Regulus Anatolii Adravendi

He crashed through the river, glad to find a shallow area. He’d left his warning with his sister, and he hoped she’d heed it and keep the children, though they were mostly yearlings by now, well insulated from the borders for however long it took to sort things out. Marina’s information had been valuable. There were two up there, and he had a general idea of how to go about this all. But first he had to catch up with Justice before she could walk into a possible death sentence. He lengthened his strides, back into a run, pushing himself and not pausing as he sent up a low howl to the yearling. Her scent was fresh enough to mean she would be close enough to hear a muted call, so he didn’t raise his voice too far beyond what was needed to carry to her ears. He just needed her to stop and wait for him. Either way, he kept up his ground-eating run, barreling through the land until her dark form came into sight. He slowed to a stop, taking a moment to breathe before he cast her a glance. “Very glad I caught up with you,” He remarked dryly before gazing around at the surroundings. A low stone barrier spread across the way north, a broken section providing a main path through to the northern lands. He sniffed at the air, testing for the male’s scent and finding nothing particularly fresh. “There may be real trouble ahead.”

Justice had grown restless with waiting for Fable, and - not being blessed with an overabundance of patience - she'd struck out on her own for the north. There had been an Ancora pack up there, she was sure of it, so her missing brother and father must have gone there to visit. She hadn't announced to anyone that she was leaving, but she hadn't exactly tried to hide it either, so she wasn't completely surprised when she heard a soft call for her attention. It wasn't Fable like she'd hoped it would be, though, and a potent mixture of keen disappointment and hot anger made her ignore the call for the moment. What was Fable doing that was so much more important than helping her find their brother and father? As rebellious as she was feeling, though, she wasn't stupid enough to think she could outrun her alpha with his much longer legs, nor was she angry enough to think it was a good idea. Besides, she had to admit to herself before she could force herself to stop and wait, it wasn't Regulus' fault Fable hadn't bothered to come with her. She couldn't stop the faint scowl though, or her ears pinning back and tail lashing behind her as she stood glaring at the strange stone wall in lieu of her absent family. His words had the ring of actual importance, though, not just the lecture on leaving by herself that she'd half expected, and her ears perked at him before she set her eyes back to the horizon over the wall to watch alertly for said trouble. Her body language had changed completely, from rebellious-angsty-teen straight into vigilant guardian. Regulus didn't have to worry; she had his back. No way trouble was getting through her. "What kind of trouble? Does it have to do with Da and Valor?" ""

Regulus Anatolii Adravendi

He eyed the posture in the yearling’s frame and raised a brow point in a stern expression until it dropped away at his warning. “First, sit. I need to catch my breath, and we need to let you cool your head a bit. What comes after we head on needs a cool mind and clear eyes.” It wasn’t a suggestion, and he followed his own command as his haunches lowered to the frozen ground. He waited until she sat, not speaking until she did, preferably with a few cleansing breaths to boot. Once he was sure her attention was focused on him, he began. “It could include Valor and your father, since their scents pass through here, but I can’t be sure yet. This is a packs-wide threat, however. A little bit ago, Marina was exploring up here, toward an old wrecked ship. She was confronted, and attacked – mauled, Justice – by a male there, larger than me, who raped her. She also reported that he mentioned a female, and that there were signs that they, or at the very least he, was a cannibal. She got away, but she’s very badly injured and in my brother’s care. And she’s pregnant.” Those fathomless sapphires bore into her amethyst eyes as he growled in a low rumble, “I know you’re angry. I know you’re stubborn - which can be as much of a good thing as a bad thing, mind you - and I know you’re sure of yourself, but if you had gone up there alone, and come up against both wolves there, or even one, you would be badly hurt, or even killed. Even worse, you could have ended up raped, too, and there would be no guarantee if you’d be allowed to live.” He turned his gaze toward the north around the edge of one side of the wall. He’d taken care to sit behind it, to mask his bright coat. “I want you to think. I am not lecturing you because I think you aren’t a good fighter for not having been formally trained, or that you don’t have a lot of great potential. You have both. This has nothing to do with skill. I’m skilled, and trained, and even I wouldn’t go up there alone. I’m not lecturing you because I’m trying to put you down. It’s because I care about you and your family, and the pack as a whole. It would be a crime if I didn’t do all I could to assure everyone’s safety. I won't stop you from coming with me. Your family could be involved, and you have every right to be involved in this, too. But I need you to have a clear, cool head, and sharp eyes, as much to have my back as I can have yours. I don't have eyes in the back of my head or in my butt.” He ended with a chuckle. His eyes turned back to hers as he rose, feeling he’d rested enough and hoping she understood him, “Now. What is the first thing you do, before heading into a possibly dangerous situation?” In part, he would use this as a lesson, in hopes that it would keep her focused and thinking her way through the following recon trip. He wouldn’t send her home, though his first instinct was to protect and insulate her. She had a right to be here, as a pack member, and as a family member to two of the missing wolves that could be in danger.

His first words put an incredulous twist to her mouth and she glanced down at the cold ground before raising her brows at him. "Oh sure, sit you say, just put my ass on the cold hard ground!" But she sat anyway, shifting and adjusting so she was resting on her hocks rather than her butt. Gray-backed ears swiveled and rotated constantly even while she kept up a steady stream of grumbling under her breath as she got comfortable. Once she was as still as she was going to get with that icy cold just a short distance from her rump, he continued on to explain what the problem was. As he spoke her ears dropped flat against her skull, hackles rising. "That rainbow woman?" she interrupted indignantly. That wasn't fair! Her mate had already abandoned her and stolen her children, and this unknown male overpowered her and violated her? And left her pregnant? How the fuck did he think he could possibly get away with something that... that... evil? Justice's sturdy body was stiff, her head swiveled towards the opening in the wall. North, to where her brother and father had gone. North, to where this male had attacked Marina. But Regulus was lecturing her now and she swiveled back towards him impatiently. Even with her attention and her gaze focused on him, she was already mentally tuning it out. Blah blah blah, danger danger danger, something something lecture-y... come on already, she was ready to go! All this talk was time wasting. "Yeah, I got it," she said, swallowing back the much more snarky reply that threatened to follow. A snarky reply would just mean a longer lecture or being sent back home, which meant she'd have to disobey her alpha and it would be one big clusterfuck, and she didn't have time for clusterfucks. No, Justice was focused on one thing, like an arrow with the bow drawn and ready to loose. "Not so different than dealing with a cougar, just bigger and with less pointy ends." At his question she tilted her head slightly in thought. Well there were a lot of first things you could do when something was dangerous - her own first instinct was to just jump in head first but that was clearly not the answer he was looking for after his lecture on the dangers. "Gather information?" she hazarded instead. ""

Regulus Anatolii Adravendi

A quiet frown crossed his expression. He had a feeling, judging from the attentive-not-attentive expression as he’d been speaking, that she’d tuned him out somewhere in the talk. Couldn’t be sure where, but it brought a soft sigh of disappointment. He didn’t want to put teeth to her, but he would if he felt she wasn’t getting the picture. She had at least been paying enough attention to give a correct answer. He nodded quietly and stepped around the wall, gazing out. “Gather information. Plan your infiltration, work with the land. Pay attention to the surroundings, wind, and the scents they carry. Pay attention to the wildlife. Birds will spread the word if they see anything out of place. And try to work things into your favor. Never engage another wolf in a fight when you’re closed in and can be backed into a corner, unless you’re much, much smaller than the wolf and can squeeze out of a tight spot, or you aren't given time to choose. And always try to have backup.” His head lowered, taking in the scents. Valor’s was the oldest, though not by much. Creed’s layered on top of it. They were both stale. He trailed the path, letting Justice follow, and keeping carefully to one side of the trail to avoid marring the scents further and allowing her to study them as well. Eventually they drew upon the Sparse Pines, with younger trees, and a newer scent joined theirs, around the same time as Valor’s, with Creed’s over top. Here he stopped, waiting for Justice to catch the change, as well, and prompting, in case she hadn’t, “There, do you smell anything different?” As he waited, he turned his head slightly, still toward her, but angled in such a way that he could scan their surroundings, to the north in particular, without being too obvious. Well. As inconspicuous as one could get with a bright red coat. Once she'd noted anything she'd noticed, they would move on into the Pines, and keep following the trail.