As a child, Adam went to several funerals. Typically funerals for relatives he barely knew. He did not remember much from them besides how seriously everyone acted. Richard Lockwood's Funeral was no exception. Strangers with similar neutral expressions all around. Only showing the professionalism expected of them; he always forgets how fake people can be at these things. Even Carol Lockwood quietly crying two chairs over was hiding the true scope of her feelings, a muted parody of how she truly felt.

Adam thought funerals were meant for closure; articulating emotions, loss, whatever. Instead, everyone is some degree of phony. He stares at the casket containing Richard for a moment. He shouldn't be surprised Richard was one of the fakest people he knew. Fitting his funeral would be engulfed by similar phoniness.

Thankfully the funeral proceedings were nearing an end at this point and all the guests who secretly just wanted to dress up and get free food are making their way toward the house. He stayed a decent bit longer than those assholes. Tried to offer some sort of support to the grieving Lockwoods. Which consisted of him offering a hand to Tyler and Carol. In response, Tyler violently pushed his hand away, and Carol either didn't notice or purposefully ignored it.

At this point, he decided the best support he could offer was sitting with an equally rigid posture to Carol and Tyler. Then leaving three minutes later. If anyone would have asked him why he left, he would have said he wanted to give the family time alone with Richard. Though in reality he just felt incredibly awkward, and bored.

Good thing no one asked him though. As that response might not have been acceptable to some of the funeralgoers. Considering he was technically Richards's Adopted son now.

Going back into the house he was greeted by the clinically insane woman Carol hired to cater the wake. She reminded him of his mother. The insanity and the overreaction were very much like his mother.

Though with his mother at least he saw her good sides on top of the insane and bad. Where this woman he just saw pure unrivaled evil and insanity. Which made for quite an unappealing person, to say the least.

"WHERE ARE THE WHITE TULIPS?" She yelled in my face. going on a very long rant he could care less about. Something about white tulips being symbolic of loss and peace. He said nothing in response to any of her ravings then she proceeded to storm off to make other people uncomfortable.

Strolling along the pristine halls of the Lockwood manor, was not a rare occurrence for Adam. Though typically they were not filled with swaths of people. Today was Richard Lockwood's funeral. The actual funeral proceedings ended about an hour ago. The events happening now are more of an after-party featuring a casket. Which was quite weird, he doesn't recall any funeral after-parties being like that. He began to wonder if that was a rich people thing.

If it is an upper-class thing was it exclusively rich people in this world or rich people in his world as well. Considering the hierarchy of class and the lives of the respective classes are quite similar here, it probably would be a rich people thing in his world as well. Unless the after-party casket thing stems from supernatural influences in this world. Though there is also the possibility it isn't class-based at all and he just never happened to...-

Normally Adam would go on one of these mostly pointless thought trains for 5-15 minutes but unfortunately (or perhaps thankfully) it was derailed by someone calling for his attention.

"Hey, are you Adam?"

Adam turned towards the voice and saw a relatively attractive guy in a white dress shirt, He was judged to be anywhere between his mid-20s and early 30s. Looking at him a few moments longer, he realized this guy seemed mildly familiar. One of those faces he couldn't quite place. This thought distracted him and he began scanning his memory for possible ideas of who it might be.

Ultimately though he got thrown out of his thoughts again by the man repeating his question.

"You Adam?" This time the man sounded a bit unsure asking.

"Oh, yea sorry... I just got distracted yea I'm Adam"

"All good, I'm Tyler's Uncle, Mason Lockwood."

That name put Adam in shock for a second. He was certain it showed on his face. He recovered quickly though.

"Nice to meet you, Mason," Adam said as they firmly shook hands.

After this, there was an awkward silence for around 15 seconds. In hindsight, Adam realized Mason was expecting him to say more.

"Hey, Can I ask you a question that is probably offensive?"

"Heh Sure, Why not?" Mason Lockwood replied chuckling

"So is the casket being present at the after-party a rich people thing?"

Mason seemed to freeze at the question. Did he just piss the werewolf off?

"Sorry I meant upper-class thing." Good save, actually horrible save but...

At this point, Mason burst out laughing. His arms briefly rubbed against the wall from the action.

"I honestly don't know that one dude…" as he said it hints of chuckles still escaping his mouth.

"Never been to a "rich people" funeral that didn't have the casket at the after party. Now that I think about it."

"So the answer has to be yes then?" He said with a sly smile.

"Guess so" Mason replied with a similar smile.

"Well, it's been nice meeting you Mason, sorry for your loss."

"I Appreciate it, Adam, before you go, heard you were going to be adopted by my brother before."

"Yea, kind of a long story though, so maybe we can talk about it later"

"Sounds good to me I will be here for a few days at least"

Was Adam particularly invested in Mason Lockwood? No, not really.

Did he like Mason Lockwood? Yea he was a funny guy and was nice to him, clearly cared about Tyler.

Was the person who killed Mason justified?

No, Damon Salvatore yet remains to be a cocky immoral child that is given far too many chances. If he could kill the idiot now he would canon be damned. However, he couldn't realistically do this without drawing attention to himself. He wasn't really interested in being in the spotlight of the rash decisions squad. Also known as Elena, Bonnie, Damon, Stefan and I guess now Jeremy.

How high was the risk-saving mason?

Fairly high always the possibility it could attract the attention of the rash decisions squad and there's the added risk of it attracting professional betrayer Katherine Pierce, and the wolf pack who were just kind of violent dicks if he remembers.

This opportunity certainly did pose more risk than most of the life-saving moments he passed up on. But given he lives in the Lockwood mansion, it did allow for ease of access regarding a lot of things pertaining to masons downfall, such as the moonstone, and the cellars he transforms into. Sure it could all fall apart, but if he didn't try to save a guy he actually talked to and liked, what kind of person was he?

Not a particularly good one he wagered.

A.N. So that's chapter 1 of my re-imagining of my old story "Among the wolves". I made this story cause I felt like every SI revolved around Stefan/Damon or the Originals. I wanted to write something that focused more on characters that I felt got the short end of the stick on the show and in fanfiction. Hence the name "Wolves matter to"

My original version of this story (Which was posted a few years back) took place from the very start of season 1 but this new version has in my opinion a more interesting starting point the beginning of season 2. I have plans to still explore season 1 in flashbacks and such though. I just feel like season 1 is kind of boring so wanted to skip it over. However just because this story doesn't start in season 1 doesn't mean the MC hasn't made some changes already.

This chapter was edited on December 27th 2022 fixing some grammar issues, as well as moving around some lines.

I hope everyone enjoys this story and hope to get some reviews. Feel free to suggest ideas in reviews or PMs as well.