Claws (mxm)

Finale

How the hell do people live this way? 

Del didn't even want to set foot in the house. He didn't give a damn how big it was or that perches had been set up so that he could get away from any visitors abruptly, or really, any people in general. He hated the smells coming from inside... except for his mate's and their offspring. 

"You coming in or not, Dylan?" 

Cocky bastard hawk. I'll eat you. 

Del bared his teeth and stepped closer to the doorway, but the hawk shifter, Knight, refused to back down. Instead, he simply took a step to the side, giving him just enough room to walk inside, if he chose to. 

Where are you? The pups are waiting at the door. I think they can sense that you're close by. 

Mina's words made Del step through the barrier without another thought. He was overwhelmed with trying to keep his beast under control, but he squared his shoulders and focused on following the scent of his mate and their three month old babies. It didn't take him long to find them, either. One flight of stairs and a long hallway later and he was opening the door. Inside smelled like home, and thankfully, Mina had kept his word and not let anyone else in the small space.

Del had had the entire house built at Mina's request... and because he'd hated how small his relative's house had been. Mina had liked the small space, but he'd been very nervous around the other lions, and his father, Palace. So, Del had paid for a house to be built quickly, and barely a month later, they had more than enough space to house the odd group of shifters. 

"Hey," Mina greeted him quietly from where he sat perched by the open window. It was nearly dark outside, a gray dusk taking over and whisking the last fading remnants of the sun away. The faint rays outlined his lover perfectly... and his rounding belly. He hadn't planned on ever having kids, but as he knelt down and scooped up his two pups for some attention, he couldn't imagine his life without them... and without more of them. Thankfully, Mina hadn't been forced into his animal form yet, but Del would gladly take care of him whenever that happened. 

The two bundles of fluff trying to crawl up his chest had Del smirking and nuzzling into their soft coats. They looked much more like him than their mother, with a thick dark coat of fur and mainly wolfish features, but their coat pattern had some faded spots near their back end and their tails, while already fluffy, had an extra tuft of fur at the tip. They each also had a stunted wing, Sanna's was on her left side while Tirim's was on her right. They would never be able to fly with them, but Del would make sure to give them plenty of rides on his back whenever they wished. They were already very much obsessed with playing piggyback with his wolf as he walked around the forest with Mina on their late-night treks, but he wouldn't take them flying for a while longer, until he was sure that they wouldn't slip off. 

Feeling eyes on him, he looked up to see Mina smiling at him. 

"What's that look for?" he mumbled as he sat down on their bed and rolled over both their pups for a good belly rub. 

Mina joined them moments later, picking up Tirim and snuggling her to his chest, much to her delight. "It's for you, Dylan." 

That new name had grown on him quite a bit. He planned to change his legal name to it on Mina's birthday. It was a symbol of how much his life had changed since he'd met the odd little shifter. In fact, both of their lives had changed quite a bit. He was no longer someone who sold staged murders. His building had been gutted, then sold. Even Buck had moved on, and with Magnus, shockingly. The two tended to keep to themselves, but Del had visited several times over the past few months. It had been slightly unsettling to consider them a couple, but the moment Buck had answered the door the first time he'd come by... that smile. He truly loved and respected the man, but the smile he'd seen on his face that day? That had come from Magnus sneaking in a slight kiss to his cheek before disappearing down a hallway.