We're getting close to the end! Thank you to all who stuck with me through it all! Love you so much!
Jackals aging is based more heavily on dogs in real life. They start weaning at six weeks old. By eight weeks old, puppies are ready to leave their mothers and go to forever homes. Female dogs can go into heat at six months. Miracle and Splendor are around four months, which equals to elementary age. Hope this clears things up for ya. Also, it's not that jackals don't know anything about mental issues, their knowledge is very basic but they do realize they have feelings. It's just they were never taught how to cope or deal with their emotions. I will be addressing this a little more soon.
Cujo definitely went too far. He has much to atone for.
Riker has definitely become quite a twisted character. Even though he has changed some, he's still selfish. (thats how most rogues are.) Honestly, Dalia realizes that she and her pups are better off without him. I get how you feel about him though.
If the women were more involved in the ranking and nuances of leadership, things would be much different. That would be a cool AU!
Thanks for all the reviews everyone! Enjoy!
Sasha took Roux by the arm. He was limping again. "You ok?" She asked gently.
"Fine." He had a grimace on his face though.
"You don't look fine," she said carefully. "Are you in pain?" She felt bad at the annoyance on his face.
"What do you think?" He said with a slight snap to his tone.
She hugged him close, "I'm sorry."
He softened, "no. I'm sorry. It's not your fault."
"I know it's hard. I wish there was something I could do." She rubbed his back lightly. "Does Anahi have any new ideas?"
"She said something about some kind of removal procedure. But I don't know if that's a good idea."
"Why not? It's obvious you're hurting. Wouldn't that remove the pain."
"In theory. But we'd never have pups."
"I'm ok with that. You know that's not a possibility for us anyway. So why hurt?"
He turned his face away, distress burning in his eyes.
She looked at him sadly. Understanding dawned on her features. "You won't be any less of a man," she soothed, "I'll still love you."
He smiled softly, "thanks."
She placed a soft kiss on his cheek.
Lance, Zayne, Zen, Lena, and Ivy were all sitting on the alpha's porch. "I'm so bored," Zen complained, flopping on her back.
"Why don't we play a game?" Lena suggested. "Roux and Raven showed me a great ball game they used to play."
"We don't have a ball," Lance said.
Zen turned on her stomach, "we could see if Raven has one. Or get papa to make us one."
"I have one back home," said Ivy. She got to her feet, "I'll go get it." She hurried to her hut.
Zen grinned and got to her feet, "this will be fun!" She got Lance to his feet too.
He rolled his eyes, but let her get him up. He'd come to tolerate his sisters, and sometimes they were fun.
"Should we invite Splendor?" Zayne asked.
Lena wrinkled her nose, "he's weird."
"It's not his fault," Zayne said.
They all looked at Lance, waiting for his verdict. He was the leader of their little group, and he felt a sense of pride in that. "Wouldn't hurt to ask," he shrugged. "He might not want to." He didn't particularly want him to come, but felt it would be wrong to leave him out.
Zen groaned, "fine."
After Ivy got back with the ball, the group of five went over to Lori's. Lance knocked on the door. Miracle opened it.
"Hi," Lance said once he swallowed the uncomfortable feeling in his throat.
"Oh hi Lance," he smiled crookedly, "what are you doing here?" He could sense discomfort in the air from the other young jackals. His smile faded ever so slightly.
"We're looking for Splendor. Have you seen him?" He winced at his poor choice of words.
"He's inside. Want me to get him?"
"Sure."
Miracle closed the door in their faces, then went to find his brother.
"That was rude," Zen huffed.
Zayne touched her shoulder to calm her.
Splendor came to the door, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His mane was tousled all over his head. He yawned, "hi Lance."
"You busy?"
"I was asleep." He grinned though.
"It's after lunch," Zen said with a somewhat judgmental tone.
He shrugged, "I need my beauty rest."
"That's for sure," Zen muttered. Zayne jabbed her in the side with his elbow.
Splendor frowned, anger seeping into his ice colored eyes. It was somewhat unnerving. "Are you all just here to make fun of me? Or did you have something important to say?"
"Sorry about Zen," Lance apologized. His father had taught him that being alpha sometimes meant swallowing pride to keep the peace. "We just wanted to see if you wanted to play ball with us."
His anger melted and his face lit up with the prospect of being included. "Sure! Let me get my shoes. I'll be right back." He darted in the house, leaving the front door open. "Mama!" He called, "I need you to brush my hair!"
Ivy giggled.
He came back out of breath, "I'm ready."
"Let's go," Lance smiled.
Pierce and Cujo were out on a hunt together. "Lori told me how aggressive you were towards her boys," Pierce remarked, not removing his eyes from the trail they were watching from the bushes.
Cujo's ears folded back, "I know. I'm sorry."
"Do you have a reason for your behavior?"
"Not an excusable one."
"Your mother?" He asked.
"Yeah."
"I am sorry for what she did to you. I wish I could have gotten you out of that situation. You and your sisters."
"It's ok."
"It is not. I should have been there for all of you."
"You were. In the best way you could."
Pierce gave him a small smile, "I hope you will make it up to Lori, Creech, and their boys."
"I promise."
When they got back to the village, they heard screaming coming from the clearing.
Pierce hurried to see what was happening. Cujo was right behind him.
Zen and Splendor were in a shouting match. Lance was trying to break it up. It looked like it was something about the score.
She was in his face, yelling about how he was a cheater.
"Come on Zen," said Lena, "it's just a game."
"Shut up Lena," she snapped. "I won't tolerate cheating."
"Not like you have any authority here," Splendor growled. He shoved her. Hard.
She stumbled and fell backwards on her bottom. Lance got between them before Splendor could do anything else. "Calm down guys, you're overreacting. Lena's right, it's just a game."
Splendor calmed down almost instantly, but Zen was still mad. "You know he cheated Lance," she huffed.
"I did not!"
"What is the problem here?" Pierce asked when he reached them.
"Papa," Zen practically whined, "Splendor isn't playing by the rules."
Pierce turned to the black pup, who cowered under his gaze. "You are not in trouble," he said gently.
He relaxed, but was still wary.
"I think you all need to take a break and calm down," said Pierce.
"What?!" Zen screeched, "papa that's not fair! Splendor is a cheater! We never should've invited him," she complained.
"If you didn't want to play with him you should've stayed home," Lance scolded. "It's not nice to leave others out."
She huffed in annoyance and folded her arms.
Splendor was uncomfortable. He tried to swallow the familiar feeling rising in his throat. They all hated him. He knew it. They only invited him because they pitied him. He couldn't take it anymore. The scorn, the judgement. "I have to go," he stammered.
Lance grabbed his hand, "no you don't. You can stay if you want. Zen doesn't know what she's talking about."
Pierce kept silent, letting Lance handle this.
Splendor's chest heaved with panic. He felt embarrassed and ashamed. "Yes I do, it's obvious none of you want me here. I'm just a waste of resources anyway."
Cujo felt guilty. He'd been the one to put that idea in his head. If something happened to him, Lori would be devastated. Especially if it was something that was self inflicted. He recognized the look in Splendor's eyes. He'd felt that way before. Before he met Haven.
"That's not true Splendor," Lance said gently, "we all have a place in the pack. That's why we were born."
"What's my place then?" He was struggling to stop the tears.
"It takes some of us a little longer to find it. But you will. And when you do, you'll be one of the best ones here. Because you had to fight for it."
He was crying now, but for a different reason. "You really think so?" He managed.
A nod.
The black jackal wiped his face, "thank you Lance. You'll make a good alpha."
Brynn sighed in relief as she was finally able to sit down. It had been a busy day. Lori and Creech had brought Splendor because he was having some kind of breakdown. That had been hard. He was so upset, and they didn't know why. Anahi had finally been able to get him to calm down with some herbs for anxiety.
Then Roux had come by to discuss the procedure with Anahi, and that had taken a while. Brynn had to go and check on a few of the elders while she was busy. Finally, after Roux left, there'd been an injury they had to help with.
Anahi smiled as she took a sip of her tea. "Tired?"
"Just a little." She got comfortable in her chair, "I am worried about Splendor. The poor thing was in hysterics."
"I know. Creech said it was the third time in two days."
"What could be causing it?"
"I'm not sure, but there must be some trigger for it."
Brynn nodded, "maybe we should keep him for observation," she suggested.
"I don't think we would see one if he was here. Every time he was outdoors with people outside his family."
"What can we do to help?"
The elder stood up, "I am going to make him a calming tea." She started mixing some in her stone bowl.
"Think it'll work?"
She nodded, "I think so. He also needs to figure out what triggers them, and avoid that trigger."
Brynn opened a package for the tea to go in, "is he old enough to make that connection?"
She filled the package, "he'll have to. It's his body. He's the only one who knows."
"Ivy?"
She looked up, "hi papa." Then she went back to sweeping the porch.
"Can we talk for a minute?"
She sighed, "is this about Zayne again? Papa, we're friends, I don't see anything wrong with that." She set the broom down, "even if we did like each other, I don't see how that's any of your business. It's my life you know."
A certain sadness rested upon him, this conversation was almost identical to one he'd had with his mother about Haven. "No honey," he said gently, "that's not what this is about."
She blinked, "it's not?"
"No. I owe you an apology."
She smiled.
"Can we sit?"
"Ok."
They sat together on the bench on the porch. "I'm sorry for how I acted when you were asking about the past," he started, "that wasn't fair to you."
She patted his hand, "I understand papa. Mama told me you went through a lot."
That's no excuse. I am very sorry."
She hugged him, "I know you are."
"If you really want to know what happened, I'll tell you."
She nodded, "I would."
As he told the story, she stared at him with wide eyes. Her heart sunk. His mother was so awful. She didn't know what she would do if her mother acted like that. "I'm so sorry papa," she said after he was done. "I wish those things never happened."
He gave her a sad smile, "me too."
She rested her head on his shoulder, "thank you for telling me the truth." It was silent for a while. "Do you miss her?" She asked after a minute.
"Yes. But not as much as I used to."
"Great grandmother says that time heals all wounds, but there will always be scars."
"You spend a lot of time with her."
She nodded. "I want to be wise like her."
"You will. You're well on your way."
"Thanks."