burn through me like a fire

Sooo. We're playing fast and loose with timelines, clearly, with these two being around the same age (I think Chels aged Jinx up a bit to alter this, but I'm cool with twisting timelines/histories.) And I can't remember if Akhlut is Jinx's biological son and Aktaie's adopted, or vice versa, so I'll be vague on that too. I (and Akhlut) are so excited to have Kerberos here.

The home that Akhlut had established so far from Echo Cove and some distance from Sirensong Cove and Shearwater Bay surely seemed to have a magnetic draw towards those who'd called each of the other seaside realms home. Blood calls to blood, he'd told Jinx once, and now he found blood--or something quite like it--seeking him out again. Kerberos's name, like that of Jinx and his mother's many previous brood, was not unknown in the home of Siren Queen and Warchief, and so without his sand-hued half-brother's knowing it, Akhlut knew that they were kin.

Kerberos was his Sea Mother's son, got by the dark shaman Lecter, whom Akhlut had never had the displeasure of meeting. His mother hadn't liked to mention it, and it seemed to have been a point of contention between Nanuq and Aktaie, some old wound that was beyond their youngest childrens' understanding. Yet Kerberos seemed to carry none of his sire's purported wickedness, and indeed Akhlut had seen the male enjoying the Sea as much as he himself did. The dark Alpha craved the masculine companionship that a brother could provide, and so he went down to seek Kerberos' company. He only hoped that Kerberos did not share Jinx's distaste for their familial bond.

It was a morning that Akhlut considered nearly too cold to swim in the Sea, but Kerberos seemed to have no compunctions; he looked quite at home with foam clinging to his fur, leaving salt trails where it dried, seaweed snarled around his limbs. Akhlut's smile was warm and without reservations, so hopeful was he that this would be the family member who stuck around, who would be a true companion, who wouldn't betray the pack for another, who perhaps honored the Sea and Atka and the Light as much as Akhlut himself.

"Kerberos Nereides-Kesuk," was his greeting, revealing that though the other male had not given his surname in their brief meeting, Akhlut knew it. He knew it by the scent so reminiscent of their shared mothers, whether they be by blood or by adoption, and he knew it by the features that resided on the tawny male's face. "My mothers are Aktaie Nereides and Nanuq Kesuk. I am Akhlut Kesuk-Nereides. I should have told you, on our first meeting, that I knew of you, but I had been recently betrayed by the last blood relative I chose to speak to of my parents. I apologize for misleading you."

Jinx's abandonment stung like claws in his side, but as much as he hated her betrayal, he had no desire whatsoever to have her disloyal self within his ranks. He ought to have gone with Pied's instincts on the woman to begin with, and now his Gamma lay injured in her sickbed, Jinx had gone from the pack with disgrace following close behind, and their numbers had thinned as winter's last grasp or wanderlust or sheer disinterest in pack life sent of few of his lower-ranked away. Still, Akhlut was not discouraged, not when Atka sent him a brother who he hoped was as much a warrior of the Light as he himself. Horizon Ridge would flourish still.