HATEFUL GLARE

"But dad!" Damon whines like the child he was while I ran my hand through Caspar's fur aimlessly. A smirk laid comfortably on my lips as I watched the two.

"Damon, I swear to Goddess if you yell one more time in my Goddamn ears, I'm going to kill you." Po replies through grunted teeth.

"It's not fair!" He continues before sending me a hateful glare. I just send him an air kiss that makes his eyes glow. "He gets to go beyond borders- why can't I?!"

"Damon." Julian says, butting in before his mate could kill their son. "We've been having this discussion for a week now and our decision is final."

"But h-"

"Damon." He snaps and Damon shuts his mouth close. "You are not going pass the pack borders- end of story."

Damon's lips press into a thin line and his fists clench tightly at his sides. He remains quiet and so does the rest of the family who were all sitting outside on the grass.

Everyday around lunch or in the late afternoon, our parents took an hour or two out of their busy pack schedules to spend with the family. Some days we just ate at the table, watched a movie, or went for a group run- today we were chilling in our backyard with the large trees that mostly shaded us from the sun.

Josey was doing Hagen's English homework while he gave her a foot massage as payment. Hagen was too stupid to realise she had finished five minutes after he started pressing his thumbs into the soles of her foot and was now just twiddling the pen between her fingers.

Peter laid on his stomach, his nose buried in a book with his legs crossed behind him. His hair was tied back in a loose bun with a few strands cascading at his cheeks.

Damon was the only one standing, kicking at the dirt as if it were its fault that he was being denied his wishes.

He towered a couple feet above our parents, who laid wrapped in each other arms. Po's head was tucked comfortably under Julian's chin, their arms and legs completely intertwined. Both were looking at Damon, completely unimposed by his height advantage.

Me- I was sitting with my legs folded under me, my fingers buried in Caspar's fur, providing him with the love and attention he'd been deprived of for far too long.

Damon opens his mouth to argue once more but I beat him to it with the intention of grinding his gears just a little bit more.

"Damon," I start as sympathetically as I could, his head snapping to me, "one day, when you're older and perhaps a little more mature, you'll be able to go beyond daddy's back yard. Don't worry little one, your time will come." I finish with a smirk while his eyes light with fire.

I've told you a hundred times over and I'll tell you again - Caspar starts watching Damon warily. They say don't poke the bear, I say don't poke the Demon.

"Feli, don't taunt him." Dad warns and I apologize wordlessly.

"This is favoritism!" Damon accuses and Po rolls his eyes so far back, I swore they'd get stuck.

"Kid seriously, shut the f*ck up." He groans angrily. Before Damon could respond he turned to Hagen quickly. "You. Entertain me."

"Entertain yourself old man." Hagen shoots back and everyone snickers.

"Josey, princess, please tell me you've got something interesting." He says, completely ignoring Hagen's response.

"Sorry grandpa, I've got nothing." She says with a shrug and Aiden looks doubtfully to Peter. All eyes draw to Peter who is too engaged in his book to realise. When he eventually realizes it's far too quiet, his eyes raise just above the edge of his book. He glances around briefly before gripping the book tighter.

"W-What?"

"Got anything to entertain me Peter-boy?" Aiden asks doubtfully as he looks to his shy son. It's feels like an eternity before Peter opens his mouth with an answer.

"T-There's a twenty-five p-percent chance that C-Caspar will turn on L-Feli." He stutters out and Caspar immediately sits up with a look of horror on his face while I discreetly remove my hands from him.

I will not! I promise I won't! - Caspar pleas looking to me and I give him a small smile.

"You pissed off the jaguar, good enough." Aiden muses before falling back onto the Julian's body and taking a deep breath. "Well, you guys are f*cking boring. Feli, Damon, let's go."

"Rogue Hunting?!" Damon questions with a look of pure glee on his face.

"No. Mutt Training." Josey deadpans as Hagen digs into her collarbone, somehow going from foot to back massage. Damon sends her a glare but dad grabs his collar and drags him away before he can respond.

"Feli." He calls and I stand, Caspar right by my side as we follow behind them. I bid the others goodbye before jogging a little to catch up.

"So, today we are going to the kiddy camp. Young devilings are trying to shift for the first time, and you can help them out." Dad says to a now frowning Damon. "Shows the parents you're an okay guy who's good with kids."

"But I hate kids." Damon deadpans.

"You and me both." Dad sighs before looking to me.

"You make him look good. Keep him from ripping someone's arm off and today you can go exploring, you bootleg Dora." He continues. I ignore the comment and focus on the glee in my chest at the prospect of finally getting out there.

For years I'd been begging to get out there, to see what was left unexplored by the world.

By the time I was eight, I'd run over every patch of grass our lands contained three times over. I'd been denied the opportunity to go beyond since then and finally, finally … I'd be seeing just what the world had to offer .

"No cursing. No threatening. No glaring." Dad lists one by one. "Only smiling and laughing. You need to be happier than f*cking Spongebob."

"Yeah, yeah." Damon drawls. "At least I'm not the only one suffering through this one."

"Amelia isn't coming." Dad reveals and I swear Damon popped a vein.

"Why not?!"

"She's good with kids." He says with a shrug. Pack children loved her.

I zone out of the argument that stirs from this, concentrating on what I'd be doing after the shitshow to come.

***

"I think that went pretty well." I say between laughter as I look at Damon's vomit-stained shirt.

"Don't." He grinds out while Dad jumps in the spot, laughing hysterically.

"That was the best thing I've ever seen!" He exclaims in his fit of laughter that just enhanced my own.

Things started smooth with Damon being as civil as Damonly possible while trying to deal with the many children.

He helped a few calm down enough to shift, talked them through the initial pain and even told a group about his first time shifting. This, of course, was very popular because Damon was a bit of a legend, shifting at the age of ten instead of twelve like the average wolf.

Things were good. He was actually kind of enjoying himself and then he was given the task of helping the runt of the pack. He looked like an omega, small and fragile with fear gleaming in his eyes as he stared up at Damon.

He kind of reminded me of baby Peter.