Chapter 36: Recovery and Growth.
As the shuttle left Scalathor space Jack felt like it was riding on a wave of conflicting emotions, both a mixture of pain and sadness caused by the sheer level of death that they had unleashed on the surface of the planet, but also a sense of pure relief and joy at the sudden and violent turning of the tables and the freedom being unleashed.
none of the Seekers spoke on the entire journey back, they simply sat there praying to Paya in their own silent meditation for reassurance that they had done the right thing, as justified as it was they had just killed 65% of an entire population's gender, it was something that would scar their entire species forever and both the Dark Seed and the Scalathor would be under no illusion who had unleashed hell upon them.
Infact Jack had felt the Nightmare Assassin's on the planet both dying and escaping, the vast majority of them had simply perished but one or two of the more powerful ones had sensed the impending onslaught and had fled just before the wave of vengeance had swept the planet clean in the name of the Great Tree, that one single move had been so devastating it had not just crippled the Dark Seed's stranglehold on the Scalathor, it had utterly destroyed it.
As the shuttle touched down in the Seeker temple Liam walked down the ramp feeling utterly exhausted, the Grand Patriarch had dismissed them and told them all to get some rest, there was still much to be done and he needed them all at full strength for the job ahead.
As he set foot on Clan Mason soil again he felt the relief of the warm embrace of his home and speaking of embraces, no soon had his boots touched the soil he heard the telltale sounds of fast approaching scales on soil, he just had time to turn his head before he was pounced on by his four girls who must have been camped out in the temple or more likely in the air traffic control centre watching for the IFF of their shuttle as it reentered Clan Mason space.
"We've missed you our beloved one," Celia said hugging tightly to her ample chest, he turned and embraced them all tightly holding his beloved Serpentinus girls to him tightly.
"As I've missed you my beloved ones," he said softly.
"Are you alright our love? Something is weighing heavily on you I can tell" Leba said her hood flaring with concern.
He looked up at her, "We did something terrible, I mean I knew what we going to do but I never imagined it would be like that, so much death and it's all on us" he said softly.
They all looked concerned and led him to their quarters where they sat him down and made him some warm sweetgrass tea which they'd all become obsessed with since Sela eleth had introduced them to it, infact they were so obsessed with it they were making arrangements for Clan Mason to do a trade deal with the Serpentinus homeworld for it because they knew it would be universally loved by the packs back home.
Liam sat and explained what he had seen and done both on Raptoria and on the Serpentinus homeworld and his girls sat and listened as he spoke when he told them of the wave of vengeful dead that swept the Scalathor homeworld utterly obliterating so many souls in the blink of an eye, his cross to bear as a Seeker was he got to feel it, all of it.
Suddenly he was wrapped up in a knot of coils made of scales, "You did a good thing our love, don't you ever doubt that you swept an entire planet clean of evil, you freed their poor males who were nothing more than slaves and toys, you avenged the fallen both past and present who had fallen to that evil and most importantly you handed the Scalathor back to the Great Tree, now she can show them the way back, they will recover in time and like the new growth that comes after a forest fire the new Scalathor will rise beautifully as they should have been, worthy of bearing the name of children of the Great Tree" Veme said and the others nodded.
"Our sister is utterly right, you are not at fault our love, you simply righted a great many wrongs, you did something that no others could have done, you gave closure and justice to billions and not only that but you freed the oppressed and we don't just mean the male Scalathor, think about it, if every female Scalathor was evil then there would be currently none of them left and we would be looking for a way to ensure the species did not die out, but those that were good, kind, gentle and true were untouched, the souls left them alone, they are the path to the Scalathor's redemption, it will take a long time for them to rebuild but rebuild they will and what emerges from the ashes will be the new free Scalathor and its all thanks to you and Clan Mason" Celia said and Liam felt like a tremendous weight was lifted from his shoulders, he had been so utterly terrified that his beloved ones would look at him like he was some kind of monster when he told them what they'd done, but one the contrary they seemed utterly happy that they had removed a stain from the collective soul of the Scalathor and helped put them back on track, but it was still such a pity it had taken so many lives to do so.
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Analise was sat in the limbs of a tree in the grounds of the Seeker temple watching her beloved Kelmar below her, he had grown so much since he'd come here, he was now a full-blown Saviour having passed his training and it had been her heart's truest joy watching him going from strength to strength, gaining both confidence and self-esteem as he did, now he sat on the grass of the temple surrounded by her pack of fire tigers and he wasn't alone, he was surrounded by rescued Scalathor males who just utterly radiated fear, uncertainty and worry.
But when he'd heard about his newly freely brothers Kelmar had been driven to help them, he wanted not only to help them heal themselves but to grow into proud and productive Clan members as he'd become, she smiled to herself at the memory of the pride on his face the moment he'd passed out from Saviour training and he'd been presented with his Saviour shield by Sela eleth, he was the first non Clan race member to join the ranks of the Guardian Core and he'd earned it through his determination, it also made her smile when she remembered that reward she'd given him that night.
That smile grew wider now as she watched him with the group of Scalathor males, this had been utterly all his idea and she'd had to admit it was a fucking good one, he'd spent a lot of time here at the Seeker Temple since they'd become a couple and every single Seeker knew his name, as did all the animals of the Tamers here, Zed and the rest of her pack of fire tigers utterly adored him.
Which he'd used in his favour now as he gathered the male Scalathor around him and they were sat petting and fussing over the giant felines like they were giant house cats, he was using them as emotional support animals, the fire tigers got to be fussed over and the Scalathor boys got to get some confidence and some sense of security, being around the incredibly strong and fierce felines who could easily rip any of them apart but were fawning over them.
They were also really impressed by his shiny new shield, he was using it to show the boys what they could make of themselves here, he was showing them that not only did they not have to be afraid anymore but that they could be strong like him, that they could grow and become the person who they had always wanted and dreamed of becoming.
He'd also been running around getting help from a lot of the Seekers as well, predominantly the Tamers and Soul Knights, he was getting them to use their abilities to help the boys through their pain, he was going all out to help his brothers to not only acclimatise but grow here in the Clan and it was working beautifully.
He'd also even gone as far as to arrange school classes for them as the vast majority of male Scalathor were uneducated, they couldn't read or write as their own women had not wanted them educated and able to understand the true depths of what they had been subjugated to.
The Clan had utterly jumped at the chance to embrace this, Kelmar had also gone far above and beyond to also show the boys that the girls of Clan Mason were not only not a threat to them but were wonderful and kind people, it had taken him a while to coax them out the Battle Angel Hive as for quite a while it had been the only place they had felt safe with the incredibly kind and gentle Xenos of the hive.
But once he'd gotten them out into the world he'd truly opened their pretty eyes to the beauty of their new home, they had required the gentlest of kid gloves to handle at first as when they had first emerged from the Hive they had been terrified of their own shadows, so seeing huge heavily armed Yautja females wandering around had scared them half to death, but then Kelmar had happened and he had shown them that these girls as fierce as they looked and could actually be were the sweetest and kindest people they could hope to meet, he had shown them the truth of Clan Mason, infact he'd done so well with it that one or two of the boys now had Yautja wives, not to mention more than one of the Battle Angels now had themselves a sexy Scalathor boy to dote on.
The hardest for him to both deal with but also help had been the kids, it had filled the whole Clan with fury when they had found out what had been done to these poor boys, but it had filled both hers and Kelmar's hearts with such joy and pride to see just how far the Clan was willing to go to help these poor orphaned cubs, there had literally been a queue about four miles long at the door of the Saviours HQ to adopt them, they wound up having to hold a lottery there were that many applicants, the Clan had only allowed couples to apply so that the kids would have a stable two-parent home and they'd still had to hold a lottery.
Once they had been given new homes and had managed to settle in a bit Kelmar had begun arranging play dates, firstly in the huge park among others like them so they could feel safe, then they began introducing them to other cubs from the Clan and to their delight they began to make friends of both genders and all species, this began something wonderful and a road to recovery, infact some of these cubs were among the males sat with the tigers stroking them and fussing over them and it was beautiful.
Analise loved Kelmar with her whole heart before he'd become this beautiful strong male now sat helping to shape the lives of these impressionable young males if made her heart swell and flutter in her chest as her beautiful male utterly shone.
Kelmar had also taken all the males to a meet and greet with the Grand Matriarch who welcomed them all so warmly, it utterly astounded those poor boys, here was this larger than life warrior woman who oozed charisma and power and she was showing them such tenderness and care that it caused more than one of them to burst into tears of joy because they had never in their lives been treated with such respect and care, it was wonderful to see.
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Smoke was in the process of installing the comms gear inside the brand new Raptorian embassy, when they'd got back to the homeworld the Grand Matriarch had further promoted him to up to an officer, he was a Major now, apparently, the Grand Matriarch had been so impressed by his contribution not only in working in the comms sector by holding the Scalathor and Draconis network open but by the work he'd done as a Clan ambassador for the Raptorian people.
So not only had she promoted him to the rank of Major but she had made him an official ambassador to the Raptorian people, just like the command Prides had done for Vippy and her pride, they had been promoted to Legendary Surface Stalkers which was the equivalent of the rank of a full bird Cornel, which had led to many jokes about Smoke having to salute his wives.
Currently, he was under a large desk which was mounted with their secure comms line to the home, it was this system that they would use for secure encrypted real-time communication to their homeworld, it would be on this system that they would discuss everything from trade deals to sending letters to loved ones, even to discussing military strategy.
So given that this was completely new technology Smoke was taking his time and being as careful as he could to get it right, which wasn't helped by his pride's seemingly unquenchable thirst for mischief.
It had begun as simple things like sneaking up and tickling him with their tails while he was under the desk then scampering off giggling when he popped his head up to see who it was, this had swiftly escalated to them sitting on him and stealing kisses from him, though the moment Skeeva had begun grinding herself on him he'd had to remind her that they weren't the only ones in the office and while Clan Mason protects the right to love your spouse any way both of your hearts desire, there were limits.
"Ok, here we go, lets fire this up and see if we can locate the partner units," Smoke said as he slid himself out from under the desk just in time to catch Lima mid sneak and she froze solid mid-step and her feathers ruffled as she looked guilty and Smoke raised an eyebrow at her.
"And what exactly are you up to?" he said sarcastically, without saying a word Lima dashed forwards grabbed his head smashed her lips to his, like a lightning strike she shot her tongue into his mouth licked every one of his teeth before detaching and running off giggling while her feather ruffled as she ran.
Smoke sighed and shook his head chuckling to himself, "Goddess above these girls will be the death of me I swear" he said as he watched Lima's sexy tail vanishing around the corner into the staircase.
"You of all people should know by now that us Surface Stalkers work hard and play harder," a voice from his right said and he turned to find Lisba who was one of A'Ramek's pride sat at one of the desks watching him curiously.
Smoke chuckled to himself and nodded, "Yeah I guess, gets worse though when you lot are excited, it's like someone hooked you up to the mains or something, its like having six mini Seekers bouncing around the place" he said with a grin and Lisba cocked her head curiously.
"Oh? And what's got them all excited then?" she asked.
"Well tonight is the night they finally get to meet my family, my parents and my two older sisters have invited us all over for dinner for them to get to know my pride, though I suspect its probably part a meet and greet, part chew my arse off of not inviting them to my wedding," Smoke said with a rush of nervousness through his stomach like a cloud of butterflies.
Lisba's feathers ruffled, "I always forget how small human prides are, it always amazes me that the loneliness of being solitary creatures doesn't drive you insane, hell even the Yautja like our pride male A'Ramek do it and its so utterly alien to us, can't say the same for the Xenos though, those fucking hives of theirs are something else, the first time I set foot in one of them I thought my head was going to explode from all the noise"
Smoke laughed and nodded, "Yeah and that's only the noise you can hear, that's basically for our benefit, if we weren't around the hive would be utterly silent"
Lisba looked confused, "Oh? Why's that?"
"Xeno's are telepathic, they don't need to speak, only works on someone who's received the kiss of the queen or was born a Xeno or part Xeno at least, but the point is there's a whole other layer of noise right under that one, in fact, a Xeno queen's telepathy is so strong that Yoshi and Citrus's hive have even thought about ways to weaponise it," Smoke said with a wave of his hand like he was dismissing the idea.
Lisba looked utterly amazed, "Holy shit! Weaponised thought!? That's fucking insane!" she exclaimed loudly and Smoke nodded.
"Yeah, hardly a fair fight right? Apparently, they were considering it more of an anti-Xeno weapon in the case when we venture into deep space we run across any hostile hives, especially one that has an Empress"
Lisba's feather ruffled as she regarded him thoughtfully, "An Empress what's that?"
"Well you've seen a queen obviously, well apparently there are even bigger stages to a Xeno's development, if their hive reaches a certain growth point then it can trigger the queen to evolve into an Empress, which as our queens explained it was basically think of a queen the size of one of those dino dozer things we showed you when you got here during the tour, she will then either evolve her praetorians into more queens to serve under her or birth more queens to control a part of the jumbo hive each" Smoke said miming a growth spurt with his hands measuring the distance from the floor as if miming the size jump.
Lisba's eyes widened, "T-T-They get bigger?" she exclaimed and Smoke nodded.
"A whole lot bigger, but none of us has ever seen an Empress and to be fair I don't think our queen have either, they just know about them through both instinct and DNA memory passed down through their generations, but either way none of our queens want that happening to them as they'd lose their ability to be with their king"
Lisba considered this thoughtfully, "Yeah I can see that, first time I saw one I wondered to myself how in the name of the Great Tree does something that large mate with something so small and fragile by comparison, though apparently, the answer is very vigorously from what I'm told by reliable sources, but a girl that big?"
Smoke nodded, "Yeah at that point you'd need a diving mask, a wet suit and a flashlight because you'd be walking in swimming out," he said and Lisba roared with laughter.
"Oh I see why our A'Ramek gets along with you so well Smoke, he always told us you were a balm for his soul in the worst of times, that you always have a knack for making him smile even when his heart fears and now I see it, you have a lucky pride, I'm sure that tonight will go well, Vippy and the others are proud Surface Stalkers and they deserve a male like you to care for them, just as you deserve to have a pride like them to care for and love you, I'm sure your family pride will see this too," she said with a smile that seemed to radiate through her feathers.
Smoke blushed and nodded, "Thanks Lisba, that means a lot"
She walked over and patted his arm, "No worries as you humans say, no go on, get out of here, I'm sure our techs have much work to do encoding and sending messages home tonight, go grab your pride and show them off to your family" she said looking up at him.
Smoke nodded and with a wave, he headed for the stairs where found Uma creeping down obviously about to take her turn to try and prank him, she turned to flee but before she could Smoke lashed out his hand caught her by the tail and yanked.
Because of her angle, Uma spun like a top on her claws on the stairs very nearly falling, but Smoke had already seen this in his mind's eye and was ready, with a quick lunge he stepped him and scooped her up in his arms and before she could recover her senses smashed a kiss to her mouth invading her mouth with his tongue as he did.
Uma made a muted trill noise both of surprise and pleasure, but Smoke wasn't done, after he broke the kiss he quick as a flash flipped Uma up and over his shoulder sliding a hand up under her tail and clamping it on her firm and soft rear end, the trill she let out as he did actually echoed down the stairwell making Lisba pop her head in to find out what was happening, as she saw the helpless Raptorian dangling from her husband's shoulder with her tail lashing about as she struggled in vain and saw where his hand was she grinned at her, "So bold" she said before vanishing back into the comms room.
Smoke carried the struggling Uma back up the stairs where found the remainder of his pride all stood at the top waiting for her valiant return, they all looked rather surprised to see him carrying Uma slung over his shoulder, "Well I'm done with the comms system so the embassy is good to go, we should head home to get ready for dinner tonight, but if you'll excuse me a moment my little loves I just have to go and teach a certain someone a lesson about sneaking up on a trained Hunter" he said flashing them a devious wink that was met with a sea of ruffling feather as the realisation hit them what was about to happen to Uma and not them, he'd reached the changing room doors which were meant for the Surface Stalkers who were assigned there for convincing as the place had its own gym and leisure facilities to cater for the staff and visitors, his pride made to give chase but Smoke was quicker dashing in and locking the door behind him.
"W-W-What are you going to do with me?' Uma stammered in acute and breathless voice as she hung from his shoulder.
Smoke gently ran his hand over her rear squeezing and caressing as he did, feeling her scaly flesh below the two layers of fabric that separated his hand from his prize, "Well I think a naughty Surface Stalker needs to be punished don't you?" he growled softly as he caressed her rear making her tail go haywire.
"Y-Y-Yes" she exclaimed.
Uma was so light Smoke had no problems holding her in the air in front of him like she was a doll, "Glad you understand, undo your trousers and pull them and your underwear down to your knees" Smoke commanded, so while she dangled before him Uma undid her trousers and wiggled them down to her knees her feather-ruffling and signalling her embarrassment as she hung there in his hands with herself exposed.
Smoke smiled, "Good girl," he said softly, it felt rather good to be in control sometimes and it made him happy to see that his wives trusted him completely, to submit to a male to them was unthinkable, but to his girls, they understood that with him it worked both ways, he would submit to their desires and wants, but it had to go his way too and this meant them submitting to him when he desired them.
With a deft movement of his hands Smoke not only rotated Uma so she was now hanging upside down but facing him, then like he was putting on a pinny he hoisted Uma up so her trousers and lowered underwear hooked behind his head and he pulled her against him, this slotted his head and more importantly his face right in-between her powerful scaly thighs, Uma began trilling even before he touched her, she was squirming about as his hot breath washed over her already dripping loins, before his face her scaly outer lips opened like the petals of a flower, Smoke leaned forwards and dragged his tongue over her silky vulva making Uma trill and squirm in pleasure, "Sooooo gooood" she squealed.
Suddenly he felt a pair of scrabbling little hands desperately trying to undo the flies of his suit, there was a desperation to her movements and it made him smile, he'd managed to get her so worked up with so little effort that she was like a starving woman digging for food, which she swiftly found as those dextrous little hands of hers breached his overalls and dug his manhood out.
No sooner had she freed it she plunged it into her mouth, Smoke's mind instantly fogged as the velvet softness and wet warmth of her mouth enveloped him, her tongue swirled around his tip and slid below his foreskin peeling it back as she did, he moaned softly into her loins before plunging his tongue in deeper, relishing the feeling of her silky soft feminine flesh gripping him and trying to pull it towards her core, the vibrations of her trills and moans sending pulses of pleasure along with his manhood.
It didn't take long for Smoke's passion to turn from a flame into an inferno, with a swift movement he pulled his head from between her legs and his tongue from her depths making her tail thrash and her legs kick about as she desperately tried to pull him back, with his other hand he hoisted her mouth off his cock and lifted her, in the shining metal of the changing room wall which acted as a mirror he caught sight of her pleasure-filled but now confused expression.
Smoke lowered Uma down slightly, holding her by her belly and her breasts, cupping one in his hand and squeezing gently, this had the desired effect of making her tail lift and swish, as it did Smoke seized his opportunity to strike, so with her suspended in his hands in the air and her legs dangling like a puppet with her strings cut, he guided her downwards and with a single powerful thrust he pulled his entire throbbing rod into her silky depths.
Uma's tail shot vertically up and went ramrod straight, she trilled loudly and her whole body tensed up making her insides go so incredibly tight, "Mmmmmmm ohhhhh you like that don't you my sweet one?" Smoke growled and Uma's head bobbed up and down as her long tongue lolled out of her mouth and her eyes rolled up into her head.
The feeling of her reptilian flesh gripping his human manhood was indescribable, the sensations of her slik soft flesh sucking him right into her core were heavenly, she went as limp as a boned fish as Smoke began to move her back forth along his length, Smoke moaned loudly morphing it into a growl about halfway as Uma trilled loudly, he felt her internal muscles tensing up and he knew she was close, "D-D-Don't stop! Please! I beg you!" Uma squealed loudly her feather fluttering with embarrassment as the words left her lips, Smoke couldn't help but smile.
"I wasn't planning on it" he growled softly before thrusting as deep as he could go into her body, it took only three more strokes before Uma's passage clamped down like a fleshy vice and began rippling all along his shaft, his moan made her trill even loader as it was accompanied by jet after jet of liquid heat right into her greedy womb which was trying its hardest to suck him dry, it succeeded.
Uma hung panting in Smoke's hands, Smoke slowly pulled himself from her body with a soft wet pop and to his surprise, not a single drop of his seed leaked out of her, her body had sucked him dry, he very tenderly lowered her down onto her incredibly unstable legs and with the tenderest of care he pulled her underwear and trousers up before securing them, then he gently smoothed her feathers over so they weren't so messed up, he cupped her face his hands and she tried to focus her confused eyes on him, "I don't have the words to even tell you how deeply I love you Uma, you and all of my pride complete me in ways I could have never imagined" he said.
"As you complete us our heaven-sent male"
Smoke gently guided Uma back out into the main embassy on her rubbery bandy legs and the looks on every one of their pride's faces said it all, a little envy but also joy all mixed together, they knew instantly what had happened to their pride sister as they all took hold of her and steadied her, "Normally I'd say she'll think twice about sneak attacking a trained Hunter in future, but in all honesty, I've probably just opened a can of worms with this punishment haven't I?" Smoke said and all of them looked at the pleasure drunk Uma as she giggled to herself and they all smiled.
"You bet your sexy human arse you have," they said in unison.
That night Smoke took his pride to meet his parents and his sisters, all of them had dressed up for the occasion, though Smoke had vetoed them wearing their dress uniforms, but all of them looked utterly ravishing in their beautiful little dresses that he'd had made special for them, each one was coloured to match their feather and scale colours, he could actually feel the nerves radiating off them as they all stood around him waiting for his parents to open the door.
Vippy was nervously playing with the little collar with a flower on it, it was obvious that none of them had ever worn anything like this before, "Don't worry my loves you look utterly beautiful and I know my parents are going to love you all just as much as I do" Smoke said gripping Vippy's hands and kissing them both.
She smiled nervously, "We're still going to expect compensation for us having to wear garments like these in public our beloved male"
Smoke chuckled and nodded, "Oh don't you worry, with how beautiful you all look in those dresses the moment we get home I do not doubt that they will end up in a heap on the floor of our bedroom"
A purr echoed among them all but before they could do anything the door swung open and they were greeted by an older woman in her early fifties, she was a petite and slender woman but years of hard work and activity had toned and shaped her into a statuesque human woman, full of strength, grace and beauty.
Her incredibly bright and intelligent green eyes fixed on each of them and a huge smile cracked her face as they settled on Smoke, "My baby boy! It's so good to see you!" she said with a voice that was as elegant and refined as the woman herself.
"Hey mum it's good to see you"
No sooner had the words left his lips than she stepped forwards and embraced him tightly, after a tight and loving hug she stepped back and looked at Vippy and the others, "Mum allow me to introduce Vippy, Sema, Lima, Uma, Freeda and Skeeva, my pride and also my wives"
Before any of them could say a word she stepped forwards and hugged each of the startled little Raptorians in the order they were introduced, "Oh it's so good to finally meet you, I nearly had a heart attack when we got word that our Peter was married, oh his sisters nearly had a fit! Not only did their brother get mated before them but with no mate hunt and to a newly met species! Oh, I always knew our Peter was a dark horse but he sure surprised us this time" she said.
"It is incredibly good to meet the female who bore our beloved pride male into this beautiful world, we stand before you today united as a pride and we thank you for giving us the greatest gift that we could ever receive, on our world the love of a good male is the most sought after of treasures, they are the most cherished and protected of all things, we want you to know that your son will be protected and loved every second of his life, he is guarded and loved, from the moment he accepted our claim he is protected, standing before the priestess pride with him and taking the oath in our bare scales was the proudest moment of our lives," the pride said in their multi speech.
Smoke's mother beamed from ear to ear and she looked utterly delighted, "Well come on dears don't you stand there on our doorstep, you are family now and are welcome in our home, now come in and don't mind the banshees, oh and my name is Lily Samson but please just call me Lily"
"Banshees?" they said in unison as they entered.
Suddenly out of nowhere a pair of shrieking forms appeared and snatched Smoke up into the air so fast that it triggered every defensive instinct the pride had and they very nearly went into full battle mode until they realised the two shapes that had snatched their beloved male were both human and looked remarkably like him, his sisters.
Rachel and Becca were never ones for grace and decorum, they utterly dog-piled their brother tipping him over the back of the handmade dark leather couch and dumping him on the floor, "Ahhhh! Baby brother you utter sneak! We wondered why you'd put off your mate hunt when so many Yautja, human and Xeno girls were vying to get a chance to grab you and you go running off to war and snag yourself some pretty alien girls, you sneaky sod!" they said making him laugh.
"Girls! Language in front of our new family!" Lily scolded as she reached in and pulled her son from the tangle of limbs with surprising strength, once a Saviour always a Saviour, she dusted him off and Vippy and his pride instantly surrounded him protectively again to prevent any further attacks.
"There my boy! Come here and give your old man a hug!" a deep growling voice that sounded like someone taught a red mountain bear to talk said suddenly and all of them turned to see a man who looked like a much bigger version of Smoke entering the room from the kitchen wiping his hands on a towel.
"Hey, dad" Smoke said grinning up at his father as the huge man wrapped his long arms around him and lifted him off his feet squeezing the life out of him.
"Its good to see you, my boy, your sisters worried something fierce when we heard you were part of the deployment to the Raptorian homeworld, but I had faith, I knew our Lady Paya would guide the Grand Matriarch and Patriarch right, that she would bring our beloved son back home to us in one piece, though I will admit I did not expect her to bring you back with a pride of beautiful Raptorian wives in tow, you do them right you hear me? You know the creed of the Clan better than any of us and you will honour them and it at all times" he said in his deep growl of a voice.
Smoke nodded, "Of course I will dad"
His father turned to the girls and smiled brightly, "It is good to meet you all, I am Thomas Samson but please call me Tom" he said offering them a hand, all of them took it and shook it and once again they repeated their pledge to him as they had his mother making his father smile brightly.
Thanks to the size of the pride Smoke's family had extra chairs specially made and brought in for them to join them at the large round dining table, over their delicious dinner the pride told Smoke's family of how they had met, Smoke saw his sisters bristle when they mentioned injuring him by accident before they knew who and what he was, but the genuine sorrow in Vippy's voice when she apologized for the umpteenth time and now she did to them, Smoke took his little wife's hands in his and kissed his forehead proving to his entire family that she had indeed been forgiven for her mistake, though the look in his sister's eyes told everyone present more than they ever needed to know, raise a hand to our brother ever again and it will be the last thing you ever do, Saviours never forgive spousal abuse, ever.
After the dinner the family sat around and discussed life in Clan Mason, explaining things for the pride, of how things worked, where to go for what they needed and generally making them feel not only welcome but making them feel part of their family when it was time to go all of them hugged each of the pride including Smoke tightly and told them to visit as often as they could.
As they walked home the pride were on cloud nine, "You have such a wonderful family our beloved male" they said together and Smoke wrapped three of them under each arm.
"We have a wonderful family my beloved one, they weren't joking when they called you family, to Clan Mason skin does not matter, they are every bit your family now as they are mine," he said and this made them all smile.
"Famil or not I doubt they'd want to know what we've got planned for thier beloved son when we get him home" they growled softly and Smoke chuckled.
"Knowing my sisters they'd probably start asking for tips, trust me when I say open minds are not just a pair of words around here, they are a way of life," he said and they all laughed together as they walked towards home, one big interspecies family.