Chapter 2: Something Is Not Right About Toby

Toby had made it back to the comic book store, he noticed that very Blazer from earlier parked nearby. He thought nothing much about it as he quietly entered through the door. He walked past the irritated RPG players who were still resetting the table. He kept his distance from them; however, when he looked up, he saw that same cute new neighbor girl looking through the Anime section. He got that feeling again, that fluttering in his stomach. He tried to avoid her as he took an indirect path to the guitar he came for.

He thought he was successful in his attempt going back to the counter unnoticed. There was one problem, and that was the fact he was 6'5" or, at least, that was last time he was measured. The store keeper approached him and leaned onto the counter. “So, what can I do for you this time, Toby?" he asked.

He pointed towards the guitar controller on the wall behind him. “I need that!" he said.

The store keeper smirked looked around him prompting Toby to turn back staring into a pair green eyes. It finally registered to him who it was, and he backed up into the counter. The girl was staring him down paralyzing him with fear not ever encountering that look before other from his mother when she was annoyed with him.

He regathered himself as her look shifted to disbelief, fascination, and attraction. “How did you do that?" She questioned him.

He gulped and grabbed onto the edge of the counter in an attempt to flee her interrogation. “Uh…Do what?" He muttered nervously.

She glared at him. “You know what you did…no human could have possibly clear over car and land on their feet, effortlessly I might add! Not only that, but you did it with such little reaction time!" She raised her voice.

He shifted his eyes back and forth noticing the players at the table staring at them. “Wait? Wha? I'm just here to get my guitar" He said. The shore keeper was mildly amused at the teen drama, and he delayed handing off the merchandise just to make him sweat a bit more.

“Don't play innocent with me!" she raised her voice in frustration as she sat her hands on her childbearing hips

He looked away resisting the urge to survey her pear figure. “I'm just getting my guitar…" He muttered pointing at the guitar behind him in an attempt to distract her.

She looked behind his shoulder, and she smiled. “Oh, you play GH?" she asked.

He nodded slowly not expecting her mood to change that quickly. “Yea, um…I play well, but I can't do all of the songs on expert yet" he spoke modestly.

She grew very excited, and she squealed. “That's so cool…maybe we could jam sometime" she raised her voice.

He looked at the ground noting that the space between them shrunk not knowing what to do or say. “Um…ya…sure" he mumbled nervously. He looked back at the people watching them, and he shot them a nasty look. They quickly went back to playing their game or pretend to do so. The store keeper moved the guitar to the front register as one of the gamers wanted to purchase a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and a Monster energy drink.

The girl walked with him towards the front. “My name is Sasha by the way. We just moved here from Roanoke" she said.

He looked at her oddly while she followed him like a puppy. He wanted out of this, but he eventually forced a smile back at her. “My name is Toby…um what High School are you going to?" He asked.

She gave him a strange look knowing he lived a couple houses away from her. “Um, the same one you're probably going to, Tualatin High…" she said before she paused. “Um…do you know what the deal is with everyone taking pics with that carpet with googly eyes back over at the airport?" she asked.

He snickered and grinned taking the opportunity to change the topic; however, Sasha realized she was drawing too much attention with the others anyway. “You didn't know about Petey our airport mascot?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow. “Okay? I didn't know that airports had mascots" she said as she brushed a strand of hair from her eye. “Man you're super tall…how tall was your dad?" she asked.

“Um, I think he was seven foot and a half"

Her jaw hit the floor, and she looked at him from head to toe. “Oh wow…you look like a real beast" she said before she bit her lip staring at his bicep. “Do you work out? Those things look like melons" He watched her as she reached over to feel up his arm. He nodded slowly, and she stopped upon discovering his high body heat. She seemed to have gotten a strange feeling, and she looked up at him in astonishment.

“Um…you got a girlfriend?" she asked. He looked at her awkwardly and shook his head; however, before she could press him farther, her phone started ringing. “Crap! I got to get going. It was nice meeting you, Toby. " she said going to check her phone before she stuffed it back into her pant pocket.

He smiled warmly and nodded. “I guess I'll see you tomorrow…Though if you want to have a jam session my den is at the end of the driveway" he said.

She looked at him strangely with his choice in vernacular. “Den?" she muttered.

He recoiled at her response recognizing his slip up. “Er, uh my house is at the end of the driveway" he corrected himself before he laughed nervously.

She blushed and bit her lower lip slightly. “Oh, that was a cool way of saying it though" she said sheepishly. He let out a sigh of relief, and he tried to play it cool and smooth, which she touched his shoulder again. “So…um…I'll see you tomorrow, right?" she asked. Her voice was shaky and her heart raced.

He looked at her oddly noting her scent, and he knew her interest was reciprocal. “Yea…uh…are you okay? You're turning all red?" He asked.

Her eyes widened, and she squeaked. “Yea! I-I-I'm f-fine!" she raised her voice. “I got to go!" she said quickly before she ran out.

“Smooth…" the store keeper said as he put the guitar on the counter. “So, that'll be two thousand pennies" he said to break the silence.

“What a dumbass…" one of the gamers said before his friend snickered.

“She's got pretty hot pear shape isn't she? She'd make a succubus envious being that thicc and with jugs that big" one of the guys at the table muttered before leaned back. “That dude has high CHA and no INT" he said before he looked at Toby who was glaring at them in annoyance.

The store keeper rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers at him. “Hey! Toby! Focus on me bud!" he said. Toby sighed and handed him the twenty before he snatched the receipt from the store keeper while staring down the others. “Don't feed the trolls" he warned before he shook his head at the others at the table. “Good Luck with your endeavors! None of those guys are her type anyway" he said.

"Uh, Thanks?" Toby muttered as he picked up the guitar and left. His mother was waiting in the car with his siblings in the parking lot while talking to Sasha.

He stared down Tommy in the front seat and growled. Sasha thought she heard a monster only to see the display of dominance between the two siblings. She stared at them in disbelief as Toby opened the door reaching in, and she thought she heard Tommy yelp like a wounded dog. Where her ears playing tricks on her?

Lilian shot them a look, and they both stopped immediately. Tommy gave up his spot and went into the back. He was almost foot and a half shorter than Toby was, but it was obvious that Toby needed the leg room. He got in and put the box Guitar in between his legs before he slid the chair back just enough to ram it into Tommy's legs. “Ow! Mom! He did that on purpose!" he shouted.

His mother rolled her eyes and sighed wearily. “Are you still needing help?" she asked.

Sasha gulped and fidgeted with her fingers. “Uh, I mean…if he wants to. I-I…gotta go" she muttered before she waved at Toby. “See you!" she said hastily before she ran off.

Lilian stared at Toby as he strapped himself in. “I see you got to talk to that girl after all…" she remarked. “What did you talk about?"

“Yea, why is acting all weird like that?" Phoebe added.

Toby blushed. “I think I may have accidently jumped over her car" He said.

“What!? How does one accidentally jump over a car?!" Lilian yelled in shock.

“Tch, Idiot!" Phoebe muttered.

He growled lowly. “Hey, she would have hit me if I didn't jump! But…she's not freaking out…Well, she's was demanding answers at first" He said before rubbed his forehead.

“Then what do you call what just happened with her just now?" Phoebe retorted.

“She had to go!" Toby growled.

“Toby, you don't understand girls do you?" Phoebe muttered before she looked out the window. “She's only saying that to be nice"

Lilian busted out with laughter unable to contain herself no longer. “I think she really likes you…she was totally checkin' your goods, stud" she teased. She punched him in the arm playfully. “See what being nice can do?"

He was shocked and frightened finally realizing that his instincts were right; moreover, he was not sure letting up on his intensity would cause him more trouble than its worth. “Tch, I liked being left alone" he mumbled.

“But, you aren't though. Isn't Zoe always around you?" Phoebe interrupted.

“We're pack mates…besides she's not like the others…I don't need to worry about slipping up around her" He said.

“Mom? How did you and dad meet?" Phoebe asked.

She blushed having those warm fuzzy memories coming back to her. "Hmmm, how did I meet the Beast of Barlow road?" she mumbled while tapping her finger to her chin. “Hehe, well, after I got my Master's as a nurse practitioner…I had just got a job at Timberline Lodge. I was there for one or two weeks before I met him. It was when a group of climbers got lost in a snowstorm, I got assigned to do triage on the rescue mission.

Tch, I saw your dad dressed up in nothing, but a t-shirt and a windbreaker. He had his damn rescue jacket tied to his waist like he didn't care that it was literally freezing outside. I thought he was being macho, so I made him to put that jacket on before he left the lodge. He told me it was July, but I sort of got mad and grabbed his arm…well I was really mad at him. Anyway, I've never felt someone that warm before, and I thought he was sick and had a fever. I made him stay to check on him.

Haley came in to stop me. He just laughed and said that I was funny…" she said before she cleared her throat nervously. “I shot him a bunch of death glares whenever he passed me. He just gave me that stupid wolf grin like it was all a big game to him. I wouldn't have wanted to date him, in a million years. I hate not being taken seriously" she said before she sighed softly.

“It all made sense to me when a tree fell on top of me. I thought no one was going to know where I was. I thought I was going to die there…He found me pretty quick, and when he lifted that tree off me, he did it so easily. I was so cold…and he was so warm. He took me to his cabin and was very considerate and respectful.

Sure, the wolves roaming his house was a big odd…though I had no idea he was hiding an even bigger one in the house. We ended up talking and watching scary movies at his cabin. I wasn't planning on it being a date, but it kind of turned into one" She explained.

“Just how did a tree fall on you?" Phoebe asked.

“Well it was really windy that day and the ground was wet. I always went jogging on these trails with Haley" she said albeit she omitted the fact that she was told not to go on the trails alone.

Phoebe leaned in curiously. “So when did you find out that he was a werewolf? What did you do? Did you freak out?"

She paused for a moment and bit her bottom lip at those particular memories. “Um…well…you see…uh…" she said while snickering. “Well…in hindsight, he was alluding to it. Hell, I saw him transform before he lifted the tree off me, but I thought it was just a hallucination from the lack of blood going to my head. It wasn't until a month later before it all clicked, and…um well…If Haley hadn't transformed in front of me first, yes, I would have been a little more terrified than I was when I saw him first shift.

It was a full moon, and we had a glass of wine and relaxed. He turned into his anthro form, and I wasn't as fazed by it. Haley didn't tell me about other forms beyond that, so when he turned therian…I didn't know what to think, but just wow…I had shivers and couldn't move as he changed. I didn't scream or anything like that…I just didn't think any of it this was real. I mean I didn't think a guy like your father could get any larger and imposing. The sad thing was I never got to have any alone time with him on our first full moon together" She rambled.

“What do you mean? What happened?" Phoebe asked.

“Um, we had to deal with a whole bunch of trouble at a summer camp. Long story short, I had fix up a girl from being attacked by a werewolf pup. Then SAD got involved…it was just a huge headache the whole night" she said.

“So was our dad really as big as Bernie?" Tommy interrupted.

She laughed. “Well, he doesn't have the beer gut like Bernie, but he was definitely bigger than Bernie. I'll have you show you pictures of him and Bernie together" she bragged.

As they made it back to the neighborhood, their mother glanced over at Toby curiously. “Just so you know…If you ever shift in front of your girlfriend…be sure to start out with Anthro form…anything bigger will be too jarring for her" she said.

He looked at her annoyed. “I'm not going to shift in front of any human! And she isn't my girlfriend!" he raised his voice.

She smirked at him. “I never said she was…I'm just giving you some advice in case you do date a human" she said.

It was just before lunch before Toby got home. Sasha and her family were not at their house despite the huge moving truck parked in the middle of the cul-de-sac. He spent an hour packing his backpack full of his school supplies before his stomach interrupted. Monstrous roars echoed down the halls from his belly. He felt those accursed pains coming back, and he was starting to slowly transform in preparation for the next hunt. His nails and teeth lengthened into claws and fangs respectively. He stopped to stare at his claws once he felt them brush up against the fabric on his backpack. He growled to himself with this inconvenience to control it.

He stood up clutching over his stomach and groaned. “I need food, I need food, I need food…" he muttered running down the halls. He blew right past his sibling not saying a word being too embarrassed about having his transformations especially with his age, but it was just a consequence for him not eating. He felt like he was always eating and always hungry was this something that he was going to have to live with for the rest of his life.

His brother was very alarmed noticing him, but his sister rolled her eyes passing this all off as Toby lacking any discipline. As Toby got to the table, he was already growing fur on his arms and jawline. The hairs growing on his body were straight, fine, and lupine in color. His brother sat at the other end of the table silent and fixated at Toby's form.

“Tch, having trouble again? No wonder why Zoe's leagues ahead of you" Phoebe poked.

Toby glared at her, which his mother stepped in laughing nervously. “Come on now…he's still growing. This sort of thing always happens just before a growth spurt" she said.

Phoebe grinned evilly. “I wonder how far you'll transform this time…maybe you'll lose your mind and…" she said.

“Phoebe!" Their mother shouted abruptly.

They all flinched and not daring to look her way. Lilian got around and snarled making her daughter look into her bright yellow orbs of rage. “That will not ever happen! Do you hear me!?" her voice morphed.

Phoebe shuttered and gulped nodding slowly. “Yes mom" she muttered before she took a couple steps back. “I was only joking" she muttered.

???Timber, Oregon???

Bernie was driving through a once booming logging town now decaying and rotting. Old store fronts with metal roofs and siding brown and rusted. The defunct post office was covered with moss and stained with mildew as well as its paint peeling off the sidings. The ghost town was slowly being reclaimed by the forest around it like the abandoned railroad that ran through its heart.

Dep. Larson, His partner, was on edge not knowing what to expect. Bernie turned off the main road through town paralleling the old tracks. The road winded around mountains and the river bends before he turned onto a logging road somewhere near the county line. Bernie turned on his lights as he approached a police barricade covered in crime scene tape. Both the Tillamook and Washington County sheriffs were collaborating on the case.

One of the Washington county deputies lifted the tape for him to pass through, and he gunned it once he got passed the metal gates. His partner bounced and rattled around over the heavily eroded gravel road. There were some spots were just solid mud threatening to get them stuck and other spots where he got a bunch of air going over bumps. Finally they arrived in a clearing, and he pulled his squad car over just short of more deputies.

Bernie and his partner came out of their car, which he casually put his hat on before going around opening his trunk. He pulled out his backpack, but when he grabbed a shotgun along with several rounds, his partner stared at him in horror. “What are you doing? Isn't everything secured?" he asked.

“Hopefully I won't need to use it" Bernie said. *Click, Click* He pumped the forestock and started feeding rounds into the tube. He made sure the safety was on before strapping it to his back.

“Heh, You and I both, but you gotta look badass when doing it" His partner said. Bernie slowly looked his way glaring and growling at the rookie deputy in annoyance. This caused him to back up uneasily and holding his tongue on how intense Bernie was especially with all the growling he was doing.

Bernie remained quiet and stern faced as he turned towards the woods walking down the mountain side. They both walked down a deer trail leading down to a creek. He walked so quickly that his heavy footsteps could be heard over the running water even while he was fifty feet ahead. His partner only had to follow the sounds of Bernie's boots and the snapping of twigs and sticks to know where he was.

Larson's foot snagged in a tree root and fell up against a large boulder. He was not hurt, but he was very embarrassed with the set of looks he received from Bernie. They continued to walk along the creek, and an enormous steel railroad trestle loomed above. It spanned the steep valley, rusted, and dilapidated. Planks and Railroad ties had broken away and fallen onto the creek bed. There was a log jam up stream where there was all the activity with processing the scene.

There near the creek was a gruesome sight of a twisted body on a boulder desecrated and partially ate by scavengers. Turkey vultures circled above or perched on the railing of the trestle with their wings spread out. Larson stared at the body while Bernie did not bat an eye. It was an apparent suicide of a missing person. He was a high profile individual part of a failed lobby attempt to push for fracking in the state.

Bernie looked around the scene smelling the stench of human flesh, and he was going straight towards it. His partner followed behind finding his behavior odd. What Bernie found under a log made his stomach churn, another body. This one was another missing person from the lobby group; however, this one had some strange symbols carved into his back. He was having chills as his partner shouted out. “Hey! we found another one!" he shouted.

Immediately their attention went towards this next body. “Well this is obviously a homicide. What the hell is this? Nazis?" his partner muttered.

“No, it's Nordic rune! That particular symbol means Ragnarok" Bernie interjected.

“Are you thinking this is a serial killer?"

Bernie clenched his fist and gritted his teeth holding back a great deal of rage. “No, this is something much bigger" he said simply

•••3 hours later•••

There was a great commotion stirred up over the radio calling for a suspension of the investigation. Black unmarked vans with US government plates rolled into the clearing which Bernie and his partner were extremely irritated. “Fucking FBI…we got this handled!" Larson grumbled.

All of the sheriffs left as a man in a black suit and shades approached Bernie with arrogance. He frowned at Larson as if questioning why he was still there. “Excuse me, but this is official FBI business" he said before he flashed his badge at him.

“It's alright, he's with me" Bernie spoke up.

The agent stowed his badge and pulled out a second badge, which Larson stared at it in confusion. “What the hell department is S.A.D?"

“He's a part of the Supernatural Administration" Bernie answered.

Larson stared at him skeptically. “Right, and my mother's bigfoot. You must be pulling my leg right?"

“I'm afraid not. Under US Code, Title 18 subsection 793, we can put you in prison for life for disclosing anything we are about to discuss here today" The agent said before he pressed his shades up his nose. He looked towards Bernie stoic and unafraid of the mountain of a man. Bernie stared him down with intense vitriolic hatred. “We need your help…" he muttered.

Bernie snarled, and he grew fangs and claws. “You need our help!?" he scoffed. His eyes narrowed with disgust. “After everything you all have done to fuck us over, you expect us to forget it all!? No! You all have dug your own graves, and we will not pretend to be allies" his voice boomed. Larson stared at Bernie speechless while he noticed the changes that happened.

The agent only stood and took the criticism. “I don't expect you to forget, but I know what he did to your wife, Bernard" he retorted. Bernie remained silent as the agent turned his back on him. “You cannot forget that…could you?"

Bernie looked down at the ground giving the agent the minutes to speak. “We have collected intel that tonight he is going to try to go into downtown and infect the homeless" the agent explained to him. Again, Bernie stared at the ground unresponsive. “Bernard, you know what he's trying to do. He's done this before with the natives"

“Ian turned people who were weak and powerless. It's not something new. Ian doesn't have to be the one to do it if someone has the same ideology as him. You all have certainly made planted that seed when you had my friend assassinated. Now there is a new generation of Ians in the pack. How are you sure that this is not an Ian sympathizer?" he corrected him.

“Phone calls, GPS, Surveillance devices, Computer Mircophones, DNA…He's sloppy" the agent said.

“I see…so the NSA has been working with you" Bernie muttered.

“What the hell are you talking about?" Larson interrupted them still staring at Bernie.

“Get in the car!" Bernie ordered him. Larson halfheartedly walked way and got inside watching apprehensively while his superior shouted. “If we stop him, then what? Isn't this what you wanted!?"

“I don't think you have much choice in this matter. We have ways in getting pets to cooperate some of them might not be so humane" The agent said before he removed his shades smirking. “Either way you look at it you will lose" Bernie turned to head back before the agent added one more remark. “Such a good dog"

Bernie got into his car slamming the door shut and glared at his partner with intense yellow eyes. “Roll up you window!" he growled.

“I'm sorry…I was hot" he muttered as they drove off.

As they drove, Bernie glanced at Larson's body camera and noticed something strange. “How long has the light not been working on that thing?" he asked.

Larson looked down realizing that his camera was switched on, but the LED appeared to have short circuited. “Huh, it was working when I put it on today. Must have broken when I fell" he muttered.

“Hmph, pity" Bernie muttered.

Larson switched off his body cam and stared at Bernie's arm. “So, just putting it out there, but…were you always that hairy?" he muttered before his hand wondered over grabbing a tuft, which Bernie snarled. Larson instantly retracted his hand and cowered against other side of the car

“What the fuck are you doing?" Bernie shouted slamming on his brakes.

“I'm sorry! I thought it was a costume!" Larson muttered.

“Well, did you see me put on a costume?" Bernie grumbled before he looked ahead revved the engine. “Tch, dumbass" he mumbled.

Eventually Bernie had regained his composure and resumed his human form, but he was not able to stop the stares coming from his awkward and intimidated partner. Bernie finally broke the thirty minute silence. “What you saw back there was the remains from a werewolf attack. Those markings on that body is an insignia of a band of radicalized werewolves. They believe that humans are a cancer to this world, and the cancer has to be cut out before the world dies"

“That explains those lobbyists, but what's the deal with those agents? Why don't you want to work with them?" Larson asked.

“They are ran by hunters. They do things to provoke and stir up trouble just to get an excuse to kill us. Not even law abiding werewolves would want anything to do with them"

“So what now?"

“Nothing, I told you. This is something much bigger. It's been going on for more than 200 years. All that SAD is going to do is cover this up. There's nothing you can do to change that. It's my problem…"

“What about my family, my friends, my neighbors? What about them? Ain't it all their problems? Shouldn't they all be warned!?" Larson raised his voice.

“What, are you going to tell them that werewolves are real and take you seriously? Look, if it makes you feel better you can call me. I can give you backup any time. I lead the largest wolfpack in the state, and I can have one at your house in under three minutes" he told him.

Larson shuttered at that thought, and he stared at the dashboard wearily. “Thanks, but…"

“Let's not speak of this…" Bernie added.

???Tualatin, Oregon???

Once Sasha and her family got back they had brought a lot of food from the stores and a huge dinner from KFC. They had set out plastic lawn chairs and tables in the driveway and garage ready for an impromptu picnic. It was still summer after all, and with all the trees around, they felt like they were camping.

Toby and his siblings came over, and Sasha's family stared at them gob smacked. “Alright, where's the heavy stuff that needs moving?" Tommy asked.

“Oh wow, he's really tall!" her mother remarked in a soft whisper.

“See, I told you" Sasha bragged.

Toby and Tommy both walked up the ramp into the truck trailer, which Sasha's father ran over quickly. “Hey, we've hired some movers!" he told them only to stare at Toby manhandling a king size mattress all by himself. “Jesus Christ!" he muttered nervously watching Toby walk down the ramp. Her father paced back and forth unsure whether or not to help.

Toby looked at him with a lack of wear. “Just show me where it goes"

“Holy smokes! He's super strong!" Her mother added.

Sasha briefly stared at him in disbelief forgetting about the physical feats he had made prior. “Y-y-yea…" she said timidly.

In an attempt to emulate his brother, Tommy grabbed a night stand trying to show off only coming off as adorable. Phoebe stood beside Sasha and her mother snickering to herself. “You should see him maxing out the weights. He's got names all over the school"

“Oh…I believe it" Sasha's mother said.

“Um…does he play a lot of sports?" Sasha spoke meekly.

“Psh, not in school, he doesn't like being around jocks" Phoebe told her.

“Aw, I think he'd be really good at football"

“Are you kidding? He'd massacre them. It'd be a bloodbath. When he hits, he doesn't leave bruises, he breaks bones. Trust me, I've seen him once punch out a Junior when he was only in 7 ^th grade"

“Oh my gosh! Why did he do that?" Sasha's mother asked.

Phoebe took a deep breath and sighed. “That guy and his friends were always causing trouble and bullying the kids at the playground. That day, when he shoved Tommy off his bike…Toby just…snapped. It took three sophomores to separate them, and I thought the guy was dead"

Sasha watched Toby making his way back into the truck smiling. “He's very protective over you"

Her mother was a little more worried. “Does he have a problem with…snapping?"

“Well, I haven't heard anything happening like that. He knows he can hurt people, so he just stays away from them. Even if there are a lot of girls who like him, he's still afraid" Phoebe explained.

Toby came out with a dresser, which Sasha's father anxiously exclaimed, “Why don't you take all the drawers out!?"

“That takes too much time" Toby muttered.

“You're going to mess your back up!"

Tommy laughed jumping up onto the ramp. “Watch out Toby, you're scaring him"

Toby growled and stormed off making the ramp bounce and vibrate. Her father stared in astonishment noticing the lack of sweat or heavy breathing from the two. Lilian came out with freshly made peanut butter cookies, which Sasha's father remarked, “Wow, your boys are really something else. What have you been feeding them?"

Lilian laughed setting the jar of cookies on the table. “Oh, they just take after their father" she said dismissively.

“Jesus, their father must be some kind of freakish beast!"

“You could say something like that" She said coyly. “He was very large man"

“Will he be out?" Sasha's mother asked.

Lilian shook her head. “My husband was murdered almost thirteen years ago" she told them still feeling the sting and pain saying it.

“I'm sorry…but I think that he'd be very proud at how strong they've become" Sasha's mother said feeling bad about asking.

“Yeah…I think so too" Lilian managed to say.

Before Sasha's mother glanced over at Toby and Tommy. “Hey, why don't you come and grab something to eat?" she asked.

“Oh no…" Phoebe muttered with humiliation smacking her hand to her face.

“What?" Sasha asked with concern.

Tommy and Toby jumped off the truck, but Toby grabbed Tommy from behind doing some sort of slow/soft takedown where he ended up stepping on Tommy's back running to the table. Tommy whined picking himself up off the ground and hustling over pretending to be hurt. Sasha laughed at the two brothers, but Phoebe did not want to watch rest of the food aggression.

Toby had already piled on the chicken, and Tommy was hording the mashed potatoes. Toby grabbed Tommy's arm causing him to grunt in frustration. “Back off! It's mine!" Tommy grumbled.

“You can't eat all of it you turd!" Toby told him before he started growling savagely. He reached in and pressed his knuckle into a vertebrae in Tommy's neck causing him to give out an audible yelp.

Lilian started clapping at them to get their attention. They both looked towards her giving them the stare, and they both stopped. Sasha's mother laughed obliviously saying, “Wow, you have them well trained"

“Wow, do they always act like wolves?" Sasha asked with intrigue.

Phoebe glanced over at her and annoyed. “If you only knew the half of it" she muttered.

“What's going on?" Sasha's little brother asked as he walked out of the house with a game in his hand before stared at Toby. “Holy crap!" he muttered before he noticed the amount of food being amassed. He walked over to his mother and muttered. “Mom, they are going to eat all the food!"

She looked at him annoyed. “I told you that we were going to eat, but you chose to go inside and play video games instead" she scolded him.

He waited for them to nearly finish off the table before he could eat. Toby sat down on the lawn chowing down on the chicken. Sasha left her seat and wondered over to sit next to him. “Hey…are you a furry?" she asked.

Toby gasped at the wrong time and inhaled a chunk of chicken skin. He coughed uncontrollably, and Tommy pointed and laughed at him. “Hahaha! She called you a furry!" Toby responded with a swift kick to his back. “Ow!"

Sasha looked between them oddly getting a funny feeling as Toby seemed offended. “I thought you were one with all that wolf behavior" she stated. Toby's eye twitched, and Tommy looked between them with glee curious with how his brother was going to crawl out of this one. “It's okay if you are one"

Toby blushed completely flustered. “Are you going to show her your fur suit?" Tommy added. Toby kicked his brother again. Phoebe snickered to herself grinning at her big brother evilly.

“She thinks you're a furry too you know?" Toby added.

Tommy hesitated then shook his head. “Wait…I'm not one either!" he screeched.

“Oh, well my mistake" she said shyly; although, she still thought they were both in the closet about it. They both knew that she did not believe them.

•••4 hours later•••

It was around midnight, and the full moon's light filtered through the window. It was very breezy and the wind chimes from the neighbor's yard gave an eerie ambiance. Sasha was in her room fixing up her hair and her room to go on her livestream. Most everything was still boxed up and empty. Her book shelves and walls were barren void of her identity. She gave a loud huff and grabbed her set-up taking to the deck in the backyard. She fitted her ring light rigging in front of the table pointed out at the trees illuminated by the full moon.

She opened up her laptop and set up her stream. Her Husky Malamute mix walked outside onto the deck to join her; although, she was whimpering at her. Sasha gave her dog a reassuring pat on the head as the livestream began.

She waved to the camera and smiled. “Hey y'all! It's me here with another one of Sasha's vlogs. I hope you don't mind the setup. We have not quite gotten settle in yet" she said before she read the comments sections. Most of them were saying that it was fine, but others were asking her about her thoughts on Portland.

She took in a deep breath and laughed nervously. “Oh well, where do I start? First impressions…um. Well, I found out that it doesn't rain here all the time. Apparently, their airport mascot is a rolled up carpet with googly eyes on it. That's different. Um, to be honest, I've been getting this super weird vibe. I feel like this city was just randomly plopped right in the middle of the wilderness. I kid you not, you drive like 5 minutes from the city you're in a forest" she commented before her dog's whimpering grew louder and much more desperate.

“What's wrong Makita?" Sasha asked. Her dog rested her head onto her lap looking up. Some of the commenters mentioned that her dog was warning her about something. “She's just stressed from moving" she told them dismissively.

She then remembered something. “Oh! We have some strange neighbors. This senior, hehe, he's gigantic…I think he and his brother might be a closet furries…he's super cute though. They act like a pack of…" she said before there was loud werewolf howl coming through the woods behind her house. Her heart skipped a beat, and its power brought her goosebumps and made her very tingly.

Her eyes widened and shoot over at the hill behind her fence. She was frozen in fear thinking that she was hearing something, but the commenters were freaking out telling her to run. Her dog was yelping and begging her to come inside. “Must be some wolves" she said dismissively.

On camera there was something massive in the shadows streaking past the fence, which she did not catch it, but the comment section was in an uproar. Sasha saw the mention of full moon, werewolf, and huge. Someone actually posted a capture of it, and Sasha's jaw dropped seeing the massive beast in the circled section.

She got up and took her setup with her inside. “You guys aren't pulling my leg are you? Jez, was that thing really a werewolf. Do they even get that big?" They were telling her it looked of average height before she pointed out, “No that hill is a bit farther away than you think. There's actually a railroad between my backyard and the hill. That thing has to be at least twelve feet tall"

She shuttered at the thought. “I don't know guys, that thing didn't look very scrawny. Aren't they supposed to look more thin and sickly?" she asked. She was met with silence before she realized her stream was mysteriously taken down. “What the!? No! What the…of all the times…why could it be now!?" she yelled at her screen.

Her brother walked down the stairs rubbing his eyes groggily. “What are you blabbering on about now?"

She pointed outside shouting. “There's a huge ass werewolf outside!"

Her brother stared at her blankly not even giving it much thought. “You're crazy…First it's Ghosts and the Grassman…now this?" he mumbled. He walked over to the door causing their dog to whimper in a panic, but once he opened that sliding glass door their dog barked at him.

Sasha immediately grabbed his arm staring into his eyes forcefully. “Don't go out there!"

He looked at her defiantly and slapped her hand away before going outside. She chased after him, and he walked back over to the fence. “Where is it? Oh yea! They don't freaking exist, Sasha! Stop being so stupid!" he shouted. He stomped back towards the house, and Sasha looked back towards the hill still very unnerved.

•••The next day•••

Sasha had not got much sleep as she stayed as far away from her window as possible. Every pop and crack her house made caused her to jump and panic. Nothing happened, and morning came, she got a phone call from her Irish-Canadian grandmother who shared the same supernatural interests as she did. It came as a relief to her maybe getting some insight from someone wiser and quick with their wits.

“H-hello?"

“Hey, how was your first night?" Her grandmother asked.

“I didn't sleep…I think a werewolf appeared on my stream last night before it got taken down"

“Ah, I see…It was a full moon last night wasn't it?"

“Grandma…just how big do they get? That thing was as way bigger than the hulk. Like twelve feet tall"

“Oh dear…that is really big. You might have seen an alpha. They do get a lot larger on the west coast anyway"

“They do?"

“Of course they do…you'd have to understand the history of the West to understand why, but long story short the fur trade was responsible for that much" Her Grandmother explained before she quickly changed the subject. “So tell me about this boy that jumped your car…what's his name?"

“You mean Toby? Oh jez, he nearly tore his brother apart over the last bit of mashed potatoes. I don't know whether to be afraid of him or the werewolf" she said with a light laugh.

“What's his last name?"

“I think it's Wolfgang"

There was a long pause on her grandmother's end of the line. “Wolfgang…Werewolf…what a coincidence" she mumbled almost sarcastically.

Sasha began to think about it for herself, and she gasped. “So he is a furry!"

“A what?"

“Nevermind Grandma. I think, I got figured out!" She said quickly and rather eager. She calmed herself and cleared her throat. “Um, you don't think he's dangerous do you?"

“How would I know? You're going to have to figure that on your own. Just be cautious, but don't pester the dear boy about his nightlife. Understood?" Her grandmother replied.

“Okay…"