I own nothing except some original characters I sometimes bring in. Kelley Armstrong owns The Otherworld and all the wonderful information there.
The Why Game
Melodious humming filled the air as the little boy flipped a page on his Science and Animals book concentrating on the information and studying the pictures. You Are My Sunshine flowed through the room as he swung his legs hitting the couch cushions, his mother sung him to sleep with this song every night and Antonio could tell he missed her as he repeated the song over and over. The boy's legs barely reached past the cushions as his uncle watched him with a broad grin. He loved kids and he knew that his beloved son Nick was not interested in having them so he contented himself with being a mentor to Noah and Reese and a doting uncle to Kate and Logan.
"Uncle Tonio?" Logan's voice filled the air with a question at the end. He looked up through his blond curls his wide blue eyes looking at his uncle questioningly.
"Yes, Logan," Antonio answered setting down his pencil and lifting his eyes from the ledger book he was working on.
"Why do dogs eat cats and cats eat mice?" the boy asked catching Tonio off guard a bit. His eyes scrunched up as he contemplated this question looking at his uncle and expecting answers.
"Why can't everyone just be friends and get along and not want to kill everyone else?" he added before Antonio could get a word in edge wise. The child's intelligence always surprised his family members. Logan had the ability to see through a situation, the boy couldn't be lied to because he always saw through it and he always demanded real answers no matter what the questions. He could often be found pestering Jeremy or his parents as well as various pack members until he got his way.
"It's the natural order Logan," Antonio shrugged sitting back in his desk chair and regarding the boy.
"But why?" Logan persisted now setting aside his book and challenging Tonio to answer him.
"It's the way God made them. God made dogs to kill cats and cats to kill mice," he explained. Logan raised an eyebrow the same way he had seen Jeremy do and asked his next question sceptically. Antonio was hoping this God tactic would work. No one took the twins to church or gave them religious lessons but they knew what God was or at least the concept of him.
"Why? Doesn't God like dogs and cats and mice?" he inquired sitting forward now with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.
"I would say he does because he made all the animals remember?" he asked and Logan nodded glancing at his book again.
"And werewolves too?" Logan grinned and Tonio smiled and nodded to this question. Logan was keenly interested in where werewolves came from and their physiology.
"Yup, all creatures small and like us great," he answered. Logan nodded fingering his book now. It was latest in his educational collection bought for him by Clay when he went on yet another lecture tour.
"But if God likes them why did he make them so they could eat each other?" Logan now asked now confused about the whole situation and getting into more depth than a normal child his age.
"If he didn't make them like this then animals would overrun the planet and we wouldn't want that," Tonio told him. The boy looked over at his uncle again confused at this answer a new question forming between his knitted brows.
"Why would they overrun the world?" he asked now and Tonio smiled indulgently at his nephew.
"Because they would keep giving birth to more babies and litters of babies and no one could control them and they would just take over the world," he gestured in a wide motion with his arms in the air.
"Why did he make them then?" Logan asked getting an odd look on his face as he thought more about the situation.
"That is a question you will need to take up with God," Tonio said. Logan nodded accepting this answer but not looking happy about it.
"When mommy tells me and Kate to pray at night?" he asked and Antonio nodded. The way he heard it Elena gave the option to pray to whoever they wanted to or not at all but he didn't correct the perceptive little boy.
"But I always fall asleep before he answers my prayers, why doesn't he or she answer me before I fall asleep?" he asked. Antonio sighed throwing up his hands now and wondering why on earth Clay and Elena couldn't have a kid who just accepted everything. In all honestly Tonio enjoyed being challenged by the bright child and often looked forward to their talks.
"I don't know kiddo, I just don't know," he grinned. Logan grinned back and hoped onto the hardwood floor racing over to Antonio who pushed out his chair so the 6 year old could crawl up onto his lap. Tonio lifted him onto his lap with Logan folding his knees under him as the boy grinned devilishly. Antonio had seen that look the first day he meant Clay and was secretly glad his children had inherited it.
"Uncle Tonio," the boy suddenly said in a sly voice. He picked up his uncle's tie and played with it and fingering the patterns there.
"Yes, Logan," he answered smiling down at the child being ever patient with him.
"Why did God make mutts if pack werewolves were going to kill them?" he asked. This startled Antonio a little. As much as possible they tried to keep this type of business away from the kids only letting them know they were werewolves but not about the harder points of the werewolf life. It used to be the norm to let the kids know exactly what a hard life a werewolf child and adult would have, but the more modern day way was to keep them in the dark as long as possible at least about all the harder points.
"Well he made pack wolves to make sure that mutts don't break the rules," he answered hoping this would be enough for the inquisitive boy but knowing it probably wouldn't be.
"And if they do daddy and mommy go beat them up, right?" he asked. Again Antonio hesitated wondering how much he should tell the boy. It was true he was the oldest pack member and the Alpha's best friend but he was still not the Alpha and he was conditioned to obey the Alpha no matter what. The Alpha didn't want them to know quite yet about this so it was impossible for him to tell either of the kids.
"Something like that," he finally settled on as deep brown eyes settled on wide blue ones.
"Does that mean mutts aren't as good as us Uncle Tonio? Are we better than them?" The little boy asked now. Antonio sucked in a breath. Of course he could trust Logan to ask the hardest questions. Antonio waited a few moments before answering this one. He knew what he had been raised to believe, yes, mutts were scum. He knew what Nick and even Jeremy and Clay had been raised to believe, yes, mutts were beneath us. The problem was Jeremy, and Elena as the Alpha elect, were changing the pack and had changed the pack making it more modern for a modern day world. Putting prejudices in the impressionable boy's head would only lead to trouble. Plus he knew that not all mutts were bad, most but not all. He refused to teach the kids to hate, they needed to form their own opinions and learn their own lessons.
"Tonio," Logan whined still playing with the man's tie when he took too long to answer ever the impatient boy just like his father.
"Logan, were all werewolves and even though we are divided by pack and non pack it doesn't mean one is better than the other," Antonio said. Logan contemplated this latest development.
"Why do they need to be punished then?" Logan questioned now sitting back and leaving the silk fabric alone.
"It's just like in the human world Logan. We have laws that are put into place to protect everyone and if someone breaks those laws they need to be punished so no one else breaks the laws. In our case we need to make sure that werewolves and the supernatural world is kept hidden from the human world," he explained. The small boy looked as if he was thinking about this and forming new questions to ask.
"So mommy and daddy are being good then?" Logan asked. At this Tonio looked confused at the boy.
"Of course they are being good; they are doing what the Alpha tells them to Logan. You always do what the Alpha tells you too no matter what," he said setting the rules of werewolf hierarchy in the boy's head because he knew you could never begin to early with this lesson.
"Yes, and the Alpha says it's bed time," they both heard Jeremy's voice from the doorway. As soon as Logan heard his grandfather's voice he jumped from Antonio's lap and flew across the hardwood floor again latching onto Jeremy's legs and looking up at him.
"Jeremy, why are you the Alpha?" the little boy asked. Antonio sighed and chuckled as Jeremy reached for Logan settling him onto his hip and a whole new set of the why game questions began.