Precious time

As his mother's breathy reply whispered into his ear and his question was posed, he felt her leg slung over him. Letting her pull his smaller but growing body closer to her, he reciprocated by snuggling in closer to her soft fur. Feeling her curl tighter around him was comforting as he let his ruby eyes close. Resting his pink spotted face against her chest, he let a small smile curl the edges of his lips. So maybe his doubts were unjustified after all.

"I don't ever want to leave you or Habari," he mumbles into her fur as he breathes in her motherly scent. Even as he did grow up and become a pup of his own, this would always be home for him. By Recluse's side, in Habari, always there to protect her. While at times, he could care less for his other littermates, he did feel some sort of protectiveness over them too. There was nothing in this world that could stop Ghoul from making sure no one threatened their place in life. Being as young as he was, he had never considered being the heir, not yet at least. No, he was content being the shadow that silently kept watch.

"Do you think he'll be a good dad?" The question comes without consideration. He hardly knows Eraithus, but Ghoul didn't know his father and never would. It pained him to think that Recluse would accept a man into her life to father more pups, but also not be there. Most of the time, Ghoul didn't think anything of it. Recluse was his mother and that was all he needed. But now that she had Eraithus, he wondered what it would be like to have a fatherly figure around. Surely, it was a more adult concept to him than he could truly understand.

G H O U L