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There was a week left before the meeting of the Pride Council when I had to drive to West Caledonia to meet Robin and Lea. They'd driven up the previous day and had spent the night at the pack, since I was well aware of how the cats made wolves feel.

When I pulled up in front of the Packhouse this time, the first person weren't the three that I'd been expecting. They were up in this part of the Province to give me, and by extension the Pride, a fairly good idea of the kind of connections we'd actually be able to afford and the security set-up that we could have. Instead when I pulled up in front of the Packhouse, waiting on the front steps was Jack, and he was standing in the bitter cold, bundled up to his ears in clothing waiting for me to arrive. I was barely able to get out of the truck before I found myself engulfed in an enthusiastic hug from the young wolf. [BC1]

"Mark, you should have come by sooner. You do know that you are allowed to visit more than once a month, don't you?"

"Yes, Jack I do know that, but the Matriarch and Guardian have been keeping me busy. I have a lot on my plate right now and the last thing I want to do is to disappoint them." I told him as I hugged him back. "So, what have you been up to while I've been gone?"

"Alpha Gustaf has had me start training, I am learning how to teach the youngsters and my wolf is so happy about it. I mean I miss being home, but right now being able to learn here is a wonderful thing."

"That's good to hear," I told him as I released Katy from her seat. The instant she was free she jumped at Jack and he picked her up with a happy smile.

"Hi there squirt. How are you doing?"

"Papa is happy now, an' I make friends with so many kitty people!"

He gave a soft smile, "Glad to hear it little one." At that point I saw three people I had contacted before by phone.

"Chis, so good to see you again. Hello Robin, Lea," I looked down noticing a wolf-dog, though smaller than Adam's Charlie, was standing beside Chris. "I see your father decided to send the three of you here to give me a hand eh? And Chris I guess you brought your Companion with you, then again you don't have much of a choice, do you?"

Chris nodded and looked at the other two, as well as his Companion "Yeah Adam was laughing a bit as he gave us the assignment saying that now you know his pain."

"At least he was trained for this stuff Chris, and his old pack probably had some kind of tech base to start with. I am literally building my Pride's tech up from nothing. The best computer the pride has, besides my own personal desktop, belongs to the Matriarch and it is running an ancient and very buggy copy of Windows ME!"

I almost laughed when I noticed that all three of them winced and shuddered. "Good grief! That does sound bad."

"One of the other issues that I've had is with my network links. Right now, only the Pride House and my own house have any kind of network connection, and even that is a bit... patchy due to the fact that it is a satellite link."

At that I saw the three wince again, though not as badly as before. "Mark is there anything that we won't shake our heads at?" Chris asked with complete honesty.

"Well other than the four or five personal computers scattered among members of the Pride the computers that the Pride itself owns are all close to twenty years old."

"So, we aren't here to upgrade your pride's tech, we are here to introduce them to technology?"

"That sounds about right, though with the current power balance in the Pride Council that might be easier said than done, though I will say that they might look upon a better system of securing our boundaries with much more enthusiasm."

Both of the younger techs looked a bit surprised before I told them a bit about what I'd learned of how power in the Pride was a bit less concentrated in the position of the Pride leaders than it was with their Alphas. "Robin the main thing is that we aren't wolves and that factors into everything that we do there has to be a bit more give and take in our politics than there is with yours. When Adam makes a decision that is the last word in it. Where Shanna and Olaf have to consult with the council on every major decision before taking a course of action, though if it is time critical or during times of conflict then they can take action right away."

He shook his head and looked at his partner. "These cats don't make any sense to me Lea."

Chris smiled at the two, "Think of this as a learning experience. You get to see that not everybody does things the same way that Alpha Adam would."

I nodded, "Precisely, I thought that for today, and part of tomorrow I would take you guys on a tour of our perimeter, though we are going to have to use our animal forms. The snow is getting rather nice and most of the terrain that we will be covering is rugged and untamed."

"Can't we just look at a map?" Chris asked, looking a bit worried about what I was proposing.

"Chris a map is all well and good, but it doesn't really give you any real clue about just what kind of terrain we are talking about here." I told him, "Now guys climb in, Sorry about the restricted space in the back Robin, Lea, but Katy's seat does take up a bit of room and putting it in and out is a real pain in the tail. Chris, I am afraid your Companion will have to ride in the back, though I can make sure that the windows are open for fresh air"

The two younger members of Adam's Tech Assistance Team nodded and climbed into the back seat while Chris took shotgun.

"Mark, you seem a bit more relaxed here than you were at home." Robin stated as he did up his seatbelt.

I gave a soft chuckle, "Robin that should be obvious, it's because here I'm not a visitor. I have a place to call home and a Pride that I belong to and that makes my cat more at ease."

On our way to the Pride I explained to them some of the challenges that we were facing, I also pointed out where the fibre line ended so that they had an idea of the distance and terrain that was going to be getting between the end of the line and the Pride territory.

When we arrived at the Pride House I quickly ran them through security, with them receiving a temporary visitor pass before I brought them to Shanna and Olaf.

"Welcome to Blackwater Pride," Shanna stated in greeting, "We hope that you three can help us the way that my daughter and Mark desire."

"Thank you, Matriarch, we are glad to be of assistance." Chris answered for the three of them though I could tell that he'd much rather not be the one speaking for the three of them, though that responsibility had fallen to him since he was the only adult.

She and her mate then went into detail about what we were dealing with before turning to me and asking what I had planned.

"Well Shanna first we are going to be doing a perimeter review, then we will begin working out the details of what we'd like done and what we have to work with."

"Very well Mark, before you go I'd like you to pass this by Yevgeny and he will assign you with an escort."

"As you wish ma'am." I replied before I lead the three from the Pride Leader's office and down to the cave that was Security once more. We spent a good ten minutes with Yevgeny, most looking at our rather ancient security set up, he was one of those in the Pride who was looking forwards to the Pride upgrading our technology. As we were about to leave he assigned an experienced Protector to our little team before we headed out. We had to stop at my house in order to leave our clothes in a safe place before setting out. Both Simon, the assigned protector, and I set a fairly stiff pace, for a tiger and we covered ground rapidly, though the Pride territory was large and the going was often difficult because the terrain was far from easy.

It was late evening and the ground we'd been covering was rough and uneven with many hills and crowded in bush that made the going tough, even for the wolves, and it showed by the fact that their tongues were hanging a bit, Mika was having the toughest time of it since she was smaller and not quite as strong any of us. What I did notice was that both Robin and Lea were having a better time of it than Chris was. I brought us to a stop and looked over at Chris,

"You okay there Chris?"

He looked over at me and panted softly sitting down, "Yeah, but this is rough going, and I am not used to it."

I nodded, "Sorry I am not used to having to moderate my pace, I've done a few sweeps with other Protectors to get to know our lands and even then, I have to remember that I am normally faster and a bit stronger than most of them."

"Mark just how high are you ranked?" Robin asked me.

"I am currently learning the Assistant Guardian's job." I told them. "Though I don't really know when that will be confirmed. Now how about myself and Simon go find us something to eat. I know that you would rather join in but under current conditions I think it would be better if Simon and I do the hunting. We're going after a moose, and they can be... hazardous."

The three nodded and sat down while Simon and I went down the hill to scare up some dinner. It really didn't take long before we got ourselves a meal. An elderly male fell to our combined power, though he was rather large.

After a relaxing dinner, all five of use curled up, a good distance from the kill, to get a relaxing night's sleep. The next morning when I woke up and looked around me I almost started laughing. Robin, Lea, Chris, and Mika were curled up in tight fluffy balls of wolf still sleeping in the pre-dawn light. Even though it was at least -15c I shifted for a few minutes and used my phone, which I'd been carrying in a waterproof zippered arm case on my right front foreleg, to take three pictures of them and my own Protector who was curled into a ball of tiger. Besides my normal cell, I'd also carried a Pride provided sat-phone for use in emergencies. As soon as I stowed my phone back in the pouch I quickly shifted back to tiger. It was far too cold to be standing around, naked, in human form.

Later on, that day, after getting back to my house after our perimeter survey was complete and I'd had a chance to retrieve my pup from Jack we sat down and began talking through what they felt was right for the Pride, given the budget that I gave them. The system was far from perfect, or even up to the standards that Wild Valley had, but it would work with plenty of room for future growth. The one thing all of us agreed on was that the server and security center should look like a normal house for the Pride on the outside, but underneath it would be more like a bunker than anything. The one thing that would seriously cut down on the cost was the fact that we'd use our own labour to build it, and we could also provide stone and wood for the construction.

After everything was agreed upon, after dinner, Robin, Lea, and Chris relaxed in the living room and talked quietly while I retreated to my office to get a few things taken care of, including sending Adam a quick email with attached photos from the morning. I also told him that his people had arrived safely and were now under my personal protection.

I had just hit send when I felt a flare of anger in the Pride Bonds before the source of that anger began moving towards me. "Matriarch what's going on? Why is she so angry? Who did this?" I sent, though in my sending I could sense that I was getting a bit worked up since the one who was enraged was the person who I knew to be my mate.

"Ivan was being his normal, pain in the tail self and almost demanded that she date him. The thing is I think that she's headed your way I guess you can't stop it or dodge it this time Mark. Please... take care of our baby." The last bit wasn't really from the Matriarch but instead was a mother who was worried about her cub.

"You have my word Shanna I will never do anything to harm her, it would be like me cutting off my own tail!" I told her and tried to put as much honesty as I could into my sending. I would never do anything to hurt my mate, though I'd not demand of her to link yet, she was still too young and only 18.

When she reached the door, I was waiting and I smoothly pulled it open and smiled as she stopped to look at me. "So, you are the one that my father thinks should be his assistant..." She broke off and looked up into me before she stepped forwards hugged me tightly "Mine!" She exclaimed firmly and hugged tightly.

I returned the tight hug and growled out, "Mine!" I could feel my cat agreeing with all of his being.

"Where have you been my whole life?" She asked, looking up into my eyes.

"Far from here kitten, my life hasn't been easy but I know that you will help make it complete." I told her feeling like I wanted to roar to the world that we were complete now. "I can't ask you to complete anything now though young one. You're under..."

"Fuck that noise, my mate! I am tired of having that simpleton fawning over me like some love-struck lamb. I know that all he wants to do is to get into my pants." She growled softly before her hug got tighter. "I would rather we do it now so that we no longer have to suffer from his insipid gaze."

As scrambled as my mind was at that point I still managed to keep myself aware enough to send to the Matriarch that we were going to be mates... and we'd finish it tonight.

All I got back from her was that we should enjoy the evening before I let us get swept along in the moment. Both my cat and I were at the height of our pleasure when we finally traded bites. We were now as we should be, forever mates, no longer alone.