Stella's first birthing had been no easy task for her, her womb had taken with the dark potency of my seed as I had known it would. The trio of Hellions spurned by such a union had nearly drained her body of all it's resources, the act of birth itself nearly cleaving her body in twain as they ripped it asunder on their war-path against the world. I had been her ever-present shadow always lingering just beyond the precipace of sight but always within earshot. The Furian bitch would never be free of this chain now forged between us, but I would not smother the willful woman with my constant presence.

I had waited outside her den that fateful night, until the scent of blood tainted the air and the cries of our demon spawn resonated through the jagged rocks Stella had made into a temporary shelter. Only then did I dare draw close, bringing with me a sacrificial homage to the mother of my first litter in years. I knew Stella would more than likely be hostile and had thought the gift of flesh would assuage some of her temper enough that I might get a look at our whelps. They were fine little mongrels to be certain. The second of the cubs already given to snub her nose at that teat in favor of the bloody juices that squelched from the gift I had brought for her mother.

But in the coming days, Stella's life force continued to drain from her. Often I'd hear her muttering curses under her breath, knowing full well she blamed much of her meager health upon the small devils that suckled from her. But I was vigilant in producing meal after meal, curling into the den beside her to offer warmth when she allowed it, and always standing sentry in the lands surrounding the small rock alcove that served as her lair.

I was not altogether pleased with the idea that she'd be whisking my cubs away to that insufferable pack of Diveen. Perhaps some part of me took it as a personal slight against my capabilities as a protector and father, but if it had I never made mention nor explored the emotion with such depth as to confirm it. Stella had made her choice to join her brother's pack long before our coupling. I would not begrudge her for her steadfast loyalties to them. Still, it would mean I would have to make the long trek into territory that was not my own each time I came to pay a visit to my cubs. It meant also, that the possibility of crossing paths with Heyel again would heighten. I wonder what the old fodder would think... seeing his long forgotten nemesis traipsing about his daughter's kingdom?

But I would not be deterred so easily. These cubs were mine. This woman was mine, and I'll be damned if anyone would keep me from them.

On the morning of Stella's chosen departure, she had left with the first glimmers of dawn, without so much as a farewell. Not that it mattered, we were not creatures crafted of compassionate words or soft pleasantries. She'd know that I would not be far away. And indeed, I trailed after the sooty she-wolf and her brood by a quarter mile or more, taking my leisured time for truly she could not move with much haste with the little ones in tow. It gave me ample time to dally and hunt, securing a veritable feast for my family for when they arrived in Diveen and made their debut. Surely by then my tiny heathens would be ravenous, their mother voracious as well in her need to regain her strength. She was much stronger now, but still her weight had yet to be fully restored, and I was doing my utmost to rectify that.

I trailed in the wake of their tracks, the large bobcat dangling from my jaws as skull was lifted high, displaying the bloodied prize for all to see. It was a large bastard, fattened on the ripe meats of spring Hare, and would offer my family a resplendent taste that differed from the deer and other leaf-eating herbivores of the forest. When you were eating a predator, you could taste it.

My Family. What a peculiar concept. I have not felt the bonds of such a blood-tied unit in many years, and it was a strange notion to feel now. This savage protective possessiveness I lorded over all four of them was something that could not be denied or argued, no matter how alien the sensation might have been to my internal mindset. I have not felt such strong tethers since my courtship with Atreyu and the young she had bore me.

By the time my pewter shadow seized upon Diveen soil, Stella and her little troop had already crossed the border and had been met by one of the angel youths. I was glad it was not any of his elder peers, wishing my first few ventures into the terrain to go relatively easy and inconspicuous until I came to know my way around the place. Imposing figure, the tallest of all Moladian, slithered up alongside Stella, dropping the bobcat unceremoniously at her paws and dipping my snout to nudge my son Rorschach, who seemed to be lagging behind his tussling sisters.

Indigo sclera turn upon the steely Furian female at my side and a roughened series of nips is distributed up her shoulder and neck in my own form of morbid sentiment affection before I pull away and turn my hardened stare upon the lad. I speak nothing to him at first, savage glare dissecting the male thoroughly, though I find it impossible he could pose any form of threat.

"He's your new pack-mate, Izarra. Better get used to the idea." I spoke in a deep sonorous baritone, eyes never leaving the boy as the words dripped out matter of fact towards my minescule hellcat daughter.