SPYROS

•••

"You messed up, brother."

Helios's voice was quiet and cautionary as he nosed through the herbs in the corner. Spyros had had his throat cleaned with cool, clean water moments before and he could already feel the blood rising to his fur again. The dominant males head lifted from his focus on his paws, eyes narrowed as he responded, lips quivering as he forced himself not to growl.

"I'm well aware."

A silence paced between them as Helios gathered a mixture of leaves and herbs in his maw, chewing them until they were a pulp-like substance. He then turned and moved to Spyros' neck wound, lathering the balm onto it. It stung momentarily, resulting in a short ended growl from the leader. It soon turned soothing, cooling and dimming the discomfort thoroughly before it was cleared off.

"I'm glad you are. Leave the punctures open tonight, they luckily aren't as deep as they looked before the cleansing and need air to be able to close. Come back tomorrow morning with your...companion, and I'll see how you two are faring."

Spyros studied his brother momentarily before nodding. He stood, standing still for a moment. Helios was always a hardworker, thorough and good at what he did for the pack. He was coping with his brothers death similarly to how Spyros was...by simply trying to ignore the fact and going along with his work. It was respectable in the leaders eyes, he was working through it... Little by little. Spyros swallowed, speaking his few next words in a respectful murmur before turning to head out.

"Thank you, brother."

•••

Spyros left the den to witness the smug grin on Enochs face as he noticed his leader. Oh gods, what did he say... The dark male approached the two figures, eyes moving between them, lingering on Red before finalizing on his comrade. He nodded curtly to the beige wolf, expression serious- a clear opposing resemblance to Enochs.

"Your time here has been appreciated, Enoch. You may retreat to your den for the night."

A playful, mocking bow of his head and the head hunter spoke. His tone overly regal and exaggerated,

"It was my pleasure, sir."

His head rose and focus was turned to Red, who was standing next to Enoch. Both of the males eyes turned to her, though Spyros' focused more on the two's interaction, expression laced with annoyance.

"I'm glad we could finally meet, Red. Spyros has mentioned you frequently... I hoped we would enjoy a nice chat. Goodnight then."

Oh gods, how Spyros longed to tackle that male. Alas... He had gone to turn in for the night, leaving these two alone. From watching Enoch's form tuck into a rocky den, the leaders attention turned back to the female, looking down to his right to find her. He observed her briefly, how she held her wounded paw gently balanced on the ground and how her body had seemed to relax when the other male had been near. His maw quivered slightly, holding back a completely, and totally not jealous scoff before he spoke, teeth clenched.

"As your injured, Helios requested I look over you tonight, to make sure your wounds don't open up again."

He hesitated before continuing,

"You'll rest in my own den tonight, as the cave you've been kept in is far to long of a walk for your injured leg."

SPYROS

•••

The males den was located at the top of a slope in the earth, a generous rocky overlook of the Vasily Creek camp. Vines grew up the sides of the stone shelter, small cracks in the sides walls and the roof- which had been proven to be problematic in the rainy seasons. However, here in spring it allowed some natural light to seep through and warm the dirt covered ground inside the large den. The moss bedding around a few spots in the den had been changed out, making for a soft landing when Spyros did settle down. He laid down closer to the entrance, to one of its sides. He wasn't curled up as usual, instead taking on a rather sprawled out resting position on his side. He was laid out in a way where the view of the camp below was clear as well as the view of his entire den space... The view of Red more specifically.

The wolf watched silently as the female settled down in a corner, blinking over in her direction for a few beats before resting his head in between his front paws. It took him a while to doze off, but once he did, there didn't seem to be any interruptions until he woke himself up the next morning.

•••

He was well rested when he awoke from his slumber, which always meant a better time for everyone involved with him that day. Spyros had risen to his paws, stretched like he did every morning and was about to walk about into the rising morning when he remembered.

Oh, right.

He stopped his walking and turned his head to gaze at the curled up, sleeping form of the she-wolf in the corner of his den. He could be seen visibly relax as he was assured she hadn't left. From what he could see from here, her front leg was still wrapped snuggly to her form. After a few more moments of inspection, the male let out a small sigh to himself.

She hadn't left...

She would have had a very clear shot of escaping the previous night when he had dozed off. With her bandaged wounds, all she would have had to do was sneak out the way she had before and be on her way. Spyros wasn't sure why she hadn't... He definitely would have. Had she not wanted to? Maybe it jut hadn't crossed her mind because she was too worn out from the fight before... He didn't know. And he wasn't sure if he wanted to prod too much. Shaking his head, he let out a quiet chuckle. By their interaction last night, maybe Enoch would find that out for him.

He wasn't sure how long he'd sat there observing the peaceful form of the otherwise fiery female in his den. All he knew was at some point, the sun had risen and the sounds of pack members below started picking up. There were quite a few voices out when Spyros shook himself, blinking...

Hold on... What?

There was a skitter of something behind him, near the entrance of his den. His head popped up, nose to the air as be picked up the scent of...

Oh.

Slowly, he moved towards the entrance, head turning to look to the right, just in time to be met with the small snout of a pup. The little one reeled back, flopping onto its bottom and toppling over to hit back the three pups behind it. Their yelps of surprise found his ears and Spyros found himself holding back a chuckle. He leaned back, sitting down on his back legs as he watches the pups nip at each other. They finally settled down, realizing what they were doing and turning their wide eyed attention to the male.

"What are you four doing up here? Does your mother know your up here?"

His soft eyes watched as the four darkly colored pups looked to each other for guidance and struggled to come up with an excuse. They had been watching him, that was clear enough. But it was humorous to find them attempt to find reasons otherwise.

"We were playing and-"

"Mother said we could come up-"

"We were hunting toads-"

Their little tips overlapped with each other and a Spyros couldn't help the hearty laugh that found its way up his throat. He'd always had a soft spot for pups, especially at this age where they were too curious for their own good. It was both a gift and a curse.

"I'm sure you had your reasons for spying, but-"

Their protests met his ears and he grinned, shaking his head with a sigh.

"What?!"

"We weren't spying on you!"

"How dare you!?"

He hushed them with a gentle push of his snout. The biggest pup of the four stepped forward, eyes big, tongue lolling out.

"We wanted to see the wolf you brought back, sir."

"Yeah!"

"Oh, yeah right... Thats what we were doing..."

Spyros paused, quieting down to sit back on his haunches.

"Oh really?"

They all nodded enthusiastically before a little head popped up from the back, eyes big as she spoke.

"She's pretty isn't she, mr?"

"Oh, yes, she's almost as pretty as mommy!"

"Nobody is a pretty as our mum though..."

Another pups stepped forward, sitting in front of the others. His head cocked to the side as he met Spyros' eyes.

"Do you think she's pretty? You were looking at her just like daddy used to do with mommy-"

A growl and the pups whipped around, Spyros' gaze flicked downwards from his seated position to find a medium sized, light grey female behind the four little ones.

"And what do you four think your doing here? Azar, I told you to keep your siblings at the den while I got breakfast. You should know better!"

The pups mother scolded them and after, sent them on their way back down to main camp. The females attention went to her leader, bowing her head deeply in respect.

"My apologies, Spyros."

He nodded, eyes warm still. He understood.

"Khamari."

With that, the mother turned to follow the four pups down the slope, herding them with gentle care. Another sighing chuckle from the leader and he turned to sit in the front of the den. He'd wait for Red to awake... Or come out of the den herself, if she already was.

(A bit long, the pup idea came to me just as I finished 500 words lmao. I just needed to add it.)

SPYROS

•••

The soft padding of paw steps made Spyros turn his head. His gaze landed upon the form of Red, who appeared interested in all the chatting going on outside the den. Great, now he could only hope he and the pups little chat hadn't awoken her sooner than she usually woke up. He was really in no mood for pissy behavior today, especially after the generous sleep he had been blessed with the night before. The male watched as Red must have caught a glimpse of the pups and their mother heading down the slope, the sigh that followed... It was odd how his heart seemed to wrench slowly.

Spyros had never fathered a litter of his own before, with all of his work as the dominant male it just hadn't worked out at any point in time. Thankfully, the packs numbers seemed to be growing to the taking in of Khamari and her four pups... None of the mated pairs had decided to expect pups this Spring, so a part of him was grateful that his brother had talked him into allowing them to stay. The pups weren't terrible, actually, they kept rather good company. The idea of losing one of them, or all of them for that fact, made him uncomfortable. He wouldn like to imagine what losing his own pups would be like... The emotions that must have run through Red's head when hers had been slaughtered... Now that Spyros thought deeper into it, it made him feel sick.

The two both seemed to snap back into their current reality at the same time and when the male turned his attention back to Red, she was seated nearby. Her voice found his ears, their eyes found each others as well and Spyros swallowed. He looked down briefly before meeting her gaze again, hinting at his unease of the situation... And his thoughts. He straightened his back, turning to scan over the camp before he finally spoke.

"No."

He cleared his throat,

"I've been doing some thinking,"

I know right. That's crazy-

"And have decided that you might as well help around here when needed. The camp always needs some freshening up and every once in a while we need an extra to go hunting."

He thought for a moment... Maybe letting her leave camp right now might not be the best idea. Right.

"I'll be heading down to grab a rabbit or something of that sort in a moment. You may accompany me down there, possibly meet a couple members of the pack... Or you can stay up here an sulk."

He shrugged, wincing slightly as his neck stretched a bit too far. She could come or she could stay, it was up to her. But if she wanted to do something other than staying cooped up, she could. She'd need to stretch her legs anyways.