Blacktail Deer Plateau something happens when i hold him

 

Catori had done her waiting. She was being good, letting Grayday do the things he needed to and checking in. They'd have their time. She wasn't worried. After a certain point she hadn't wanted to wait anymore, coming to find him after a bit. She watched him for a moment, spotting him with Easy. After a bit the two parted, Catori sweeping in to nuzzle against him. "I was good," She hummed out with a smile. "And I was patient." She reminded him as her tail swept behind her. "Do I get a prize for it?" 

She hadn't thought she'd miss him so much - even just in the brief time apart. Instead it had come into something so much bigger and damn near all her thoughts had ended up rounding back around to him. Still, she offered him a bright grin, pressing another kiss to his jawline.

The male saw his Spiritwalker out of the corner of his eye, but made sure to give Easy his full attention as she gave him some last-minute details about her adventures with Clary, Steph, and Dauntless. It was an incredibly dull story, and he wanted badly to go to his wife, but he knew Easy needed his attetion. Still, it was a relief when he could send her off with a hug and a kiss and turn to find Catori already at his side.

"Missed you, too," he teased, running his nose through her fur and letting out a possessive growl at the scent of strange men that clung to her. He wasn't worried, per se, but as Breathe Deep drew to a close and gave way to the mating season, the male would continue to grow more aggressive. Even so, he skipped over questions about that and straight to answering her questions in a purely taciturn manner, his growls turning playful as he tried to wrestle her to the ground for more cuddles and kisses.

 

Catori couldn't help the low rumble that answered his growl, squaring her skull against his shoulder to nuzzle into him almost roughly. She knew the deeper that winter got the more likely she was that she'd fall right into her heat. Everything would end up falling into a natural pace but Catori wasn't exactly known for her patience. She was far more impulsive and when a thought struck her she was overcome by it. She didn't even make it very far before he was attempting to bowl her over, the woman spreading her weight out a bit more evenly to counteract his stance. She let out a low growl, turning her head to try and latch onto his ear or scruff. 

Even so, the resounding laughter at just having him home meant she couldn't hold on too long and his bigger bulk had her on her side. She batted at him with her front paws, hooking one around his neck to pull him close enough to kiss his cheek repeatedly. 

God, how he'd missed her. Travelling with Engel had been a constant drain on his patience, and his two rowdiest kids on top of that? It hadn't been a great trip, and the fun had worn out as soon as Easy started complaining that first day. He loved those two, but perhaps they'd been a little young to truly appreciate travel. He'd just have to let Catori take them out the next time.

But neither of them would be leaving this clearing until they'd had their fill of each other. Cat had him around the neck like a limpet, and Grayday leaned down into her embrace with audible relish. Cuddling with Engel and the kids at night had been a somewhat uncomfortable experience, especially with the kids' tendacy to kick around and stick their cold noses in his fur. He'd been craving Catori's touch almost as soon as he departed from her.

The male covered her body with his own, pinning her on her back and running his nose down her jawline, briefly closing her fluffy neck between his jaws. She smelled like love and family and cool, coastal woods, and he couldn't get enough of it. "I'm just going to eat you. You're too beautiful to keep alive," he huffed.

 

Catori didn't have to wait too long to have the contact she craved from him, his bulk pressed against her and pinning her back until there was nothing she could feel or see or smell except him. How had this happened? She'd been fine and she'd been happy - and now there was another level to her happiness that came just from having Grayday near. She let him encase her neck with his teeth, giving a low murmured sound almost akin to a coo of pleasure at the sharp sensation that it brought from her. "Don't worry," Catori whispered. "I told your brothers no. Poor things - you Sameth men just don't stand a chance with me." It was a teasing thing to say of course but still - she'd been bemused by catching both men openly staring and Grayday wasn't much better.

"We'd better prepare for the barrage of suitors coming after our girls." Catori pressed another round of kisses against his temple and over his face. "How was Easthollow?" Business as usual, she'd hoped, although she was curious about the male they'd brought back with them. She didn't have any plans to rush to meet him - not when she could be joyously wound up in her mate for as long as both pleased. 

Grayday huffed warm, meat-scented air in his mate's face as she moved onto the talking portion of their reunion. He gave her a look that said this isn't finished but submitted to her desires as though he'd been born to do it. "Men are dogs," he mourned, bristling a bit in spite of his glib words. He gave a few shallow thrusts against her stomach. "Did you tell them you were all mine?" he asked, taking her chin in his mouth and giving it a faux-shake.

He gave up when she started talking about daughters and their suitors, a decidedly unsexy topic. "We should find a way to clone Aditya," he decided, mourning the fact that Dawn's mate had no brothers or nice cousins. Easy and Lavender and the rest of his imaginary daughters would have to look down some other well. "The kids were little menaces," he complained. "And it was weird sleeping with Engel. And Valette opened up her greeting with, oh, you just missed your brothers! so I was stressed out about that the whole time." He gave her an indignant, woe-is-me sort of look before going on. "But the kids had fun getting into trouble with Valette's, and it was fun to see them discovering the wilderness when they took breaks from complaining. So it was alright, all in all."

He licked her cheek. "How was it here? And how are the brothers?"

 

Catori could only laugh at the way he moved against her - clearly now that he'd gotten a taste the poor man couldn't help but want more and more. She let out a low hum of her own, shifting her hips as best as she could against him even if the angle probably would have been too complicated to maintain. "I figured you'd come stake your claim soon enough - I bet you hurried home, didn't you?" Catori wondered if he'd sensed it, a suave older brother coming to sniff around his claim. 

"You poor dear," His wife intoned, giving her best efforts at sympathy when it came to the fact he'd carted off half the litter and then had to curl up with Engel. Knowing that there'd been some....questionable moments with the male Catori could only guess how well that'd gone all things considered. "Hopefully you weren't dreaming too much of me, I'd hate him to think there was a chance." Catori was teasing, naturally, and didn't want the other male to be uneasy but she could only imagine what those nights had been like. "We were good. It was...well, other than your brothers, mostly quiet around here. It was nice having some time alone with Lav but I missed the rest of them." 

Catori nibbled at the base of his ear and fell into humming quietly to herself, eyes closed as she relished just having him near again. "I met someone interesting. A dog - out by our springs." Ours, like they owned it, like it was something just theirs and no one else's. "Mostly though, I just missed you."  

Staking his claim seemed like a good plan right then. He hoped they'd be doing that before he went to meet his brothers, because although he knew, intellectually, that Catori was not an ornament for him to wear, he'd feel a whole lot better walking into a meeting with his lost family with her scent thick in his fur.

"I did," he replied, his voice still a bit growly. He'd calm down when they weren't talking about his brothers anymore. God, he couldn't believe they were here. It was almost scary to think he'd be seeing them again. He wasn't sure he wanted to. And then, the topic changed - but it didn't ease his restless spirit.

"A dog?" he asked sharply. "What kind of dog? What did it look like?"

He stood, fur standing on-end, nose in the air as he searched for traces of her scent.

 

Catori basically blinked and then Grayday had lifted up off her looking like a cat who had their tail caught on fire. "Gray," Catori rolled and stood as quickly as she could - the move almost looking smooth if not for her sudden anxiety. "She was mixed half black and white, flowy tail, m'not sure what kind of dog." Catori was honest with him, peering up at his face with the sudden shift of mood. It wasn't hard to piece it all together - given how Lavender looked, the influences in the curls and wisps on Dauntless and Easy. "She doesn't look a thing like the kids." Catori said quietly.

Catori didn't know then if she'd been able to piece it together - she didn't know what Khoe looked like beyond what she'd heard about them and she certainly didn't know much more about Poppy but she didn't think the dog had any ill intent. "She seemed young. Inexperienced." Not that Catori saw these things as any sort of disadvantage or anything bad at all - but it was about soothing Grayday's fears beyond everything else. 

Grayday let out a deep, uneasy breath and held still for a moment, feeling as though he'd stagger if he tried to move. Finally, he relaxed against Catori once more, hooking his head over her neck. "'m sorry," he mumbled. "I'm just terrified that she'll try to come back for them. I've decided... or I had, before..." He acknowledged that Catori probably had some sway in this situation. "I'm not going to let her see them again. Even if she tries to force her way. I'll stop her."

He gave Catori a serious look. "There's something wrong with her. After she got pregnant, something changed in her. And when they were born, she broke. There was a time when my leg twitched and I woke Lavender. She was crying, and Khoe wouldn't tell me what was wrong. She just held it over my head until I did what she wanted. And Lav was just crying, and I was so scared that something had happened..."

His expression was bleak and far away as he spoke, the words pouring out with palpable fear even after all this time. He'd forgiven her, sure, but it'd been a high-emotion experience, and forgiveness didn't factor into what was best for his children.

"I'm sorry," he repeated, seeming to come back to himself. "Shit - what's a dog doing out here? Do you think it'll be alright in the wintertime?"

 


Was it fair to hate someone you'd never met? Was it okay? Probably not. She didn't care - she did hate her. She hated Khoe for what she'd done to Grayday and for what she'd done to the children. But then, they were better off without the woman. "She made her choice." Catori said with a steeled voice. As much as she hated to condemn someone she truly didn't know what she did know about the woman was more than enough to tell her that she wasn't making the wrong call about her. "She doesn't deserve them." She'd heard of hormones making one crazy - that sometimes mothers didn't love their children for weeks and sometimes they got so mad at the slightest things. But....but what Grayday was talking about was beyond everything that Catori could imagine. She felt her hackles raise and her posture stiffen. 

No doubt Grayday could feel the shift in her too even as close as he was and how he was tucked against her. She turned to nuzzle into him and breathed out slowly. "You have nothing to apologize for." And Catori truly believed it. She wouldn't ever blame him for that - not for the way that he loved his children and the way that stood for them. She knew that whatever happened their children would get that same diligent caring father. "I wouldn't love you the way I do if not for the man you are. You are mine and this is what I want for my children. I want a father who cares like you do. But I won't let you do this alone. They're ours." They weren't even here yet, she hadn't even started the process that would bring them about. And yet it was just as if she had - as badly as she wanted it and as badly as she wanted to give Grayday a different experience of raising his children than what he'd already had.

"I...I don't know. I have no idea what might happen with her, or what she wanted. She just seemed friendly and curious, really." Who knew how she would handle winter - Catori knew she didn't want to be alone so how would a dog fare?

Grayday let out one last sigh, the frantic look in his eye finally fading. Khoe wasn't there, and even better than that, Catori was. "Thanks, Red," he said, untucking her from under his chin and giving her a fond lick on the cheek. "You don't know what it means to me to finally have a partner - someone I can trust and rely on." It was true that he'd long considered Pema and Dawn to be his allies, but there was a certain sense of reciprocity between husband and wife. Things that were natural to share with Catori could not even be articulated in the face of the two young shewolves.

With a quiet hum, he turned his thoughts to the strange dog from the hotsprings. "If we see her again, should we offer her a place to stay?" he wondered aloud. "She won't be worth much, but she could probably babysit, or at least patrol and hunt small game. I hate to think of anyone out in this weather all alone."

Of course, he spoke not of Easy, Dauntless, and Lavender, but of litters soon to come.

Catori felt her cheeks warm a bit at his statement. It wasn't that the sentiment wasn't shared - it was, beyond what her words could offer him, but to hear him vocalize it made it so much more intense. She leaned into his touch and turned to nuzzle against his chest with a pleased little whine. "This is what I've always wanted." She said into his ashen pelt before she looked up to face him properly. "You're sweet," Catori said with a smile though she longed to make the same sort of offer to her cousin. Seelie had always been profoundly capable of caring for herself despite the fact that the odds had always seemed so stacked against her. "If we see her again, we should see what her plan is. Maybe go from there." Catori wasn't going to go seeking her out - not now that Grayday and the kids were home. Instead, she'd be happy to let it all settle as it would; if they found her they found her. 

She reached up to nibble along Grayday's earlobe, speckled nose brushing the bulb of his ear. "I missed you so much." She admitted, smiling even into his fur just at the contact. He was home and he was hers and there was nothing else right then that mattered. It made her feel selfish in a sense - that she'd keep him away from the children (although she suspected he would be glad for the excuse of a distraction) and from the brothers who had specifically come to visit, or from the rest of the pack itself. It just didn't matter enough to her to fight the urge to press her chest to his as firmly as she could just to feel him and know that he was right there with her. 

Grayday thought that she was the sweet one, of the two of them, but far be it from him to reject a compliment. He hummed instead, and continued to groom her and spread his scent across her pelt. She still smelled entirely too much like his brothers and the rest of the pack when she should be smelling like him. Especially since he had a favor to ask her.

"I missed you, too," he said into her fur. "But I was wondering - that new girl, Aviana, wants to go and tell her brother at the Caldera pack that she's okay and staying at the plateau. Do you want to go with her? I don't want anyone travelling alone, and I'd ask someone else, but I know you've been cooped up here..." He licked her cheek, hoping she wouldn't think he was trying to get rid of her. "What do you think?"