His day had started just as any other. His son, six year old Wesley, cane barreling into his room at the crack of dawn to wake him up. The child had a particular love of jumping up and down on his father's bed until the man was fully awake. His child had been born out of wedlock but Charlie had never shunned him or followed social norms and loved him from arm's length. No, he'd been born out of love but not the type of love that made a marriage work. It had been for the best, really, that he and Wesley's mother, Sadie, hadn't tied the knot. 
They remained good friends though, often able to confide in each other with no fear of judgement. Charlie cracked open his eyes and looked at the little boy. His light hair and eyes came from Charlie himself; reddish-blond hair and light blue-green eyes. That alone had confirmed that he was the boy's father. His son had the rounded features of his mother and the same mischievous grin. 

"Papa!" Wesley cheered, seeing that he'd succeeded in waking the man. "Mama says that breakfast is almost ready." Because of the nature of werewolves and the comfort they gained from pack life, they lived communally. Hatchetfield was small but they'd carved out a living by farming wheat and using it for their own breads, pies and cakes. Charlie was a damn good baker but Sadie made a mean mincemeat pie. 

"Okay, Wes. I'm up." Charlie said, sitting up in bed. His son was already dressed for the day, no doubt his mother's doing. The pack lived on Charlie's small farm just outside of Hatchetfield. There was a large farm house and a few small cabins strewn about the property. Most of the pack lived in the farmhouse but a few with families of their own occupied the cabins.  They still ate meals together despite their living quarters. Sadie was usually in charge of cooking breakfast and dinner. Lunch duties were passed off to whoever was around while Sadie was helping in the bakery. 

He greeted his pack once he was dressed for the day and downstairs. Arthur, his second-in-command and annoying adopted brother, waved. Half a piece of fresh bread smothered in jam was hanging out of his mouth. Sadie swatted the back of Arthur's head and scolded him for his poor table manners. Arthur held the back of his head and whined. "Oh hush up. I didn't hit you that hard." Sadie rolled her eyes as she helped Wes into his chair. 

"Yes you did. Now I'm going to go loony." Arthur said before shoving some fried ham into his mouth once he'd swallowed his bread. 

Their breakfast had been pleasant, as it usually was, but once a majority of the pack was done and they'd gone to work in the fields or the bakery in town, there came a knock at the door and the frantic, near incoherent shouting of a woman. Charlie opened the door to see a woman with wide fright filled eyes. "There's a monster!" She cried, pointing back towards the forest. Charlie recognized her from town and assumed that she must have been in the forest gathering up herbs or something similar when she'd come across…whatever she was babbling about.

"Calm down, miss. Tell me what you saw." They had a few unstable werewolves but none had gone out by themselves to the forest recently, even last night. They'd all roamed on the farm rather than in the forest because of the children. The woman described finding a body, mutilated beyond recognition. Hatchetfield was on the small side and most people knew each other but she said that there was nothing familiar about the man, even in his current state.  

"S-something ripped out his innards...scratched his face and the earth...oh Heavens there's a monster!" Charlie paled. Her description fit what was typical of a werewolf killing but his pack was innocent. That left only one option and it wasn't a good one. He called for Sophia, one of his calmer werewolves, and told her to escort the woman back into town. Charlie was going to have a look at the scene to determine if it really was a werewolf. 

"I'm coming." The sound of Sadie's voice caught his attention and he turned back to look at her. She was already pulling a shawl over her shoulders. "You forgot that I was a hunter, once." Her lips quirked into a small smile. She'd been raised to hunt the very things that she'd become. Her parents had taught her every trick to tracking the beasts and learning their ways of killing. 

"What about Wes?"

"Arthur has him and the other kids. They're going to the bakery." She said, looking up at him. "Please, Charlie, let me help." Sadie pat his chest before walking by him, not really giving him the option to say no. With a sigh he stripped down and allowed the transformation to take hold. He was a lighter colored wolf, being more red tones than anything else. Blue-green gave way to gold and his bones snapped and shifted into place. Where the tall man once stood was now an even taller beast. "Come along, Charlie. We'll need your nose." He followed along behind Sadie, eventually scooping the woman up so they'd move faster. 

When they found the kill both confirmed that it was a werewolf. "We'll need to hide this." Sadie said, toeing the deadman with her foot. "We should go stop that woman as well. Once word gets out that a werewolf, or even suspected werewolf, is around it'll only be a matter of time before the hunters come." Their pack wouldn't be safe then. Wesley was in danger, even though he was fully human despite being born of werewolves. They disposed of the body in an old hollowed log. It wouldn't be a permanent resting place but it was better than the open. 

Charlie carried her again as they headed towards Hatchetfield. He returned to the crime scene to find any clues of who could have done this while Sadie did a bit of damage control. 

She'd caught up to the woman, who was banging on the door of the detective's office, screaming and hollering about what she'd seen in the forest. Sadie was trying her best to silence her.