New update! Enjoy!
"Ha!" Spade yelled as he tackled Kane to the ground, "gotcha!"
"Get off me!" Kane protested. But, as soon as the black pup climbed off, he tackled Spade.
The two of them tumbled, each trying to one up the other. Paws grabbed for hair, and teeth flashed.
Maybree and Ace were watching the two from a short distance away. Well, mostly Ace was watching. Maybree was busy texting Trojan, again.
He raised a brow, but said nothing.
The blonde was drug back to the situation at hand when she heard one of the boys screaming. She stuck her phone in her pocket. It seemed Spade had gotten too rough again.
Before anyone could intervene, Jay's voice cut through the air. "What is going on?" He sounded upset.
Spade and Kane froze. The former had his hands on Kane's ears, pulling them.
Jay's gold eyes locked onto Spade's blue ones. "What do you two think you're doing?"
He let go, "we were just playing." Spade looked at his feet, embarrassed. Kane looked terrified.
"He doesn't seem to be having fun."
"We were until you showed up," Spade snapped.
Jay frowned, "don't take that tone with me." Spade had never challenged his authority before.
"Ask Kane. He'll tell you."
Instinctively, he ducked behind Spade. He was afraid.
Jay looked over at him, then back to Spade.
Before anything else was said, Trojan came up. He was here to see Maybree.
She winced, this was bad timing.
Jay turned quickly at the new footsteps. His gold eyes narrowed at the male wolf, "who are you? And what are you doing here?"
Kane's hand gripped Spade's arm as he cowered behind his friend. Spade felt a sense of pride in his chest, Kane wanted him to protect him. He would. He would do anything for his friend. He set his hand over Kane's in a reassuring gesture.
"I'm here to see Maybree." Trojan raised a brow, unsure why it mattered to this jackal.
"Why?"
"Papa please," she interrupted while stepping forward and ignoring the look her sort of boyfriend gave her, "Trojan is a friend."
He frowned, sensing a repeat from Ace. "We'll talk later," was all he said. Then he turned back to the pups, "come here for a minute Spade."
Spade released his friend and came over.
Jay knelt to his level. "I'm worried you're getting too rough with Kane. Even though he's your age he's a lot smaller than you." Really he was worried that Spade was becoming the alpha in their relationship. He didn't want his son to be like that.
"He tackles me too."
"I know, but you might hurt him by mistake."
He shook his head vigorously, "Kane is my best friend. I won't hurt him ever."
"I know. But have you noticed how skinny he is Spade? He's not as strong as you. You can't fight him like you do me. Besides, he's afraid of a lot of things too."
Spade looked over his shoulder at the gray jackal. He was a lot smaller, and didn't have a lot of muscle. He frowned, Kane meant a lot to him, he didn't want him to get hurt.
"Promise me you'll be more careful, ok?"
Spade nodded, "ok."
"It's probably best you don't wrestle with him anymore," he set his hand on his son's shoulder, "you can find something else fun to do right?"
"Ok." He didn't sound too happy about that, but Jay could tell he would obey.
"Good." He stood up, "let's go back inside."
Later that afternoon, Spade, Kane, and Ace were working on a puzzle. Kane mostly watched while snacking on some carrots. Fortune joined them.
Kane instantly liked Fortune. He was kind, and quiet. And Kane sensed he'd gone through something similar to what he'd gone through. So the gray jackal sat close to him, watching as he put a puzzle piece in place.
"Have you talked to mom lately?" Ace asked Fortune.
The younger brother looked up, "yeah." He signed.
"Is she doing ok? With the pregnancy I mean?"
Fortune shrugged and Ace sighed. "What about you?" He asked after a moment, "are you ok?"
Fortune exhaled through his nose. "I don't know Ace," he signed back. "I'm still struggling with what she did."
"I know. I'm sorry."
Fortune shrugged, as if to say, "not your fault."
Kane took his arm suddenly. He didn't understand what Fortune was saying, but he knew someone he trusted had betrayed him. "Someone hurt me too." He said quietly.
Fortune swallowed. This pup had been abused? He glanced at Ace. The sadness in his brother's eyes told him all he needed to know.
Kane swallowed the shame and fear. He wanted to help. "I know how you feel. My papa hurt me."
Anger swirled in Fortune's belly. This pup had been hurt a whole lot more than he had. Maybree had only grabbed him, and he was sure things had gone much farther for Kane. He struggled a lot with what she had done, he could only imagine how hard things were for the pup.
Fortune waited for him to continue. When he didn't, he touched his arm. Kane flinched. Fortune showed him the whiteboard, "do you wanna talk about it?"
He thought a minute, glancing at Spade. His friend wasn't looking at them, but his ears were swiveled in their direction. He was listening.
Kane swallowed, "I don't know." He sniffled a bit and took another bite of carrot. "I still dream about it," he said before he could stop himself.
Fortune nodded.
He looked at the other with teary eyes. "Will it ever go away? The pain I mean."
Fortune didn't know how to answer, because he didn't know. He wanted to say yes, that you would forget. But he didn't want to lie.
"I don't think I'll ever stop remembering." The gray jackal closed his eyes.
"It will get better," Ace interrupted. "It may not ever go away, but it will get better. For both of you."
Kane's gaze met Ace's. He seemed so sure, he almost believed him.
Fortune smiled, "thanks."
Heavy silence fell over the table. The only sound was the clicking of puzzle pieces snapping into place.
Spade was obviously thinking hard about the exchange between Kane and Fortune. "So what happened to your eye?" He asked suddenly.
Kane whipped his head up to look at his friend. He frowned, then wiped away the tears brimming.
"Spade," Ace said firmly.
"It's ok," Kane said quietly. He sighed, "papa did that to me. I misbehaved," his ears pulled back, "so he punished me." He hiccuped. "I didn't cooperate that night, so he dug his claws into my face and messed my eye up. I can't see out of it anymore."
Spade frowned, "what didn't you cooperate with that mattered so much?"
Kane was trying his hardest to swallow the sob clawing from his throat. "Don't make me say it." His voice was choked as more tears spilled out. "Don't make me say it." He looked towards the other boys, wanting comfort, but fear stopped him from taking the initiative.
Ace reached out for him, slightly hesitant.
That was all the incentive that Kane needed. He threw his arms around Ace in a hug, crying now.
Ace held him close, "it's ok now. He's not going to do that to you again. No one is."
"Thank you," he whimpered.
"You are sure this is legitimate?" Pierce asked while studying the yellow scrap of paper in his hand. "Keelie could have dreamed this all up. You know how unstable she is."
"I know," Taja replied. "But If Nia really came to her, and we didn't help, she would be utterly disappointed. What kind of sister would I be to abandon her only daughter."
Pierce nodded. "I understand."
Taja folded her hands, "thank you my son. Will you need someone to accompany you on this journey?"
He looked back down at the paper, "I do not think so. I know this location."
"Then you must set out as soon as possible. We do not have much time before things get out of hand."
"I will need to make a few preparations." He folded up the paper and tucked it in his glove.
"Of course." She slowly stood and walked over to him. "Be careful out there." Her hand rested on his shoulder, "bring honor to Nia. And to our family."
No reply was needed. Pierce understood this duty. He would honor Nia's name, and help to save the life of the little pup growing in Keelie's belly if at all possible. He dipped his head in affirmation.
"Good." She smiled. "If Anahi is staying in a village you will need to be careful. Who knows what the other jackals will be like."
"I will mother."
She took his hands. "Are you sure you don't need anyone to go with you?"
"I am sure," he said after a moment. The thought of Lance joining him had crossed his mind, but in the end he decided he'd be more trouble than he was worth. Even though he knew his brother would have his back, he was in a mood quite often. That would just make things more difficult, especially if the other jackals were hostile.
"Then you need to start preparing for departure."
He nodded, then slipped from the room.
"So what was that all about?" Trojan asked as he and Maybree walked along the trail back towards the hills and berry patch.
She sighed as she was readjusting her ponytail. "Papa just gets worked up occasionally. Especially with things related to jackal culture."
Trojan smirked, "and what is this 'jackal culture?'" He made air quotes with his fingers.
She frowned at him, "don't be disrespectful." Her voice was scolding.
A small twinge of guilt swelled through him. "Their culture obviously means a lot to you."
"Of course it does," she replied. "My parents and brother are jackals. Mama and papa adopted me when I was six," she added when she saw the look of confusion on his face.
He touched her arm, "for real though, what jackal culture was going on with your brother and his friend? It seemed to me they were getting on fine."
"Something to do with the ranking order I think." Her brow furrowed in thought. "Even though they were just playing, I guess papa was picking up on dominating tendencies from Spade."
He raised a brow, "they're kids. And both boys."
"No, no. Not like that. How can I put it?" She debated on how to explain. "Before the war, jackals lived in packs separate from the rest of society. They had one leader, an alpha. Everyone else fell into different places. But my family doesn't live like that anymore, so I guess he's worried that Spade is becoming Kane's alpha. Kane's mind still works like that. He just recently joined us."
He hummed in acknowledgement. "Seems complicated."
"It can be. There's still a lot I don't understand about it myself. Sometimes I wonder if mama and papa don't try to suppress Spade's instincts too much."
Trojan didn't know how to respond, so he just nodded.
"Anyway," she brushed the topic away, "let's not worry about it. I wanna spend time with you." A flirtatious smile spread across her face.
He returned it and slid an arm around her waist. "Sounds good."
