Silver Creek Anasazi

It had been over a month now and Amber still wasn't back.  For a while Spring had just assumed that Amber had gone out on a normal scouting mission... maybe just to do a search for Indra and Laurel.  It had been a month now though.  A whole entire month.

When Amber came back, if she even decided to come back she had better come up with a good explanation on where she had been.

So with that in mind Spting found herself patrolling the borders wondering where her older sister had went.  She didn't really seem that much older to Spring if she couldn't even figure out how to tell her Alpha where she was going before she left.  Although despite everything Spring still loved her sister.  So while she would not kick Amber out of Silver Creek, she did have some ideas on punishments in mind.

Truth be told, Amber really had planned on going to Spring after she talked to Heston-but it'd now been a week, and to make things worse she was just now coming back to the borders. It was now that the nervousness kicked in, and not even for having been gone an entire month. Her heat still clung to her, stronger than it had been this morning when she left, but it was the thick, obvious scent of Dagfinn that covered her that made her worry. If anyone found her before she bathed-something she really should have done before coming home tonight- they would know she'd been mated. Praying that the night would provide her an easy slip to her den, Amber continued at a steady trot towards her den. Unknown to the Ciel woman, she'd passed litterally just yards in front of her sister and alpha, but the other scents that writhed around her claimed her focus. 

Gonna push this to after sunset and her last thread <3

And then she caught her scent.  It wasn't Amber's normal smell either.  Amber's scent now carried the scent of a heat and someone else too.  Her fur bristled.  Had someone kidnapped her sister and raped her during her heat?  Fear began to pulse through Spring.  Was that why her sister had been gone for such a long time?

At that thought Spring raced after her sister.

Soon enough she was approaching Amber, when she  noticed something.  Amber seemed nervous but not paranoid.  Not anything too alerting.  So with that Spring strode forward not carryign whether she made light steps or not now.  "Where were you!"  She hissed.  "You left without even telling me for over a whole month and now carry the scent of a heat and someone else.  A male."  Her eyes narrowed visably.  "Where were you Amber Ciel?"  She asked her sister, bristling.  Although truelly she was just fearful at this point, rather than angry, because she just wanted her sister to be safe.

She almost got away with it, more or less-what were the chances that Spring herself would be at the border closest to Ambers den? Hell, she could just barely see the trio of trees where she'd dug within the intertwining knot of roots, and she'd only gotten a yard or two over the border when a voice commandingly boomed out behind her. 
             "Where were you!"
With a yelp of surprise, Amber turned with a flash of fear-her hackles flared and her teeth flashed by the light of the moon. 
                            "Wha-"
Her voice clipped off when she recognized her younger sisters voice, ears pinning and tail curling close to her flank. The shadowy femme stayed quiet while Spring scolded her, heart aching in her chest-once, they'd been so sweet, so close! When at last the alpha demanded her to answer, Amber obliged. 

Not before breaking out into tears, however. She longed for closeness with her sister, for her forgiveness, but most of all she worried for the puppies that she was positive the day's activities had conceived. The tears and reaction was a product of mostly hormones, but she breathed out her story between heaving sobs. 
                                                   "I-I'm sorry, Spring. I'm sorry. I-I was upset after the meeting about the girls, after everyone treated me like I was a child. I felt so underappreciated, like such an outsider.... I scouted nearly every inch of the hinterlands for Laurel and Indra, bu-but I couldn't find them, and I came back about a week ago. I-I meant to find you, but I-I've been feeling weird lately, didnt r-realize my heat was due...."

Trailing off, Amber shook her head and stepped closer to her sister, seeking to press her face into the brown woman's shoulder to cry out hormones and guilt-would Spring be cross with her, or would she understand?

Amber cried and began to spill out.  She bristled at hearing that Amber had left because she was upset after the meeting, but as Amber finished she found herself growing more and more curious about why their was the scent of a unidentified male on her.  Had she done the deed while she was out?  Especially in a heat?  Fear began to shine bright in Spring's eyes.

She allowed her sister to lean on her.

"Amber.  There is a male's scent on you I must point out.  Why?  Did you... did you... do the deed?"  She asked a little bit nervously.  She dearly hoped that the answer was no, but the scent was strong and it was Amber's heat.  Spring was pretty sure she already knew the answer to her question.

Spring bristled, but the older Ciel leaned into her with breathy sobs just contained from a meltdown. Without saying a word about anything else, she questioned the scent of another male. It was then Amber backed away, meeting Spring's eyes with some mix of excitement and an apology. 

                 "I found a mate, Spring."

She didn't need to say anymore - the alpha knew the answer before she'd asked. Amber licked her lips nervously, but her tail wagged ever so slightly and a shy smile spread across her obsidian face, daring to try and make Spring happy about this:
 
                                         "Wouldn't you love to have nieces or nephews?"

Amber had found a mate and it was quite obviously not someone from Silver Creek.

Was it really a good idea though to label someone your mate when you didn't even live in the same pack though?

She didn't think so.

Then Amber broguht something up that really struck Spring's attention.  Her sister was pregnant.  She was going to be an Aunt.  A fresh wave of bile almost ran straight up her throat but she swallowed it back down.  Would things change now that Amber was pregnant?  Well, Spring was the Alpha so she would take things into her own hands.  She eyed her sister with both dissapointment and unsurity.

"Amer I... is it really a good... is it..." she sighed.  "Did you even know this guy you are calling your mate prior to the... uh... deed?  Would he contribute Amber?  Being a single Mother is not as easy as it may seem."  Spring knew that for sure, firsthand.  "I will also be confining you to Omega for a month."  She finished, the Omega part was just there to let her sister know that she couldn't just do anything without her Alpha's permission.  Even if her Alpha happened to be her sister.

Spring didn't approve, clearly. Amber's face fell and twisted into a mask of confusion and sadness upon realizing her sister wasn't as happy as she should have been. Her ears fell down in sadness and the obsidian woman could do nothing but stare for a moment. 
 
              "I don't need to know him - I need to know he'll help. Which he plans to, just not from Silver Creek. I can handle being a mom, by myself or not: It's not like you'd know." 

Her words were clipped and cold, hurt - why wasn't Spring happy for her? Was her position really more important than family? Spring didn't have pups of her own to be rivaled, and if she'd let in a pregnant woman she didn't know, how could her own sister not have children? Her blue eyes went wide, and she took an step back. 

                           "You're punishing your sister for giving you more family? This is all I've ever wanted - did you think I would put my dreams on hold?"

Amber's words hurt.  A lot.  First she talked back to her, telling her that she didn't need to know him.  Spring hadn't know Zander and just look what had happened.  Her muzzle crinkled as she continued on saying that he would help just not from Silver Creek, that she could handle being a Mom.  That last part hurt the most though, when Amber told her that it wasn't like she would know.

Suddenly Amber's eyes widdened  and she took a step back, then began to accuss Spring of punishing her for giving her more family, that did she really think she would put her dreams on hold.


For a long moment Spring was silent an icy fire burning in her eyes.  "You knwo what Amber?  I had a family once.  The gusy name was Zander.  I told him I was pregnant and he left me.  All three of the pups are dead.  Jaycee, Marlin and Hazel.  I was a single Mother.  So I'm not punishing you for giving me more family.  No.  I am punishing you for being reckless, because I do know.  I have dreams too you know.  Yet I have put them on hold, because I value my pack.  You better start doing the same."  She snarled in her rage, hoping that Amber would finally get her point.  Her sister needed to get that the world didn't revolve around her.  She wasn't to only one that counted.  Yet Spring would not through her sister out, she would let her stay.  The only reason for that right now though was because they were family and Spring wanted the pups protected here, despite Amber's recklessness.

When Spring didn't speak back right away, Amber knew something was wrong - and the icy glare her sister fixed her with confirmed it all. No matter how ready she'd thought she'd been for the outburst, nothing would ever compare to the moment her darling little sister confessed her secret. 

Pups? Spring had a litter, once? She'd been a MOM? A million questions ran through her mind, and at first, the ebony fae's face twisted into utter sadness and sorrow. 

               "S-Spring, I.... I didn't know."

It was all she could say - and all it took to trigger the fact that Spring had refused to tell her. This was why Spring had been upset that day - Amber knew it with a certainty that had no backup, but she knew. In the next moment, she remembered talking to Heston: the pale man had told her Spring had many reasons to be upset.... He knew, too.

Then, her eyes hardened like gems - maybe as hard as her heart now was. Her voice, however, was just the opposite: as angry as she was, the only thing she heard in her own voice was heartbreak, betrayal, and  part of the numbness she knew was barreling towards her. 

                                     "I.... I didn't know. You didn't tell me.... So much for thinking we were close. You gave up your dreams when you took the mantle of Alpha, I didn't make you. It's got nothing to fuckin' do with value. Maybe if you'd talk to your sister before a new member, this all could have been avoided." 

With that, Amber turned and trudged away - there was no further reason to be here. She was an Omega now, but she didn't care about rank in the least anymore. The only things she would worry about were her children and herself - to hell with the pack that seemed to hate her, and the sister that didn't seem to trust her. The woman plodded forward with her tail dragging in the earth behind her and her ears drooping to her cheeks. Even her muzzle nearly brushed the ground as she went, but only knew she was heading for her den. 

Im sorry Amber is being a hormonal bitch. T_T  I'll leave it open for Spring to follow or fade.

Anger enveloped Spring as Amber spoke, her tail flagged now.  Amber's words felt like betrayal and as her sister left her Spring called out after her.  "Talk to me like this again and you're out."  For what Amber had said was something that a good subordinate would ever say.  Especially when it came to their Alpha's personal life.  Especially if you were give slack.  Escepially if you were the Omega.

Then Spring to walk away, a coldness in her eyes.  If Amber ever spoke to her like that again her sister would be as good as dead to her in Spring's eyes.  How dare her sister talk about her like that.  How dare she accuss Spring of everything she did.  Yet another question flickered in her mind.  Did Amber somehow know that she had spoken with Heston about this before her.  Spring bristled silent, a fearful distrust in her gaze flickered for a moment, before it was alyered with ice once more.