Pack Mentality // s. stilinski

Prologue ✔️

Cadmus Argent sighed as he looked around his bare room. The walls were blank and a dirty white color, the bed stripped clean. All of his things were stuffed into a suitcase that rested near his feet, which were hanging off of the bed. The room around him didn't look that different from normal, except the stack of books sitting in the right corner of the room wasn't there anymore, and his clothes were taken out of the closet, both of them now in the bag.

A knock at the door made the Argent look up. Involuntarily, his fist rose off of he bed in a defensive way as his eyes shifted to the door, but soon his fingers relaxed when he saw who it was. "I'm not going to attack you, hijo," Araya chuckled. Her eyebrows were raised, but she seemed bored. "I see you are packed."

Cadmus shrugged. "The plane leaves in two hours," he said. "I wasn't sure when we were leaving."

"Fue te digo que salimos en trienta minutos[I was going to tell you that we leave in thirty minutes]," Araya told him, waving a hand. "But it seems you already knew."

Cadmus smiled lightly, giving a nod as he stood up, grabbing his bag from the floor. "We could leave now and get there early," he suggested, shrugging at the woman.

Araya Calavera was like a second mother to the Argent boy. Around six months ago, his parents had bid him goodbye and sent him off to Mexico to live with the Calavera family, supposed old friends of his father. He had no idea why his sister hadn't been sent with him, but nonetheless he'd packed up, flown across a border and was retrieved at the airport by a terrifying looking man who'd introduced himself as Severo.

In six months, Cadmus had realized certain things. The first thing he'd realized was that, aside from the grammar aspect of it all, Spanish was a fairly easy language to pick up on. He and Araya would, while having conversations, sometimes switch languages mid sentence. He knew that once he was back in California he would have to break that habit, since the only language his family spoke besides English was French. He'd also become suspicious of what the Calavera's family business really was. He'd been told, on countless occasions, that they made their living off of their parties, but after half a year of living with them, Cadmus had certainly had his doubts when told that. He wasn't sure what, but he was positive they were hiding something from him. The third thing he realized was that he hated warm weather with a passion. Unless he was at school, he preferred to stay indoors with his books.

Araya smiled kindly at the tall boy. "I'll have Severo bring the car up," she said. Pulling her radio from her pocket, she held a button. "Severo. Lleva el coche a la puerta del frente, por favor[Bring the car to the front door, please]." That was another thing about the Calaveras that bothered him. They carried radios with them everywhere. They'd even given him one, though he had no idea why. It was essentially useless, because he never used it. Besides, they kept him on a different channel than they all used, so it wasn't like he could talk to anybody. Sometimes Severo if he was bored enough, but other than that, no one.

Araya began to leave and Cadmus quickly followed, his long strides making it easy to keep up with her short ones. They walked through the halls, only passing a few people on the way out. Everyone they saw bid goodbye to the Argent boy, who would smile at them and say the same back. "Would you like a drink before you go?" Araya asked, raising an eyebrow as they passed the doors that led into the room where the parties were held. Faint techno music was making it's way through the door.

Cadmmus chuckled and sent the woman a grimace. "Tempting, but no. I promised my parents I wouldn't give in to your partying ways."

Araya smirked at this. "We all know you haven't kept that promise, Cadmus," she reminded him.

The boy rolled his eyes. "I've never gone over three," he told her, frowning.

"Three is too much for a lightweight like you," Araya shot back, earning a snort from the taller boy.

"Yeah, yeah," he sighs. They continue to walk, finally coming to the doorway. As soon as it is open, the suffocating heat is pounding against Cadmus's skin, the thickness of the air making it more difficult to breathe. A jeep was parked in front of the building, Severo in the drivers seat. Cadmus smiled and nodded to Araya before jumping into the passenger's seat, putting his bag in his lap. "I'll miss you, you know that?"

Araya smiled as well. "As much as I am surprised by it, I will miss you as well, hijo." Severo nodded silently in his seat, agreeing with his boss.

"You amuse me from time to time," he admitted gruffly.

Cadmus sent the man an award winning smile. "I try," he said sweetly.

Araya laughed at the two, but it sounded forced. "Cadmus," she said. Severo started the car, and the engine sputtered as the Argent looked down at the woman. "When you get back to California, make sure to ask your parents about los lobos[the wolves]."

Cadmus frowned, his head falling to the side in confusion. "The wolves?" he repeated. "But, I thought there were no wolves in California. Not for around sixty years."

A mischievous smile spread across the woman's lips, and suddenly Cadmus wasn't so sure. "Well, I've heard they're back." Cadmus opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off. "Pregúntales, hijo. You won't regret it."

The car rumbled and made it's way onto the dirt road, and Cadmus couldn't help but think that Araya seemed reluctant to let him go, in the way that she was worried for him. He didn't dwell on it, though.

He was going home.

A/N: OKAY IM EXCITED. LIKE BROO WTF EVEN IS THIS. okay so but no so Cadmus is actually my son and i love him and gahh. alsi if you didn't pick up on it already, he does NOT know about werewolves and stuff. but he is so smol and his parents were like "nah bro" and yeah. also there is a reason they sent him to Mexico and not Allison, which will be revealed. so yeet. but seriously im super looking forwards to writing this omg.