To be honest this day could easily be considered a nice one, but not for the little child. He knew he was in Dahlia and he knew that he was close to his father’s cabin, and that he was home and safe with a full belly. Nevertheless, the mental torture from the weeks living alone in the wilderness had left deep traces in the mixed child. Conor had only intended to pad a yard or so from the house, but he was a child, and even though much of him had already been ruined by his early solitude, curiosity still pulsed and lived inside the little boy. He had lost the sight of the cabin, and had not noticed this before it was too late. The intense and darling baby blue eyes ran across the scenery, desperate to find something he could recognize. It simply would not do.

The multi-coloured child ran in a random direction, unable to use his brain and simply follow his own scent back to the cabin. No, Panic had been lurking nearby and grabbed hold of him. Alexey had just found him and returned him to home. Not the pretend home where their mother had placed them, but the real one where daddy also lived, although he was almost only angry and the negative emotion made the newly rescued child more than a bit nervous. Now he would have given anything to get daddy back, no matter how mean he was, but there was no such thing as magic and unicorns. This was something the child had realized with great sorrow. Conor Soul had already been through far more than the average child on his age had, and this was bound to give him some lasting mental issues.

He stopped when his father’s scent hit him in the face. It was only a few days old, and the child rubbed his neck against the spot where the Lilium of Dahlia de Mai had marked the border. There was no father, only the scent that warned about the pack borders. Conor did not understand what it was; he just knew that he had managed to get himself lost. Again. How could he have done such a thing? His little heart pounced worriedly against his little, almost white chest. Oh, this was too horrible to be true. Tears had started to run down his face when panic first had entered his system, but it was not before now that a wail of a desperate child sounded in the dry spring air. He could not be all alone by himself, not again! The badger would get him, and he would never see Emwe again!

The child shivered and then went completely still. At a point when he had inhaled to let out another cry in misery, he had heard noises. An approaching creature! Dark ears flattened and his little tail hid beneath his belly. Badger, badger, badger, badger. Too soon the creature appeared, but it was no badger. Instead it was a werewolf that the child had never seen nor met before. The Soul boy took a few steps backwards, inhaling abruptly air into his lungs, creating a hissing sound. What did Alexey always say? Do not talk to strangers! That was what she said. Another thing worth mentioning could be that this did not make the child less scared. Although Conor was back in Dahlia now, it did not mean that he automatically felt safe in the lands, even though other puppies on his age did not share that desperate view. Conor had been given a proper fright, and it would haunt him for a long time.

Nevertheless, this was still Dahlia, and therefore this was perhaps a member? Conor had not met any other wolves when he had been lost, so therefore the wolves only lived in packs and groups, and this was the little child’s pack, so this was a friend. The two months old boy wanted to believe this, but he had issues calming his own senses, and so the male could see a completely round little ball of fur. Yes, a fur ball de luxe, the cub’s pelt stood out because of the insane distress, and the baby blue eyes were completely round. I little unconscious sneer was placed on the child’s face. Alexey, mommy, daddy, Emwe, white-and-black-man, anyone! The child did not run though. It was hard to do such a thing while being temporarily paralyzed.

It was not the man itself that scared the child shitless. Conor had not been safe back in the pack lands for very long, and he had just committed the same crime that had almost killed him and scared half his wits out. The black werewolf was not a badger, so the child was not out of his mind with fear. To be honest, the bi-coloured eyes were interesting, and the boy stared at them, both fear and curiosity burning in his eyes. When the man came closer to the child, the multi-coloured boy stepped backwards, but the movement of the other was smooth and calming, so the little Papaver sat down on his haunches, staring rather boldly up at the eyes of the adult. Red and yellow, he knew those colours.

The big man said he did not bite, and the little boy swallowed uneasily, although there was a bit relief in the words the stranger spoke. It was good that he would not eat Conor Soul. Conor was a cute bundle of fur. He had been made this way to look adorable, to make it harder for parents to abandon him even if times were hard and there was no food. This was of course not the issue here, but he trusted somewhat in his instincts. The big man was an adult, and the child had yet to meet a dangerous wolf that meant him harm. Therefore, there was still some trust there, although too much had been taken from him when he had been all alone.

His voice was gentle and he cared about Conor! The puppy wanted to be held. Alexey always held him and hugged him when he was upset. When she had finally found her in Halifax, she had held him half the day. It had been the happiest hours of the small boy’s life. ”I cry because I is lost from house and is scared of alone.” Now he was not all that lonely? Good.

The man did not look particularly dangerous when he sat with folded hands in his dark lap. The young boy’s eyes never strayed from the man, though, determined to make sure he did not miss out anything that could prove that this wolf was a friend of the nasty badger that had scared the child so. Conor nodded when the man said that it could be scary to be lost. Yes, Conor knew this very well. It was not only scary, it was super scary, horrible. Poor black man, it couldn’t have been easy to get lost all the time. It was nice to know that Conor was not the only one. The problem was that the world seemed to be too big. Heck, the man said. ”Heck!” the boy said back, not sure if he understand what it meant.

However, Conor was not sure if he wanted to find his parents at the moment. He had been told that his mommy was mean, and that was why she did not love him any longer and did not want to live with him and Emwe. Daddy was only scary and mean, especially lately. Alexey meant that he was sick, but daddy did not want help from anyone. When Conor had finally come back home, his daddy had did not care at all, it seemed. Vuk, Vuk, Vuk. Conor let his eyes fall to the cold forest floor between them. ”Daddy is angry and scary, and mommy is not want me..” It was sad, but they had never lived a harmonic family life. ”HECK!” The child cried out at Vuk, some remaining tears still residing in the corner of his eyes.

The child snivelled pathetically, looking up on the larger wolf that had sat down in front of him, seemingly interested in how he was. At least Conor’s body did not ache any longer, and Alexey said that she was happy he was back, and Emwe openly showed that too. Next time he walked away he would ask Emwe to come with him. The copper and gold child was quite fond of exploring, which is why he had gotten lost and ended up in the Halifax area and almost died earlier. Now he was scared it would happen all over again, but seemingly that did not stop him. The adult spoke up and told him not to cry, and the incest child did his best to stop the tears that had started to run again. It seemed that the salty tears was quick to come.

The child wanted to believe the adult, but even Conor was old enough by now to start to grasp what kind of man his father was. His mother was not present any longer, and daddy said that she did no longer love them. This was a broken family, more than anything. The child slowly shook his head at the words. Haku Soul was always angry, even when he did not have anything to be angry about. This was not truth though, but the child took the silence and cold that radiated from his sire as anger. ”He is only angry, always only!” Truth be told, he was scared of the chocolate and brown man that had taken over the fulltime custody. He wished Alexey had been his father, and that mommy had liked him again.

”He does not likes Conor, not is likes anything!” The boy flattened his ears, both amazed and scared because of what he had dared to say out loud. What if his father had heard? Conor clutched his tiny teeth together, openly uncomfortable.

The corners of the child’s mouth crept downwards as the big and black man with the weird eyes talked to him. Find a new dad? The Soul boy tilted his head slightly to the side, pondering if there was such a possibility. He liked his dad, it was just that he never talked or played with them. Last time he had tried to come and say hi to the parent, he had scared him so badly that the poor puppy’s bladder had let go right there and then. Yes, maybe he needed a kinder daddy. Oh, and a mommy as well! Why did not mommy and daddy live together? Conor could vaguely remember all of them living together in the house, but mommy was gone, and Conor did not know where he was. It was very sad, but at least he had Lexey. She never turned him away when he wanted love and warmth.

Talking? Dad wanted to bite his head of when he tried to talk. No, he was too scary for talking. The boy looked up at the stranger, not sure if he could make the big man understand. Maybe he should take him to daddy and show exactly what kind of daddy this was. Yes, a good idea. Maybe the cocoa father would be nicer with a visitor around. ”Want to see Daddy?”

The man seemed to consider Conor’s offer. First he shook his head, and Conor assumed it was a no. It was understandable though, because Conor’s father was very scary and un-nice. At least this was Conor’s opinion. However, it would have felt a bit safer to have someone else with him. The child was almost never scared when Alexey, the caretaker was around, so he shouldn’t be scared with another man either. The child did not really understand that the black man was not a part of the pack. He was here where everything smelled of home, and therefore he had to have a home here as well, because only home smelled like home. It all made sense in the little head of his. Maybe his daddy and the other man even were friends already! Everyone knew each other when they were grown up.

He watched the adult stand up, and he let his tail wag a bit. The man started to walk, and Conor realized that he was actually supposed to lead way to home. Okay! The man said yes. A somewhat rare smile appeared on the little boy’s face. He wanted to meet daddy! Maybe the nice man could teach his father how to be a good daddy so that Conor would not have to be scared anymore. ”Yes!” The Soul offspring hurried back to the cabin (strange how he all of a sudden found his way back home, he that had been lost and all!) He jumped up the stairs and went into the open entrance. This would be so fun!

He jumped clumsily up the stairs to the closed door that led to his father’s bedroom. He had been inside there forever, it seemed. He scratched the door carefully. ”Inside lives my daddy and is only inside here. Daddy? Daddy?”

Conor waited for response, but there wasn’t any. He turned to look at the black man. He was sure that he was here though, because daddy never left this room nowadays. How did he live without food! Where did he go poop? It could not be in there, because Conor was not allowed to go to the toilet inside the house. He always had to go outside. Maybe daddy went out in the middle of the night when Conor and Emwe had gone to bed and were sleeping. He heard the man mumble something, but he couldn’t hear what it was. Maybe he was thinking about what to say when daddy came out, so that daddy would become a better person. Conor believed this was the case.

The child turned to the door and scratched it for a little while before he gave up and started to yell as loud as he could. ”DAD DAD DAD DAD DAD!” He inhaled and clawed at the door. ”I are has visitor and he will teach you to be good his name is Vook!” Then, he heard a sound.

The goddamn child was at his door again. Fuck sake, he KNEW that Haku did not want to be disturbed. The ill sub-leader of Dahlia de Mai gritted his teeth and forced his head into the mattress, determined that he would keep some self control and not snap out after the child’s head again. The child had already soiled itself once, and it was only a matter of time before Alexey was to discover exactly how crap the father was. A dull scratching sound was heard, but the man flattened his ears and ignored it. Soon after the child started to wail louder than ever, calling him dad. How he loathed that name. Haku was Haku, not dad, and the children should already have learned that he was a dangerous creature to annoy. He kept on ignoring the child until he heard those words. Visitor? What the hell, there was a stranger inside his house? AGAIN?

The chocolate coated man got up and padded unsteadily to the door, pressing his snout against the key hole to inhale the scents of the creature’s outside. Together with old urine from days before, Haku found Conor and an unknown scent. That was enough. He took a few steps back from the door, looking at it. He had been in his optime form when he had locked the door, and the key was on the floor somewhere. Right now he was in his usual secui form, and he could not be bothered (nor did he really have the required energy) to shift at the moment. He let out a snarl before he rammed into the door, using every muscle. The door screamed and the sound of the collision between hard packed flesh and wood was as loud as a gunshot. A few pieces of the door cracked, but it had not been enough to blow the door open.

”CONOR!” The male roared as he readied himself to run into the door a second time, this time certain their luck would break together with the lock and the door would fly open.

The child hopped when the door shook from the impact of flesh against wood. He felt a nick and flew back away from the door. It was Vuk that had grabbed him by his scruff. The boy quickly went from pure confusion to fear and confusion. Vuk appeared in front of him and ushered the child further back away from the door. The worst thing imaginable happened then. His father’s voice sounded through the door, a large roar in his name. The puppy’s fur stood out as if he had been hit by lightning. He huddled together into a small ball and felt hot tears emerge in the corner of his eyes. Oh, no, this was so horrible. Daddy had never ever sounded so mad before. The child felt the bladder let go, and the stench of urine and fear started to dominate the air.

”Vuk, no no no no no..” the child mumbled under his breath, and he started to move rhythmically back and forth with his little body. He needed Alexey so badly. Just someone. It did not matter, it would not help! No one could help him! Daddy was finally going to bite his head off!

The male readied himself, then attacked the door a second and last time. The lock let go and the door burst open with a loud pang. The secui rolled his shoulders and finally saw the two that had thought they had been safe on the other side. He couldn’t see Conor immediately, but the stench of urine was overpowering. On the bloody carpet, again. Was his son going to grow up being a pathetic wimp like the emo looking male he once had met? That grown up child had been horrible, jumping at him, clinging at him crying out pathetically. The Lilium did not consider that this happened because a parent was scaring the shit out of the boy. Things were not quite as clear as they usually were, with the sickness and all. His vision was clouded, but he had no issues seeing the man standing in front of the cub. A stranger with the foul stench of loner. Why the fuck was he inside Haku’s house together with the kid?

The chocolate and cream male snarled, showing two rows of blistering white and deadly daggers. There was still some sense left in him though. If he outright launched at the male, the shitty child could be crushed and the pack would ask questions. Fair enough, but he still did not give much for the trespasser’s chcances. ”What the fuck are you doing here, stray?” he roared, pink spit dribbling down on the carpet. He could already taste blood, but it was his own. Seemingly he had bit his own tongue when running into doors. How unfortunate, but blood could mingle to get a still greater taste. His fur stood on edge. The male would not have many seconds before Haku’s teeth would take over the conversation.