scars

Haha, I'm sorry we didn't get to do our Warrior/Warden swap. It was such a nifty idea! *sucks*

The Gamma reminded him that he was to be counted among them now, which meant he was tough too. Wicked smiled crookedly, glad to be included. He had been born tough, though, persecuted since his first breath because of a father he'd never met and a name he hadn't chosen for himself. Although he'd developed a thick skin early on, it hadn't been thick enough to save his tormentors from his eventual retaliation. They had burned him a thousand times, yet he had gotten them in the end, burning them to ash and walking away with only scars.

He almost wanted to tell his pack mate all about it. He had already implied so much. Yet he had only just been accepted, named, included... and Wicked feared exclusion now that he actually had something to lose. They might chase him away if they knew what he'd done before. They had nothing to fear, yet they might drive him away anyway. He would do anything to protect his place in that pack and that included keeping his secrets.

But there was one thing he was willing to admit to the black male as they continued their patrol. He would never know the significance anyhow. "I never got your name," he said casually, pausing to allow his fellow to introduce himself before saying, "I guess mine's Kanik now. I went by Wicked before that, though even that's not my real name either." He felt his heart beat a little harder even as he paused and hiked a leg to mark an exposed tree root. "I was born Tyrannus." The yearling put his foot back on the ground. "Tyrannus II." He felt a bit lighter after that as he continued along in Tatsuya's wake.