Thanksgiving day 2009

I think I woke up sometime in the middle of the night to see a sleepy Toby being guided back into the room by Gale. When he climbed in beside me he groaned and wouldn't stop until his dad tucked him in and planted a kiss on his forehead. I didn't wake up again till about eight to the sounds of a bunch of feet shuffling around below me. Then the bed dipped as someone started jumping right beside my head.

"Uncle Toby said wake up, wake up, wake up!" A second weight fell on the bed as a little kid threw themselves over my body and started shaking my shoulder.

"Noooo," I groaned, pushing whoever it was off me. They ended up jumping on me again and I yelped in pain.

"UNCLE TOBY, HE WON'T GET UP."

Followed by another body, much heavier this time, diving into the bed with us. "Fucking get up and say hi to my niece and nephew!"

Well, I couldn't really do that with who I realized was Reagan pushing her hands all over my face on top of me. Caressing my cheeks in her chubby hands she kissed my forehead.

"Sorry," she said, resting her head on my chest. She must have been the one who jumped on me.

"Its okay," I mumbled, patting her head.

"Bro, get the fuck up. Bridget made breakfast and we can't get seconds until everybody's eaten," Toby said grabbing me by the waist and pulling me off the bed like a rag doll.

"Alright, alright. I'm up," I groaned, getting to my feet but Toby didn't loosen up his grip, just let his chin rest on my shoulder as he hugged me from behind.

"I get your seconds?" he whispered, lips brushing against my neck.

"You would have taken them anyway."

"True." Letting go of me he rushed over to the bed in a flash and snatched his niece up. Her brother, Braxton, was giving Toby's legs weak punches and kicks.

Shaking my head I headed to the stairs, the three of them following after me. I was a little disoriented and it didn't get any better once I reached the kitchen. There were a few people standing around chatting and helping prepare the food.

"Shit, today's Thursday," I whispered, approaching the dining table to see what all was there.

The Vincent's had a huge dining table. Back before wolf packs had to forcibly disband this table used to be where many alphas before us held meets. Gale would have been alpha had it not been for the new human laws but even now he holds no interest in the position. He's more worried about taking care of his three sons.

Wiping away the remnants of sleep from my eyes I sat down at the table. A woman, who I realized was Phoebe, Callum's wife, came over to set down a little basket lined with cloth and filled with homemade biscuits. When she saw me she smiled.

"Oh hi Eric, what are you doing here?" she asked, her smile looked so bright, "Your momma know you're here?'

"Yeah, she should be coming over with Eli in a bit," I said, returning her smile.

"That's good. Did she make any baked chicken? Hers is the best."

"I don't know, but she hasn't been feeling all that good lately."

"Oh. Well, hopefully, she'll be feeling better soon."

Nodding my head I sat at the table for a minute before Toby came forward and shook my chair scaring the shit out of me.

"Why are you sitting over here by yourself?" he asked, leaning onto the table.

"I'm waiting on the food."

"You can pay me a little attention while you wait." He smiled, easing into the chair beside me.

Rolling my eyes I snorted. Toby was just something else.

As we waited for the food, Toby sitting a little too close to me around company, we talked. Or it was mostly Toby talking and going off on a tangent every few minutes before going back to whatever the subject was. He was talking about why cheetahs were his favorite big cat when his oldest brother, Callum, walked in with a case of beers yelling,"Yo, Pa, I got 'em!"

Callum might be in his late twenties but he still acts like the teenager he was when he moved out. As soon as he saw me sitting at the table he beamed. He got ready to wrestle with me when Toby looked at him.

"He still hasn't started his changes yet?" Callum asked, looking disappointed. "We were supposed to go out on a hunt. I was hoping that the two of you could go on your first hunt with us."

"Aw, I didn't even think of that!" Toby said. "And now Eric's gonna be left out."

It was the Vincent family tradition, and probably tradition for tons of other werewolf families, to go on hunts for big holidays like Thanksgiving. One of the reasons I looked forward to my changes was because of that tradition. Toby was one of those wolves-not really all that rare- who piqued at sixteen, while I was probably gonna have my changes at eighteen like literally everyone else.

"I'll be fine, " I said, waving the two of them off, "just watch, with my luck I'll have my changes right after you guys leave and go back upstate."

"Don't say that you'll jinx yourself!" Toby shushed me, putting his index finger to his lips. Little Reagan came to stand behind my chair and mimicked Toby's actions.

"Does it really matter?" I raised a brow at him, waiting for him to say something back.

"Yeah," he frowned, "cause then we could have our first hunt as-"

Snapping his mouth closed he sunk down in his seat. What was he sad about?

"Jeez Toby, " Bridget said as she came into the dining room with two plates holding one pancake and some eggs each, "scoot over a little. You're practically in Eric's lap."

I didn't notice we were sitting that close to one another. Toby didn't move though, he just cracked a smile. He was about to say something embarrassingly blunt. He just had that look on his face.

"No sh-"

"Yeah Toby, scoot over, " I blurted. I immediately felt bad but as far as I knew he hadn't talked to his dad about us. I could tell from the way his father was giving him worried glances that he did talk to him but it couldn't have been about us, otherwise, Gale would have pulled both of us aside by now.

Frowning at me he rolled his eyes, "Fine. Imma remember this."

That was a threat. Which meant that later he would be ignoring me as much as he could until he couldn't stand not being the center of attention anymore cause we both knew that it wouldn't phase me.

Smiling at him I shook my head. "Whatever."