Chapter 1: Haircut Day

It was the morning after another one of those crazy nights. The sunlight was beaming through the windows wishing everyone a good morning. Toby awoke to the sounds of the happy birds chirping in the trees, a chirping so loud it made your head throb in pain. He growled and grabbed the pillows covering up his head, as if hiding from the morning itself; he was just too acquainted to his bed to just get out .

Lilian popped by and giggled. “You act so much like your father each day, I swear" she said with a smile with her morning person attitude. She was wearing a light green skirt with a white pirate blouse. Toby poked his head out of the pillows looking very tired and sore. His brown ruffled hair got into his eyes as he tried to look at the clock, “8:30 am" he growled and sat up rubbing his head.

She leaned into the door watching him carefully. “Did you go out again last night?" she asked.

He looked up at her and sighed. “Yea…why?" he asked.

She shook her head at him and sighed wearily. “You can't be staying up every night pumping iron with Zoe. You need to start getting your sleep habits on in sync with the school" she said before she cleared her throat. Deep down she knew of her son being very sexually active, and he was very sure she knew as well. Neither one wanted to talk about it or dwell too much on it. “Plus you still have more growing to do. I bet everyone is going to be shocked to see you when you get back to school" she said talking about it in a roundabout way. He scowled at her, which she gave a cheeky grin before leaving while humming to herself.

He managed to crawl out of bed and groaned rubbing his sore muscles in his back. “Ow…" he muttered before he smelled the delicious aroma of an all meat breakfast extravaganza downstairs. His mouth watered and his stomach activated, but then something did not settle right with him. Soon his eyes narrowed as he tried to go through all the horrible things that ensued a big breakfasts.

As he made his way into the kitchen, his eyes widened in horror looking at the calendar next to full moon was, “Haircut Day!" encircled with a red Sharpie, and he whimpered trying to repress the bad memories from the last haircut he got. His mother peaked over her shoulder watching him stare at the calendar and smirked at him.

“Verdammter Haarschnitt (Fucking Haircut)…I'll bite the first person that…" He muttered.

“I heard that! Don't make me bring the muzzle, 'cause I will" she threatened.

“Verdammt (Damn)!!" Toby muttered, his nose was all curled up.

His mother shook her head. “You can curse all you want, but you're still getting that haircut! How are you going to attract a mate looking like that? You're not a werelion…unless that's what you are going for" she said before she snickered at him groaning in embarrassment. “Get ready" she ordered.

He went back upstairs and heard a plate heavy with food clank onto the table. The little piece offering was all that was needed. His stomach was now a mixture of burning and scratching, which he was conflicted on what to do. He got to the bathroom door and discovered that it was looked. He growled viciously and banged on the door. “Hey open the door!" he shouted.

There was a long pause before he banged on the door harder. “If you don't open that door, I'm going to smash through it!" he shouted more viciously.

“H-h-hold on!" his brother shouted back after sounding like he had dropped something.

His sister came out from her bedroom rubbing the crusties out of her eyes. “Is he still in there? He's been in there the whole night" she muttered before she walked to the door knocking on it. “Are you still freaking out about growing extra chest hairs?" she teased him.

“I'm not freaking out!" he shouted.

“Ugh! I'm not playing with you!" Toby shouted before he started to apply immense pressure on the door with his hand making creaks and pops.

Their mother stomped her away up the stairs waving a spatula at Toby. “Toby! I'm warning you! You break that door I'm coming after you!" she shouted before she sighed in frustration. “Why can't you just use my shower?" she asked.

Toby grumbled to himself reaching for a towel out of the closet and went into the master bathroom. Their mother walked over and knocked on the door. “Are you alright in there?" she asked which his sister rolled her eyes.

“Mom, you know what happened"

Their mother sighed awkwardly and pressed her head against the door. “Has your grandmother been shaming you too?"

“Well, she hasn't talked to us much, so…I mean to me not talking to is still shaming us, right?" her daughter asked.

Their mother nodded slowly before she looked towards her forcing a smile. “I have a key to the bathroom door" she spoke out a little louder.

The door unlocked, and her youngest son peered through the crack in the door. “Uh…Mom? Is this human hair or…" he asked before he opened the door farther showing his hairy chest. It was shiny black guard hairs that seemed lupine, but she gave him a strange look.

“It's werewolf hair" she answered.

“Why isn't it going away?" He asked.

“It doesn't go away. All wolfmen have residual guard hairs on their bodies…you did transform last night, didn't you?" She asked.

He looked away and rubbed his arm. “It went away…but it stayed this time" he said.

“Tch, I don't know why you're complaining. Wolfmen are supposed to be proud of how wolflike they look in human form" his sister grumbled with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Tommy, you have nothing to worry about. You're just going through something all wolfmen call Fully wooly…werewolf puberty. It happed to Toby" Their mother assured him. She sighed heavily and ruffled his shaggy hair. “Now get ready" she told them.

Meanwhile Toby got out of the shower and shook himself off. He quickly got into his tan cargo shorts, and his white T-shirt, today it said, “Bite me!" He walked out the master bathroom making his way into the dining room. There he saw five whopping pounds of sausage, bacon, steak, eggs, and chicken all with his name on it, his mouth watered as he tried to figure out how to tackle the wounded animal.

His mother giggled. “Go ahead and eat up…I know how much energy you need after a full moon, and trust me…you're going to need every bit of it if you are going to reach your full height" She said.

His brother and sister came down the stairs and jumped into their seats. Toby paid no attention to them, but they both looked up at him curiously. “Um Toby? What was it like when you got fully wooly?" his preteen brother asked.

Toby looked up and stared at him uncomfortably. His mother laughed at his misery and sat down at the table. “What have you started growing fur Tommy?" she asked rhetorically.

“Is it supposed to hurt? Will I turn into a giant swole wolf like you and Bernie?" he asked.

“Feh, it's not like it all happened at once. It started out with me getting really hungry all the time. My body ached all over. I felt hot and I thought I was sick. Tch, I dunno why everyone got all excited. The first time was not anything spectacular if you ask me, but then it became just this stupid curse. I was always itching to transform, and a lot of times I'd change at the most inconvenient of times. I thought the growing body parts and sprouting hairs was embarrassing enough. Everyone stared at me, and I couldn't tell if it was because I turned or not. Girls started swarming all over me…human ones. I only just started getting swole during the summer" Toby mumbled.

Tommy got very uncomfortable and shuffled in his seat. “But does it hurt?"

“It doesn't hurt that much! Stop whining!" Phoebe interrupted him.

“How would you know?" Tommy asked.

Phoebe growled. “Because I had my first change a year ago! At least you don't have to bleed out of your…"

“Now Phoebe! We're at the dinner table!" Their mother said.

Toby paused squirting ketchup onto his eggs and wisely sat it down. He gave his sister a look and growled. “Really? You should try having a pair of organs feeling like they are being crushed by vice grips nonstop…and it's not just a once in a month kind of thing either" he argued.

“Toby! Enough!" Their mother raised her voice. Tommy sank in his seat and stabbed at the yolk sac in his eggs repeatedly with his finger. He was very glum and defeated, which their mother then said, “Oh please…I already told you it's nothing to be worried about. It's all a part of growing up"

Toby started devouring the mound of food until there was nothing left on his plate with only a happy Toby left in front of it. His mother came back in with the utensils, “Here I forgot the spoon and…" She said which she paused staring at the barren plate. She face palmed and sighed in frustration. “Never mind…" She muttered.

He got out of the chair and walked to the kitchen. “Don't tell me you're still hungry!" She barked at him. He pulled out a can of Mountain Dew and pulled the tab releasing a huge hiss; “Nope just getting the wuf necessities of life," he said. He put the can to his lips and started to drink the nectar, while his mother rolled her eyes as his pun.

“Really Toby? Just how much sugar do you need?" Phoebe muttered.

Toby scowled at her. “It's not the sugar I need…it's the caffeine" he told her before he took a swig from the bottle. He went into the pantry and pulled out Whey protein, which Tommy watched curiously as his bother dumped a lot of the powder into a huge cup filled with milk making some sort of muscle growth concoction. He chugged it and gasped feeling the grittiness on his teeth.

“Does that stuff even work?" Tommy asked.

Toby gave him a look causing him to flinch and gulped. “Have you been using it?" he asked.

Tommy stayed quiet, but Phoebe snickered. “I've caught him a few times" she chimed in.

Toby slugged Tommy in the shoulder nearly knocking him out of the chair. “Ow!" he winced while rubbing at his arm.

“That stuff is expensive. You turd! You're only wasting it if you don't work out or train" Toby spoke harshly at him.

“You know. If you want to become big like your father, you should join them instead of playing video games all day" Lilian recommended.

Toby looked up at a picture of him and his parents on the wall across the living room, which he started remembering the fun he had with his late father, and the training that he was given.

Toby's father was a large scruffy looking man; he had brown eyes and had a very muscular physique. Toby was the spitting image of his father only Toby had heterochromia. In the picture Toby's father was ruffling Toby's hair, everyone looked so happy; his mother had a warm content smile while hugging around her husband's arm, the younger Toby looked really annoyed while his father looked somewhat amused. Toby frowned and he spaced out, remembering the vivid horrors of that fateful night, and the pain attached to those memories.

???13 years ago Government Camp, Oregon???

His father was sharing a huge kill with Toby and his mother. His father was a big muscular wolf with sliver fur and yellow soul piercing eyes that could see in the dead of night; Toby viewed his father to be as large as a building that rivaled the mountains around you. To him, his father was the perfect hunting machine, and he was proud to have such a strong wolf be his father. Likewise his father was very proud of his son and would always smirk.

His mother was a sleek and slender wolf a third the size of his father. Her fur was silver with black mixed in. She had blue caring eyes and was always touchy feely with her lover whenever he was near, but that was what mating season does with an alpha pair. Whenever he was gone she would always whimper and howl.

In the flashback Toby was watching his father rest the deer carcass in front of him, and the steam and aroma of the fresh kill made his mouth water. “This is the wargest buw ever! Could they make a buw too big for you to take down Papa?" he asked coming to investigate the kill. His father chuckled and ruffled his head, which his paws were so enormous that he could cup his son's small body in them. Toby had not yet grown into his paws so to speak as his transformations would only go as far as a change in eye color, enlarged fangs, and claws.

His parents' took a form that looked to be somewhat humanoid; the only thing that had a resemblance as to being human was their humanoid torso, their ability to walk upright, and their intelligent thinking, everything else was lupine in appearance. This was a form that they called Therian or Beast like.

His father chuckled at him and started wagging his tail. “Nope, these can't get any bigger my boy," He said with his very thick High German accent; Toby liked the way his father spoke it was unique. His eyes lit up with affection and admiration overflowing with pride that he felt at being the son of this colossal monstrosity. His father loved that look in his eyes and tried to be the greatest father his son expected him to be; he soon patted Toby's head gently once more. “Go ahead and eat my son. I want you growing big and strong, like me!" he said happily.

His mother's lips were stained with blood as she dug into the corpse. “Your father's right Toby, its best you eat… you want to grow as big and strong as your father, don't you?" She asked.

“Kay" He responded as he started digging into the carcass ravenously; the snow was stained with animal blood and steam still raised up into the cold winter air.

Once his mother's appetite was sated, she padded over to his father; she pulled his head down to her eye level before she licked the blood from his muzzle affectionately. “Thanks for taking us out to dinner" She said thankfully.

He wagged his tail hard enough that as it crashed into the tree trunk behind it made it vibrate and knock lose the snow from the branches. “You're welcome, hun" He said. He gazed at his son viciously chomping at a femur and tibia, and he was amazed at what he saw. “Wow, it's hard to believe he's already five years old. Time sure flies by" He said.

She huddled up to him wrapping her arms around his once more and looked over at her son wagging her tail proudly. “Yea, and to think he'll be as big as you one day, Steele" she said with a wolfish grin.

He chuckled wholesomely. “Yea, well I'll be proud to step down and let him take over the clan, but…until then. Let the pup not worry about the clan's problems, let him have the happiest of his pup years" He said.

She nodded as she watched her son plop onto his side succumbing to stuffing himself silly. He slept next to the carcass with a big bloated belly full of meat ready to burst, she giggled. “He's asleep" she said before walking over to the sleeping pup. She leaned over and gently picked her son up, and she looked at her husband amused. “Now both your stomachs match" she teased as she knocked her tail into his thigh.

She looked back at him with bedroom eyes. “After we tuck Toby in bed let's try for another litter, shall we, my stud?" She asked. She then reverted to her human form and carried the werewolf pup into the massive cabin.

Steele lolled out his tongue and panted while wagging his tail happily. “I've been waiting all this week to hear that Lilian. There's not a moment to lose" He said before he reverted into his human form while following her.

She looked back at him from the base of the staircase and snickered at him. “Oh? What makes making a pup any different from the usual?" she asked in a sultry voice. He watched her walk up the staircase with the large pup nestled up against her neck. She swayed her hips to just tease her husband, which he did enjoy the view grinning from ear to ear.

The house reeked of her sweet intoxicating aroma pheromones, which it was indicative of a shewolf heavily in heat; He chased after her up the stairs and growled into her ears as he wrapped his arms around her while they walked down the hallway.

Toby opened his eyes as they set him in his bad. “I wove you mama and papa" He said sweetly.

His mother kissed his forehead affectionately. “We love you too…you ready to go nite night?" She asked.

He yawned, and he nodded and tried to keep his drowsy eyes open. “I'm…so…Tayoed mama" He said.

She piled in many stuffed animals around the sleepy pup, which he instantly snuggled with the big wolf that was interlaced with his parents' scent. It was soothing to him like lavender reminding him that his parents were near whenever he woke up in the middle of the night.

His mother tucked him in, and she stroked his head gently. “G'night, don't let the fleas bite" she said as she shut the lights off. Toby was in dreamland before the door latched shut. She smiled looking up at her husband who was peering in the bedroom. “He's like an angel" she said cheerfully.

•••A couple of hours later•••

Toby was awoken from his peaceful slumber to glass shattering, which was followed by heavy footsteps echoed throughout the cabin. The intruder gave off the putrid stench of cigarette odor, and Toby whimpered and whined instinctively as he clutched onto the stuffed animal tightly. A strange man with a scar across his right eye came into the young pup's room; he panicked as the man reached for him. The man pulled out a dagger, and Toby's eyes widened in horror before he start crying out for help as the man grabbed him by the neck pressing the blade inches from his flesh.

His father barged into the room and came to his son's rescue. His father charged into the man throwing the man into the wall and pinning him by the neck choking him. “What are you doing here!" he shouted displaying such incredible strength. It made Toby's eyes fill with joy and fright as his father choked the man out without the need to transform.

“Steele there's more!!" his mother yelled before there was a loud gunshot and subsequent yelp.  Toby was picked up by his father before he was carried downstairs. He growled lowly with his father as he was set down.

“Stay here!" His father instructed him. Toby did not want to be separated from him as he ran outside to see his wife on her knees clutching onto her wounded arm.

Toby saw the horror of his mother bleeding in the snow, and he ran out shouting, “Mama!!!" he shouted out; He managed to get five feet from her until there was another loud bang.

He felt something go straight through his small body, which it took several seconds for it to register; however, his mother let out a horrific scream. “My baby!"

It was immediately after when sharp pains burning through his being; he yelped. He felt very cold as he fell into the snow, staining it crimson. His father let out a huge enraged almighty roar, “TOBY!!" he yelled while he transformed. He ran out and scooped up his son cradling his small body to his chest. “You bastards!" he shouted.

Toby lost consciousness; he awoke in his mother's arms, she was crying as she successfully stopped his bleeding. She saw his eyes opened, and she buried her nose into her son's chest. “Oh thank god!" she shouted. He whimpered and licked the tears on his mother's face with endearingly.

“What the hell is wrong with you people!? We have done nothing to you!" his father shouted. He was shot in the arm, and he roared out in anger and pain.

Lilian whimpered as she held onto her son tightly, burying him into her chest. Toby struggled to see where his father was, but once he finally spotted him, he was enraged. He noticed a group of men in front of his father smirking with sadistic satisfaction. His father was the only thing standing between his family and the intruders. He was going to protect his family at all costs, he looked back, “Lilian, go now!" He yelled.

She grimaced and began to run with her son in her arms, he growled trying to get free. “Wait…PAPA!!" he yelled. His mother cried, trying her best from looking back, but she could not stop her son from witnessing the sight.

“Kill them!!" The leader ordered pointing a mother and child, the men aimed their guns at them before Steele got in the way. They fired emptying their magazines and clips into Steele's body, eventually the alpha fell to the ground. His son witnessed the horror of a coldblooded murder, and he did not believe that his invincible father could be taken out so easily. He hated them. He tried to yell, but his mother placed her paw over his mouth to keep him silent.

She leaped through the trees to make tracking more difficult. Her son cried in her arms, and he wanted to get even with those humans; His mother grabbed a rock and hurled it at a drone flying after them. The first throw missed, then the second and third; however, in the process of evasion, the propellers knocked into the branches of a snag.

Once they got to their safe place, she cried silently while holding her precious son close for her own comfort as well as to keep him quiet. She dug up a box containing emergency supplies. She opened the box and pulled out a flash grenade before she held onto it across her son's body.

She checked on her son's single gunshot wound, which he had already clotted. She clenched her teeth looking at the burner phone, “No reception! Damn it! What am I going to do!? I can't go to Haley's…they'll follow me there!" She muttered before she clenched her fist closing her eyes. “I want to wake up! This…can't be happening" she muttered.

•••A couple Hours Later•••

“Sir there's no sign of that bitch of that runt, I'm afraid that the snow has covered their tracks" an operative said.

The leader stroked his beard. “I suspect they are very close. If they are still in the house, burn those vermin alive!" He told them before he smirked arrogantly. They went inside the house with cans of gasoline and poured it all then lit it on fire. “…at least we've taken out the Alpha male…let's move out!" he yelled.

“Yes sir!" the men yelled before they rushed to their truck with a MAGA bumper sticker on.

When they left the house, the leader walked over to Steele's body pulling out a large hunting knife. “Heh, his head will look great over my mantle" he said as he placed his hands on Steele's neck.

“Dad, what are you doing? Come on! Let's go!" His son shouted obviously he was a teenager.

He turned to look towards his son proudly. “I'm claiming my prize! I want us all to remember this night forever! The night we killed the super…" he managed to say before Steele impaled him from behind with his claws. His son shouted out in horror seeing the massive werewolf paw coming out the man's abdomen with entrails spilling out from the wound.

The leader screamed out in agony as he was being used as a human meat shield. “Kill him!" he shouted.

The men managed to pull out their guns but not before Lilian threw the flash bang at them, which Steele used the corpse to shield himself from the explosion before he swung the corpse around taking them all out. The son was on the ground looking up at the gargantuan beast staring him down with contempt. “Turn back now! I can tell your heart isn't in it kid" he spoke harshly.

The son stood up looking at his deceased father, and he clenched his fist in anger. “You killed my father!" he shouted.

“You broke into my home and tried to murder my family; do you think that makes you the heroes?" He retorted before he was shot multiple times in the chest. He fell on top of the boy drenching him in werewolf blood. He pushed against Steele as his body fell to the side, and he looked back at the completely engulfed cabin catching sight of the glowing reflection from Lilian and her son's eyes behind the underbrush.

“Zeke! Let's go!" A woman shouted from a van.

They all ran off to the vehicle then sped off down the mountainside, which Lilian watched the tail lights carefully. Her son growled and shook with anger; his hatred for the humans built farther. They could hear the roaring of the engines far away, and the crunching of chains, digging into the snow and ice. The sound growing weaker and fainter as the convoy of hunters drove off. Soon it was quiet, the silence was only drowned out by the fire. She let go of the young pup as she secured the box of survival gear in her arms. Much to her dismay, her son ran straight to Steele's side.

“PAPA!! (DADDY!!)" He yelled as he kneeled beside him. “Alles in Ordnung? (Are you okay?)" Toby asked.

His father whimpered as he knew what his fate was. "Nein... Es tut mir leid, Toby...Bitte... Achte auf deine Mutter...für mich (No…I'm sorry, Toby…Please…Take care of your mother…For me…)" Steele said weakly.

Toby started to cry, “WAS!? Nein, Papa! Geh nicht! (What!? No, Papa! Don't go!)" He yelled.

His mother got to her knees and sat the box next to her, and she assessed her husband's injuries. His muscles trembled and his body burned. She reached over to stroke his face with love, and he reached up to touch her face. “Go straight to Bernie's…they will be back to finish the job" he said firmly.

She nodded then watched him rest his hand over his son's back. She made an attempt to save her husband by plugging the wounds. “Don't waste your time on me…" he told her. Neither one said anything, but he held his son in the scarlet snow. She clenched her fist and ran over to the garage opening it as the wolves that lived on the property came out from hiding. They came out to console the werewolf pup licking his wounds and the blood from his body. His mother soon backed her car out.

His father turned his head and vomited up blood. He reverted to his human form, and he looked back over at his beloved son. “Lebewohl…mein sohn… (Farewell…My son)" he whispered, before his damaged and poisoned body gave up, and he faded away giving off a death rattle.

“Nein! Nein!…Papa! wach auf! (No! No!…Papa! wake up!)" Toby yelled shaking his father's huge body.

Lilian grabbed onto her son's arm and drug him off. "Nein! Nein!! Lass mich los! (No! No! Let me go!)" He screamed struggling against his mother's grip.

"Toby!" his mother yelled as she pulled him close before she grabbed onto his head. She was in great pain, but she tried to keep herself strong. "…Er ist tot (He's gone)" she said.

He growled at her trying to break free. "…Er ist nicht tot! Er ist genau da! Ich sehe ihn noch! (He's not gone! He's right there! I can still see him!)" He yelled.

She whimpered as the wolves mourned the death of their pack leader. "He's Dead Toby!" she said as she swallowed her tongue and dragged her son towards the car.

He looked at her shocked. "Dead? He can't die!" he yelled.

She shook her head. "Everybody dies Toby…even the good werewolves" she said.

His eyes were widened in shock before he growled. "I hate them…I hate them mommy!" he yelled.

She wrapped a blanket around him, and she placed her finger on his lips. “I need you to be strong for me, okay?" she asked before she boosted him into the backseat. “I'm going to take you to daddy's friend's den okay? But I need you to stay buckled up, but stay low, do you understand?" she said firmly. She handed him his stuffed animal before she stroked his face. A young wolf jumped into the back seat with him, and she frowned closing the door.

She backed out around and stared at her husband's body. The snow only dumped harder with huge dollar bill sized flakes. She looked back at her son, and the wolf that had rested his head into his lap. Her son laid his head over the wolf's thigh. “Thank you…" she told the wolf as they drove down the slopes slowly.

The car ride was took a turn for the worst when headlights appeared from behind them before they turned their brights on. Lilian turned onto the highway, and she drove into town with the van tailgating her along the way. She turned off the highway onto the loop that took her into town, which the van did not follow her. Much to her dismay all the stores were closed. She took the loop around, which she saw the van pass by in the opposite direction, but she continued onward. “Stay awake Toby!" she urged him.

The lights came back around and there was a gunshot that shattered the back window. His mother lost control of her car hitting a snow berm and flipped her car over the guardrails and into the ravine. Toby blacked out, and when he came to, his ears were ringing and vision blurry. The car rested on its side, and Toby found himself upside down in the car. His mother dislodged herself from her seatbelt and looked back to check on her son.

The wolf came in through the back window somehow surviving being ejected out during the roll over. He licked at Toby's face as his mother reached in to free him from his seat belt. “We're going to keep moving now…Shred will follow us" she said before she got out. She ripped open the trunk and pulled out backpacks. “Shred! I need you to carry these for us" she said as strapped a backpack onto the wolf's back. She gave Toby a backpack to carry, while she strapped one on herself as well as carry the box of supplies with her. “We'll find a place to rest, I promise" she told them.

The walked on through the frozen creek, when they found a sheltered area as the blizzard came in. His mother opened her backpack and pulled out another blanket, which came from her marital bed. She removed the backpack from the wolf, and she lay up against the tree watching the snow cover their tracks in seconds. The wolf and her son huddled up together, as she wrapped them up in a blanket before she transformed into her werewolf form as well.

She wept the rest of the night as she held her son close. The snow kept falling and the tree shielded them from most of the snow. Still, it was the coldest night he had ever experienced. He would never forget how much they hurt him and his family.

???xxx???

He was taken aback; he sat still staring at the floor in a trance. Repeating thoughts of how weak he was and how he was a coward circled his mind in an infinite positive feedback loop. His mother was shaking his arm with concern. “Toby…Toby?…Hey! Toby!" his mother yelled.

He finally snapped out of his trance, and he looked at his mother confused and drenched with sweat. He was breathing heavily and looking around frantically still in fight or flight mode. His siblings took a few steps back waiting for him to explode at any minute. “Hey! Hey! Look at me!" Their mother spoke firmly. She was grabbing the back of his head trying to get him to look.

His gazed was cold and vengeful, which she shuttered with pain. “You're not there" she muttered before he looked at the wooden floor paneling seeing his own blood beginning to drip from his palms. He had transformed slightly with his fist clenched tightly, which he had not realized until he experienced the vicious stinging when he unclenched his fists. Yet more blood oozed out and trickled down his pinky fingers onto the floor.

“I think he was having another one of his episodes" Phoebe pointed out.

Toby lashed out and growled at her, but their mother still had a hold of his arm holding him back. She gave him a big hug despite him now being much bigger than she was. “Please stop…you can't change the past. You all are the most precious things that your father has left me. Because a lot of him runs through your veins, you should be proud that he is your father…Now clean yourself up and let's get yourself a haircut" she told him as she handed him napkins to clench onto.

Phoebe watched him leave before she opened her mouth. “You know…it's been getting a lot worse recently"

“I know…I know" Their mother said wearily.

“That ain't going to happen to me is it?" Tommy asked.

“No! No…I only pray that you don't ever have to go through what he has" she muttered to herself while shaking her head. She clenched her fist underneath the table and held back her tears. She sighed heavily and looked up at the twins. A lone tear trailed down her cheek, but she smiled at them weakly. “I can't believe how fast you all grew" she told them.

Meanwhile in the bathroom, Toby shut the door. He turned the light and fan on before he took his clothes off. He glanced over into the mirror looking at the scabs over his large pectorals and left bicep. He rubbed his sore back before he turned the water on. He sighed thinking he truly believed there was something that could have saved his father. He tried to push back the memories of his father before he started to wash the blood off his palms as he tested the water temperature.

He heard that his phone ping a text alert from Zoe. He pulled his phone out and it read, “Hey I heard that Olivia bitch chicken out when she found out your secret. Which secret did she discover? Was it before or after she stuck her hand down your pants? XD"

Toby rolled his eyes and sighed. “Well, she tried. Said I was too painful" he texted back.

“Ha! I told her you were too much wolf for her to handle" Zoe texted back.

“Weren't you the one to throw her on to me in the first place?" he asked.

“Yea, but she needed to be knocked down a peg. Ever since she became Captain of the Cheer squad, she thinks she can conquer any boy in the school. Proved her wrong! ;P" she replied back.

“Yea…I was only dating her just to be nice. I didn't think she would do all of that so quick. You'd think she was just trying to get an ex jealous" he texted.

“Well duh. But just wait until you become Quarterback" Zoe teased.

“Fick das! I ain't doing Football" He replied.

“Come on! Think of the Scholarship money, bro!"

Toby growled and sat his phone down before he walked into the shower beginning to wash himself off. The scabs fell off in large portions revealing healthy unscarred skin. He looked up at the shower head spraying that water that seemed to cleanse him from his thoughts. The water hitting his face reminded him of the good times he had with his father at Silver Falls. The happy thoughts soon faded as he looked down at the drain. “One more year…" He muttered.

He looked to his side, and he grabbed the shampoo bottle next to one with a picture of a border collie on it. He used this for his transformed state; however, he was not used to his strength. His lip quivered as his anxiety skyrocketed in his attempted to open the Shampoo bottle carefully, but once he opened it, the shampoo squirted up straight up into his eye with laminar flow. His eye started burning like crazy. “SON OF A BITCH!!!" Toby yelled as a reflex.

He whimpered trying to get the alkaline excretion from his eyes as it spread to both his eyes. He frantically forced open his eyes trying to irrigate them. His mother soon knocked on the door startling him, and he banged his elbow into the wall. “Are you alright in there?" Lilian called with a little concern.  

He groaned blinking the remaining soap out from his red irritated eyes. “No! I got Shampoo in my eyes again!" he yelled.

She laughed slightly. “Then stop squeezing it so hard when you're trying to open it" Lilian teased.

He whimpered softly. “I can't help it…" he muttered.

She rolled her eyes. “You get the shampoo out, yet?" she asked.

“What do you think?" Toby muttered as he scooped a glob of shampoo off his body. His mother walked away snickering to herself.

He closed the tab, and he slammed it aside. He lathered the shampoo in his hair and fur before he used a brush with an extended handle to reached the spot between this shoulder blades. He soon rinsed himself of. He finished his shower, and he soon turned off the water with his eyes still burning. He stuck his hand out of the curtain, and he fished for the towel.

After several tries, he got a towel, and he pulled it into the shower without yanking the whole bar off the wall. He wiped his face clean, and he shook himself off like a canine would do. He stepped out, and he dried himself off. He looked into the mirror, and he blushed seeing that his mother spoke the truth. He was looking more like his father each day especially while he was in this form.

This truth did bring him some closure, but it did not replace the emptiness of him being 12 years without his father. He wrapped the towel around his waist, and he walked out of the bathroom still solemn and out of sorts. He threw his clothes back on and messed with his hair after reverting back to human form.

His mother looked up at him while folding clothes as he got out. She was still amused with his troubles with adjusting to his rapidly intensifying werewolf powers. “Next week is the first day of your senior year…aren't you excited?" She asked.

He shrugged his shoulders slightly. “Not really…ask me that on the last day, and then I could tell you" He said smirking.

“But what about us? It's our first day in middle school!" Tommy asked feeling very left out from all her love.

“It's not the same" Phoebe remarked while their mother grabbed her keys and headed downstairs. They all followed, which she looked up intensely expecting them one of them to jump off the balcony. Toby was about to, and she dared him to even try. He grumbled and walked down like a normal human would. Part of her goal was to get them all to practice blending in with society despite all the push back from Bernie and the rest of the pack.

They all crammed themselves into a tiny car, which Toby sat up front with his knees up against the glovebox. His siblings had to fight for leg room no thanks to the growth spurts that they had inherited from their father. None of them like to be in the car for too long, and their mother went as quickly as she could until they reached the end of the driveway, they slowed down to a crawl.

They looked at a large moving truck backed in the driveway of a big expansive olive house, which they saw 4 people moving things in. A man and his son were doing a lot of the heavy lifting, but his son was around Tommy and Phoebe's age, but much smaller and weaker. He was struggling to keep his side up as he was dragging the legs of the couch on the bottom of the ramp.

The man's daughter was a cute chubby curvaceous girl around Toby's age texting on her cell phone. He took great interest with her and her beauty. Her hair was wavy and black at the roots which transitioned to ruby red towards the tip. He instantly thought that she was already taken based off how well-endowed her chest was and other aspects; although, he also thought even if she was single, she would probably not be able to handle his baggage.

The mother was a plump woman with brown hair waddled out of the doorway encumbered by her bust and bad knees. She looked up at them curiously; however, her attention was drawn towards Toby smiling wide ear to ear. His mother rolled down the window much to his chagrin. “Hey! I can loan you my son when we get back!" she shouted. Toby's eyes widened in horror, and he blushed wildly.

The mother smiled still looking at him intensely. “Naw, we just finished. Thanks for the offer though!" she shouted back with a New England accent.

Their daughter finally looked up and stared at him gawking at his handsomeness. She blushed and looked back at her phone smitten, but she did sneak another look laughing to herself nervously as he sunk into his seat trying to hide. He was very uncomfortable, and to spare him from any farther embarrassment, his mother waved with a smile and sped off.

“Looks like we got new neighbors, huh, Toby?" She teased him. She looked at her son knowing that he was infatuated. She smirked evilly and pressed him. “That girl's cute…I think she likes you" She teased.

He remained slumped in the chair glaring at her, before he looked out the window. He never had felt such a strong attraction towards someone in his life. It was stronger than his kinship with his mother and father. He thought something was wrong with him, or it was something these wolf instincts were trying to drive him to mate. He tried to shake off the irrational thought only having it come back. He did not like thinking about this sort of stuff as it lead to some embarrassing problems dealing with his body.

She ruffled his hair playfully. “Let's get your haircut. You can't attract a mate looking like that" She said winking at him.

His eye twitched at her less than subtle suggestion before he reached for his cellphone stuffing it into his pocket. “I don't want it too short. Alright? You remember what happened last time? Right? I want those damn scissors as far from my scalp as possible" He said.

She rolled her eyes at him. “I got the perfect cut for you. Just be patient, and I promise you it won't be as unpleasant as it was last time. It was an accident, and she did say she was sorry" she reiterated to him.

He sighed heavily as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. “That's no excuse for trying to minus me an ear" he muttered to himself.

“Oh please, mom could have reattached it" Phoebe commented. Toby looked back at her and growled. Their mother rolled her eyes at sibling squabbling.

As they got farther down the road, he looked down at the floor contemplating his situation. He rubbed the side of his forehead vigorously. “Mom…do you think it would work? She's human…and I'm a…" He said sadly. He looked out the window and watched the scenery. “She'd just freak out…if she found out" he mumbled.

She laughed at him. “Didn't stop your father from claiming me…and you see…I wasn't scared of him after I got to know him. You just have to take it slow" She said.

Tommy stared at her in shock. “You mean…you were a human once?" He asked in disbelief.

She giggled and nodded. “I chose to be a werewolf. To be with your father…and then we had Toby not too soon after. Then you two came along…my surprises" she said happily.

Phoebe looked towards her mother unsure. “But…isn't that sort of thing, you know…forbidden?" She asked.

Their mother shook her head. “If it's done with consent and for the right reasons, then it is perfectly acceptable and ethical. I may be a thrall, but your father gave me all the rehabilitation I needed to not become a berserker" She said sternly.

Toby looked at the ground discouraged. “So is that why I'm messed up?" he asked.

She looked at him confused. “What? Why?" she asked.

“I've been called a freak 'cause I like chocolate, and I don't get sick if I eat it. Plus my eyes have two different colors," he said fidgeting with his fingers.

She laughed. “You're not a freak hun…I think your eyes are very neat" She said before she growled growing suspicious about what was really going on. "Did Peter tell you this bullshit?" she asked annoyed.

He looked out the window. "Peter had nothing to do about this…" he denied.

She looked at him skeptically and frowned. "Toby…you're not a good liar" she muttered. She gritted her teeth hoping that she could come up with a proper response. “You know…People who envy you or have insecurities about themselves…they'll always point out what makes you different…It doesn't make you flawed…it doesn't make you a freak" she said while she patted him on the shoulder.

•••Ten minutes later•••

They had arrived at the plaza, and Lilian parked the car up front. Toby unbuckled himself; although, he stared into the dashboard in deep thought. His mother watched him slowly open the door, but she was cautious not to poke fun at him too much. He walked towards the Perfect Cut without looking back. His siblings slowly trailed behind with their eyes glued on to their phones.

Lilian was last to go in; however, she was in time to see Toby throw himself into a chair in a melodramatic protest. He glared at the floor with disgust, and he shoved his hands into his pocket pulling out his phone checking his text messages.

“Wanna come to our BBQ this weekend?" Zoe texted.

“Do I have a choice?" he replied.

“Nope ;P" she answered back.

A separate text message form Olivia the cheerleader came in. “Hey baby! I'm sorry about last night. I just didn't know what to do, and I panicked", “Can we meet up sometime? I want to make it up to you"

He could hear the buzzing and the shredding of hair fibers in the teeth of the clippers. The hairs all over his body stood up on end. At this point he was so nervous that he jumped at any and every nearby noises. He was about to reply before one of the ladies sweep up the floor in preparation for him.

She was a plump brown haired woman African American woman in her late thirties with just as contagious smile of a smile as the rest of the beauticians. She approached him, while Toby tried to avoid her gaze. The woman looked at his mother happily. “How have you been, it's been a while now hasn't it?" She asked.

She smiled back at her. “I'm fine Gloria. Yeah, it's been a long time…how's the baby doing?" She asked.

Gloria looked at Toby getting started on his haircut. “Oh, she's been a lot less fussy now. I've been teaching Jackie how to look after a baby, and she catches on real quick" she said before she laughed feeling up his hair. “My gosh, his hair! It's like weeds. No matter how much you cut, it just comes back even thicker, all of y'all hair seems to do that" She said reaching for a comb.

He only glared at the floor and grumbled incoherently causing her to giggle. “He sounds to be in a good mood today" She commented with an amused grin. She reached for a pick, but she knocked over the spray bottle causing him to flinch. “You're awfully jumpy today" she commented.

His mother sighed finally bringing up the accident. “He's just nervous…Especially his last cut" She said.

Gloria laughed nervously as if realizing what had happened. “Oh! So, was he the one who got…" She said before she looked at his ear curiously. “Wow…He heals up pretty well. I don't even see where the scissors went through! I was under the impression that someone's ear got lopped off" she muttered as she turned over his ear bewildered.

“She nearly did" Toby grumbled to himself.

He tried to ignore the scent of hair products that made him dizzy as she started combing his hair. He got some guilty pleasure out of this, but he kept it to himself. He did not want anyone to know that he was actually enjoying this.

She sat the comb to the side, and she resumed cutting his hair carefully. “So you're starting school next week? You're a senior this year right?" she asked.

“Yea…" He muttered trying to stay still although he appeared stiff and robotic in the chair. He was hoping to not have any mishaps as she was right over his ears. He tensed up listening to every snip, which it seemed to last for hours.

“Come on…loosen up. No wonder why you got knicked in the first place!" Gloria scolded him. She tried to come up with a distraction to ease the tension and fill the awkward silence. “Wow, you've all sure grown up in a hurry! You look like you could do well in football…I remember when you were only to my hip" she said before she looked towards his mother. “He's gotten better as far as sitting still…maybe a little scare was all he needed" she teased.

He snarled, and his mother shot him an angry leer. He soon realized they were done, and he finally calmed down. “Well how does it look?" she asked them spinning him around and handing him a mirror.

He shrugged his shoulders and looked towards his mother. “I don't know…Ask my mom" he said indifferently.

She rolled her eyes at him, and she motioned for his mother to come over. “Oh I love it! Thanks, Gloria. Toby looks so handsome. The girls are going to be all over you" she said. Gloria beamed with pride with her handy work.

He blushed and groaned looking at the ground trying to resist in looking into the mirror. Gloria untied the cloth and removed it. He reached around and put his claw behind the paper tie slicing it off. Gloria looked up raising an eyebrow before she shrugged off what she saw. “Okay, next child!" She spoke up.

After he soon got out of the chair, he hurried out the door leaving his brother and sister to have their turns. To kill some time, he ran around the Lake in the commons. The nearby ducks and geese in his path flew off in a panic, which an elderly couple watched from a park bench in astonishment. He paid no notice to them gawking at him as he blew passed them or the other attention for that matter.

He burst through the doors of a comic book and the anti-theft pedestals. The storekeeper looked up at him and gave him a nod before he went back to watching four people at a giant table playing and streaming a roleplaying game campaign. In the corner of the store were DVDs for sale and for rent, which he walked down the horror genre section. He stared at the werewolf movies, and he chuckled to himself. “If they only had the slightest clue what a real one was like" he murmured to himself.

He spent twenty minutes walking around at table top games, trading card games, and other geek culture stuff. He made it around to the magazines, and he found an old copy of "Animagazine" before he scanned through it. He sighed as he placed it back on the rack and wondered over to the video game portion of the store, which he looked through the shelves looking through the games.

They were organized by console and alphabetically, and he finally made it around to the peripheries, and he grinned seeing that there was a newly restored guitar controller for a couple of his games. When he saw the price however, he gasped and rushed out. The players at the table looked up at him amused. They looked towards the storekeeper who was not too concerned at this regular occurrence looking at his phone the entire time. They flinched as the door slammed shut, which one of them were startled so much that they managed to kick the leg of the folding table and scattered all of their plastic monster figures and dice on the table.

Toby cut across the busy road to get to get back to the barbershop, but he had just gotten a text from his mother saying, “At Fred Meyers". He doubled back just as the light turned green. He was stuck in his own little world not noticing the Gold Blazer barreling towards him until it was ten feet away. He knew instantly that it would not stop in time, so he leaped six feet into the air pulling off a barrel roll over the roof. The driver slammed on her brakes screeching to a halt and swerved as Toby landed on his feet off to the side of the road not making a big scene.

Other drivers immediately stopped to piece together what had just happened. One of them got rear-ended and shoved into the back of another. Toby ran through the parking lot as the cars honked their horns in frustration at the blazer. He followed his mother's scent trail into the Fred Meyer's finding her without a problem.

He came in jogging in; although, he might as well be running. His mother looked over at him oddly. “Hey, mom…I'm thinking of getting a New Guitar for my Guitar Hero. Can I borrow twenty bucks…I'll pay you back at the Den" He said.

He gave her the irresistible puppy dog look, and she sighed giving into the cuteness. She got into her purse, and she search around. She soon pulled out a crisp 20 dollar bill before it was snatched up by her son. He quickly ran off at an inhuman speed past his siblings, dodging shopping carts and people in the process.

His mother sighed heavily with frustration and shook her head at him then she turned her attention towards Tommy and Phoebe. She did not say anything, but she was worried with all Toby's lack of awareness, and the rest of her dearest children following suit. They were already roaming around like Toby except they still stayed in proximity of her. When she looked up once more, Toby had slowed down before running straight through the glass of the sliding doors.

He looked back at his mother and stared at her awkwardly. She scowled at him, and he gulped quietly inching his way out the door. He turned around and ran into woman pushing a cart full of water bottles. “Oops!" he muttered as he reached to stop the cart from flipping onto its side. “Sorry, ma'am!" he apologized. She stared at him blankly as he bolted through the parking lot.

“Oh wow, what a strange guy" the woman muttered.