Kill 'em with kindness

He’d just finished his patrol of the Plains and was just beginning to make the circuit around the Lake when a familiar – sort of – voice called out for the family from a point just ahead. Regulus tipped his head back, answering the familial call with a baritone song, acknowledging Leo, and letting the fellow Alpha know he’d be there shortly. Now, he had heard the call earlier in the year, before his mother and he had come down with that last cold, and she’d let him know who it was. Leo. Cousin Leo. So he took his time, knowing his cousin would likely like to sit and catch his breath from a long walk to the wester. The mangroves were all the way across the continent, and that was a long walk.

The call hadn’t been urgent; no notes of pain, fear, anger, or negative emotion had colored his cousin’s voice. So he made sure to take his time in laying a solid, thick mark in his wake, ensuring the borders were announced loud and clear, and that outsiders would know the primary leader was healthy, strong, and willing to take on opposition. As the russet Adravendi came into sight, Regulus greeted him with a cheerful – if regal – wag of his tail, picking up his pace from a slow amble to a gliding stroll until he came to stand before the smaller male, haunches lowering to a seated position on the ground.

“Hello, Cousin Leo. How are you today?” His baritone rumble was amiable, welcomingly warm as he swept his fathomless sapphire gaze over his kin’s form, checking him out for hurts or illnesses. Leo had his immense respect, after he had watched the russet, white marked man – a painting in negatives of his mother, Epiphron – beat off a Challenge for Fiori by a young male. The same male Luck had been with. What had become of her?