Shadowkissed (Wolves of Canada)

A Familial Visit

It was only barely that she made it to the Pack house. She took the mountain route, and left the confused male at the base of the cliffs. She had already gotten to the top by the time her mate had reached the bottom, and the nearly-invisible pawholds were proving a challenge for him. She had wriggled through the passage, and had just managed to slip out just as the guards were pushing the rock back in place.

Their names were Chelsea and Kaden, a newcomer who was Chelsea's mate. He had chosen to leave his Pack and become a member of a Pack that was considered deviant instead of losing his mate. Not all males would do such. She nodded to them, and they bowed to her. Shadow set out at a lope towards the house, and bounded into the arms of a tall man dressed in all black. He caught her heavy wolf body easily, and she shifted in his arms. He took the blows from the change easily, not even flinching.

"Shadow," Kagetora chuckled, kissing her forehead. "How nice of you to... jump in." He lowered her feet to the ground. "Ginrou and Blitz are out front. They're waiting, Shadow." The she-wolf with the long, black hair nodded, and ran towards the front of the house, only to be seized around the waist by strong, warm arms. "Not so fast, doll." She turned her head and glared. "Ah. I see. Day of silence?" A nod, terse and hurried. Without pomp or ceremony, Kagetora yanked a shirt down over her head, forced her into a pair of underwear and pulled a pair of shorts up her legs and fastened them. "You can't meet your father naked," he teased. "Remember last time?" A nod from Shadow, showing that she did indeed recall, and he released her.

She did remember. Her sire had gone insane on Kagetora, furious that the Japanese teen (he was, officially, twenty four in human years but had only been alive about fourteen years) had slept with his daughter. It had taken dramatic shunning by her mother for the wolf who sired her to angrily allow his eldest daughter to keep company with any male she pleased. And she did-Kagetora was an attractive man and a skillful, considerate lover. But she wasn't about to rub that in her sire's face.

He had a vastly different view on acceptable female behaviour.

Shadow walked more calmly this time, conscious of the tall ninja behind her. He was smiling, she could tell. When he smiled, one side of his mouth lifted and the other side stayed in one spot. It was beyond adorable, and she would have laughed if she hadn't been spending the day in silence. She turned around the corner of the house, and was greeted by the sight of her brother, his long silver hair bound into a high ponytail, whispering something in the ear of a petite female with fiery, curly red hair and wide, slanted eyes.

A fox.

She approached carefully, but her brother noticed anyways. "Shadow!" He grinned, and enfolded her in his arms. "How are you?" When no words passed her lips, he frowned worriedly. "Shadow? Are you alright?"

"Don't be worried, Ginrou. This is Shadow's fourth Day of Silence." She nodded at her brother, then walked to Kagetora's side and looked up at him with her mismatched eyes. He nodded, and crouched down on the ground. The she-wolf climbed onto his back, and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck. He stood up, and bounced her slightly to get her into a more comfortable piggyback position, his amusement evident. She nudged Kagetora with one knee, like he was a horse and the ninja chuckled.

"She wants to know where her sire is." Ginrou pointed wordlessly, mute as always at the sight of his sister and her adopted partner, and proceeded to lead the huge-eyed, beautiful vixen into the Pack house. Kagetora carried her carefully, conscious of her body against his, of her legs hooked over his waist, and her pelvis pressed gently against the base of his spine. He cast a glance back at her, his scarred face betraying nothing, but his eyes betraying everything. She tapped a finger in the tip of his nose.

The message was clear. Later. He groaned with real pain, and she tapped her finger against his temple in a silent promise. If it hadn't been a Day, she would have made her amusement evident by laughing at him-a sound like tinkling bells. Instead, she traced the cruel, jagged white scar that slashed through one black eye and marred an otherwise perfect face, a devious grin on her pretty face.

"Kagetora. If you would, please put my daughter down. On the ground."

"Of course, Alpha. Down you go, doll." He crouched down ever-so-slightly and Shadow slid off his back, landing gracefully on the ground. Blitz' eyes, the same blue as Shadow's left eye, scan his eldest pup. She had the same build as her mother-small and powerful. But the rest was different. She had a long curtain of black hair that shone dark, dark blue in the light, with natural highlights of red at the front and fell to halfway between her shoulderblades and the small of her back.

Her bangs were diagonal, half-covering her green eye-the right one, her eyelashes long and dark, framing large, seductive eyes that made males fall at her paws. Her wolf was black and tiny, like Gabela's, and both killed as easily as they breathed. The only bodily difference between the two in human form was that Shadow's breasts were-according to his mate-two sizes larger than hers-and Gabela wasn't flat either.

She was, Blitz thought approvingly, with the proud mind of a sire, perfect. But then again, anything Gabela made with him was and would be perfect.

"It's the Day of Silence, Alpha," Kagetora explained with a smile, ruffling her hair. "You're not gonna get a peep out of her." Shadow glared at Kagetora from under her bangs-which Kagetora's stroking hand had flattened over her eyes-and seized his hands. In a flash, she bit it as hard as she could, and the ninja yelped.

His hand disappeared into a pocket of his low-slung jeans as soon as Shadow released it. The wolf looked at Shadow, giving her a sideways glance before striding off in another direction. "How are you, Shadow?" her sire asked, his eyes soft and concerned. She shrugged, but said nothing out loud or through their family-link. "Are you really going to remain silent?" She shrugged. Blitz rubbed his forehead-that meant she'd killed today.

"Who?" She bared her teeth and almost hissed before she remembered. "You will tell me tomorrow, Shadow." She shrugged. Her sire sighed-his pups had all become adults within a few years, and he'd never gotten to experience his pup's childhoods as they'd never been children. Shadow's own first words to him were "get away" and she ignored him for a month after her first change.

Gabela had shrugged it off, reminding him that the she-pups were none of his business and to focus on Ginrou. His heir was incredible. With Gabela's aptitude for leadership and fighting, an unexplainably odd appearance and a gentle-but firm and possessive-personality, Blitz couldn't have asked for a better heir. He and Shadow were twins, both eight years old. Gabela was technically only sixteen, while Blitz was nearing thirty.

It made him feel very out of place now that his muscles were starting to slow while his own mate remained beautiful and sharp, his pups mature of mind and body but with the energy and undying will of the young. But the cause Gabela fought for would be worth it in the end, he supposed, even if it caused misery now.