Shadow Heart Pack House

[Red Gypsy]

This place was created for the Were's by Ash, or what was left of them after the debacle of a battle that destroyed the resident pack.

Inside what looks like a rundown shack is a paradise for shape shifters.

Artificial sunlight comes and goes like daylight, the same with moonlight. There's an area that resembles a small wooded area for when they're in animal form and need to run. There are plenty of rooms available, servants and nannies for the cubs left behind, a fully stocked and run kitchen, and an area where they can train their fighting skills.

But all remains hidden from the outside world and the Council. Very cleverly hidden too...

The outside of the building looks like nothing more than a rundown shack that used to be a house, seemingly about to fall down at any moment.

It's also not far from where Ash is living now as well, added protection for everyone involved...  

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Blade had been forced to help Bethany get Wind to where the other female was staying then she had to stop and stare at the inside of the house before turning a wary look onto the female, " 'A small house' huh... Nice..." she said simply before helping Bethany get her brother up to a room where he seemed to crash for the moment.

She checked through their twin-bond to assess his state and shook her head, "It would almost be better if he was in his wolf form, at this rate. His animal could handle the stress better than he can. He's been hurt one time too many, I think," the sympathy in her voice for her brother's problem was obvious, though she offered no solution to the problem at hand.

Instead, she simply headed for the door, intending to check out the rest of the interior of the house, "You can stay with him if you like. He's going to be numb for a bit longer then likely start crying again. I just wish I could find a male for him that wouldn't pull this kind of crap on him. First that other Alpha's pack and now this with Taro," she shook her head as she paused at the door to look back at her brother, her heart breaking over his condition while her face showed nothing.

"You'll have to tell him, though, give him something to come out of this for. Otherwise, he's going to stay like this for a few months. I've seen it before," she added then left Bethany alone with him.


Wind found himself trying to escape the pain by retreating further into his mind until his wolf simply took over and shifted him over. His wolf wasn't as conflicted as the man was, it could handle the loss better because it wanted to survive instead of slowly dying of heartbreak.

But now Bethany was left speaking to one of the most adorable wolves in existence. He was only the size of a large border collie with silver fur, dark gray on his muzzle, feet and the tip of his tail and one black ear and big brown eyes. Unfortunately, the size and appearance of his wolf had gotten him into as much trouble as his partner preference. Most wolves saw him as lesser instead of simply the Beta wolf he was meant to be...  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Egan Savage
Egan managed to track Wind's scent to the new Sanctuary. He hesitated at the door for a moment and then finally walked inside. He let out a soft whistle as he closed the door and looked around. "Quite a place," he said quietly. He caught Wind's scent again amd took a deep breath. He started toward the room the hybrid was in, trying to decide what he would say to Wind when he saw him. He didn't notice Blade's scent until he pretty much walked right into her. He was quiet for a moment and then finally spoke. "Hello again, Blade. It's been too long."He wondered how Blade would react to seeing him. His pack had hurt her brother quite badly, after all. And then there was the fact that the entire world believed that he was dead.

Bethany listened to Blade speak and nodded. "I don't want him to be alone," she said. "The last thing he needs right now is to be alone." She was silent for a while, letting out a sigh when Wind shifted. "I don't know if you'll be happy about what I'm going to tell you, Wind. I don't even know if you'll really be able to hear me right now. But you need to know that I'm carrying the pups you wanted. Taro and I were only together one time, but it was enough. I'm carrying his pups, just like you wanted. It won't be long before you have a brand new pack." She didn't know how he would react to the news, but she hoped that it would help him to come back.

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Blade glared up at the huge alpha, finally finding someone she could unload everything onto and not feel bad about it, "You... What the hell are you doing here? I suggest you get out before he catches your scent. He's in no condition to deal with any crap on top of what he's dealing with right now... He's just lost his mate for the sake of the gods... He's in no condition to deal with you.

"I don't care that your pack isn't here or that everyone thinks you're dead. I'll make it real for you. You're the one who kicked him out then let your pack have at him when you left him unprotected. I was the one who had to put the pieces back together. Literally. Do you even know what all they did to him?" she unloaded on him as she advanced on him in full fury, remembering what all his pack had done to her brother. He'd taken months to heal instead of weeks, then years to deal with the trauma. And he still wasn't over the trauma fully.

But she wasn't loud. Oh no. She was quiet. A sure sign that she was beyond pissed off right now. Did she even notice that he was slowly backing away from her? Nope. She just unloaded everything on him at once. She wasn't even growling.

"After that, no pack would let us in their territory until we got here. Think about that, Egan. That's about two hundred years of running from place to place. Sometimes he'd find someone to cuddle up with. Then their pack found out about him and the same crap happened all over again. But you started the ball rolling. In my opinion, you should be neutered, not standing here or even coming within spitting distance of my brother," she was really gearing up by the time she had to stop and take a few breaths to calm her cat. But it was the only opportunity he was going to get from the looks of it.


Wind sat up when she gave him the news, his shock fully evident on his expressive face. then he got down from the bed and nosed her to sit on it before joining her there and putting his head in her lap. He'd do everything he could for her and the pups. But right now, he wouldn't shift. He'd come back without a stitch on and that would just be all kinds of uncomfortable for them both.

He gave a small whimper as thoughts and instinct collided in his brain and he moved to nose his way under the folded blanket at the end of the bed then grabbed it and jumped down to sit at her feet with it curled around himself before he shifted back to his human form. With the blanket around him.

He looked up at her with tears holding place in his brown eyes then laid his head against her leg, "Thank you, Bethany... Thank you-" he wanted to say more but he got choked up over it. Now, there would be a piece of Taro that he could love, that he could raise to be a good wolf.

Maybe later the panic over an omega wolf raising a potential alpha would raise it's ugly head in his brain, but right now all he could think of was that a small piece of Taro, his mate, would survive. He had something that he had to keep going for.

The Mating Mark at his shoulder was fading even as she watched it, becoming nothing more than a silvery scar, further proving that he was going to have to struggle to make it without the strong support of his alpha mate. But he was, at least, trying.  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Egan Savage
Egan sighed a bit as Blade spoke. "I'm not here to hurt anyone," he said. "I came here because I love your brother. I always have. That's why I refused to hurt him when we were caught. I left your brother alone long enough to take care of something so we could be undisturbed, and the pack took advantage of my temporary absence to do what they did. I wanted to mark him that night to protect him. But you two were gone when I got back. It was years before I found out about what happened, found out how they had hurt him. I don't know that even you can despise that pack more than I do for what they did. Your brother is my first and only love." He stopped backing up and stood his ground. "Whatever you want to do to me, I'll accept it. I deserve it after what happened. But please let me help Wind. I can feel his sadness and pain from here. I'm not the same as I was, Blade. I've come so far and searched for him for so long. I need to beg him for forgiveness and let him know that I never stopped loving him. I'll explain everything later and then accept whatever you decide to do. But I need to go to him. I can't stand for him to feel like this. Let me bear some of his pain for him." His tone was calm, but there was something about him that made it clear that he was telling her the truth. And he was obviously deeply in love with Wind.

Bethany sighed and sat down on the bed. She watched Wind and then gave a brief smile when he shifted back to his human form with the blanket covering him. "I know that nothing can ever take his place, but I'll do everything I can to help you through this," she said. "I'm just glad that I can at least do this for you." She frowned a bit when she caught Egan's scent. "Is someone else here now?"

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Blade assessed him as he spoke. But if her glare could have hurt him, he'd have been bleeding his life out at her feet. By the time he finished, though, she understood part of his problem and had to give a soft bark of a laugh, "So the big and bad Alpha is now an empath... This outta be good..." she said with a bit of sadistic relish, knowing that he'd have to be a good Alpha out of pure self-defense.

Her expression cleared as she looked him over with new eyes, "I tell you what, big boy. I'm going to give you one chance. I'll take you to him. Be respectful to the female with him because she carries his mate's pups. Don't be surprised if he- Oh no... I'm not going to spoil that one... I think you should see part of the handiwork of every other wolf pack we've encountered for yourself..." she cautioned him that far but no further then turned on her heel and headed back up the stairs to the room where her brother sat on the floor with his head against Bethany's leg.

"Bethany. Do me a favor and move to the other side of the room for a few, would you?" she asked her softly and waited for her to do so, ignoring her curious and cautious expression, before she moved to the side and allowed the Alpha into the room.

The reaction was as predictable as she'd expected. Wind was sitting there wearing nothing but a spare blanket and his hair when he caught the scent and turned with wide brown eyes to see the male in the doorway. His current pain was obvious on his beautiful features, his mating mark now faded to nothing but a silvery scar he'd bear for the rest of his life, but otherwise the beautiful and sweet brother she'd grown up with.

Until he saw the bigger male. He only said one thing, "Egan," then he shifted and scrambled to hide under the bed in his wolf form. He shook and whimpered the entire time as he hid as far under that bed as he could get, shaking with fear so badly that he was shaking the bed with him.

Blade looked up at Egan with a raised eyebrow, "That's what your pack did to him, Egan. He's been like that ever since when around an Alpha. It wasn't until we came here that he stopped doing it. It wasn't until Taro came into his life that he stopped shifting like that. But you're lucky this time. He doesn't have anywhere but that room to run to right now," she told him in a slightly hard voice.

Maybe she was being unfair to him. Maybe she was being unduly harsh. But she also knew he had to see what had been set into motion that night, "At least when he's in wolf form he can't use his magic or this place would be shaking from it's foundations around our ears. If you can help him, Egan... This is your one shot to do it... Because you're not just fighting his grief, you're fighting that too," she finished, hammering her point home, "And your empathy can't take that fear away from him as easily as his grief because that fear, right there, has been honed over centuries into instinct."

She looked at the female now, "Come on Bethany. We need to give him a few with Wind. Looks like you need a cup of hot chocolate anyway. We'll make some up and bring a cup up to see if we can get Wind out from under the bed. If that doesn't do the trick, an apple might," she suggested softly, doing her best to give the female what reassurances she could. She knew Egan wasn't going to hurt Wind physically, not with her around and the threat of her cat.  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Egan Savage
"I don't recall ever claiming to be big and bad," Egan said. He listened to Blade and then followed her, wondering how this reunion would go. He examined Bethany and then looked to Wind. His pain was so incredible, but the fear was so much worse. He could still feel it, but he found that Blade was right. The fear was instinctive now, so Egan wouldn't be able to do much with it. But that didn't mean that he wouldn't try. He gave Bethany a polite nod of acknowledgement and then focused on Wind. He knelt down next to the shaking bed. "There's no need to be scared of me, Wind," he said gently, trying to calm him down a bit. "I'm not here to hurt you. Quite the opposite, actually. I really need to see you and talk to you. Please just come out from under there."

Bethany looked at Egan and Blade with a puzzled expression. She was obviously quite shocked by Wind's reaction to the other male and frowned a bit. When she heard Blade say to leave the new male alone with Wind, she hesitated for a moment and then nodded. She followed Blade out of the room and down to the kitchen. "Who is that man?" she asked. "And why was Wind so scared of him?"

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Blade glanced over at Bethany briefly then gave a soft sigh, "Those questions are going to require some pretty lengthy answers. I'll explain what I can while we make that hot chocolate," she said as she steered them both into the kitchen and proceeded to give the female the ultimate explanation of herself and her brother's history. A history that included Egan rather close to the beginning.


Wind gave another small whimper and tried to scramble through the wall behind him when Egan moved closer and started talking to him. But after a few moments of patience, and the days worth of emotional upheaval, Wind finally started to crawl out from under the bed. He was beyond cautious, but noticed that the door was closed and he wasn't going anywhere until someone let him out, so he was stuck in here with an Alpha male who'd rejected him then set his pack on him.

At least, that was what Wind had been told at the time. When one is getting the crap beat out of them like that, one tends to believe what one is being told at the time.

Like that Egan was finished 'playing' with him, that he wasn't a 'real' Were and never would be, that Egan himself had sent the pack after him to chase him off...

He finally came to a stop in a corner with his tail tucked all the way under him as tightly as possible and his eyes looking everywhere in the room but at Egan. Any time his eyes did look at the Alpha, he dropped them and his head instantly. If he were any more submissive right now, he'd be giving Egan his throat.

At least he'd stopped whimpering...  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Egan Savage
Egan sighed when he saw how Wind was acting. "I'm so sorry for what my pack did to you, Wind," he said quietly. "I know what they said while they were hurting you. And I know that it may be hard to believe, but none of what they told you was true. I never considered what we did as playing with you. I never sent the pack after you. I didn't even know what they had done until almost ten years later. I came back to find you gone, and I was heartbroken. They told me that you and Blade had simply left. I should have realized what they did, but I just thought that I must have done something to drive you away." He took a deep breath and continued. "I planned on marking you that night. That was why I left you for even a second. I needed to make sure that no one would interrupt our time together. It was supposed to be such a special night, and then the pack wouldn't have dared to hurt you for fear of enraging me. But I guess they figured out my plans and decided to ruin them by hurting you and making you think that I didn't love you. And I'm so sorry that it happened like that."

Bethany listened closely to Blade's story, frowning when she heard the part about Egan. "That's quite a story," she said. "And I can see why Wind wouls be afraid of him. But if it helps, I can see that he truly doesn't mean any harm this time."

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Wind did listen to him but still kept his eyes looking down. But there was something about Egan's voice that still managed to soothe him to a certain extent. After a little longer, he shifted back to his human form.

He stayed in the corner with his head down, his hair the only thing covering him this time. Thankfully the stuff fell to his knees so there was plenty to cover him. Another few moments and he finally spoke, though his voice was soft and hesitant, "Other packs took your packs example... They started kicking out the lower ranking wolves who were like me, the males who preferred male company... The pack here was the only one left who didn't..." he said, his voice shaking as he tried to get the words out.

"The alphas were the worst until we came here... Masa was a good Alpha, Yellan a good female for the pack... She introduced me to-" he hesitated to say Taro's name as his grief moved through him again.

Part of his reactions to Egan, though, had to do with the fact that he'd never stopped loving alpha in front of him now. But he just didn't know how to get past the grief tearing at him right now...


Blade gave a shrug of one shoulder as she got the chocolate set up, "He may not intend to but if he does, even accidentally, he'll be feeling my claws this time. I tried to tell you in the graveyard that Wind isn't very... strong... He doesn't do well unless he's got someone strong enough to order him around a bit. He actually needs a good Alpha as a mate or lover. They tend to make good dominants as well, the perfect mix with his natural submissive behavior," she set one of the mugs in front of Bethany then set to work getting a tray ready for her brother.

"Me? I'm a kick-his-a**-first kind. If he can keep up with me that way, he might be able to handle me. With Wind it's different. He needs to be taken care of and protected. It's just the way he's wired. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, not at all. But finding someone to match up with him is a nightmare and he's been pounded over it so many times that his instinct is to cower in front of an alpha instead of that simple submission thing you wolves do. He's become terrified of the very group that could heal him. Taro almost had it with him... Wind was almost there..." she finished as she poured her own mug and took a sip from it.  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Egan Savage
Egan moved over to Wind and picked him up, hugging him close. "I heard about what the other packs started doing, and I'm sorry that my pack managed to make that happen," he said. "I'm glad that you managed to find a pack that wasn't like that, though I wish it hadn't turned out so badly." He took a deep breath and began to take some of Wind's grief. "I can't take all of your grief and pain, but I've taken as much as I can. I hope it helps you."

Bethany took her cup and took a sip. "I don't think he will this time," she said. "I don't see him hurting Wind when I look into the future. I know that I can only see a day ahead, but Egan really just seems to be trying to comfort Wind and take his pain away."

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Wind couldn't help his shiver of fear as Egan picked him up and held him but did give a soft sigh as his grief suddenly seemed... lighter, a bit more at a distance. It was easier to bear this way and allowed him to see that the loss had actually left him with a psychic wound of sorts. The bond he'd had with Taro hadn't been the full bond most mates shared, but it was enough to tear at his soul a bit, thus amplifying his grief. The lessening of it that Egan did made it easier for Wind to think more clearly again.

But that clearer thinking pointed something out to him that had him blushing in an instant: he wasn't wearing anything. And he was in Egan's arms that way.

He froze when it hit him, having no idea how to handle this situation.

Luckily, while he and Egan had been having that moment to talk, Blade had been giving a simple shrug as she picked up the tray of food and leading Bethany back to the room. They walked in just in time to notice Wind's blush. Which turned him a nice shade of pinkish red from his toes up.

Blade gave a heavy sigh and rolled her eyes as she moved into the room and put the tray on the nightstand and rummaged through the drawers in the dresser until she found a pair of shorts and dropped them into her brother's lap, "Here, get those on then you can eat something. I even brought you apples," she stated simply.

Though the mention of the apples made her brother blush all over again since they were his favorite thing to eat when he was in his wolf form and reminded him that Egan had been the one to get him addicted to the things...

He shifted out of Egan's arms and slid the shorts on with his back to him then found himself forced to sit down in the Alpha's lap as his sister put the tray over his own lap, giving him no choice in the matter, "Eat the apples, drink the chocolate, then you need some real sleep. I'll let Egan watch over you for now while I try to get Bethany to sleep for a bit. We'll talk more about details later," she told him firmly then gave the alpha male a warning glare before she ushered Bethany back out of the room and down the hall.

"Go on and get some sleep. We'll see about how things are going to work later. Right now, no one is able to think much. I'll keep watch for a bit, just in case, then I'll get some sleep as well," she told the female just as firmly as she had her brother, proving that she was just as much an alpha personality as Egan was, maybe more so...  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Egan Savage
Egan couldn't help but smile when Wind blushed. He watched Blade carefully, wondering if she was going to say anything. When she mentioned the apples and Wind blushed, Egan couldn't help but chuckle. He allowed Wind to get out of his arms and watched him pull the shorts on. He sat down on the bed and was surprised to find Wind in his lap. He caught her glare and gave a simple nod, then turned his attention to Wind. "So I see that you still enjoy apples," he said, smiling.

Bethany followed Blade and couldn't help but smile when she noticed Wind blushing. She looked back over to Blade and then was ushered back out of the room. "I could definitely get some sleep," she said. "I'm exhausted. But don't stay up too long. You need sleep, too." She moved into a room and got into the bed. She closed her eyes and fell asleep pretty quickly.

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Blade gave Bethany a simple nod then headed downstairs, soon finding herself in her feline form in the indoor forest, finally falling asleep up high in a tree.

Wind blushed even more when Egan brought up the apples again and got up to put the tray on the bedside table, setting the bowl of apples on the floor before picking up the mug to take a drink of the chocolate, "She was teasing me a bit... I only eat them when I'm in wolf form... I think she's expecting me to shift again..." he explained softly, keeping his back to the alpha as he drank down the hot chocolate slowly, letting it's warmth calm him down.

He finally set the mug back down and turned to Egan, still keeping his head down until he realized that he was standing while the alpha was sitting. So not respectful to an alpha... He instantly sat himself down on the edge of the bed, doing his best not to look at Egan. He knew if he did, he'd wind up wanting more than he could expect.

For him, Egan was an alpha. Even if he said he was in love with the hybrid, Wind knew that there were limitations, things he couldn't do. For him, Taro had been the one exception to the unspoken rule. For him, he'd been shown that alpha's wound up with females, not males on the lowest end of the hierarchy. For him, males like Egan only passed a little bit of time with him then moved on to females.

So he kept his brown eyes down and covered his nervousness by braiding his hair down. It wasn't in his nature to make a first move with a male or initiate any interest, it simply wasn't who he was. But he found himself not sure what to say or do...  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Egan Savage
Egan watched Wind get uo and set the apples down after his explanation. He frowned a bit when Wind sat on the edge of the bed and wouldn't look at him. He could sense his nervousness and had a pretty good idea about what he was thinking. He sighed and reached out and touched Wind's face, making him look at him. "Wind, I'm going to say something, and I want you to really listen," he said. "I know what you must think about me. Probably something about me just playing with you for a while and then moving on to a female mate. But that will never happen. Women don't interest me at all. They never have. I love you, Wind. I will never stop loving you." He leaned in and kissed Wind gently, hoping to convince Wind of his love and devotion.