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I didn't know how long Anna and I were out, but when I came to, both Shanna and Olaf were still in the snow, surrounded by Pride members as they kept their Matriarch and Guardian warm since neither had time to curl up against the cold. Anna and I were in the same condition, though the big difference was that the two of us had four fluffy balls of wolf scattered in with the cats around us and I had a puppy wolf-ball pressed against my side. Though I could still feel the aching loss in the bonds I knew that I didn't have time to sit and feel miserable about it, I needed to act, and act quickly. *Yevgeny, where are you?* I sent, my mind still a bit scrambled.

*I'm in Security,* Came the answer as I sensed that he was already beginning to anticipate what I wanted him to do.

*I want you to lock down the compound and ensure that the gate is manned. I have a feeling that right now the guardhouse is empty.*

*Y_es, sir. Is there anything else you need me to do_?* He asked quickly.

*Yes, I want you to send a Protector to the Houses of Berekov, Sansinov, and Grsinksky and check them out, I have a feeling that those three houses are empty now. If they are empty I want you Protector to be careful, they may have left some nasty surprises behind. I also want you to redouble the flights on the border, task every raven you can to keep our eyes on our boundaries. I have no doubt that our patrolling Protectors are a bit out of it for the moment.*

As soon as I received and affirmative on those measures I checked on the Matriarch and Guardian again before we headed to the Pride House. I couldn't do much in the snow, behind the Pride House in the way of getting at least some understanding of what was going on. I also made a point to ask both Katyusha and Caspian to make a flight around the perimeter of the territory while we sorted things out. Though ravens normally didn't have great night-vision all of our ravens did have some ability to see in the dark.

On arriving at the Pride House both Anna and I made our way to her parents' offices were we both began to get a bit better picture of what was really going on. As far as I could tell the three of the Pride Houses had broken their bonds and gone off, it was, from what I'd been able to gather, a forced Pride Split where the dissenting Houses had gone off to form their own Pride. Though at the current time I was still trying to get information as to if that was the case.

It was almost two in the morning when Sergey came into the room, carrying a sleeping pup in his arms. "Mark, are you all, right? That was the most horrid thing I've ever felt."

I looked up, I felt like somebody had poured sand into my eyes. "Sergey, I'm just about..."

"Mark, you look awful, come home and get some rest." He told me, and I could see that he meant it, though he couldn't really give me any kind of orders.

"Sergey, Anna and I have to ensure that everything is safe, the Pride is counting on us while Shanna and Olaf are otherwise incapacitated."

"He came over and gently took my arm, the Pride doesn't expect you and Anna to sacrifice your own health to do it, and you have to remember that they two of you are effectively Katy's parents." I turned to look at him and was about to say something when Anna came over to my other side.

"Love, he's right you know. We've done all we can for the time being and we both need sleep."

After a moment's consideration, I finally nodded and stood up from the desk and shut down Olaf's ancient computer. "We really have to do something about these ancient computers Anna, they aren't helping matters at all."

"Not now Mark," She told me as I stood up and we both headed home for a good night's sleep in front of the fireplace. Before we fell asleep I was sure to pull a puppy pad out for Katy before we all shifted and ended up sleeping in a mound of striped fur.

When I awoke the next morning the first thing I heard was a soft whimper from Katy and I checked her and found out that she had needed the pad. I quickly shifted and got her to shift before picking her up and heading to her room.

"Sorry papa, I can' help it, even when I'm puppy."

I rubbed her back gently as I laid her down and began getting her ready for her day. "It's okay sweetie, I understand." I told her as I finished cleaning her off. "That's why we put the pad there, in case you had an accident in your sleep."

She looked up into my eyes and I was grateful when I saw that she was beginning to calm down. "Papa, you aren't angry dat I don't use potty right now?"

I leaned down and softly kissed her tummy. "Sweetie I can't be angry at you for something that you can't help." I told her before finishing getting her cleaned up and into a clean diaper. With that done she was able to dress herself, for the most part, though she did grab her grey blanket off of her bed and hugged it tightly for a moment.

"I still miss mommy and daddy soo much papa."

"I do to pup, I do to." I replied as we headed back downstairs to where Sergey had just woken himself up and was stretching, as only a feline could. *Sir, give me five and I'll have coffee started for you.*

Relax Sergey, I think this morning we're going to have breakfast at the Pride House, besides I think Anna and I will want to talk to her parents, if they are awake yet."

He nodded slightly and chuffed softly before turning to head towards the stairs.

*If you want you don't have to shift right now.* I told him, knowing how little time he'd spent in the past month in his tiger form. "It might even be healthy to spend some time like that, talk with your cat spend some time with him. From what I've seen of your family a big part of their problem is the fact that they don't really listen to their cat very much."

Sergey paused and looked at me, his pale yellow eyes showing a bit of surprise, *Sir?* He asked as I walked over, crouched down and gave him a soft hug.

"Sergey one of the reasons I love what I am now, is precisely because I have my cat. He is part of the reason I managed to win that challenge yesterday. I listen to him and let him guide our body when we are doing something that he remembers, but I haven't learned yet."

His head nodded slightly, and he finally admitted. "Mom and dad didn't really encourage us to listen to our cats. In fact, they both said that we should seek to dominate, and control them, rather than listen to them."

"Well that is their loss then." I told him as I gave him a soft ear scratch. "I take it you haven't listened to that point of view?"

*Yeah, I've always felt that my cat and I are a perfect match, I can't try and dominate something that is part of who I am.* He told me as he softly began the growling purr of a contented big cat.

"I will never tell you to ignore him, in fact I will encourage you to listen to your cat and spend time with him. For today though I am going to make this your day off. Go hunt bunnies or something, have some fun, or just laze around in front of the fireplace in your favourite pool of sunlight."

He looked a bit shocked for a moment before he gave a brief nod, "For now I think I'm going to go with you, Anna, and Katy for breakfast. Then I will figure out what I am going to do with the rest of my day. Though that sunny spot in the living room is very tempting." With that said he walked out of the room before returning a short time later fully dressed.

I stepped forwards and gave my adopted son a gentle hug, "Sergey, you may think that you are simply my assistant, but to me you are far more than that, you are family to me and that means a great deal."

"Thank you," He looked down for a moment and then looked back up at me, his eyes brimming with tears. "Dad,"

At that point I felt my own eyes beginning to overflow and I simply settled for hugging him since I didn't trust my voice to convey exactly how I felt.

Anna, who I'd not noticed was awake yet, reared up on her hind legs and gave Sergey a rough hug as well, though I suspect that she was doing her best not to weigh to heavily on him since her cat was rather large.

"Morning love," I sent to her as the four of us stepped back and she dropped back down to all fours.

"Morning, my mate." She replied before walking from the room to shift and get ready. None of us needed to be in human form to go to the Pride House, but since we had things that we needed to take care of there that couldn't be done in tiger form we had to go human.

For the next week, the Pride had to get used to the fact that now we had 66 fewer cats than we had before the Night of the Moon, though in truth it was a bit of a blessing in disguise since the bonds felt a lot more harmonious than they'd been before. All of the remaining cats in the Pride were of the more modern stock, or at least modern in mindset, and were in wholehearted agreement that we couldn't remain isolated forever.

During that time, I'd also spent some energy to see if I could track down my mother's biological father. It was open knowledge within my family that she'd been adopted at birth, and she'd never had any desire to try and track down her birth mother. What made this particular search all that much harder was simply the amount of time that had passed since she was born. I'd had to talk to Alphas and Pride Matriarchs in Ontario to try locating him. I hit a bit of a dead end after finally getting something of an ID on the responsible cat. He'd been born in India during the English Mandate; his grandfather had been an English Officer during the original English wars in India and had mated with a local Indian Bengal.

After the Second World War, he'd served with the British Army in India during the Burma Campaign against the Japanese, he'd come to Canada and drifted around Ontario for a period of time up until the late 60's. After that point he left and disappeared to England.

Two days before Christmas I finally got some modern contact information for Reginald Smith-Harris and sat down at my computer, hoping the sat-link would hold for the call, and dialed his number.

"Hello?" A smooth, English accented voice answered, and I could hear a barest hint of Indian as well as of his cat.

"I am looking for Reginald Smith-Harris." I replied, letting a bare hint of my cat come through in my voice.

"Well I dare say that you've found him, now what can I do for you?"

"My name is Mark McEwan, and I've been hunting all over the place for specific person who was in Ontario in the later half of 1949."

"Well I was in that part of Canada during that time. Why do you ask?" He replied with a question, and I could hear some of his cat's curiosity.

"Did you have a human girlfriend?" I asked, my cat was also very intent on learning out the truth.

There was a slight pause on his end and finally he answered, "Yes, but she left me in October of that year and I couldn't find her again even though I did try."

I closed my eyes softly and wondered why my maternal grandmother had left him. "I don't know what happened to her either, but I do know one thing, she gave her daughter up for adoption at birth."

"Her..." I could almost feel his surprise and that surprise was tinted with sorrow. After a few moments to gather his thoughts he finally continued, "Her daughter?"

"Yes, thankfully she was born human, but I was able to pick up her nature a short time ago, after I was turned."

"How do you know this person?" He asked, and his voice was rather insistent.

"I'm her son," I told him honestly.

The man on the other end seemed to choke softly again before he regained control, "Perhaps, if I could visit, then I'd be able to tell if you were what you say you are, not even being able to see you doesn't help either."

"I agree on both aspects, though I'd have to check to see if I could have guests here." I told him, since the line wasn't secure I couldn't go into any kind of detail since doing so would risk exposure. "I could send you some pictures, and you could see if you can recognize anything from them." I told him, the pictures I would be sending would be of myself and my family, prior to my turn since my post turn pictures made my turn a bit more obvious. It wasn't anything to do with what I looked like, it was more to do with my size.

"Of course," He replied before giving me an email address to send them to.

A short time after I hung up the call and sent the pictures I got a return email, that told me that he was going to be coming for a visit as soon as he could.

On Christmas Eve, my parents played at being good grandparents by taking Katy and Sergey to the city for some fun, though I did have to make sure that Katy didn't shift while in the city before they left. When they returned later on in the afternoon, Katy was bouncing in her car seat and I could see a bit of a wicked gleam in my father's eyes.

"Dad how much chocolate did you feed my little pup?" I asked him, shivering slightly. They'd gone and wound her up till she was bouncing and now they were going to drop her in my lap.

Dad grinned even more and gave me a slightly innocent look, "What do you mean by that Mark?"

I growled shaking my head, "You know very well what I mean dad, you and mom did the old grandparent thing to her, spoiled her rotten, and then come home to drop my overwound toddler into my arms." Then I got a funny idea, "I can spike that plan though, quite easily in fact." I said as I picked Katy from her seat.

Dad shook his head slightly, "Well you got us first, when you gave her to us you failed to mention that she was going to fill her pants a short time after we left, that wasn't very nice."

I grinned at his mention of dealing with a messy pup, as I gently got Katy out of her clothes before getting her to shift to puppy. Within five minutes of that I joined her and played gently with my pup, and cub as both kids had a grand old time in the snow.

Two hours later I had to carry, my now sleeping pup into the house and lay her down onto a fresh puppy pad in front of the fireplace. She had snowballs in her fur and she was exhausted. What had made the whole thing particularly interesting was the fact that this had been the first time I'd ever had to carry her while I was in my tiger form and I'd been nervous about whether I could do it without injuring her.

After getting her situated on the pad I shifted and went to get some clothes on before I went back to talk to my parents, who'd watch the whole thing.

"Mark, you were very gentle for such a big cat." My dad said watching my pup sleep.

"Dad, I'm her adopted father, though I am still learning." I told him before stepping forwards to give him a firm hug.

"Mark, all of us are learning, even after 36 years of being a father I still know that I have a lot to learn." He replied as Sergey came into the room with steaming mugs of hot chocolate.

"Grandfather..." Sergey said before he handed my dad his cocoa.

Dad looked at him and then me. "Mark, what I can say is that I am proud of what you've done for both of your kids in giving them a loving home."

It was at that point that the front door opened and Anna came in. She'd been spending the day working on some issue with her mother, though she had been adamant that I not come to the Pride House today.

Her arrival made me more than a little nervous since I was fully aware of the age difference between myself and her, and how humans normally took something like that. "Mom, Dad, I know this may look strange, but the truth of the matter is that I've already found myself my mate, or rather more properly we've found each other."

"What do you mean it's strange?" My mother asked me pointedly.

"Mom part of it has to do with human perceptions of age differential. For us Weres age difference of even twenty years isn't all that serious of a problem, because in a span of four hundred years a couple of decades isn't really anything to speak of."

Mom looked at Anna, before she asked, "How old is she Mark?"

I was trying to come up with a reasonable answer before Anna walked over to me and took a place beside me and answered my mom. "Mrs. McEwan, I turned eighteen this past summer. Please don't look at your son as taking advantage of a young cat but rather rescuing me from the predations of a cat I really didn't like."

Both my parents looked at my mate before dad stepped forwards and gave her a hug. "As long as you both made the decision with your heads on straight we can't really say that we object. That information packet Mark gave us to read, summed it up fairly well, you guys didn't have much of an option on the fact that you were mates."

I nodded and stepped forwards to hug mom, "Thank you for understanding, tomorrow, if everything goes as planned, you will be able to meet with Shanna and Olaf."

"Who are they Mark?" Mom asked, once more I could see the curiosity of her buried cat coming to the surface. The impression I got of her cat was of youth and energy, which definitely matched with the woman that I knew as my mother. She'd played women's hockey with players who where more than half her age when she was in her mid to late fifties.

Anna quietly spoke up, anticipating my answer, "They are my parents, but they are also the leaders of the pride. My mom, Shanna, is the Matriarch and is the main leader of the Pride and my father, Olaf, is her Guardian and he's responsible for the defense and protection of all member of the Pride."

Both my parents looked to her and I could sense their interest and continued curiosity. "So, what does that make you Anna?" My mom asked, her buried cat once more leading the questioning.

Anna smiled slightly, "That makes me my parents' heir, I will be the next Matriarch for the Pride, and my mate will be the next Guardian."

At the last statement, both of my parents looked over at me and I could see my mom eyebrows arching slightly. "That sounds like you're going to be a busy person for quite a while Mark." My father said.

"Yes, dad I rather think I have been given a job that will challenge my abilities for the next few hundred years, but I feel that is probably better than any job I've ever had before."

He nodded softly, and I smiled recalling a conversation with Reginald the other day in which he'd been able to confirm to me that he had a flight into Prince George on Boxing Day, and that he was looking forwards to meeting his daughter, that he'd never met, and his grandson.

"For now, dad how about we enjoy a nice relaxing evening with family." I said as I watched Katy napping on the puppy pad in front of the fire.

Both of my parents agreed to that plan and the four of us in human form settled to sitting in front of the warm fire, sipping on cocoa and watching my pup napping while talking about a myriad of subjects.

The next morning, when everybody in the house got up, Chris, Robin, and Lea had all returned to Wild Valley for the Holidays, we really didn't need them until the spring when we'd start the upgrades, though they had assisted in getting a Wi-Fi link going between the Pride and the end of the fibre line.

The link I'd gotten connected was more than I thought you could do with a Wi-Fi link. It was rock solid and felt more like I was back in the city. The game that I used to test it was responding as fast if not faster than before and I'd had a massive evening of destruction playing WoT and setting a whole number of personal best scores.

Since it was Christmas morning, my mother and I, conspired to give Sergey the morning off as we cooked up a wonderful breakfast for the entire family. When he came down I sent him into the living room and told him that today he wouldn't have to worry about breakfast, though supper would once more come under his control.

A short time after I sent him to the living room I heard a cheer of happiness from the young cat as he found his stocking,

"Mark, go in, spend some time with your son." Mom told me, tapping me on the shoulder. "I can take care of breakfast."

"Mom you're part of this family as well." I replied, though I did really want to be there to see the look on Sergey's face when he pulled one of the most meaningful presents out of the stocking.

Mom gave my shoulder a slight push and nodded for me to go watch my son, and I relented, though I did make some noises about her joining us as soon as she could.

I was just getting into the living room when Sergey pulled a slightly curled manila envelop from his stocking, and I could see that he wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Go ahead Sergey, it won't bite." I told him, and I had to control, and suppress my cat's desire to broadcast our excitement over the Pride Bonds.

He looked down at the envelope and then at me before he pulled open the flap and looked inside, pulling out a sheet of paper. "Dad..." He said after reading it, and it dropped from his fingers as I walked over and gave him a soft hug. "How can I?"

"You don't have to Sergey." I answered as I bent down and picked up the paper from the floor, on it was a rather simple statement that I was adopting Sergey, officially and that I was also going to be adjusting his last name. He would never again have to bear the name of the family that had disowned him and had caused so much harm to the Blackwater Pride. Instead he would be able to hold his head up as Sergey Marakovitch McEwan, officially now my son.

He didn't say anything, but I could quite easily tell that my cub was crying as he held me tightly and buried his head into my shoulder embracing somebody that he felt that he could call father without shame.

"Mark, that was a wonderful thing you've done for him." I heard my father say from the stairway to the upper floor. "You've given him a good home, and a good father, I am proud of you." He continued before he stepped forwards and hugged the two of us.

It was at this point that Anna came down the stairs with Katy and I could see her smiling. "My dear mate, I felt something in your bonds get stronger. You've officially adopted Sergey, haven't you?"

"Yes dear, I have. He doesn't have to be ashamed of his last name anymore, instead he can be proud of it." I told her as Sergey began to regain some level of equilibrium. "Sergey, after today I would really rather you not call me sir. I will be your Pride Guardian at some point, but even then, you can still call me Dad. I know that some would look on that as less than proper, but I don't give a rat's ass about that."

"Thank you so much Dad. You don't know how much this means to me." He said, and I could see that his eyes were still brimming, though I could sense that he was almost deliriously happy about how things were going for him.

Katy chose that moment to glom onto her brother's leg and shout, "Kitty brother!"

Sergey looked down at his baby sister for a moment and then picked her up and hugged her. "Morning squirt." He said, and his tone of voice told me that I'd probably made him one of the happiest cats in the Pride this morning.