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Remus-

"Ray, what should we do with it? He's not like the others."

I glanced around the small wooden shack. The piercing wind howled through the rickety boards. "We can't leave him for the others to find... we must protect him. The Lions Guard will know what to do with him."

The small human child giggled and yawned, it’s small hands grasping at the air around it.

"Ray, no one knows what happened to the Lions Guard. The last of them died twenty years ago!"

I broke my gaze from the small human, shifting my crystal blue eyes to my fox Tyler.

"Ty, we don't have a choice. We might be able to find something in their ruins." I returned my attention to the human, it's small hands had closed around one of my black furred fingers, it's light snores softly flowing through the air.

Tyler glanced at the door, moving his paws to meet my own. "We are taking a huge risk just being together. With who our fathers are, we should hardly be harboring a human child with us. I love you too much to let you go."

The door burst open causing the fox to retract his paw. Tyler’s eyes jumped around in search of anything that might have opened it, but nothing was found meaning the culprit was simply the wind. Tyler's face visibly relaxed as he walked over to close the door. "I love you Ray... and I'll follow you to the ends of the earth."

I let out a soft sigh, "I love you too Ty."

The wind slowed to a dull roar. The winter months in the Northern Region were harsh. The humans didn't last long in the cold environment, so the furred race, known as the Amani, founded it as their home in the prospect of getting away from the humans who hunted them.

Tyler shuffled over to the small bed we had set in the corner, his paws moving to strip himself before he made for bed. I watched as his white paws uncovered his body, revealing everything for me to look at. His whole body was white… which fit considering how he is an arctic fox. His fur fit in contrast with my black wolf fur.

I moved to stoke the fire a bit so it would last long enough to protect the infant from the biting cold. Our bodies were designed to last in frigid temperatures, our fur keeping most of our body heat in by itself. Adding a blanket and another body to share heat with was more than enough for any Amani to survive through the night.

I walked back over to the table the human was resting on, wrapped from head to toe in blankets. The child had been collected from the last attack on a human village from the outskirts of the Northern Region. Tyler and I had joined the expedition team to eliminate the village before it became a threat to our safety, but when we broke through a door to clear out one particular house, we found the house abandoned, the only living soul was the infant that was left in rags next to a small fireplace. In our infinite wisdom, we took the child and pulled out before the rest of the team knew we had taken a child with us, swiftly making our way back to our safehouse.

I pulled the drawstring to my leather pants so I could rest easily next to Ty. As my cloths soundlessly fell to the floor, I could feel Tyler’s eyes on my back… calmly tracing the scar that was left from a horrible time in my home village, but that all happened twenty years ago… that also happened to be the first time I had met Tyler. My father was appointed next to his as a strategist, so Tyler and I developed very strong feelings for each other very quickly.

When we turned twenty-three, Tyler and I moved away from the main city of Nillix because we were constantly targeted. No one knew we had moved and no one knew who we were. So we joined the local militia to help defend the civilians around us.

I yawned as I sat down on the bed. Throwing my hindpaws onto the bed, I pulled the blanket up to my chest as Tyler’s paw maneuvered its way around my midsection, comfortably pulling me closer to him.

Tyler’s soft breaths passed hypnotically through my fur, the fox’s heartbeat thumping against my back creating a soothing rhythm lulling me closer and closer to slumber.

Finally I blinked in an attempt to flush the sleep from my eyes, however, thoughts always returned to the reason we had to hide in this old shack.

Why are we the ones that have to suffer? What did we do to deserve this? The questions filling my mind never ceased, instead only causing more frustration at my apparent lack of answers.

The whistle of the high winds returned when a shadow passed across one of the larger gaps between the boards. I sat upright, stirring Tyler from his own slumber.

“What? What's going on Ray?”

“There was a shadow outside… we aren’t alone right now.”

I blindly grabbed under our makeshift bed for my short sword when the door once again flew open, only there was a silhouette in the middle this time. The intruder appeared to be a larger male dog, the species was indistinguishable due to the fact that it was clad in all leather armour, the only thing left uncovered being its eyes.

My heart skipped a few beats as the dog leapt from the doorway, unsheathing a hidden dagger from its leather coat.

The dog’s dagger was aimed at me when a silver flash swept in front of me, Tyler’s scimitar was left ringing from the collision of steel on steel.

“I’ll be damned if you hurt him you fuck!”

Tyler flung the dog over, effectively managing to cause him to lose his balance as he stumbled backwards, finally tripping and slamming into the wall. The audible crack meant the old boards had broken under the dog’s weight.

I took only a moment to glance down at where my paw was reaching when I finally felt the cold combination of metal and leather that was the hilt of my weapon. I silently exhaled as I returned my attention to the dog who was already back on its hind paws, ready for another fight.

I jumped from the bed, positioning myself tactfully next to Tyler, entering a fighting stance that was unique to the two of us since we had developed it through our many years of practice during our childhood.

I knew that if either of us sustained a blow from the dog’s dagger then it would be devastating due to our current lack of any protective armour.

“Ty…” I barely shifted my eyes to meet his, silently praying he understood what I had already planned.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Tyler nodded and shifted, stepping forward and slashing down with his scimitar. The dog deflected the blow to its left side.

Bingo… he favors his left side, but he is right pawed.

Tyler didn’t let up, immediately correcting his stance to slash again, this time aiming for the dog’s right side. This time the dog dodged the attack, quickly leaning back to allow the blade to zip inches from its muzzle.

There it is. The dog is poor at blocking on it’s right side.

Tyler stepped back, getting back into his original fighting stance. I glanced back at Tyler, our eyes connecting again as I mentally told him our whole plan of attack.

Instantly, Tyler stepped back and I knew he understood. I stepped with my left paw, stabbing through the air at the dog’s left side. As I had predicted, the dog shifted his stance to parry my attack, leaving its right side weak and exposed while it focused on my attack.

Tyler spun behind me, gracefully stepping around me as his scimitar zipped again through the air, leaving no room for the dog to step back. My sword stabbed into the board blocking it from dodging left as Tyler completed his arcing movement, his sword connecting with the dog’s armour, cutting into it and leaving a sizable gash on its right arm.

The dog howled in pain as Tyler brought his sword back, preparing for another slash as I stabbed again, this time aiming at the dog’s left shoulder. The parry was again predictable, but the dog deflected my sword while thrusting backward, breaking through the wall and falling on it’s back as Tyler’s scimitar zipped through the empty air. I brought my sword back as I leapt through the hole to pin the dog, but it had rolled in the snow and jumped to its hind paws before I could make contact. The dog glared at me, it’s eyes filled with rage and hate, before it turned and ran through the bitter cold snow and wind, disappearing with the white.

Tyler ran through the hole just in time to see the dog disappear. “What the fuck was that about?”

“I don’t think he was too fond of us having humans…” my voice trailed off as Tyler wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

“Let’s get inside before we freeze.. Its fucking cold out here!”

Tyler and I stepped back inside, quickly working to recreate the wall as best we could with the splintered remains of the boards. Finally fixing it enough to block out most of the wind, we settled back down in bed to resume our rest, but my mind wouldn’t drop the glare the dog had given me. It wasn’t a traitorous hatred… more like a disappointment… like we had just existed and that was reason enough to attack us.

Tyler’s breaths slowed once again, the rhythmic sounds lulling me to sleep as finally I connected the dots.

They know about Ty and me...

---

The next morning was abrupt, the dull rays of the sun shone through the cracks in the board, effectively blinding me when I first opened my eyes. I shuffled slightly under the covers, turning over to face Tyler. His eyes were still closed while his breaths were short and methodical.

I brushed my claw across his cheek, causing him to twitch his muzzle in a cute way.

Grinning, I slowly brought my lips to his forehead, giving him an extended kiss.

“You're not normally this affectionate when you first wake up.” Tyler giggled as I rolled my eyes.

“You don't normally complain when I am, now do you?”

His sly grin and thoughtful expression made him look even more adorable. “Sometimes I like it.” Then he licked my nose, “And sometimes I love it.” His paws were working their way down my side and back up, stopping only when he got back up to my chin, pulling me into a kiss. “Just be like this more often and I might be willing to do some other things more often.”

I rolled my eyes again, “Damn you're a horny fox.”

“But you love this horny fox.”

“That I can't deny, but unfortunately, there are some things we have to take care of before we continue with our little… game.”

Tyler sighed and rolled his eyes more in annoyance. “I told you we should have left that thing for someone else to take care of.”

“Ty, we are the only ones that would take care of it. Any others would have killed it or left it to die. It might be our only hope to stop this war.”

Tyler's ears flattened back as he glanced away, placing his paw on my shoulder and pulling me back down to sit on the bed. “Forget that thing for now. I don't want it getting in our way.”

I inhaled deeply, holding the breath for a second before exhaling quickly. “Okay, I won't pay it attention as if it were our own pup, but I need to make sure it lives.”

Tyler sighed, rolling over and pulling the blanket back up to his neck.

“Fine, make sure it lives. I want nothing to do with it though.”

A small smile curved across the corners of my mouth, “Thanks babe… trust me you won't regret this. The war will end within a year's time.”

I grabbed my jeans from the floor and pulled them on, shifting them so my tail rested comfortably. I pulled my shirt over my head, momentarily getting the collar stuck on my ear. My leather harness clipped over my compression shirt. When I was finished dressing myself, I grabbed my sword and slung it onto the leather sheath on my back, drawing it again to check if it was still in a comfortable position. I glanced over my shoulder to see Ty was already up and out of bed, dressed and ready to go as he sheathed his scimitar to his hip.

“I still don't understand why you wear that on your hip. A sword down there always makes me feel uncomfortable.”

Tyler's ear flicked as he listened, giving a pause before he replied. “To be honest Ray, I think it helps our fighting style. Since you draw from your back and I draw from my hip, we have two different areas we can target for a first swing. Me going low and across while you go high down.”

I nodded slightly at the presentation of validity to why he carried his scimitar at his hip, but I still felt weird about it. My paw closed around the curved wood of my bow, the engravings pattern of Ty’s name pressed against the pad of my finger.

“Well are you ready to go wolfy?”

I chuckled a bit at the mention of my presumed new nickname. “When did you start calling me wolfy?”

“Just now…” Tyler grinned slyly as he slipped his own bow across his chest.

“The sun is still fairly low so we should be the only ones hunting,” Tyler glanced at his quiver with a sour expression, “And we are going to need to go gather more materials. I'm down to six arrows. Hope that's enough.”

“With your lousy shot, it might not.” I gave a small chuckle as Tyler backhanded my shoulder.

“You shit! I'm a better shot than you are!”

I held my hands up defensively, “Never said I was a better shot… just you were a lousy one.”

Tyler playfully rolled his eyes as I slung my bow and headed toward the door. “Alright, let's not take more than two hours or so… sound good?”

Tyler silently nodded as I opened the door and made my way into the snow covered landscape. Hills and snow streamed for about a mile before the open land gave way to forest that was crawling with small animals and fair game. From this far away, I could see a few deer grazing at the edge of trees.

Ty stalked closer as I kept my eyes on the deer, looking to see if I could find any hint of their knowing of our presence. Ty was an amazing hunter, his art of stealth and accuracy was beyond incredible. His silent steps betrayed only by the subtle sounds of shifting snow, soon turning into grass.

Ty got within a few meters of the deer before he knocked an arrow and aimed, his breathing slowed and his eyes focused. The closest deer raised its head and glanced in Ty’s direction before swiftly turning tail and jumping for the treeline to escape from view, the others following quickly behind.

Ty loosed his arrow at the deer, managing to strike on on the right hip. The deer cried out in pain, but obviously wasn't going down without a fight as it continued limping as best it could. Ty knocked another arrow as I began moving toward him. The second arrow flew from the string, narrowly missing the deer as it rounded a tree. I picked up pace as I made it to the treeline just behind Ty.

“Follow the blood trail and finish it? I'll go see if I can find something that wasn't spooked off.”

I silently nodded and began to follow the trail, but Ty grabbed my shirt and pulled me close to him, pressing his lips against mine quickly.

My eyes grew wide with shock, “Ty, you know we can't do that in public!”

Tyler chuckled as he stepped back. “You know as well as I do. That dog that attacked last night… attacked because he knew. There's no point in hiding it now. Let's focus on the hunt and we will deal with that problem later.”

My cheeks became warm as Ty gave me a warm smile before turning and heading off silently in the other direction. “Ty!”

Tyler stopped, but didn't move.

“Meet at the shack in an hour. We need to move before the dog returns.”

Ty did nothing but continued to move soundlessly through the wood, his mind focused on finding more food.

I turned back to the direction the deer had fled and made my way towards it following the trail of blood. I wound around trees and stepped over large rocks and even wadded through a shallow river.

Man this thing got far.

A snap flooded my mind, overtaking my caution, making me turn to gaze in the direction it originated. Nothing out of the ordinary caught my eye, so I returned to my tracking momentarily before another snap penetrated the silence again. My heart rate quickened as the beat pounded in my ears. I scanned the area again, this time, my eyes finding a reflected light piercing a nearby bush. I drew an arrow from my quiver, nocking it on my bow before I stepped back and aimed. The light vanished momentarily before the crunching of leaves echoed around me, quickly becoming faint. I released the breath I hadn't realized I was holding, feeling slightly light headed as I slowly loosened the tension on my bow and sheathed the arrow, remembering my reason for being in the woods in the first place, I relocated the blood trail and began to follow it again, but this time I hadn't gone far before I came across the deer, heavy breaths through its nostrils, as it lay there dying, it's eyes already foggy. I stepped close to it, drawing my dagger to finish the job quickly to relieve it of its pain.

I heard a zip through the air as an arrow passed by my shoulder so close that I felt it's wind. I fell back on my tail, letting out a yelp as I scrambled up and lunged for the bush behind me. Another arrow whizzed by my head, lodging into the tree trunk a few inches to my left. I fumbled in the bush around the tree to get to the other side when I heard another arrow sink into the bark near the first.

I took a moment to catch my breath before I fumbled in my quiver for an arrow, only realizing that they had fallen out in my attempt to escape.

I have to grab one of those two arrow to have a fighting chance. Shit I'm so fucked.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, focusing on my ears to distinguish where my foe was. The silence was deafening when a crack finally echoed through the forest.

Right side! He's close!

I dove around the tree, the arrows coming into sight. I reached and pulled one free from the bark, sheathing it in my quiver as I retrieved the other arrow, nocking this one on my bow.

I dashed out of the bush, turning quick on my hindpaws to face my target, a muscular doberman clad in tightly fit leather armor.

“Why are you attacking me? We should be fighting the humans!”

The doberman said nothing, instead just flexing his arm as it held his bow. He silently slung his bow across his chest as he drew a sword, pointing it straight at me.

“Wolf, you have betrayed or kind’s trust. You and that fox will be slaughtered. You have no place among us.”

As smooth as his voice, the doberman leapt from his spot, rolling on the ground, bringing him within five feet before I could even react. The dog’s sword shone bright from the light filtered through the thick trees.

I flinched, awaiting the cold steel of the blade to slash through me, however, after a few moments, I opened my eyes, the doberman stared at his chest. I followed his gaze to find the stone point of an arrow protruding through his flesh, a few drops of blood dripping from the tip. The doberman turned slowly to see how this had happened. My heart fluttered when he came into sight, my fox, holding his bow, nocked and ready for another attack.

“Don't you dare lay a paw on him!”

As Ty finished, the arrow slipped through the air, whirring as it flew toward the dog. The arrow lodged into the dog's shoulder, causing him to flinch and fall to his knees, clutching his new wound.

“You won't die from those wounds, but you will be out of commission for a while. Don't try and follow us.” Ty’s voice sounded cold as he began to pick up the arrows that I had dropped.

“You two will pay for you misdeeds. Your father are shunned from showing their face in public. You two will be killed on sight by any Amani that lays eyes on you. You're being tracked by the humans. You have nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, and nowhere to be safe. I shall see you two in pieces.”

The dog spat at me as I grabbed Ty’s paw. “Filthy fags. Enjoy your last days.”

My anger overwhelmed me right there, I brought my hindpaw across his muzzle, hearing the crack of bone, though I wasn't sure it it was mine or his.

“Ray don't... he's just egging you on. Ignore him and let's get back to the shack.”

“The deer is dead over here, let me grab it and we will head home.”

I walked behind some bush and retrieved the deer, throwing it over my shoulder and moving back to Ty, starting our journey home. Most of the trip was made in silence. The only sound we heard were our own foot falls.

“Ray…”

“Ty, I wanted to say thanks. If you hadn't shown up when you did… I would have died. Thank you.”

Ty sighed and looked toward the ground.

“I only found you because he tried to attack me first. That was the dog that attacked us last night. He followed me and as soon as I saw him he split. I followed him out of nervousness. It was luck that led me to you.”

The dirt and soil turned into snow as we made our way back, our shack now only a few feet away. I stopped and faced Ty. “Still… thanks for saving my life. I owe you.”

I grabbed Ty’s collar with my free paw and pulled him into a kiss, holding it until we were both out of breath and panting.

“Love you Ray.”

“Love you too Ty.”

We entered the house, finding everything the way it was. The human still wrapped in blankets next to a dying fire.

Ty looked at me from beside it. “Do we have enough time to make a new fire? We need to warm this thing back up before we leave.”

I sat the deer down outside the door before shaking the snow off of my foot paws. “No, we will have to wrap it up a little more. We need to leave within the next hour or so if we want to escape the inevitable mob.”

Ty sighed as he pulled the blanket from the bed, wrapping the human in it from head to toe. “I still think we should just leave this thing. Humans have done nothing but hurt us.”

I stepped over to my fox and put a paw on his shoulder. “You know we can't leave it. He could be the end of this war.”

“Wasn't it something like him that started this war in the first place? The humans were mad that this had happened and lashed out. Now it's happened again and when they find out…”

Ty trailed off at that last word.

I kissed Ty on the cheek softly, “If they find out they might realize that we aren't that different from them. They might be willing to accept us.”

Ty put the human back in the basket, turning to face me head on. He only came to my shoulder, but he felt like he could have overpowered me easily. His passion was almost suffocating. “Ray! Why do you hold on to this whimsical ideal that the humans will ever accept us? They won't! They don't change, they don't like change, they don't like different! It's impossible for them to accept us!”

As he finished, a tear rolled down Ty’s cheek. He looked down and clenched his fists.

“I don't want you to get hurt over this thing!”

His tears streamed down his cheeks as he sobbed. I reached forward, pulling him into my chest and holding him as close to me as I could get him. “I'm holding onto this whimsical ideal… because if I can do anything to make your life better… I'll run with it all the way. I'll never stop chasing a string if it'll make your life easier.”

Ty stared up at me, his tears welling more in his eyes. His arms flew around me, pulling me closer than I thought we could, his face buried in my chest as his sobs and tears soaked my shirt.

“Hey, it's alright.” I squeezed my arms tighter around him, snuggling my muzzle into his neck. We stayed like this for a few minutes… just standing there embracing one another. Finally, Ty looked up at me, his forest green eyes reflecting my shadow.

“I'm sorry… I was a selfish ass.”

I put my paws on his shoulders again, steadying myself, my eyes falling to the floor before looking back into his. “It's okay. I love you and I'll do everything I can to protect you.”

His paws cupped my cheeks in a single quick movement, pulling me into another quick kiss. “I will be right by your side… protecting you as you protect me.” Ty rested his forehead against my chest, breathing deep and slowly.

The human child coughed suddenly and began to cry, progressively getting louder with every passing moment.

Ty groaned, “Remus… please shut that thing up!”

I chuckled lightly as I walked over to the infant, picking it up and rocking it.

“Do you think it's hungry? We don't have any milk left to feed it.”

My ears flicked slightly as I thought, “Then we can improvise somehow. You know of a place we can get some milk?”

Ty shifted his weight to his other paw, “I guess… we could always go hit up that farm a few miles down the road… but it would be risky. It would probably be best to only have one person sneak in and get it.”

A thought popped in my head, “Okay, then we can pack our things and get ready to move. When we head out we will head in that direction. You can stay back in the forest with the human to keep it quiet and out of range if the patrol decides to do their jobs today.”

“Ray! I don't want you going off alone!”

I turned around and stared at him, “And you think I'm gonna let you go in there alone? Hah, you must be crazy!”

Ty sighed heavily, “Fine, I'll strike you a deal. You stay on the edge of the forest just out of sight, but where you can see me. I'd be better at the job since I blend in with the snow. I'll stay in sight and grab some milk and be out before anyone knows I was there.”

I sighed heavily in defeat, “Fine, but if anything goes wrong then you'd better get out of there. I'd rather not lose you.”

Ty scooped up his scimitar and looked back at me “I couldn't do that to you.” His eyes seemed to glow as he smiled at me, his tail wagging slightly. “Now come on, we'd better get a move on before that thing gets even more hungry.”

I couldn't help but smile as Ty moved around the cabin, grabbing things and preparing to leave. His hips swayed with every step, his tail swaying right along with them.

God he's so damned cute. I'm lucky.

He glanced back at me, a smile just breaking the edges of his mouth. “Don't stand there and stare at me! Help me out!”

I put the human back in the basket, pulling out a few other lighter items for the trip. I glanced back over my shoulder at Ty, his ears swiveled as he remembered things he wanted to grab. He caught my eye and smiled again before I turned back to wrap the items I had collected.

There, I'm all set.

“You good over there big boy?”

I glanced back at Ty, his sword on his left hip, his right paw on the right, and a sack slung over his left shoulder. I grinned from ear to ear. “My my. Now you look ready for a sexy adventure.”

Ty chuckled, his ears laying flat, as his eyes narrowed. “And you look like you could be a little more fun.”

A smirk broke the edge of my mouth as he walked over to me, pulling my harness a bit tighter. “Get the kid and let's go wolfy.”

My cheeks burned red hot as he licked my nose and quickly turned on his hind paw and walked out of the door.

My god he’s something else entirely. I’m glad I got to meet him.