The sun was setting as a large dark male sat down on the edge of the forest, looking out at the sun setting on the horizon from his vantage point on the cliffs. Down below him he could hear the sound of water from the river that snaked through the valley, the same river that fed the pool at his home, the river that separated his territory from the Treeshadow's. But his mind was as far as it could be from the world around him, from his neighbors. No, he had much more pressing matters on his mind.Back in his den, the most beautiful, charming female he had ever laid eyes on was dozing, a group of squirming little bodies nursing from her as she rested.
He was a father.
Azrael, the death-bringer, the heartless herbalist, the feared Huntsman of the deepest jungle was a father. Sure, he had no delusions that the possibility of him having fathered cubs in the past was unlikely. Like any male he had urges and there were plenty of females out in the savannah that didn't mind a rendezvous in the depths of the night. But if he had children out there, he didn't know about them, frankly didn't even really care much about them. These cubs were a different story. He had never cared about a female before. The ones he had screwed in the past, he'd never even given them his name, much less taken them home with him. The jungle was the haven for him, for the Treeshadow, the Healer, and the Ghost. Bringing strangers into the land, none of them particularly cared for it. If someone was new, they were either trespassing or had been brought into the lands by someone who trusted them. He didn't really have anyone he trusted that well and was generally just a little put off when his neighbors brought new lives into the world they all called home.
Andais was the first female he was drawn to so greatly that he had to have her. At first it had just been a fierce possession, he needed to have her and barely understood why. But in the end that changed nothing. He had captured her and in the end he grew to understand that while it was her beauty and scent that had drawn him to her, it was her heart and her spunk that allowed the captive lioness to capture his heart.
When he thought he had lost her, when Crue had taken her and almost killed her he had known he was lost to her. The first moment that he held her after he had rescued her was the first time his heart started beating again after he had returned home and found her missing with his lands reeking of Crue's scent.
And by some miracle she had grown to love him in return. It was such a strange thing, to love someone. The fear and worry for those you love could cripple an individual and yet knowing that she loved him in return, knowing that he had something worth living for, worth fighting for... It made him feel more powerful than a god. She was his and nothing in this world would take her from him, not if he had anything to say about it.
And she had given him something equally as precious as her heart. She had given him sons and daughters. Each one was a perfect combination of him and the lioness he loved. He knew then that if he ever saw Crue again that he would kill him. He wasn't going to risk anything happening to his mate or his children and as long as his former "brother" was still alive, there would always be a threat. The Treeshadow, he had already come to visit, his congratulations sincere. Ever since Andais had shown up in his life, Az was becoming less of the cold-hearted monster he thought he was and more of a... well, at least more respectable. He spent more time with the older leopard, and sharing healing and herbal arts with the Healer, an older lioness who lived on the other side of his territory. He generally spent more time conversing with her daughter, the Golden Bird, but the lioness had disappeared a few days ago and no one knew where she had gone to. The Healer had been beside herself with worry and was now for the most part in seclusion. There was certainly nothing Az could do to help her, he wasn't fit for comforting another creature.
Comfort... Andais was his comfort. He just couldn't believe that he was a father, that he had a female who actually loved him much less one who loved him as much as Andais did. She was more than he could ever have hoped for in his life. How did a b*****d like him ever get so lucky as to have a female like her, to have a family when he deserved nothing? How was it, that a male who grew up so cold, who had brought death to anyone he might have cared about, how could he have been blessed as he now was?
The birthing had gone well, he had given her what he could for the pain and each cub had been born perfect, healthy and whole. Two darling girls and three strong little boys, it was more than he could have hoped for. And his mate, his love, his heart was fine, tired, but fine. It was as if he had been given a second chance at a better life than he had once lead, and on top of that an apology for the heartaches he had experienced in his youth.
His contemplation waned as the night started to rise over the land. He needed to go hunting, to find something for Andais to eat. He didn't want her moving a single muscle until her strength was completely back. And if that meant pampering her for a while, he didn't mind. In fact, Az thought he rather liked pampering his beloved. It made him feel useful and appreciated. He smiled at the thought of her happy and the look on her face as she lay there nursing their cubs.
Without a backward glance at the setting sun, he turned away and hurried back into the trees, wanting to get this hunt over with as soon as possible so that he could go home.
Home to his family.
WC: 1,207
