TOBIAS

February 16, 2001

It was so cold outside that the chill seeped into the car with us. I could see every breath I took and I shivered as my mother debated getting out of the car. I looked at the big house looming in front of us. We had to go through a gate and drive down a long driveway before it came into view. I was in awe the whole way down while my mother grew more tense the closer we got.

Mom took a deep breath, a white cloud forming at her lips as her teeth sunk into them. Inhaling deeply she adjusted her grip on the steering wheel before quietly saying,"You remember my number right? If not my number is-"

"Written on the inside of my bag," I said, gesturing towards my suitcase sitting in the back seat.

"And if I'm not available?" she said, red curls trembling as she turned her head the slightest to glance at me then to quickly look back toward the house. Like she'd been cornered and she was waiting for something to jump out of the bushes.

"Call grandma," I said, sighing.

"If it's an emergency what's our addresses?"

"Mom do we have to go through this? If anything happens then-"

"You call me or your grandmother." Her grip on the wheel tightened temporarily before she let it go in favor of running a hand through her unruly curls. She pinned me in place beneath her warm brown gaze before sighing. She licked her lips. "I know you find this tedious but this is something important that I need you to know Tobias."

"Yeah, for when I'm at a friends house. We're not at Tristan and Sarah's," I said, remembering how she acted when I first spent the night at a friends. But she didn't act as bad as this back then. This was way worse than back then. This was the third time we'd gone through this since having left the house.

"You still don't know everyone here. I don't know everyone here. I just want you to be safe, so make sure to stay with Callum and Pete at all times."

"Mom. Callum and Pete don't wanna play with me all the time. They're big kids."

"But they're your brothers."

"And we're at Grandpa's house and you're acting like you're sending me off to my first day of school," I countered.

She paused at that, opening her mouth to argue before a sigh escaped her. I didn't get why she was being like this. Sure she and Pa never got along but did she have to drag me into it. There was never a problem when she took me to see grandma or let me go on play dates but that was different. I was different and though the other kids didn't mind I could see their parents watching me like they were scared of me. Like they didn't trust me. But here... here I might actually be able to get away from that and be around people like me...

"Tobias just promise me you'll... I'm only a call away. If you don't call I expect your father to call. I'm just worried is all, the last time we planned for to you stay away from me so long was when you were two and your father kept you for three months." My mother turned a tight lipped frown to me. "I know you're really excited for this but I can't help being worried about sending you into a literal wolf's den."

"A what? Mom, you know I'm a wolf too right?"

"Not yet."

"But I will be."

She stilled. Brown eyes looking forward she glared at the house in front of us, her grip on the wheel getting so tight her knuckles turned white. "You're not going to be like Callum and Pete. When the time comes. I'm the one raising you. I'm raising you. And in my house I'm raising a little boy, not an animal."

Opening the door to the car she got out, slamming the door behind her. She yanked the back door open and snatched my suitcase up before slamming that one too. Walking away she glanced back briefly to see if I was following. I had no reason to hesitate no matter what she said but it got to me. I didn't know why but it just did. I opened my door and got out lingering behind a little as we made our way up the last bit of the drive.

The salt that had been sprinkled over the ground crunched underneath my snowboots. The cold air nipped at my nose and pinched into the skin seeping into bone. The snow was high everywhere else in town but here they took the time to shovel up the driveway. A lot of time wolves didn't balk at work, especially something so physical as it helped to blow off steam and pent up energies. Like my brother kind of explained for why he went through the trouble of signing up for sports knowing how most humans would react to that. My face was already probably red and my cheeks were burning but it only got worse as a hard ball of snow exploded across it from my left at the line of bushes.

"Ha! I got you," a voice said, snatching my mother up from whatever thoughts she was having. Her nose was scrunched up like it usually did when she was upset as she turned her head too to find the source of the outburst.

A little boy with an even curlier head of hair than me stepped out of the bushes. His tight dark locks were pushed down by his earmuffs that didn't look like they fit his head all that well. The smile on his face faded quickly once he saw who we were.

"Oh I'm sorry," he rushed to my side, keeping his distance but still trying to assess me, the snow covered palms of his gloves getting darker. "I din't mean to I thought-"

"Well you hit me right in the face," I said, raising a brow at him as he came closer. "It doesn't matter anyway."

I calmly reached up to wipe away the snow. In reality I was angry but my curiously of this strange boy chased that away. He looked my age and I'd been told over and over again that I'd be meeting a lot of pack members who weren't able to make it for the last meet. He was probably one of them.

"Are you Tobias? Pete's brother?" The boy asked, smile returning before he came closer. "My dad said he met you. When he told me you'd be here for the meet I got excited. All the other boys are way older."

He stood a bit taller than me. I didn't like it. It didn't help how he kept getting closer but again my curiousity kept chasing all other senses away. He looked like a girl though, honestly he did, with his hair down going to just barely brush his shoulders. I don't know, maybe that was why I thought he looked pretty.

Then I snapped out of my trance and realized who he was talking about. I knew his brother, Elijah, who I was realizing the little boy looked exactly like save for his skin that was drastically darker. And now that I knew he was talking about Emilio he was starting to look like him a little to me too. "Wait. Is Emilio your-"

"Tobias, come on inside. It's freezing out here and I wanna make it home before it gets dark," my mom called from the porch. She said that last time we came here. The drive here is long but not long enough for her not to make it home before six.

"Alright," I called back over my shoulder, not fully committed to leaving the boy's side.

"Is that your mom? She's really pretty," the boy said, smile reaching his brown eyes. "She looks kinda mad though."

"Yeah she always looks like that," I deadpanned, causing him to snort. Seeing him laugh had me joining in. Glancing back at my mother standing on the steps I said, "Hey what's your name?"

"It's Eric," the boy said, getting this look on his face like he wanted to ask something but wasn't all that sure how. "Hey, you know that Callum, Pete, and everybody else are out here too. We're having a snowball war." Getting quiet he moved closer to whisper in my ear. "We're not really supposed to be in the front yard but the oldest boy cheat all the time and they sometimes hide in the bushes until everybody else is out."

"I don't know... I mean my mom is waiting for me..."

"Oh." He shrugged nodding his head. "Well then you can just come out with us later. We're gonna be here all weekend."

I slowly nodded my head. I didn't wanna leave his side but I didn't wanna hear my mother's mouth even more. "Okay. I'll join you guys later."

When I started making my way towards the house Eric turned to go back into the bushes. My mother was waiting on the porch, one hand on her hip. She'd took her ear muffs from around her neck and put them atop her head. Judging by the thin line her lips had become I could only assume that she was getting more impatient.

"Just go in. You don't have to knock," I said, reaching past her to open the door.