02-10-2008, 08:48 PM
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I like tables that do that. It was thanks to his gentile and sociable nature that Phoenix was indeed a father, and (though he wasn’t aware of it yet) soon to be a grandfather. Dierdre, though not his by blood, called him dad because he had taken care of her as a youngster. And as time went on, she merely became the first to do so. Now Phoenix had quite a large brood, and only half of them he had actually sired himself. But Phoenix considered all of Storm his extended family, and he fought to protect them all without discrimination. Selene was in no way related to him and yet he had almost died to save her life. “Enough o’ that ‘sir’ business,” he said finally. “Y’made your point, but from now on you can jus’ call me ‘Phoenix’ like everybody else.” Family members didn’t speak to each other with such formality. And that was just what Storm was, a family. Loyalty and strength had nothing to do with it. When one of them was threatened the pack would unite to protect that member. Phoenix and the previous alpha had gone out of their way to kill a cougar only once… and that was right after it had attacked one of their pups, leaving her with a broken leg. “Cougar’s ain’t as big as bears, but they’re a lot faster an’ nastier. But we leave ‘em alone unless they attack us first. We ain’t a violent pack. There’s a sayin’ I heard once… ‘Live an’ let live.’ That’s pretty much th’ rule we live by here.” The alpha’s jovial mood was dimmed slightly at the mention of his mate. He did have one, who he loved more than life itself. She was his better half, and he felt incomplete with her gone. At first, he had thought he couldn’t lead the pack with her gone, but he had since grown and become stronger. But he missed her no less. “She pro’lly would,” he answered, hiding his melancholy. “One of our pups went missin’ a few months back. She left to try to find her.” He had every bit of faith that she would return to him someday. His Iskata was just as loyal to him as he was to her. He just hoped it would be soon. But Iskata was also stubborn, and it would be a long time before she gave up on their daughter. |