Avar awoke to an empty bed and an unfamiliar cloying scent of lust mixed with shock. He lifted himself out of his bed and ran his hand through his fiery mane. He took a deep breath to take in more of the strange scent. It then hit him like a thunder hammer. It was the scent of a Xenos mixed with his own scent. A female Xenos at that. Then he remembered what had happened. After the performance and feast he ended up speaking to one of the masque's shadowseer. A smile grew on Avar's face as he remembered how a few bold words and cup after cup of mjod led to its natural conclusion. His Astartes mind could recall every detail of her body. The softness of her flesh. The deftness she showed with her hands and tongue. The musical tones of her moans and the melodic way she said his name.
This would be a memory he would long savor. Even if he was interred within the sarcophagus of a dreadnought he could look back to this memory that tasted sweeter than the finest mead or sherry. Perhaps the Allfather and Isha would grant their coupling a son. Afterall, his liege had a hybrid son whose power dwarfed even the Tempestwolf's power and the prophesied prince who would defeat the ruinous powers would be a hybrid. Then it clicked in his mind, the shadowseer, Canerosa of the Frozen Star, was gone.
He had to admit that it was a blow to his pride. That his gene crafted body forged in the fires of war and the trials of Moraki was left exhausted by a Xeno. Even if the chapter had a nonaggression pact with this troupe of Harlequins, it still irked him that he had been outlasted, or at least recovered slower than she did.
He rose from his bed, pulled on his breeches and donned a tunic of the finest wool that Lobborak had to offer trimmed with golden embroidery fashioned in runic knotwork and studded with obsidian.
He looked around his chamber to see if his lover had left any token of her affection. That moment finally allowed him to realize that his ax was gone. The ancient and venerated two headed Frost Ax, Winter's Bite, was gone. It clicked instantly who the culprit was. Canerosa.
The damned witch stole his ax!
The pleasure that he had been feeling from thinking about the previous night now turned to ash, as he was filled with a tremendous wrath. He could have suffered any other so-called "trick" that xenos witch could have played. He would have parted with almost anyone of his hundreds of war trophies that he had acquired from his thousands of battles and hundreds of campaigns that he had fought in the Allfather and the Wolf King's name, but steal an ancient and irreplaceable weapon that had been forged on Fenris itself was unforgivable! Damn those xenos thieving scum!
He stormed out of his chamber and marched down the corridor that led to the chambers of his liege. The human chapter serfs had to scrabble like birds fleeing a predator running through the brush, but he didn't care. Just before he made it to the door, the door opened. Revealing a powerful figure that stood even taller than him, albeit slightly thinner in build. The figure was wearing a cowled robe with runes and sigils that carried the power of the storm and warded its wearer.
A Rune Priest.
Avar was about to take a quick sniff to see which one of his brothers it was. But before he could, a voice he knew all too well spoke. A voice he was in no mood to hear.
"Greetings, brother. I am surprised to see you here. I would have thought you would be giving that lovely shadowseer another demonstration of the power of a Son of Russ".
Avar replied, "I am in no mood for your japes, Lightingfang. I have a particularly low tolerance for you and your mother's kin".
Lightingfang replied with an exaggerated wounded gesture, "You, wound me brother. I would surely, thought you would have a greater appreciation for my unusual lineage after finding a mate for yourself".
Avar said, "If you are not silent in two seconds, I will cut out your tongue and shove it up your arse"!
A new but familiar voice cut in, "Why must you aggravate Avar, my son. One does not need to be psyker to sense his wrath. You have duties, now I suggest you do them, before you infuriate me".
Lightingfang barred his neck in Fenrisian custom, "Do accept my apologies brother. I meant no offense".
Avar grunted, "Fine, leave us".
Lightingfang said, "But of course".
Lightingfang left and Avar closed the door behind him. His Liege and the High King of Loborrack, Luis Firewolf, was sitting at his desk drinking caf and going over reports.
Firewolf said, "Sit brother. I assume there is something terribly amiss. Otherwise my normally cold and stoic thane would not be threatening to shove Miguel's tongue up his arse. You would think being captured and nearly killed by Hesperax as a pup would have made him less brash.", Firewolf leaned back and continued, "Emperor and Isha give me strength. Children. They never learn".
Avar said, "The shadowseer I took to bed… She stole my ax".
Firewolf replied, "I don't know whether to hope that is a euphemism or not".
Avar said, "Alas, my liege. It was not. She stole Winter's Bite".
Firewolf said, "Damn, and they already left through the Webway gate. No one knows the Webway like the children of Cegorach. I will send a message to our contacts within Ulthwe, Sam-Han, and Biel-Tan. Though I don't expect much".
Avar asked, "What is to happen next"?
Firewolf answered, "I imagine an uncomfortable conversation with Ablio and Ulrich about losing a valued relic of the chapter to a Xenos".
Avar said, "Aye. I will make a penitent oath to atone for my failure and lapse of vigilance".
His liege said, "Aye brother. I imagine a fair number of the Allfather's foes will have to be brought low to atone for such a failure. Though I imagine such a betrayal of sacred laws of hospitality will have some unintended consequences for the Shadowseer".
Avar asked, "You have seen something in the runes, haven't you"?
Firewolf answered with a smirk, "I did not, but my son did".
Author's Note: This chapter is my own custom homebrew chapter that I designed for my Space Wolf Successor chapter. Miguel Lightingfang is a humanxAeldari hybrid and the biological son of Luis Firewolf and a Farseer who will be revealed in a future story.