The day Michael and Alex's mom introduced them to her boyfriend; a man without a shred of monster in his blood or magic in his veins was by far craziest day in their lives so far.

When they first met the man, David, his presence and scent sent them both on high alert. Michael going so far as to change his posture and bare his teeth in an attempt to intimidate David. Run ins with humans with such clean blood were rarely pleasant to say the least.

Their mother called Michael out in his behavior but he didn't acknowledge her. David just smiled and chuckled as he reached his hand out to shake Michael's.

"Oh, it's fine, Angie. Michael, right? I'm David," Michael shook his hand but it was stiff and Michael's grip tightened instead of letting go at the end.

David hardly seemed affected by Michael's claws digging into his own hands. He just kept smiling through and through.

"Did you know that my first wife was a witch, Michael?"

That threw Michael off, he let go of David's hand and stepped back, and the man continued, "She was killed as the last full blooded witch in her coven."

Michael never bared his teeth at David again, but he always remained on edge anytime they were in the same room until David insisted on helping Michael and Alex with the dishes.

While Michael washed and dried dishes, David put them away with assistance from Alex. After a few minutes of anxious silence David spoke up.

"I have a son. Jonas," he paused only to turn to Alex and ask which drawer the utensils went in, "He's a year older than you, Alex."

More silence passed.

"The day his mother died he was at a friend's house. I asked the parents if he could stay the night and when I got home I packed all of the charms, any books, pictures, anything that linked his mother to magic and placed it all in a storage unit."

Alex looked up at him, his eyes were foggy but he was still smiling, "Why'd you hide it?"

"I didn't want him learning he had magic in his blood. I was worried of losing him to the same fate I lost his mother. He's going to find out one day but I don't want him practicing. I want you two to keep him safe."

Michael laughed, it was deep and nearly a growl, "You want us to protect your witch son? We're not guard dogs, we're fucking people, David."

"I know, but I don't have anyone else I could ask. I just need even one of you to just make sure he doesn't practice, no real defending or guarding or anything."

Michael was frowning down at the dishes, adamant against David's request. Alex looked between her brother and David, "I'll make sure Jonas stays away from magic."

The day Michael and Alex finally met David's son, Jonas, was the second craziest day.

Unlike his father, Jonas reeked with magic despite having apparently been raised oblivious to his mother's heritage and never even attempting to learn arcane arts. Being around Jonas was like Alex's mom during Spring, he was practically a beacon to anyone with an ounce of magic or monster in them.

Alex decided the pact she made with David was more for herself than for him or Jonas. Later having to explain why she wouldn't stop sneezing around him was tough but she made a pretty sweet "I'm allergic to cool guys" joke that Michael was never going to let her live down.

Michael led Jonas, and to a lesser extent, Alex down to the den. The basement filled with trophies, relics, pelts, charms, and pictures from Michael and Alex's pack. Alex chuckled when she saw Jonas' face upon entering the room.

He rushed to a nearby shelf and picked up a foggy blue charm, the charm wasn't an inch off the shelf before Jonas dropped it, "Fuck! What is that?"

Michael grinned, "Dry ice, it's a dead charm that our grandparents helped a local coven with."

"Dead charm?"

"Any magic left in it is going to preservation rather than the charm's actual purpose. It could always be recharged but that would defeat it's purpose in here," Alex answered Jonas and he broke into an almost childish smile.

Hurrying across the room again and hunched over a display case and pointed to the carved relic, "What about this one?"

"Mammoth tusk," the werewolves answer simultaneously, "The end of one."

"Holy crap, where'd it come from?"

In all of their time showing off, neither sibling had ever found someone so full of questions about relics. Then again that's probably what comes from being mostly sheltered from magic would do that.

"It's a trophy from our family's first hunt as a pack. All werewolf packs have one, the alpha's family usually keeps it," Michael stated matter-of-factually.

Jonas turned around to them, confused, "You're not that old are you?"

"Psh, nah. The trophy from our first hunt is in the display case next to it."

"Is that a bear skull? I figured you wouldn't hunt bears, you know like normal wolves."

"Oh they'll attack a werewolf if it's getting close to the den," Michael sat in a chair made of antlers, "Yeah we had to check for cubs and report the incident to the rangers since we potentially killed a mother bear. There were no cubs but dad still had a hefty fine to pay."

"So, this room is a totally normal thing for all werewolves to have?"

"Actually I think any pack monster may have rooms for this stuff," Alex mused, "But typically only the alphas have these. The rest of the packs definitely have their own trophies and relics, but it's usually a given that the alpha is the one expected to protect these kinds of things."

"Oh. Cool. Who's the alpha?"

"It was our dad but when he passed the pack kind of disbanded. Me and Michael aren't old enough to be true alphas and no one else wanted to try and live up to our family's legacy."

"Legacy?"

"Oh, yeah. Our family has got this totally loaded legacy, sort of. We don't have any big bad wolf stories about us but our pack has been around since the last ice age."

Jonas whistled, "You guys don't have a pack anymore then?"

"Well, in theory when one of us, probably me since I'm the oldest, becomes old enough to lead a pack. Our old pack will come back," Michael concluded.

Alex nodded, "It's considered safer to be a lone wolf than to stay in a leaderless pack, harder for hunters to target us if we're all spread out and focused on ourselves."

Jonas dropped his phone, "Wait, what?"

Michael and Alex looked at each other and then back at Jonas, "It's harder to win in a fight against a werewolf if they're prepared and if you're a lone wolf that's all you have to do aside from hunt."

"No no no. Hunters? There's people who actively hunt you guys?"

"Yeah, there's people who "hunt" any monster or magic user. Ever heard of the Salem Witch Trials, Jonas? Or nearly any human story about monsters? Ever noticed that the monster always dies?"

"Those are true? I thought they were just stories! Like that TV show where in the end it turns out everyone was dead!"

"We knew you were oblivious but did you really not know about hunters?" Alex put a hand on Jonas' shoulder and he shook his head, "No! Not at all."

Michael stood up, "Well, now you know. Most hunters are technically witches, artificially. They use special gloves to be able to use charms and the likes and some weird glasses to track presence."

"Some of them will actually inject this mana substitute into their bodies in order to do magic, track presence, and use charms without any special gadgets. By the way mana is basically the blood in a magic user's system that allows them to access the second nerve system in their bodies."

"A second nerve system? Oh my god why are you people so complicated."

"Well it's not really a second nerve system, it's more like special nerves connected to your normal system. It's kinda confusing but the currents that run through them allow a magic user to tap into any magic or power in them or the area around them," Michael said in addendum to Alex's mana explanation.

"Huh?" Jonas had an almost pained expression.

"Michael, I think you made it worse."

"Hey! Don't pin it on me you started it, I just tried to explain it for him!"

"Guys, it's fine. I'm a human after all, I don't think I'm supposed to understand," He gave an apologetic smile before heading towards the stairs, "I'm going outside for a smoke, either of you wanna come with me?"

Alex made a disgusted face, sticking her tongue out and flashing her sharp teeth, "You smoke?"

Jonas faltered for a second, "Yeah...uh...yeah, sorry?"

Michael walked up to him, "I'll come out with you, don't worry about Alex. She's allergic to cool guys, remember?"

"Hey!"

The boys laughed and began running up the stairs. Alex chased them outside until they all stopped to catch their breath. Jonas fell back into the soft grass before lighting a cigarette, Alex and Michael sat beside him.

"Can I ask another question, guys?"

Michael chuckled, "Shoot, squishy."

Jonas shot up, "Okay, first off please don't call me that."

"Okay, mushy," Alex said quietly from behind him, Michael laughed harder and Jonas looked betrayed.

"Just ask the question, Jonas. You're not going to get an answer if you just want us to sit here and call you names."

Jonas huffed, "What happened to your dad? Like you guys are supposed to be his...heirs? But you're both too young to be pack leaders so there's no way it was expected or something."

Alex laid back like Jonas had originally, "Dad died in our last hunt as a real pack. A stag got him pretty bad in the chest with its antlers."

"Got him pretty hard in the head with a kick, too. There was nothing that we could really do to stop him from dying," Michael continued.

"When he died the pack gave him a proper burial for the alpha and then we all had a meeting to decide what would happen to the pack."

"Oh," Jonas breathed out smoke, "I'm sorry. My mom died when I was really young. My dad said she just happened to be at the house at the wrong time, some burglar saw her and panicked."

Michael and Alex looked at each other at the mention of Jonas' mom, "We're sorry that that happened, Jonas."

"Try looking for a silver lining. Now we're all part of one broken little family."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Alex. You guys are pretty great, I don't think I'll mind a new family."