Northstar Vale Agóri

The young wolf stalked to his parents den. His anger billowed from his body, rising in heated waves of steam from his mouth and his back. The length of his strides were fueled by the memory of the soldier man’s words to him. They were heightened by the wild jealousy that he felt lick at his boyish belly. A child not even in his first year and he found himself enraged by the love of Reyson and Meadow.

Father, his voice growled into their den. He did not consider that Tamar might have been resting, that she would give birth to new puppies at any day. Father! Antigone snapped louder into the dimlight den, until he heard stirring from within and took a step back.

Arsenio had been doting over his wife, showering her with loving and gentle kisses while she rested. The way her stomach rose and fell with each breath was like magic. His eyes could not be pulled away from her magnificence, from the beauty that radiated from her. The redstone man had never felt so swallowed by his love.

Father!

The sharpness of Antigone’s voice startled him. He planted a kiss to Tamar’s cheek and shuffled out of the den with a stern expression aimed toward his son.

Antigone, what is wrong? What has you in this mood? the man extended his nose to sniff at the boy.

The boy’s sides heaved with his frustration. He looked at the stupid expression on his father’s face and felt a slick, wet, unfathomable disappointment in his stomach. As though Arsenio should simply know what had occurred in the vale. That he should know and have acted against the ugly man, already.

You must kick the mutilated man from Epoch.

Antigone’s eyes were dark and hot on his father’s red face.

Reyson. You must remove him from our home.

The Arche recoiled at his son’s expression, his hot words and the anger that followed them. He could see the bristling sand hairs along his son’s back. There was tension in the lean muscle of his body.

Antigone demanded that Reyson be removed from Epoch.

Arsenio’s head shook, unable to keep up with the reasoning for this sharp cry. He glanced worriedly over his shoulder, hoping that Tamar would not be roused by the noise of her upset child. He didn’t want her to fret over their son when she was expecting new pups at any day.

No, he said softly. Explain yourself, son. What’s happened? This is a big demand and I will not honor it without a fitting reason. Arsenio frowned at his troublesome child. Antigone was so different from the girls…

No.

Antigone’s teeth flashed out and sliced the flesh of Arsenio’s snout in a clean motion. Blood erupted and drizzled down the man’s nose before it dripped slowly at his paws.

His father wanted reason? He could not see the distress on his son’s face. Then again, Arsenio had never understood the way that Antigone had felt. He had always wanted the boy to be something more, something better. The red-hooded pup soured at the idea that his father would have probably preferred the idiot company of Reyson.

There was no apology on the boy’s face. He had drawn blood for the first time and he found that he did not regret it.

He is ugly and vile. He only cares for himself. He does not care for her! He is a leech, and he will suck up all of her goodness! You must remove him! Meadow deserves a better man. Any better man.

The pain found him faster than he realized that his son had… bitten him.

Arsenio pulled back, the warmth of his blood running down his nose and falling to the wet earth in artistic and morbid splotches. The man didn’t understand. His stomach churned with surprise and fear. The boy had never acted this way before. Even in the heat of the moment, in finding Meadow sliced open beside the lake, Antigone had been calm and composed and cold as the day he had been born.

You will not strike me again, boy, Arsenio warned his son in a low growl.

The words that his child offered were confusing and drew waves of worry across the Arche’s face.

Did his child of a son have feelings for their healer? Worry peaked.

Did he hurt you? Arsenio asked warily.

There was a warning on Arsenio’s tongue.

Antigone felt himself shrink slightly. He had never seen that look on his father’s face. He had never seen the man so flustered. If only he would open his ears and listen! The boy was trying to explain, he was trying to tell his father that Reyson was not good for their home. Why would Arsenio not listen to him?

The red-furred man did not lash back at Antigone, not even after licking at the blood of his nose. Instead, he asked a simple question.

Had Reyson hurt Antigone?

The boy stood stiff and shaking with his anger.

Yes, he lied. The dark blue of his eyes was firm on his father’s face.

The space between them became quiet.

Arsenio stepped toward the boy and prodded at him with his wet nose. Antigone shoved him back, pushing his shoulder against the man’s chest until he was forced to step away. He could not smell blood on his child. He couldn’t see any rising bumps that may have been caused by sheer force.

Yet Antigone said that Reyson had hurt him. And the fatherly instinct that swirled inside the Arche was unspeakable. What if it had been Tamar? What if it had been one of his beautiful girls? Arsenio’s teeth clenched tight and panged in his jaw.

Where? he asked the boy gravely.

The lie he had told was immediately returning to bite him.

Antigone shoved against his father’s concern. He didn’t want to be touched. He didn’t want to be fussed over. He wanted to be listened to. He wanted his idiot father to realize what kind of a horrible beast he had allowed in their peaceful home. The surge of his anger could not be contained. The red-hooded child wanted to lash again and again until he might beat sense into the blue-eyed man before him.

Where had he been hurt? How might he show his father the wounds on his heart?

For a child, a burning crush was unlike anything else. Antigone thought that he was in love with Meadow. He thought that they only needed some time before she would see him as someone worthy of her. He could grow into the man she would need. Antigone could be better than Reyson, even on his worst day!

He hit my head against the ground, he lied again. The boy’s voice was cold. My ears are ringing. I think he wanted to hurt me more.

Antigone stated that Reyson had hit his head against the earth, that his ears were ringing. He confessed that he thought the soldier wanted to do more to him. The expression on the boy’s face was anything but worried. He looked frightening, bubbling with rage and emotion. Arsenio never wished to see his son in such a state. He could not help but to think of the boy’s words about Meadow, about how she deserved better than Reyson.

Why would his son say this? What was happening between the boy and his healing mentor?

I will speak to him, Antigone. But I cannot promise you that I will remove him from Epoch.

The young wolf’s face twisted in another show of his anger. Arsenio’s coat bristled at the sight of it, bracing himself for another act of violence from his child.

Soldiers experience terrible things, my son. He may have been in a dark place. Let me speak to him.

Fine.

The word was seething as it left his lips. Antigone could hardly look at his father. He felt betrayed and mistrusted. This was not how he should have felt in the face of his parent. For a glimmering moment, he wondered if he should have told his mom. She was soft-spoken and gentle, but her love for her children was immeasurable. Would she have responded in the same aggravating diplomacy?

But if he hurts me again or hurts Zosime or Zulema, the red-hooded wolf growled.

Then that’s your fault.

Antigone snorted at his father’s paws and turned to seek out Meadow’s den. He knew it was the only place where he might know peace.