Scribbles and Drabbles

Werewolf Drabble 5 - Val 4

"If I might interrupt?" Jack said an amused smile on his face at the sight of them. "Hector is awake."

Sage dropped Grayson as the teen tried to leap away from him. The boy blurred as he rushed past Jack towards his father. Val and Leo froze in place before Leo scampered away in the opposite direction to Greyson. Val's chest hurt, and his cheeks burned as he turned to Sage. He went cold as he saw the look on Sage's face.

"Sir?"

Sage blinked, his eyes softening, but his Enforcer mask didn't drop. He planning something serious. He reached out and tugged Val into a hug. Sweat, guns and metal covered him, and Val's heart hurt. "Go see your father. I'll talk with him after." A rough kiss landed on his forehead, and Sage stalked after Leo. The kiss didn't reassure Val in the slightest - Sage didn't kiss. He nipped, slapped and tugged on Val's hair to show fondness and assurance.

Leo hadn't met Hectar yet. Val trusted Sage to deal with Leo and drag him home. Jack smiled kindly as Val made his way towards his father's den.

He didn't knock, moving into the den and relaxing as the familiar scents of his family surrounded him. Bill sat next to his charge's side, holding his hand. Grayson lay shifted against Hector's legs, whining for comfort as Hector rubbed through his fur with his other hand.

Tor smiled at him, eyes warm and exhausted but awake. Val sort of wanted to shift like Grayson and bury in next to him. "Val," Tor said, everything in his tone.

"Dad," Val said, choked up, and he took Hector's other side. Tor let go of Greyson to reach around Val's shoulders and pull him close for a hug. His grip wasn't strong but wanting. Valentine held on to his dad longer than necessary, letting his heart calm with the knowledge Hector was awake.

"I hear you picked up a new pup for the pack?"

"Leo. He's an orphan. Cute kid, smart, too smart," Val jostled Hector and bumped their shoulders together. "You're going to love him. Sage picked up on him as soon as he got here, but according to Greyson, Leo's been stalking us for a year."

"And so we are rewarding this behaviour by adopting him?" the amusement ringing in his words showed the tease. He wasn't wrong.

"How did you get Grayson again?"

"Hand of fate."

Val snorted and hid his face in Hector's shoulder. Pulling a starving pup out of a dumpster and watching it repeatedly run away from foster families until he gave up and took Grayson in himself was one way to describe fate. Grayson rumbled unhappily and pressed against the two of them. Val hooked his arm around him and held tight.

"And how's Sage's been?"

"Kind. He's been good to them. Kinder than when he was training me." There were fewer cages, less whipping, and more grounding or corner time. Things that would have got Val kneeling on rice and waiting for mercy had Sage scuffing Leo and Grayson and making them write lines instead. He was stricter with Grayson, but that relaxed as he clocked on that half of Grayson's bluster and bark was less against Sage personally and more against authority in general. Sage found it amusing.

"Bill tells me that Sage's been acting on my behalf for the communities," Hector said. His eyes demanded an explanation that Val didn't have. Or possibly he did, but he didn't want that to be the answer.

"He said that he was being a good guest while you were indisposed," Val said, pulling back from the hug, unable to hide his suspicion of that, too.

Hector wasn't well enough for a challenge fight. Sage was Val's and Val would not dare protest that. It would be rude after everything Sage did while Hector was healing. The problem was, iIf Sage wanted to take his lands, Hector was vulnerable.