(328) I'll be NPCing Larkspur for this; Alaine has my permission to do so as well. Larkspur can take a lot of surface wounds; he'll be trying to get between Sirius and anyone who goes after him. Siv is going for Éloise, so I suspect her wounds will be less dramatic; some light ones on her face are okay.
The dream came again, as it always did in these moments of danger. He sensed it, waking from some nightmarish world, orange eyes gleaming in the dark. Larkspur sensed the very palpable change in the air. His body responded subconsciously, muscles shifting and changing as he stood alone in the center of his home. What remained was a massive beast more bear than wolf, nearly three-hundred pounds of fat and muscle coated in thick, black and white fur. He stood almost four and a half feet tall and moved with the lumbering gait of the animal that had left deep teeth marks on his haunch.
He had not gone far when another figure, much smaller, met him. Siv had risen to hunt but, like the Arbiter, sensed there was something wrong in the air. She accosted him with sharp eyes, a low and wordless whine asking what he did not know.
The answer came in a cry that made every hair on Larkspur’s back stand on end. Sirius; intruders. He did not hesitate and plunged towards the origin of the cry. Speed hindered as it was, it was not long before another massive shadow rose at his side. Siv was smaller than the male, but her speed greater and her drive equally made for such a command. Salsola was home; those who threatened this threatened her and they threatened her child.
It seemed they were the first to find their King, in a fray of unfamiliar shapes. Larkspur bellowed; it was a roar in truth, an earth-shattering sound that was echoed by the speed of his charge. He flung himself to Sirius’ side, looking for the largest threat and intent on destroying any who would harm his alpha.
Siv, in contrast, looked for the easiest prey—she found it in a grayish-white she wolf. Age was apparent in her frame and this would be her downfall. Rushing forward, the woman hurled herself low and went for the throat.
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