?" she asked.

Sasha looked down at the table. “I just…I just had no idea that she was one of your cousins. I mean, You all know what she does right?" she asked.

Zoe shrugged her shoulders. “It's not really a big deal to us. If she's comfortable with showing off her body like that, then more power to her, Nuff said" she said before she shook her head. “You know, she's really nice. Maybe she can help you with your channel" she told her.

Sasha puffed up her cheeks. “I'm not going to sell my body like that. It's just not right" she protested.

Zoe laughed. “You know she does all the editing and scripting. She does all of it herself…besides that…aren't you just a little bit curious about her expertise with the supernatural?" she asked.

Sasha gave her a look knowing that she was being challenged, but she got up and put up a fake smile. “Okay sure…" she said before she followed Zoe over to the serving table where Gwen was.

Zoe towered over the woman and introduced them, “Hey, Gwen, this is Sasha. You know the one I told you about?"

Gwen glanced over at Sasha and smiled faintly. “It's a pleasure to meet ye" she said with a slight Scottish accent. She looked up at Zoe and sighed sensing that she was prompted into giving feedback. “I'm sorry I haven't gotten a chance to look at her page yet. I've been so focused with setting up for the party" she told her.

Sasha looked around the table. “Jez, you look like you have enough to feed your army of supersoldiers there" she commented.

“Psh, tell be about it. They never seize to amaze me with how much they can stuff their faces with" Gwen said in agreement. She placed a hand on her belly and winced slightly. “Carrying one of those monsters in yer womb for nine months is even more burdensome" she muttered although she used the word monster rather affectionately. She placed her hand on her lower back rubbing it sorely.

“Have you noticed anything odd about Toby?" Sasha asked before they all looked up at Toby and another teen jumping over a fence hauling a 5 gallon tub with them. She stared in disbelief and gawked at them quietly walking through the crowd of people. None of them seemed to care or notice the hijinks going on with the oversized teen. “How did he…when…where did he?" she muttered.

Zoe looked at her oddly, and then she looked up at Toby. She growled to herself lowly and glared at him. “Toby, you fucking dumbass!" she muttered. She shook off her anger and feigned a smile. “Oh, I tried to stop thinking about things like that. He's very sneaky" she said as she handed her a hamburger.

Gwen laughed at them. “I kind of just go with it. A lot of weird things happen at our barbeques. Toby's antics are nothing new" she commented.

Sasha's dog approached Toby and started sniffing him as he crouched down to hide. He scratched behind her ear waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike, which Sasha watched him still trying to piece together what was going on. “Um…So is this normal?" she asked.

Zoe let out a heavy sigh. “Is there really such thing as normal?" she retorted as she chomped into a pulled pork sandwich. “He should really know better" she muttered to herself.

“Don't be worrying about him too much. He's not hurting anyone" Gwen told her.

Sasha quietly munched into a hamburger eyeing him closely as her dog was gnawing and pawing at his arm wanting to play. He held onto the tub and did his best to ignore her dog. “So, What do you think of werewolves?" she asked them quietly behind her hamburger.

Zoe nearly choked on her sandwich before she stared at her in a daze. Some of the others glanced over at her but pretended not to overhear. Zoe slowly chewed trying to process her next response noticing attention was brought onto her, and she was regretting bringing Sasha over. “Well…that depends on the werewolf" she said honestly.

Gwen giggled at this. “Well I think they're alright" she told her.

She continued to stare at Toby studying him with intense scrutiny. “I've never really met a werewolf before…" she said before she gulped. “I think I may be a little over my head" she muttered. Some of the people were paying more notice to her, but most were shooting Toby looks also. She looked to her burger noticing that it was a slightly redder than she would like. “Have you ever seen one before?" she asked.

Zoe laughed nervously. “Yea, a lot actually…I dated one once" she said.

Gwen grinned evilly. “Well I've been married to one for nearly Fourteen years" she added glancing over at Randall. He gave her a look not wanting any part of this, which she batted her eyes at him affectionately.

She gasped. “Yea? What was it like?" she asked.

Zoe cleared her throat and covered her mouth hiding her grin. “Um, well…he's a sweetheart, stubborn, a little insecure, but god he is amazing in bed…before, during, and after the deed was done" she said trailing off on her run-ins with Toby.

Sasha blushed. “Uh…I meant…what was he like in his werewolf form?" she asked.

Zoe laughed. “I just told you…just add fur and other stuff" she said.

Sasha was genuinely confused with that bit. “Wait…he didn't maul you or rip you into shreds?"

Zoe rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Not if you consider gnawing at the neck and scratching as a mauling. I'm he could, but you know, if he tried, I'd knock him the fuck out" she said while flexing with confidence.

Sasha looked at her skeptically. “Right, like you would take on a werewolf" she said.

Zoe flashed a fang at her and snickered evilly. “Yea, that's right! I'm not afraid!" she boasted.

Sasha looked towards Gwen still very confused. “Do they usually prefer to have sex then?" she asked.

“Um…it's a bit complicated. I would maybe hold off on even thinking about sex. Werewolves can be a bit tricky to handle if not daunting. It can be extremely painful or you can even hurt yourself if you don't know what you're doing. I mean you have to be a complete masochist to want to jump in head first and try to tame that kind of beast on your first go" she said.

Randall stared at her, which Gwen laughed at his reaction. “I love you too, Big Bad" she said waving at him affectionately. “Just remember that werewolves are still people…just with a wild side" she explained to her. Sasha looked between her and Randall and nodded slowly.

She watched Toby ambush the group of Zoe's cousins. She felt an overwhelming confidence build inside her with Gwen's advice. “So…is Toby one?" she asked.

Zoe laughed at this. “He's not very good at acting like a human, does he?" she answered vaguely as she watched him run around the field. “He's a good friend to have at least" she said happily.

“I think you already know that answer to that question, Sasha" Gwen remarked.

Sasha bit her lip and watched him carefully as her dog came back over to them happily. “Um…you think I'd have a chance?" she muttered before she took another bite of her hamburger.

Zoe snickered to herself piling more food onto her plate. “Heh heh…I think you're the kind of girl that would bring him comfort" she said as she crossed her arms over her chest. “He is attracted to you. You know that right?" she said.

Sasha gasped and her heart skipped a beat. “He is!? You mean he likes fat girls?" she shrieked. She gasped and looked at everyone staring at her; although, their glances appeared to be less hostile than they were before.

Zoe snickered to herself. “Well, it's in the right places. I mean it might protect you from his big hugs or letting him dominate you" she teased. Sasha blushed and looked over at Toby with determination.

Zoe sighed heavily and leaned in to whisper. “Just as a bit of warning, he has some major PTSD problems. He watched his father get murdered by hunters, so you might need to be a little careful around him about talking about that kind of thing. Last couple of times he had an episode, he transformed"

“Oh…poor guy" Sasha muttered sympathetically.