"Talk to me about what?" Coming from in the cave, getting louder, as the owner of the voice came closer. The red hybrid felt the nervous knot in her stomach return as she looked up as a shadow drifted over her. There was a silence...awkward, and tense. Then, "...Kiona, what is the meaning of this…!?"
~:~:~:~

Kiona took a deep breath while noticing how the strange pup cringed at Achak's naturally mountainous voice. She looked down at him, then at her pups, who didn't seem to notice.

"Go play with Shiro." Kiona told her pups to do. She scooted the blonde pup in the direction her pups were headed. Achak moved slightly to object, but he stopped himself. She turned back to her mate with a stern look, before having her expression broken by the cries of agony from the omega as the pups happily tortured him. "We need to talk." she said. Achak nodded, still looking rather angry. They walked until they were out of earshot of the pups.

To say Achak wasn't happy would be an understatement. Kiona knew his views on hybrids and dogs, other than her that is, and yet still... Right now he was thinking how dare she bring one into his home without permission. Yes, Kiona was his alpha female, but he still ran things. The red female better ready herself. She had yet to see his full temper. The most she had ever seen, or received, it was long ago when she first joined, she attacked another wolf. Of course, the wolf had stolen her meat, and deserved it, but then the hybrid, in her anger, had attacked him. Since then Kiona had greatly improved thankfully.

As the two got far enough away from the caves in order to talk, the alpha continued to inwardly will himself to remain as calm as possible. To keep his temper. Finally he just stopped, and Kiona then did the same. His bright blue eyes probably gave away how angry he truly was.

"So, please do tell me why you brought that... dog into this pack." his voice was edged with a fierce, sharp tone. Kiona would be wise to choose her words carefully.

"I brought that dog here because I found him." she explained. "He's boney and thin and he was half-starved by that time and...he doesn't know where his mother is. So I'm thinking she abandoned him."

Probably for good reason, Achak thought to himself. He looked back at the blonde pup and sneered. He shook his head 'no'. "Any sign of a human," he said. "You will leave him there."

"I can't just leave him anywhere, Achak," Kiona shook her head, feeling almost hopeless that he was going to budge at all. She had to keep trying. "He's still a child without his mother. Besides, he's part wolf, he's not tame enough to live with a human. What if our cubs had to be sent to live with one?"

"Our children are not--"

"Hybrids?" she asked bitterly, but calm.

Achak paused. It wasn't what he was going to say, but... he had lived with Kiona for so long, he hadn't thought about her being only part wolf. He hadn't forgotten either, it just wasn't something that came to mind all the time. Even their pups were part dog (though mostly wolf). He really didn't have any right to discriminate, but just the same, he couldn't help but dislike the cub.

“Don’t put words in my mouth Kiona. There is little to no chance our pups will ever end up with humans. I will make sure of that myself. How do you know that pup isn’t already with humans? If so it’s being here will only attract them, and endanger this entire pack! You know what humans are capable of, we’ve both seen it.” The wolf was of course referring to his father’s death, and how he himself had almost been killed rescuing Kiona from her former master.

The alpha let out an irritated growl and set to pacing to try to clear his mind, and calm himself. He didn’t like to admit it, but the female was partially correct. The pup wouldn’t survive on it’s own. He had seen it’s emaciated condition. And being that it was part dog, or more, surely Kiona would feel more of a duty to it, to protect and nurture it, she being dog as well. Finally the silver and black wolf stopped, drawing a long breath, body tense, fur ruffled in his obvious agitated state.

“Do as you wish with that dog for now. But I will not associate myself with it, and do not expect me to parent it as my own. It is not welcome here in my eyes.” With a fierce look over his shoulder at his mate, the large wolf stalked off towards the woods, needing a more physical way to vent off his anger. He knew he would not due to take it out on any of the pack members. That, and he wanted to be away from that…dog.

Kiona's fur bristled, wanting to argue with him some more, but didn't when he walked away. She supposed shunning the pup was better than him hurting him. She sighed, trying to calm herself. He wasn't being very fair. Sure, this pup wasn't their own, but he could've at least seen it as if they had never lost a pup, when it came to numbers (though she knew the pup wouldn't replace the one they lost). However, it was almost like he had completely forgotten that she was only 1/4 wolf, and the way he called the blonde pup a "dog" kind of hurt her feelings. She hated that he was mad at her for this, but she had no choice. She wouldn't forgive herself if she let him go off on his own at this age.

She needed to distract herself from her thoughts, so she decided to take over playtime with the pups, also because Shiro looked like he was going to keel over from exhaustion. She smiled when her children approached her.

"Momma! You said Hokee's staying, right?" Nayeli asked, excited and hopeful.

Kiona paused, about to say 'yes', but then thought of Achak. She hated when he did this. She didn't know how he was feeling right now. But the thought that he didn't respect the fact that "Hokee" was a hybrid like herself, she happily nodded to her daughter. She could as them about the name later. She was going to treat “Hokee” like her own, until it was time for him to leave.

The pups rejoiced in laughter and pinned Hokee to the ground, as Kiona looked back out where her mate had disappeared off to thinking, you should see how happy they are with him. What was so hard about this?

Later that day, round towards evening, the pups were finally beginning to settle down for the night after running around with their new friend. Hokee had met the rest of the pack, none of which seemed to have a problem with him. They all seemed to really like him, treating him none differently than Nayeli, Tonrar and Hinto. And Hokee liked them all back, seeming to fit in just fine. Achak still seemed to be away, worrying everyone some. But they knew he would come back when he was ready.

From their place inside one of the caves, Nayeli yawned widely, worn out from the day’s excitement. Tonrar and Hinto, who had been even more active, were already out, along with their new blonde pal. They were all curled up together in the back of the cave. One would think they had known each other since birth form how they had all bonded already.

Kiona smiled at her daughter, bending down to lick her face briefly. The black and silver pup loved the attention, and, in her sweet nature, turned to return the affection, albeit with less energy.

“Go on…join your brothers and sleep.” Nayeli yawned again, and the red female gently gave the younger a nudge with her muzzle towards the others. Soon she was slumbering alongside Hokee, whom she had grown quite a liking for. The sight warmed the hybrid’s heart. If only Achak would give the new pup a chance. Looking out towards the entrance, she hoped he came back soon. It felt strange not having him around.

As the rest of the pack filed into the cave for the night, Kiona stayed up just a bit longer for her mate, but the alpha still remained away. Sighing, eventually she lay down beside the pups, and the others, hoping Achak didn’t stay mad.

A bit later, the alpha did eventually return, but didn’t go inside the cave with the rest of the pack. Instead, quietly, he lay down outside it, still not willing to be near the blonde hybrid. He had also just about worn himself out while he was out in the woods. Part of the time he had scouted the entire territory. The wolf had also caught himself a few meals, somewhat taking his anger out on his prey, as well as a few trees, that now bore deep claw marks. Sleep came relatively quickly for him.

The next morning, Kiona managed to wake up at the same time as Achak, which was lucky for her because she needed to talk to him again. The pups wouldn't be up for a few hours, so she figured now was a good a time as any. Hopefully he had calmed down a bit. She walked outside and stretched, catching Achak's eye. He still seemed pretty mad, but she had to try to convince him that Hokee needed them.

"Achak... " She started to say before he nodded at her to follow him. He knew she wanted to talk, and even though he was still unhappy about the situation, he was willing to let her talk. Maybe apologize and hopefully decide to get rid of the cub.

They began to walk in silence, until Kiona said, "I know you can't be happy with me right now... but you must understand--"

Achak silently scoffed, making Kiona frown at him. There had to be more to why he hated humans and dogs. "I know that humans have hurt you more than once in the past. I know they killed your father, but what does that have anything to do with Hokee?" She began to ramble. "I'm not treating him with anymore respect than our own pups. I'm not..."
Achak sighed. Kiona really didn’t understand. It wasn’t so much that he was worried about their pups not getting the same attention…

“I hate anything related to humans Kiona. Humans own dogs, who work and stupidly strive to please them all. They’re just about slaves to them all. Why they choose to live that life is beyond me. And that same blood is carried on into whatever they mate with. As long as that trait to humans is there, I will continue to dislike them.” He paused then; finally

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