unable to bind.mated to none.father to Eztli, Lixue, Petra, Citlalli, & Itzel.Taviora

The winter had been a cold one but his thick coat had kept him mostly sheltered from it. He had loved to watch Talien play in the snow. She blended in so well and it was pure magic to watch her. His feelings for her had only grown which only made it more painful since he stilled cared about Tuari too. This whole emotions thing was way overrated because he knew that if he choose, someone would get hurt and if he didn't choose, they both would get hurt. His chest tightened at the thought of either of them crying. He knew his friendship with Tuari was promised and though she would be hurt if he didn't choose her, he worried that their friendship would never be what it once was because of her feelings for him. Yet his friendship with Talien had been short lived. He had flirted with her from day one and knew that she was a rare beauty. She had come here with him and decided to join his pack without even bothering to go see the other ones, almost as if she had chosen her fate from the beginning. He knew that she was important to him, so important that winter had taken over them as well and he had mated with her as he had with Tuari. He knew that he had responsibilites and that he would live up to them. He would be there for all his children but how would they react when they found out that he'd mated with both of them? Would they both hate him? He deserved no less.

When he had told her about the unborn pups in her stomach, his heart had only swelled more and though he was still terrified at the thought of being a father because he feared failure, he knew that he would try every day to be half the father his own was. Coza was a true role model and he would probably go to him for advice a lot. But Talien deserved no less than Tuari. He would have to spend his time between the two and hope that tension doesn't reach an all time high. He was excited but he was also dreading them finding out. He felt like a traitor but he didn't know which one he had betrayed more. He cared about both of them and he feared hurting either one. Talien looked so happy, so blissful over the news that she was carrying his pups. It helped ease his fears a little and he enjoyed the time he spent with her. She reminded him so much of his mother. She was kind and smart and she acted as if she was a natural at this whole mothering thing, just like his own mom. He knew that she had an imprint but she didn't seem to connect with him as much as some of the other imprints he had heard of. Maybe they had rejected each other? Maybe her imprint was fighting fate? Either way, he didn't mind that Talien was staying in Taviora and he didn't regret what they did.

He ofte put his paw on her stomach just as he had done that first time with Tuari. He was mesmerized by the movement of the unborn pups within. He couldn't get enough of it. He could stay with her for hours and just watch them move. With spring coming, he had been hard at work looking up herbs for both his soon to be mothers and children. He had never had an interest in finding herbs that help before, too caught up in ones that would paralyze or hurt his prey but he wanted to be prepared. And so he had been pulling up shoots and collecting seeds and digging up roots. He gathered everything and even asked Zelda about some of them so he wouldn't be completely ignorant. Talien had mentioned before that she wanted to find a bigger den s he was trying to help her but he wasn't very good at it. He had pointed out a few but there was always something she didn't like about it. It either wasn't big enough or it didn't have the best view. In the end, he'd all but given up on helping but he still wanted to. He had offered to help her dig the den she currently had even deeper to make it into the den of her dreams but she only seemed worried about it. Cave-ins were brought up and other disasters and in the end, he'd mostly scrapped the idea, stepping back to let her decide on what she wanted.

When he came looking for her on this day, he was surprised to find she wasn't in her current den day dreaming of her perfect family den. He was very good at tracking though so he used that skill to follow her scent. It didn't take him long to find the stream and he quenched his thirst before he continued searching. He knew she wasn't far. Her scent was rather strong here. Then he saw the tree and squinted his eyes, seeing movement at the roots of it. He moved in closer, stalking as he crouched low to the ground. When he was sure that it was her, he cleanred his throat, not wanting to scare her too much. She looked rather content lying in this den so maybe he was in luck. He walked up to her and stood before her, tilting his head in amusement as he gave her that charming smirk, his eyes twinkling.

"So does this mean I don't have to sharpen up my digging skills?"

She looked rather tired so he wouldn't tease her too much. He moved into the den, nudging her with his nose softly as he settled down beside her, close enough for their furs to mesh as he sighed in contentment and laid his head down beside hers. She looked half asleep and probably had been sleeping when he came so he was content to let her sleep again if that's what she wanted. He knew it couldn't be easy dragging around all that extra weight. He glanced over at her out of the corner of his eye.

"I have some herbs for you when you're ready. It'll take some of the ache out of your legs and feet, or so I'm told."