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Chapter 14

When Kilyan decided to travel to the winter village to claim a female, no one was surprised when Keeno decided to go with him. But Keeno was surprised when his father volunteered to come, as did his uncle Hris. He was at home alone, packing his things, when his father, mother, and uncle came to him with the announcement. Hris wanted to come because he loved to travel (though Keeno knew his uncle was really coming to look after him), while Yzlo wanted to come to protect Keeno on his first real journey away from the village. Keeno had never been allowed to leave the village before now, and he knew it was because his father feared he would bed every female in every village he ever went to, leaving dozens of fatherless pups in his wake.

". . . can add another bedroom to the house," Yzlo was saying as he eased himself into a chair. "I want six grandpups!"

Keeno tried not to roll his eyes. Ever since things had settled down concerning Zalia, all Yzlo and Hye could talk about was grandchildren and how many they expected. Now that they had accepted Zalia as his wife, they were obsessed.

"So you best get to fuckin' boy," Yzlo added, and standing beside him, Hris chuckled.

"Yzlo!" Hye cried, ears pricking forward in astonishment. "Language!" She glared at her husband and brother.

Yzlo sheepishly cleared his throat, and Keeno tried not to laugh as his father put on a humble expression. Beside him, Hris stopped laughing and put on an identical expression. Keeno looked at his mother and almost grinned to think that she had all three males wrapped around her finger: when she pressed a package of food in Keeno's chest, he took it without protesting. He knew better.

"I know Zalia already packed food for you," Hye said with a sniff, "but you'll always love your mommy's cooking better, won't you?" She peered up at Keeno hopefully, her brown eyes wide as a lick of tan mane fell in them.

It was true that Zalia had packed Keeno's traveling pack for him. Though she was not living with him yet, she was still his wife and still took care of him. It had only been five months since he had claimed her at the mating season, and she would live with her parents for a year before she moved in with him. He went to see her every spare chance he could get - well . . . he went to see them. Zalia was carrying his child.

Keeno still remembered what it was like, hearing the news from Zalia. He came to her house for dinner, and later when they were alone outside, she looked at him happily and told him he was going to be a father. He thought he almost shit himself.

"Aren't you happy?" she said uncertainly and her ears flattened.

They were sitting on a bench together in the front yard. Keeno knew that Kel and Aliona were fond of sitting out here together, holding each other, looking at the stars. Now, Keeno and Zalia did so each time Keeno came to see his new wife. In fact, Kel often shooed them outside - so he wouldn't have to unwittingly stumble upon them smooching and groping in his house.

Keeno remembered taking Zalia's paw. "No, baby, I'm happy," he assured her weakly. "I'm just . . . scared."

Zalia looked at him sympathetically, her blue eyes sad. "Why?" It was clear to him at once that she was excited and had hoped for the same excitement from him.

Keeno squeezed her fingers. "Well . . . I've never done this before!"

Zalia laughed and rested her head on his shoulder. "Keeno," she assured him happily, "you'll be a _wonderful_father."

"What if the kid hates me?" he wondered with frightened brown eyes. He thought of his grandfather Zelk - a male he had never met, a male who went to his grave right after an argument with Yzlo. Yzlo once confessed to Keeno that he'd told his father he hated him - right before he died -- and that he never wanted to see that happen between them.

Keeno knew he could never hate his father. No matter how much of a hard ass Yzlo was on Keeno, no matter how much they bickered and argued, they were always going to love each other. They were determined that nothing would end their bond. Keeno wanted that with his child . . . but he was frightened he would get what he feared the most instead.

"Keeno," Zalia told him soothingly, "our child will love you as much as I do. As much as your father loves you and your mother loves you . . . we will be a happy family. Dammit."

Keeno laughed.

Over the next few weeks that followed, he visited Zalia frequently. Kel - who was still fiercely protective of Zalia -- did not want any kissing and fondling going on in his house, so Keeno was only allowed to come for meals and to sit and visit with Zalia in the front room.

But Keeno wanted to be with Zalia. And now that he had earned Kel's trust and respect - respect for looking him in the eye and standing up to him - he decided to take advantage of it and do something he had never dared to do before: he snuck in Zalia's window.

Sneaking to Zalia's house to see her in the night was something Keeno had often dreamt of, but in the past he had been so terrified of Kel, he had never dared. Now he dared. Because he knew now that if he was caught, the most he would get was irritation from Kel. Head injuries were now a thing of the past.

Zalia awoke with a groan when Keeno climbed through her window. He had a bag slung over his shoulder and took it off as she sat up. She was three months pregnant and starting to show. He halted and stared at her slowly ripening belly.

"What?" Zalia said nervously and rubbed her jutting tummy.

Keeno could tell she thought she was fat. He rolled his eyes. Females. She was gorgeous! He came in the room and sat on the bed.

"What are you doing here?" she said hoarsely, sleepily. She yawned and pushed the black curls back from her eyes.

Keeno opened the bag and pulled out a pair of fuzzy slippers made of bear fur. Zalia giggled. "What in the world!" she said as Keeno slipped the shoes on her tiny feet.

"They're for pregnant females," Keeno said. "I saw some in the market, but I asked my mom to make some. So it would be more . . . special." He smiled at her.

Zalia melted, placing a touched paw on her bosom. She wasn't wearing her shawl, and Keeno noticed that her breasts looked a little swollen. God, the nipples were hard. He cleared his throat, trying to keep something else from getting hard.

"Mom told me in a couple months your feet are really gonna hurt, so I --"

Zalia cut him off, choking him in a hug. He was astonished to realize she was crying.

"Zalia!" Keeno pulled back to look at her. Her face was streaming with tears. "Baby, what's the matter --"

"I'm so h-happy!" Zalia wailed and hugged him tight again.

"Still competing with Zalia?" Yzlo teased, breaking through Keeno's thoughts.

Hye folded her arms and darted her husband an annoyed glare. "Now you'll have my food and Zalia's food combined," she said to Keeno. "So you should have plenty for the trip there and back - even if you stay there a few extra days."

"Oh, Mom," Keeno moaned, tucking the package in his traveling back. "You all are acting like the winter village is a trillion miles away . . ."

"It might as well be," Yzlo said, his face suddenly hard. "The winter wolves enslaved us once, boy. Don't you forget it."

"You'll never let me," Keeno muttered under his breath.

"They are giant brutes," Yzlo went on icily, choosing to ignore Keeno's backtalk, "who would take this land from us again in a heartbeat! I will never forget the things I witnessed as a child - the senseless slaughter, the bloodshed - never! And you wonder why I will not let you go there alone? If it were up to me --"

"But it's not up to you, Dad . . ." Keeno moaned.

" - I'd make you keep your tail here where you belong! And what has gotten into that thick head of Kilyan's? Marrying a winter wolf? Bringing one of their kind into our village --!"

"Yzlo!" Hye cried, and Yzlo guiltily shut his trap when his wife stared at him incredulously. Hye stuck her paws on her hips. "One of your best friends is a winter wolf! And the gentlest, kindest - did you forget about Zaldon?"

Yzlo folded his arms and looked away stubbornly. "Zaldon is different, Hye. He was raised by summer wolves. Our tribe took the brutality out of him."

Hye snorted. "Don't be stupid. Zaldon always had a good heart."

"But Zaldon is not there any longer to protect my boy from his bloodthirsty fellows!" Yzlo snarled and pointed a defiant finger at his wife.

Hye sniffed and ignored him, instead devoting her attention to helping Keeno strap on his traveling pack.

"Or did you forget," Yzlo went on loudly, "that Zaldon has moved his tail to the sun village! What does that tell you right there? It tells you that even Zaldon hates his own kind!"

"Shut up, Yzlo, you are making a fool of yourself," Hye said haughtily and sniffed as she continued fumbling with the buckle on Keeno's bag.

"Kel is coming with us," Hris said, changing the subject before Yzlo could open his mouth again. "He's waiting out by the village gates with Kilyan, so we should get a move on."

"Yes," agreed Hye, "your uncle is right, Keeno. Go and get your spear -"

Keeno obeyed and was silently grateful for his uncle's intervention. He could sense an argument on the verge of erupting between his parents. Hris had always been very good at mediating their opposite personalities. Even now, he steered the subject and changed Yzlo's focus with hardly any effort. Yzlo didn't even notice the tactic: he frowned with thought and nodded.

"Kel shouldn't even be coming," Hris went on, examining his own spear. "Here, boy, your knife . . ." He came to Keeno.

Keeno took the knife from his uncle and slung it around his neck. It hung against his chest, held safe in a leather sheath. His uncle had given it to him after he officially married Zalia, announcing proudly that he was now an adult. Heh. And yet they still treated him like a pup . . .

"Yes," Yzlo said darkly, "Kel has been sick lately . . . He never used to get colds. Now he gets them every few months. I wanted him to stay at home, look after that pregnant daughter-in-law of mine. But the stubborn fool refuses to let Kilyan go anywhere alone."

Hye glanced at Yzlo, as if to remind him that he was acting like a stubborn fool.

"And now Gurwin is coming," Hris added.

Yzlo and Hris exchanged weary expressions.

Keeno knew why: Kel and Gurwin hated each other. It was very likely the father and son would spend the journey scratching each other's eyes out - and all while Kilyan dismally looked on. Then there was the fact that Gurwin - a veteran of the most recent wars with the winter tribe - would also spend the entire trip gushing the same hatred as Yzlo and Kel, who had witnessed said wars as children. They would be lucky if they got away from the winter tribe unscathed. Yzlo and Kel knew how to behave, but Gurwin was likely to act a bitter fool once they reached the winter village.

"Can't someone talk him into staying behind?" Keeno wondered dismally.

Yzlo snorted and got to his feet. "You ever try making Kel do anything?"

Keeno's legs almost turned to jelly as he tried to imagine even talking to Kel, let alone convincing him to do something. He looked at his father weakly, and Yzlo laughed.

"Same thing," Yzlo said with a nod.

"We are off then," Hris said, shouldering his traveling pack.

Keeno watched as Yzlo went to his mother, who regarded him with her arms folded and her brows lifted. "Kiss me farewell, little wife. And keep looking angry. You are so very _cute_when you are."

Hye laughed and embraced her husband. "Return to me safe and sound, my husband. Balls intact, please."

Yzlo laughed. "Balls intact. I promise. You will stay with Aliona?" he whispered, holding her tight.

Hye nodded against him. "I promise."

They pulled back to kiss, then Hye came to Keeno and clapped him on the cheek. "And that goes for you too! You come home to your mother and your wife! And that baby she's carrying in her belly!"

Keeno grinned. "Yes, ma'am." He leaned down and hugged his mother, laughing when she playfully slapped him on the butt.

"Let's go, boy," Yzlo said, shouldering his spear. "Time's ah-wasting."

Kel and Kilyan were waiting at the gate when Keeno arrived with his father and uncle. He was unhappy to see Gurwin waiting with them. Kilyan stood between his father and grandfather, and all three males looked tense. Kel looked tight-lipped and angry; Gurwin looked cold and unapologetic; and Kilyan looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but where he was standing.

"We are leaving," Gurwin growled the moment Keeno and the others came to a stop before them. With that, he turned and made his way into the trees. The others followed, and Keeno got the feeling Gurwin had taken charge of the group without hesitation.

Keeno's feeling was right. On the way to the winter village, Gurwin dictated everything: who would take watch, when they would eat, when they would sleep, how long they would sleep, which paths they would take.

Kel, Yzlo, and Hris - who had trained under Gurwin as boys - followed him efficiently and without protest, cold soldiers under their captain. Keeno could see that Kilyan was wearied by his grandfather, though. He wanted to say something to Kilyan, but they were never allowed to take watch together. Because they were the youngest males in the group, they were the most inexperienced, and so Gurwin always paired them with someone older when on watch. On the day they finally reached the winter village, they were marching in a line toward the gates when Keeno dropped back to talk to Kilyan.

"Your granddad hates tail chasers," Keeno said quietly, "but he's been riding your ass all week."

Kilyan laughed miserably. "He doesn't want me bringing a winter wolf into the family," he said with a scowl. "And every time he says something about winter wolves, I know Dad gets angry too. He and Granddad almost came to blows over it."

Keeno gave a low whistle. "Think he'll behave?" he said, glancing around at the towering winter wolves.

They had entered the village, and everywhere Keeno looked, huge dongs and slongs greeted him. He had never been to the winter village before and had often assumed his father's stories of giants had been mere exaggerations: he'd been wrong. The winter wolves stood six, seven, eight feet tall. The eight-foot giants were rare, however, and most of the females were barely six feet. But none of them were small in the least. The children were incredibly tall as well, running back and forth in the sunlight, hitting each other with snow.

Keeno saw Kilyan snort as he glared at his grandfather's back. "Grandpa Gurwin is bigoted, Keeno," he said, "but he's not stupid."

---

They came to a halt in the street, gathering close as winter wolves threw curious looks their way. Standing between Keeno and Hris, Kilyan half-wished Zaldon was there to greet them. He realized for the first time that he had felt safe with the big white sorcerer there, but without Zaldon there telling him stories, he felt alone in this place. He also felt very vulnerable: many tall females were eying him lustily . . . and a few males.

"Come here, Kilyan!" Gurwin barked.

Kilyan flinched and came to the front of the group, where Kel stood at Gurwin's side. Kilyan noticed immediately that his father looked irate. Kel had not stopped looking that way, in fact, since they left the summer village.

"Tell us where this girl of yours lives," Gurwin growled, "so we can get her and get the hell out of here. Before their warriors decide to slaughter us. Or rape us." He glanced at Kel. "Your father might like the latter and would be of no help to us. So I suggest you hurry."

Kel's jaw stood out hard. Kilyan opened his mouth to speak, but Kel held up his paw. His eyes were fixed on Gurwin, who was looking at him in disgust. "Do you have something to say to me, Father?" he said through his fangs. "Say it now and let's be done with it."

Gurwin snorted. "Well, well. Finally grew a pair, did you? When you were a little boy and I teased you about your anal fondling --" Kel tensed "-- you would cry. And now look at you! You look me in the eye and ask me to have it out. Maybe I didn't fail miserably with you after all."

Kel glared at his father. "I did no such thing when I was a child!"

"The hell you didn't!" Gurwin said at once. He stepped close to Kel, and the father and son stood almost nose to nose, holding their spears as they stared each other down. "Did you think I forgot about the time I caught you and that little white _bastard_fondling each other in the tree?"

"We were not fondling each other!" Kel almost roared. His chest heaved and his throat tightened, as if he might throw his spear aside - or ram it in his father.

Kilyan was terrified, and beside him, he felt Keeno standing stiff with fear. Yzlo and Hris looked tense. Yzlo kept glancing around, as if he feared the winter wolves would take notice of the argument and approach them.

Gurwin, however, was unperturbed. He glared into Kel's face, unflinching. "You didn't come here for Kilyan! You did not come here to support your son! You came here hoping to see that perverted lover of yours. You came here to see Z --"

Kilyan did not hear who his father had come to see: Kel lunged. There was shouting and confusion as Kel and Gurwin went rolling through the snow. Yzlo and Hris leapt forward and tried to break them apart. Yzlo managed to grab Kel's arm, but Kel snarled and shoved him off and he went down in the snow. Hris helped Yzlo up as all around, winter wolves began to draw near, whispering, gasping, and watching what was happening with curiosity and excitement: winter wolves loved to see a good brawl.

Kel didn't notice the winter wolves. He didn't see anything but red, apparently. He managed to straddle his father, and he pressed his spear to Gurwin's throat, choking him. Gurwin glared defiantly, but he was sputtering, losing air. He twisted angrily under his son, unable to buck him off. Kel's eyes narrowed as he slowly choked his father. His black body was tense and strong. Kilyan looked on in horror, and beside him, Keeno stood in the same shock.

Kilyan snapped out of his shock and suddenly threw himself at his father. He and Kel went down in a toss of snow. Kel's spear went flying as behind them, Gurwin sat up, bitterly massaging his throat. Kel tried to get back up, to get back to Gurwin, but Kilyan held him down.

"Dad!" Kilyan bellowed, tears in his eyes. "Dad!" He shook Kel by the shoulders.

Kel seemed to come back to earth at his son's voice. Breathless and panting, he looked at Kilyan, and his face softened with shame. He gulped for breath and clapped a paw on Kilyan's arm. "I . . . I am sorry you had to see that . . . my son."

"Dad . . ." Kilyan closed his eyes and dropped his forehead against Kel's. They slumped together, breathless and miserable.

"Trying to kill your own father," Gurwin snarled as Yzlo helped him up. He snatched his arm free of Yzlo, his bitter eyes fixed on Kel. "Just like your damn mother," he said, shaking his head. "I gave you everything. I raised you and I raised you alone. And how do you repay me?"

"Shut up, old male," Kel growled, dragging himself to his feet.

Kilyan got to his feet as well, collecting his spear and his father's spear. Looking at the twisted expression of anger on Kel's face, he was too frightened to give him back his spear. Seeing Kilyan's hesitation, Gurwin laughed tonelessly.

"Go ahead, boy," Gurwin said, still laughing. "Give your father his spear. If he wants to murder me here before so many witnesses, so be it. When he's living as a lone wolf, he'll remember my last words: his mother didn't love him."

Kel swallowed and looked away, refusing to rise to the bait. He snatched his spear from Kilyan - more roughly than he'd meant to. Kilyan hardly noticed: he was looking at his grandfather in anger and disbelief.

"That's why she left," Gurwin went on softly. Kilyan was surprised by the gentle light that filled Gurwin's eye when he looked at Kel and whispered, "Nikoma didn't love us. That's why she left, my son."

Kel ignored his father and did not look inclined to respond. Before anyone could speak, however, a female approached them. She was very tall and very cheerful, with silver fur and a long silver mane she kept back in a poofy tail. Females in the winter tribe - ironically enough - did not wear shawls, and so everyone could see the gold rings in her pink nipples. Another gold ring glinted in her pink nose as she smiled at them, pretty lashes fluttering.

Kilyan knew who she was. She was Idella, Ohana's sweet and friendly mother. She had always been very fond of Kilyan, and her pretty slanted eyes went right to him. She laughed girlishly. She was always laughing, and as always, her cheery disposition was infectious: everyone around her relaxed. Everyone, that is, except Gurwin.

"Oh, my, how you've grown!" Idella cried, looking at Kilyan. "Only the year before, you were such a thin thing!" She clasped her paws and beamed.

Kilyan drew himself up proudly, ignoring it when Keeno laughed at him.

"But he is still as handsome as his father," Idella went on, looking at Kel.

"Are all the females around here naked like this?" Keeno whispered aside to Kilyan.

Kilyan almost laughed: Keeno was staring at the gathering winter wolves with popping eyes. He didn't blame him. Many tall females were drawing near, putting their heads together and whispering, laughing and giggling so hard that their nipple rings jiggled. Keeno stared at their nipples, entranced.

Idella greeted Kel and Yzlo, then cheerfully introduced herself to Gurwin and Hris. Hris greeted her warmly, but Gurwin greeted her stiffly. Sensing Gurwin's distrust, Idella ignored him and focused on Kel. Gurwin was infuriated by this but kept silent. Watching his grandfather's stiff angry back, Kilyan held back a laugh.

"So you have come for Ohana," Idella said a little sadly. Her eyes went to Kilyan again.

"What is it?" Kilyan asked at once.

Idella frowned. "Kilyan . . . someone else has claimed her."

Kilyan felt his heart sinking in his chest. ". . . what?"

"Ohana is at home with my husband and her uncle," Idella said. "Come along and let's get you out of this cold --"

"Her uncle?" Kel repeated and stiffened.

Idella looked at him curiously. "Of course, Kel. You remember Zaldon?"