The desire to keep a close leash on progeny was seemingly hereditary for Blackthorne was much the same as Matianak. His paw guided Nyteshade into the creature he was, though it was true he had also been born a bit different. After all, any creature with his bloodline would be considered different. The machinations of their parents was the very essence of corrupt and chaotic. It is natural for Nyteshade to push into Kaliban’s boundaries, to test him, to breath in the essence of Lamia as if they were the closest of cousins and used to such physical connection. Personal space was a moot point with the odd boy.

Kaliban pushes back into his shoulder and Nyteshade’s ears flick back, head tilting slightly towards him, approval gleaming in his pale silver-green eyes. So the brother of Menkhet wasn’t a pushover. Nyteshade didn’t think he would be considering Menkhet’s disposition as a dominant; though, the visiting male might take issue with Kaliban if he were to try and do the same to him as the sister. For a moment, as he takes a seat close to Lamia, his eyes drift away and nose rises. A breeze edges by, carrying with it the fresh scent of Menkhet, and his lean muscles ripple as he visibly fights the urge to rise and follow it.

He is distracted, teeth clenching, before giving a guttural sigh and snapping back to his present company. This strange sensation that Menkhet brings to him is fascinating – did she feel such a pull too?

Kaliban’s words make Nyteshade grin suddenly, a cackle escaping his lips, mimicking the giggle that Menkhet gave before twisting into something deeper. More Shade than anything. ”She is not, but she is not my sister, so maybe you are not my cousin,” he replies blithely. While Kaliban sits straight, showing off his figure in a gesture that is likely calculated, Nyteshade slumps haphazardly. Paws splayed, shoulders up and neck down, looking for all the world as if he trusted the pair near him. Why wouldn’t he? Menkhet had brought him here, offering to let him stay for a bit, and he hadn’t done anything to make the pair hate him on sight like his father.

Lamia was thoughtful with her wording. She was the bridge between them yet Kaliban took the bridge and threw it away, his words definitive. Nyteshade was NOT related to him and he obviously would not accept such insinuation. Shade grin’s again, amused by this turn of events, staring hard at Kaliban without blinking for a moment, tasting the tension arcing between them. ”What you want to know, cousin-not, is why am I here with your sister.”

Just as suddenly his grin disappears and his words come out on a hiss, a strange susurration. The carefree, strange comradery that Shade had offered was gone in an instant. His eyes peer between the pair, eldritch, odd, not quite hostile but neither friendly. Alien and searching. ”It is true,” he says curtly to Lamia, his brow twitching quizzically at her; did she not believe her mother? What had Matianak said In their absence?