Chapter 7: Show and Tell

As the bell rang, Toby got up with Sasha, where she bumped into him then their eyes met once more. She looked into them deeply with a smile then touched his arm. He felt butterflies in his stomach as she brushed a strand of hair from her face batting her eyes at him. “You know, you have really beautiful eyes” she complimented.

He froze up and gulped. “Uh…You smell nice…wait uh…I mean” he said before she giggled.

“I’ll see you later!” she said before she looked over at the door seeing Olivia had already walked out. “Um, Toby? Can you walk me to my next class? I don’t know this place very well and…” she said before he got up and smiled at her.

“I know…I saw her” he said before he motioned her to follow. She quickly rushed over and huddled up to his side. He walked them out the door passed Olivia and her gang, which he eyed them intensely. They looked away timidly, and Olivia was livid.

Sasha looked up at him smiled at him gratefully still leaning back up against him. “Look, if Olivia gives you any problems, please text Zoe and I” he said sternly.

She nodded and touched his chest lightly. “Thanks, Toby, but…honestly…I think I might switch my schedule to yours. I feel much safer with you, anyway” she said meekly before she walked off. She looked back and smiled affectionately.

The school councilor approached him from behind, and he set his wolf hand puppet onto his shoulder. “Are you having a bad day, Toby?” the puppet said in a cute monster voice. Toby looked over his shoulder at the councilor who was channeling a Bob Ross vibe. “You didn’t think you were going to get off that easy, did you? It’s my job to make sure that alphas like you get guidance” the puppet said.

The students snickered at Toby getting wolfie therapy, which he took in a deep breath and sighed. “I don’t have a problem right now!” he spoke harshly to the councilor.

“Ah, ah, ah! Talk to wolfie! He has the doctorate in psychology!” the councilor told him with a mischievous grin. Toby glared at him before the councilor cleared his throat somewhat fearing for his life. “Look, I know you’re stressed out, but losing control of your inner…tendencies in school is very dangerous” he said before the puppet growled. “You’re a good wolf Toby…don’t be letting Peter and Ian ruffle your fur…Blah” the puppet said before he spat up a hall pass.

Toby stared at the pass oddly knowing that the councilor performed a sleight of hand, but he was not sure why the councilor had to make the puppet regurgitate hall passes every time. “Now get to class!” the puppet shouted somewhat aggressively. The hall pass was signed by none other than Wolfie with a decorative paw print next to it.

•••

For the rest of the day, all the students talked about the cafeteria incident instead of the tunnel incident. Toby was grateful when the final bell rang, but suddenly this new sense of dread filled his head when some jocks walked by him bumping into him.

“Toby, you better not fuck things up!” One of them muttered as they bumped into him. “Ow…jesus!” he muttered after rubbing his shoulder after they ran it into Toby’s steel-like bones.

Zoe approached him and watched the jocks amused. “Okay, Toby…you know you can stop them from hurting themselves” she told them.

He shrugged. “fine…but…” he said before they saw Sasha under a tree crying. Kari was trying her best to console her, which he growled lowly. He started to march his way over, and Zoe followed after him. Kari looked up with puffy eyes and stared at them. Toby touched Sasha’s back and did his best to repress his rage and an impending transformation. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Kari carefully looked between them and gulped knowing Toby was upset. “Olivia went to embarrass her. She called her an ugly fat ass cow and a dumb bimbo…called me some nasty things too” she said.

Zoe clenched her fist and growled and stormed off leaving Toby alone with Sasha and Kari. He sat beside her, which she leaned into him. “I don’t think your ugly…and definitely not a cow. I should know” he said.

She started to crack a smile as she found a spot into his chest. “You know…You’re really comfy. Do you know that?” she muttered before breathing in his scent. He blushed as Kari looked between them grinning before Sasha finally pulled away and sighed happily, and he was bright red.

Kari snickered to herself while covering her mouth with her sleeve as Sasha appeared to be feeling much better with his company. “He’s pissed…hope you can get him to calm down before he wolfs out!” she whispered to Sasha.

Toby glared at her giving off a low growl, but Sasha distracted him by scratching at his chest. “Toby…relax. I’m alright…really, I am. Thank you for coming to check on me” she told him sweetly.

His cell phone began to rang, and he fished in his pockets frantically. He pulled it out, and it flew into Sasha’s lap. The girls laughed as Sasha handed it back to him smirking. “Hello?” He asked putting the phone up to his ear.

“Toby, I’m so excited…You’re going to be on the football team!!” His mother shouted before she squealed.

His eye twitched as Sasha and Kari were able to overhear her. “Mom, I’m not on the team yet. I’m supposed to go to try-outs…”

“Is that what they told you?” His mother asked before she snickered. “I just signed the form not too long ago”

“You what!?” Toby gasped. Sasha grinned at his horrified expression.

“Of course, I have…I even sent the coach video of you and Zoe playing. He’ll know if you’re pulling a fast one on him. Good luck trying to get out of this one” His mother said sadistically.

Toby growled lowly before his mother added. “Why don’t you all stay at the school, and I’ll come over?” she asked.

“What? Why?”

Zoe came over smirking as she set her backpack down and pulled out a tablet. “You know my whole family is coming to watch…well most of them. They’ll call you out” she said with a mischievous grin.

She looked towards Sasha and snickered. “I was about to slam Olivia’s head through her car window, but you know…I got distracted by the cuddlefest over here” she teased as Sasha’s hand had found its way under Toby’s shirt. She immediately withdrew it despite Kari and Zoe observing her attempt to get a little more intimate.

He shot Zoe a look very annoyed that she caused Sasha to shy away. His mother laughed over the phone. “I’ll be there in about 15 minutes. Just let me make you something to eat before practice”

“It’s try-outs” he corrected her.

“You’re already on the team, Toby!” she said before the phone went silent.

Kari held her hand up over her face giggling to herself softly. “Cuddlefest, huh?” she muttered. “Sasha, I sure hope you know what you’re getting yourself into in dating him. Ouch” She told her before rubbing her lower abdomen.

Toby glanced over at Kari and snorted at her comment. “??? ?? ???? ??? ???? ?? ??????? ?…”

Kari’s eyes widened. “????”

Sasha looked between them picking up on one word Toby muttered. “Kitsune? You’re a kitsune?”

Kari laughed nervously waving her hand aimlessly. “No, no, no…you misunderstood. Toby was speaking Korean. Not Japanese” she said before she glared at him. She grabbed him by the shirt collar and got into his face while her eyes started to glow. “??????????”

Sasha did not know what the two were bickering about, but Zoe casually blurted out, “Yaka Kitsune”

Sasha and Kari both looked at her oddly, but Toby gave her a look. Zoe snickered to herself. “What? You two were speaking a different language…So I thought I’d join in” she said before she sat next to them. “So…are we gunna go?” she asked impatiently.

“I’m not stopping you” Toby grumbled.

“Come on, grumpy. We can cuddle later” Sasha said leaning up against him forcefully. He did not budge, but he did look down at her affectionate gaze. She reached up stroking the side of his face then got up not breaking eye contact.

He soon followed and Zoe took off towards the field ahead of them. Toby lagged behind with Sasha as she walked slowly along. She waddled and patted in the heat. “It’s so hot out” she complained.

“It’s only 80”

“Only 80?…Toby, does everything catch fire out here during the summer?” She asked noting that it was slightly smoky out.

“Yea…It’s always like this in the summer time”

“Doesn’t it bother you? When it gets smokey like this?”

“Sometimes it does, but you know…I just go to the mountains or the coast where the air is better. I can’t stay in the valley for long when it gets bad. This isn’t the worst. My eyes and lungs aren’t burning, yet”

“Well mine are…my feet hurt…my back hurts…my legs hurt”

“Do you want me to carry you?” he asked.

She stared at him like he was crazy before Kari laughed at her. “You know he can carry you, right?”

“Uh…” Sasha hesitated.

Toby wrapped his arms around her putting the squeeze on her. She held her breath as he actually lifted her, and her back crackled like bubble wrap. He got her two feet off the ground, and she slapped at his arm. “I can’t breathe!” she muttered.

As he sat her back down on terra firma, every part of her body tingled. She had never been manhandled like that so easily before. More importantly, the pressure on her back was released. She grabbed her sides trying to pop her back. “Jez, I’m not a sack of potatoes”

Kari laughed at her and shook her head at Toby. “Yea Toby, you got to be a lot gentler on your girlfriend. She’s can’t handle all that beastly strength of yours” she teased.

Zoe ran back over from the field, and she had a funny look on her face. “Okay, first off…before you go out onto the field, I may have told a few students that you’d be trying out” she informed him. He glared at her, and she grinned evilly. “So, yea, the bleachers are packed”

He sighed in frustration, and he crossed his arms over his chest pouting. As he fumed to himself, Sasha bumped up against him attempting to distract him. “Toby…is it really that bad that everyone came to see you”

“They came to see if I kill anyone” He remarked.

“Well I did” She admitted before she stuck her tongue at him playfully.

He did not find it funny, but she persisted in jouncing him with her colossal hips. She could not help smiling at him, and he averted her gaze. Kari had finished a string of texts with her parents before she rushed back over. “Hey, Sasha! Are you going to be doing anything between now and the meeting?”

“I was going to hang out with Toby for a while, why?”

“Oh, I see…” Kari responded with sly grin. Zoe looked back at Sasha with one of her own, but Toby did not get what they were teasing her about. “…well, I was wondering if you’d like to discuss organizing some exploration of spooky places…maybe design a flyer…or something like that. You were planning to make a supernatural club, right?”

Sasha fidgeted with her fingers. “Well, uh…I do but…uh…back East we didn’t have a school sanctioned club. It was off to the side. Schools don’t like controversy. I’m not going to stir up trouble. I don’t want my step-dad to find out. He’s super religious” He nodded.

“What about your mom?” Toby asked.

“My mom doesn’t care. She’s always used to strange and unusual. Which is probably why she didn’t freak out when she saw you last night” she mentioned. Toby flinched and shifted his eyes, which Zoe and Kari both laughed at him. Sasha giggled as she bumped up against him. “You know…she was really excited when she found out that you would protect me”

“Great…” He muttered sarcastically. “So just how much did you tell her?”

Bernie approached them with his arms crossed. Sasha gulped knowing that he more than likely overheard her; however, his scorn was not directed towards her instead it was towards Toby. Neither of them said anything farther as they went into the packed bleachers. Some of the students left to occupy the mound surrounding the opposite side of the field.

Toby and Zoe took the field where the coach had the participants already doing drills. The students all looked at the two, and they all got quiet. Most had their cell phones out ready to record any chaos or mayhem.

The coach was very pleased to see them much to the contrary of the other participants who were hoping that it was just mere rumors that these two would come. The varsity team were on an auxiliary field, and they had overheard the cheerleader’s chattering about the developments. They flocked to the bowl, and the assistant coach who were with them at the time also joined.

Sasha looked over after noticing the figures of the twins. Then came Lilian, Yvonne, and the rest of Zoe’s rambunctious and energetic family. They wore school t-shirts, shorts, hats, and other gear in red, maroon, black, and white. Lilian wore a black skirt and knee high high-heel boots, while Yvonne wore black shorts and converse shoes.

They saw Sasha and Bernie and took to their sides. “So…what did we miss?” Lilian asked.

Bernie huffed still with his arms crossed over his chest impatiently. “Nothing, Toby and Zoe got there late and are at the back of the line” he said.

“Oh! At least we’ll all get to see them from start to finish” She said thoughtfully.

“Tch, these drills are really tame. There aren’t much to see!” He complained.

“You don’t think those two are going to pull stunt, are they?” she asked.

“Hmph! They’d better if they want to become starters. I’ll be pissed if any of them become benchwarmers” He said gruffly.

“Had a bad day at work again, honey?” Yvonne teased.

Bernie was not happy and looked away in a huff. The coach had placed cones 40 yards down field and each student was timed with how fast they could run from the goal like. Someone was announcing the names of the participants and afterwards the time they clocked. Sasha could see that Zoe was scheming something with her huddle with Toby.

Toby’s name was called, which he lined himself up on the goal line. The coach was at the 40-yard line and whistled for him to go. His whistle fell out from his mouth as he could have sworn Toby was literally flying across the field. His strides were inhumanly long and his feet tore up astroturf. In his shocked stupor he forgot to stop the clock, which to add farther confusion, Zoe launched a football at towards the other endzone.

Toby looked back and crossed the goal line leaping up six feet and caught the ball one handed. The coach managed to stop the clock when Toby got to the goal line. The students were speechless, and the football players watching were horrified in fear of being benched. Tommy and the rest of Zoe’s family shouted and laughed, screaming, “Atta boy Toby!”

“8.26 Seconds” the announcer said.

“Bullshit!” Bernie shouted although his profanity was drowned out by the displeasure from Zoe’s family.

The coach spoke to the announcer, which they started to do math on their phones. They stared at the results dumbfounded before the announcer corrected himself. “3.28 seconds”

“Show them what you got Zoe!” Haley shouted.

Zoe was determined to not be beat by Toby, and when the coach blew his whistle, she leaped forward almost 5 yards forgetting to limit her speed. She coasted to the 40-yard line and heard her score, “3.39 seconds”

The coach was beside himself when he looked at the speeds. He clicked his pen anxiously and circled some names in the list. He had a group of kids remain on the field while a lot were sent off with their heads hung low despite being prospects for making the JV or Freshman team. The Varsity team made their way down the slope onto the main field, which he called for there to be a water break.

Sasha sat in her seat uncomfortably feeling more aroused than ever after seeing Toby’s exploits. She hoped that the other werewolves would not pick up on her odor or at least ignored it. Maybe it would be drowned out by the other girls in the bleachers. Would they be offended if she was not attracted towards him?

The coach recognized Bernie and Terry in the stands walked up to them. “Hey, I thought I’d recognize you two. How was your first year at Western Oregon? Thinking about moving to FBS?” he asked before looked towards Lilian and Yvonne. “Like the shirt” he said.

Terry crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. “Well…I’ve always been a wolf, so…I stayed a wolf” he said proudly. “Besides…I kind of like being in a small town. Wouldn’t have met my girl there”

“Wait! You have a girlfriend, twerp?” Haley shouted before she grabbed his head from behind pulling it back. “Just how long did you plan on hiding her from us!?”

Terry laughed nervously. “Well, she had to go back to Siletz to help her grandparents”

“Siletz? Huh? Is she a member of the Siletz tribe?” Yvonne asked.

Terry shrugged his shoulders before Bernie asked to coach without hesitation. “Are they going to be starters?” his voice boomed.

The coach looked back out at the field. “I’m definitely considering it. I was thinking after our opener with Sheldon…once they get comfortable with our plays”

Bernie’s eye twitched. “They can hold their own! If my daughter is denied once more I…” he raised his voice before Yvonne stopped him. He looked over at his wife glaring at him while growling lowly in frustration.

The coach sighed. “Okay, I’ll put them in, but I don’t even know where to put them”

“She’s a quarterback coach!” Terry added.

“You know coach…They could pretty much play any position” Haley told him.

The coach rubbed his forehead. “That’s the problem…I need to see where I can put them” he told them before he looked towards the field. “Believe me, they will play. Don’t you worry” he told them as he left them.

Sasha paused then looked over at Lilian curiously. “…so did you decide to become a werewolf yourself?” she asked.

His mother nodded with a big grin. “I most certainly did!” she said proudly.

Sasha gulped. “Did your husband bite you? Did it hurt?” she asked.

She went silent as Haley leaned in farther with interest. “Yea…about that…let’s just say that it was just a bite that was harder than usual. Everything else I was used to” she said coyly. Haley grinned, and she rolled her eyes at her shyness. She smiled awkwardly at Haley. “What? Why do you care what happened?” she asked.

“Oh…I didn’t know you were into that kind of thing before your change” Haley teased.

Sasha stared between them blankly. “Into what?” she asked.

Her face went bright red, and Haley snickered. “Sasha, if you like it rough and aggressive then you can probably handle Toby as a human, that’s perfectly fine” she said before Sasha’s eyes widened, but a knot formed in her throat. Haley looked up at Toby staring them down until Zoe ran up and tackled him to the ground hard.

Sasha got up and ran to the guard rail to check on Toby, which she let out a light sigh of relief as the two were trying to wrestle the ball away from each other. “Hey! Come on! I’m down!” Toby growled.

“Give me the ball, Dumbass! I need to teach you the Statue of Liberty play!” Zoe grumbled.

Sasha smiled and looked towards Lilian and Yvonne who were shaking their heads at the two horsing around. The coach was rubbed his temple with embarrassment before Bernie walked up next to Sasha staring at them. “What in the hell are you two doing!?” he boomed, which Sasha clutched her heart feeling it skip a beat or two.

They stopped and stared up at him as he crossed his arms and snarled at them irritated. “You two better act more disciplined than that!” he grumbled.

Yvonne grabbed husband and dragged him over to her spot and made him sit next to her. “Sit down! You need to relax” she scolded him. He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest grumbling to himself. Sasha went back to her seat and pulled out her phone and logged onto her chatroom.

Sasha gulped and looked back to see if the parents were looking at her. Lilian looked up and cocked her head noticing that her face was bright red. “Are you okay?” she asked.

Sasha’s stared at her horrified. “Uh, yea…I’m fine!” she said before she immediately looked down at her phone.

Lilian and Haley both looked over Sasha’s shoulder, and her heart nearly exploded when she looked back. The two said only grinned evilly, while Bernie had his arms crossed staring at the two of them oddly. “g2g!” she put before she quickly stuffed her phone into her pocket. She looked back at them paranoid. “What?” she asked.

“Who you talking to there?” Lilian asked.

Sasha rubbed her shoulder timidly. “Um…they are my club members. We do a lot of paranormal stuff together especially back east” she answered.

Lilian glance back at Haley amused. “So, I’m guessing there are going to be a lot of questions aren’t there?” she asked.

Bernie was no longer paying attention to the practice, and he watched them intensely. Sasha could feel his stare, and she was reduced to nodding to the question hoping the goliath would not come in and reprimand her. Lilian cleared her throat. “Is this a private chatroom?” she asked. Sasha nodded slowly looking over her shoulder briefly overhearing Bernie’s growls. Lilian thought for a moment. “Is this just a hobby of yours?” she asked.

Sasha gulped. “Yea, um…One of the guys does write about our adventures, but he’s always changing names and some stuff. We would get requests online to investigate, but we’ve mostly done ghosts, most other things we’ve debunked or did not find much information to put in our shows. I do these steams to engage with our fans mainly. It’s kind of turned into something more than just a hobby. I was thinking about bringing up my relationship with Toby and slowly revealing what he is…maybe it could help” she said.

Bernie’s glance softened while Yvonne chimed in, “Oh, so something similar to what Gwen does?”

Sasha blushed. “Well…I’m not reviewing old horror movies and treat Toby like a prop or that he was part of the act” she informed them.

“We know that you don’t want to copy her, Sasha. I just wanted to know how far you wanted to make a career out of this” Lilian stated. She looked back out on the field and bit her lip. “I don’t know about sharing with everyone with what Toby is, but…something has to be done”

“Hmph, you will put his life at risk by telling everyone. You can shed some light onto us, but there are still hunters out there who will not change their ways” Bernie stated.

Sasha’s head sank lowly in defeat before Haley and Terry both looked at him sternly. “Dad…aren’t we all in a lot of danger anyway?” He only snorted at her in out of protest and looked back towards the field.

Kari looked up at Sasha from her phone. “I was just curious, just were do these werewolves rank do you think? Are they still B rank?”

Sasha shrugged her shoulders. “To be honest, I don’t think we have done enough research. I didn’t think they were all capable of these things in human form” she said.

Lilian and Haley both glanced over at them curiously. “Rank? You have a ranking system?” Lilian asked.

Sasha nodded. “Yea, we created one, but…the only thing dangerous we dealt with was stuff like poltergeists and even the grassman! They were B Class, but from what I’ve seen with the werewolves here. They are already on that level in human form…maybe higher if that story about werewolves controlling winds is true” she said.

Yvonne waved her off. “Please, you don’t need to stroke Bernie’s ego” she said as she patted him on the shoulder.

Bernie glanced back over at them smirking. “Would you like for me to give a demonstration” he asked.

Haley scowled at him. “Dad, none of us are going to pull your finger”

“Hun, right now isn’t the place to be breaking wind” Yvonne added to the fun.

“So…none of you can control wind?” Sasha asked with disappointment starting to set in.

“I’ve heard of it…haven’t seen anything more than a dust devil” Kari remarked before she tapped her finger to her chin.

“Perhaps, later you will get to see. Just be patient” Lilian spoke softly. She smiled at Sasha faintly before she was approached by Phoebe.

“Mom, Can I go home?”

Lilian sighed out of annoyance before saying, “Fine” under her breath. After Phoebe had ran back home, Tommy came over, which Lilian shot him a look. “I suppose you want to go home also?”

Tommy shook his head. “Uh, actually…I was wanting to go over to Nathan’s house”

“Hmph, Nathan…you weren’t about to sneak out were you?” Bernie’s voice bellowed.

Nathan flinched as he was speaking to one of his cousins. “Huh?” he muttered before he saw Tommy speaking to his mother. “Cripes! Seriously Tommy?” His cousin laughed at him before Bernie went over to chew him out.

Haley and Terry both snickered to themselves before their older brother Ulf joined them in the stands. He stood an inch taller than Zoe and was just as lean. On his shoulder he had a tattoo of a wolf with a native art style. Lilian eyes lit up when seeing him, which he sat right beside her feeling entitled to do so. “Hey, how was work?”

Ulf glanced over at her and smirked. “Oh you know…It was torture” he said before she backhanded him over the chest playfully. He crossed his arms over his chest and observed the two teen wolves running amok in the field. He was very amused with the spectacle that they were making of themselves, but nothing they shown were alarming or breaking Olympic or world records. “So those two are going to be on the team after all”

Sasha stared at him curiously. “Hi, I’m Sasha…I don’t believe we’ve met. Were you at the barbeque? I don’t remember seeing you”

Ulf glanced at her confused before he began to piece things together. “Oh, you’re Toby’s girlfriend” he muttered causing her to blush. She did not correct him and allowed him to continue, “My name is Ulfric Cooper, but you can call me Ulf. I’m the eldest born”

“Eldest? So how old are you?” Sasha asked.

“Let’s not get into that right now…Let’s just say that werewolves live a long time” Lilian interrupted.

“He’s Eighty-two” Terry blurted out.

Sasha’s jaw dropped before she asked. “Seriously!? Just how old is Bernie!?”

“I think he’s a hundred fourteen”

“No freaking way! You aren’t messing with me are you!? You look like you’re twenty-five! And…he looks like he’s in his thirties”

“Hehe, I’m Forty and I still look eighteen” Haley joked.

Sasha glanced up at Toby and Zoe and gulped. “Are they in their thirties?” she asked.

Lilian snickered at her. “No, No, He’s Seventeen…He wouldn’t be having growth spurts if he was that old, and Zoe she’s only four months older than him. That barbeque was to celebrate her birthday…well most of the pups”

Haley leaned forward and snickered. “A lot of werewolf pups are born in September and October” she interjected. Sasha looked at her funny, which Haley continued. “Breeding season is around winter solstice…just giving you fair warning”

“You…go into heat?” Sasha asked.

Terry glanced over at them uncomfortably before he scooted down the seat. Haley and Lilian looked at each other blushing. “Well…yes and no. It’s hard to explain” Lilian said awkwardly.

“We do” Yvonne stated. “When the leaves start to fall and the first frost comes, our bodies crave warmth and the company of another”

There was a loud pop from the field, and the crowd wooed and cringed. Sasha looked over only to see a defensive tackle on his back stunned gasping for breath. Toby nor Zoe were within ten yards from him, which she looked towards Terry and Ulf. “What happened?”

“Heh, Toby popped him right in the chest. Knocked the wind out of him” Ulf explained.

“He better be careful. Those pads don’t really protect much from a hit like that” Terry added.

Sasha bit her lip watching Toby very carefully as the other players rushed over. Two players attempted to shove him before Zoe ran over and checked them from behind. The coach ran out onto the field blowing his whistle shouting, “That enough!”

He got in between the players and the teen wolves. “Hey! Hey! That was a good clean hit!”

“That’s Bullshit, coach! He was trying to take him out!”

“Yea! That was unnecessary roughness!”

“That bitch tried to take us out!”

“I’ve heard enough!” He shouted before he turned towards Toby and Zoe. “I would like for you to try to hold back more” he said to them lowly.

Sasha looked back over at as he came back after lecturing his son. “Um…I know that you guys are bigger on the west coast but…Just why exactly are you all so big. Is it the environment? Is it genetics?”

Lilian rubbed her arm uncomfortably with regards to disclosing Toby’s heritage, but Bernie shook his head. “It’s complicated. Toby’s case is a little…unique. Our family are born from a line of very well-bred warriors, and for his family line…well, they experimented a little with breeding with other supernatural beings to make the perfect warrior. Still his werewolf blood is of the same quality as ours, but with him, there’s still a little extra that I don’t know about”

“I’d rather not go into this right now” Lilian said.

“Wait, Steele wasn’t pure-bred?” Terry asked.

Ulf and Haley both shook their heads before Bernie explained to Terry. “A lot has changed since the days of old”

Terry seemed relieved to hear that his father did not care whether or not that his children were dating a werewolf or a human. He was still curious about this fact about the former alpha just as Sasha was.

Sasha thought about the video and shivers ran up her spine. “So, is there like a need to have werewolves only pair with other werewolves?” she asked.

Bernie nodded. “Well, that was an antiquated belief. We aren’t using shields and swords anymore. It’s just a romanticized idea that most still have, but fail to realize what time we live in” he said. He let out a deep agitated sigh. “It’s hard to find a werewolf around here who is not related to me. Inbreeding is still a taboo…even for us” he stated.

Sasha stared back out onto the field with wonder as practice was winding down. A cool breeze rushed through the bleachers as blew her hair back. Toby and Zoe approached them, which Sasha’s heart began to race as Toby drew near her. She looked into his eyes and smiled, and he looked away timidly and gulped. “Um, do you want to be my dinner tonight?” he asked.

Sasha stared at him with confusion before she laughed. “I’d love to” she said with great enthusiasm. Zoe rubbed her forehead vigorously at Toby’s terrible attempt to ask Sasha out. His mother and Haley both smirked and scooted up to them cheekily.

Ulf rolled his eyes and stood up, which Lilian stopped him. “Aren’t you coming to dinner?” she asked him; although, it was if he was not given a choice. She stared at him with great need, and he sighed heavily giving a nod.

All the wolfmen’s stomachs broke the silence with a loud growl. Sasha looked at Toby snickering to herself suspecting this to be a normal occurrence. “Uh oh…we better get you fed” she said before she rubbed to belly. “Don’t worry…you’ll never starve around me” she said.

Toby blushed as his family and Zoe’s family all looked at them. Lilian took another sip of her iced tea before she got up. “I’d better check with your mom about dinner” she said before she plugged her nose. “Toby needs to shower anyway” she teased.

“I’ll see you all tomorrow!” Zoe shouted after slapping Toby on the butt. Sasha looked at them feeling slightly territorial over him despite there being no romantic intent on Zoe’s part. Zoe caught this glance, and she snickered to herself. “What’s wrong? Did I touch your beef cake?”

Sasha blushed as Zoe’s siblings snickered at her. Toby growled and walked off fuming, which Sasha thought that he was ashamed in her having a crush on him. Lilian got up and nudged her. “Want a ride home?”

Sasha fidgeted with her fingers sensing that same tone that she had given Ulf. “Um…Okay” she said shyly. She left with her and Tommy, which Toby was waiting out in the parking lot for them.

Sasha soon left the campus with them, which she sat in the back of the car next to him. She studied him carefully noticing that he was just now beginning to sweat. He had finished exercising in the heat. “Toby? Are you okay…with me?” she asked.

He glanced over at her, and he seemed to be sweating a lot more after she asked the question. Tommy turned and smirked at him. He glared at his brother causing him to face forward before he was attacked by his older brother. Finally, Toby looked at her confused, “Why do you ask?”

“Why did you walk off like that? Do you not like me?”

“It’s not like that…I wasn’t going to take them laughing at me” He spoke gruffly.

She looked at him softly and touched his hand gently. Her hand moved up his arm before he wrapped his arm around her. She leaned up against him and cooed softly. She took in a deep breath and his smell was similar to when she had crashed into his chest the before, intoxicating. “You know, he’s not really that smelly” she commented.

His mother huffed sarcastically. “You sure? He sure stinks to me! He smells like…” she said before Sasha chimed in.

“Like a wolfman?”