Noctisardor Bypass the humming

A split second to Sequoia was an eternity to Wylla, whose ears grew hot with anger. It crept down toward her cheeks, flashing along her jawline the same instant her eyes narrowed. That fucking liar!

Sequoia was quick to put the record straight, but the damage was done. Wylla's attention lifted away from the pups to the spotted she-wolf. No doubt she would've loved if Mahler was the biological father. From Wylla's perspective, it always seemed like other women were throwing themselves at his feet — nevermind that she had no actual proof of how true that was, or how pathetically he warded them off. She imagined it to be true, so it was, in her eyes. Which she turned back to the pups, fixing them with a more severe stare than she ever meant to direct at them. At least they weren't his, but did it really matter if he raised them like they were?

I do not need the title of father again, he had said, and yet here was proof he would claim it no matter how convoluted the path. She should have known better than to put any stock in anything that came out of Gustav Mahler's mouth.

Oh, I know him very well. So instead of fucking everyone this year, he's just playing daddy now, is he? she said flatly, willing the heat out of her voice. It wasn't Sequoia's fault that Mahler blurred the line on family. She felt bad for the way her eyes burned on the cubs, so she tilted her head to the side, away from them, in hopes of not offending Sequoia. Wylla was still fiercely traditional: blood was blood, and anything not her blood nor her mate could ever be family. Even Astraeus, nursed at her own breast alongside her cubs, was not regarded as family.