Tolly trailed behind Cas, brushing up against his legs happily when Cas said he loved him. He was tempted to shift back to being human, but he knew he'd be naked when he did and it would be decidedly less awkward for everyone involved if he stayed canine.
Cas glanced down at tolly with a smile "heard that one didn't you?" He teased, ruffling Tolly's fur.
The female laughed softly at the interaction "you two would be beautiful as mates."
Cas blushed even more and nodded in a sheepish thanks
"What about you? No mates yet?" Cas asked, trying to get the attention off of him
She shook her head "not yet."
Tolly barked happily leaning up to nose playfully at Cas' hand. He'd been planning to mate Cas for a while, it just seemed like the suddenness would scare him away- the last thing Tolly wanted. His eyes trailed back to the she-wolf when the conversation shifted, head tilting with interest as she talked about her mating life.
"not yet?! A beautiful she wolf like yourself doesn't have a mate yet?!" Cas sighed dramatically and shook his head in disappointment
The female blushed "you know how strict we are with males. Unless they stay true to their mates forever."
He nodded "I know, I know, but still."
She shrugged " I'm content without anyone for now." She glanced up as they neared a treeline "hush now. We're entering the pack. Keep your head down and don't look any of them in the eyes."
Tolly nodded at her instructions, though he knew he probably didn't need to because she was completely focused on Cas, and pressed a bit closer to his human. He was basically pressed up against Cas' leg, nuzzling his thigh affectionately to try and soothe his own worries.
Cas laughed softly "easy beautiful one." He whispered, gently stroking his fur. He glanced up as they neared a cliff edge. The female stopped and knelt down. She motioned for cas and tolly to do the same
"You may rise Dae. No need for formalities when it comes to Castelon." A black haired, pale skined woman said from her perch. Cas rose and smiled "thank you Kitira." He bowed in respect to the female
Tolly did the same as the she-wolf, tilting his head down and settling on his hind legs. His tail shifted anxiously behind him, the bushy black fur slowly starting to kick up dust. He whined softly when Cas stood, looking up at him with nervous eyes before he remembered he hadn't been allowed to look up yet and hurridly turned his gaze back to the ground.
Kitira inclined her head and made her way down to where they were. Some of the wolves came to gather around. She hugged cas as well as dismissed the patrol. "Now who's this?" She asked, tilting her head to Tolly "you may rise, young male."
Tolly hurried to his feet, meandering slowly backward until he could hide behind Cas' legs. This woman seemed dangerous, and he'd had enough experience with other werewolves to learn that his intuition when it came to these things was almost never wrong.
Cas glanced behind him at tolly and patted his head reasuringly "This is Tolly, my boyfriend. We're just here visiting mom and dad." Cas explained, walking with Kitira to the cliffs to her den. She motioned for tolly to join them. "Ah so he's your special one. very rare to come by those now a days." He gave tolly a pointed look, silently promising worlds of pain if he hurt Cas.
Tolly gave her a squinty-eyed glare in return, offended that she'd even think he could hurt someone as wonderful as Cas. He kept close to his human, making sure to brush the backs of his legs every so often as they walked and never taking his eyes off Kitira.
Kitira gave him a small nod before gesturing them inside the den "Dae tells me youre together but not mated. Taking things slow are we?" she laughed and offered them tea, her golden eyes shining in the darkness of he cave. Cas blushed and sat down across from Kitira, thanking her for the tea and taking a sip. "you know mating involves a little more than commitment. I'm not ready to go that far yet." he took another sip of the tea and smiled "I see you've used the tea blend I gave you last time."
Tolly padded across the ground to sit near Cas, plopping his head down in his human's lap with a soft huff. He eyes the tea suspiciously, leaning up to sniff at his quietly before he turned his eyes up to Cas- silently asking if he could have a sip.
Cas glanced down at him and smiled, offering his some tea and ruffling his hair.
Kitira watched them for a second and smiled "yes I did, we moght need more soon. Our supplies are running low."
Cas smiled softly and nodded, stroking tolly's hair soothingly "i'll see when we can get more hibiscus flowers, mom should be growing more soon."
Kitira glanced down at tolly her golden gazed fixed on his "you have a very special one here. No one makes tea like him." She winked and glanced back as one of the wolves called to her, the one from before, delihlah
Tolly took a sip happily, stretching up to rest his head on Cas' shoulder. He let out a happy rumble when Kitira said he was lucky, shooting her a look that managed to say 'oh yes, I know' without ever using any words. His gaze snapped back to the mouth of the cave when Delihlah called.
"Escuse me fore one second." Kitira met Delihlah outside and talked with her a bit
Cas turned to tolly "I see you and Kitira are getting along just great." He teased, rubbing the patch of fur that covered his nuzzle above his nose
Tolly growled playfully, leaning into the petting with a happy sigh when Cas started to pet him. His tail wagged happily behind him, slapping the floor in an enthusiastic rhythm.
Cas laughed softly and kissed his nose
Kitira came back in and sat down "sorry about that, patrol report." She took a sip of tea "mm, how rude of me, I'll see what I can find for you Tolly to wear." she got back up and headed to the back of the cave
Tolly let out a happy little yip and licked his cheek. He settled when Kitira came back into the room, snuggling into Cas' thigh with a grateful bark as she left to find him something to wear.
Kitira came back shortly with a larger shirt, shorts and pants draped over her arm "here, try these while I bring cas around to say hi to everyone. We'll probably be in the clearing when you finish up." she nodded to cas. "i''l see you soon," he kissed tolly's head and stood up to join Kitira outside
Tolly nodded, leaning up to lick Cas' hand goodbye before he wandered a little further into the cave, just out of view of everyone else, and shifted back. He stretched lazily, wincing as his back cracked angrily. His joints always got messed up after he shifted for long periods of time, he and Ilya used to joke that it was the fairy in him coming through. He tossed on the clothes, glad the pants had a tie at the waist so he could keep them from slipping off. The shirt was so big he was practically drowning in it, but he tossed it on anyways and padded out into the clearing.
Cas was in the back where the pups were, playing around with them and letting them climb ontop of him while Kitira and Delihlah were watching and talking a few feet away. Some of th e mothers were around as well, making sure the pups didn't hurt Cas. a small gray pup, only a few weeks old at the most waws on cas's stomach while another was pawing at his hair with a tiny white paw. Cas laughed and giggled, careful not to pinch any tails as he rolled around with the wolf pups
Tolly smiled warmly and jogged out to meet him, plopping down by his head after making sure the pups were far from underfoot. He couldn't help but melt at the sight of Cas playing with all those little puppies, reaching over to take his boyfriend's hand a press a kiss to his knuckles. "Hey, baby."
"Hey!" he sat up slowly and curled up next to tolly. some of the puppies sniffed at tolly cautiously, some straigh up growled at him and made their way to cas. Cas laughed in surprise as one of the puppies lunged at tolly "hey, none of that now." the puppy looked up at cas and licked his hand "better, no biting guests." the puppy looked at tolly and sniffed the air around him with a small bark
Tolly laughed when the puppy lunged at him, loud and joyful. It was sweet to see how much the puppies loved Cas and wanted to protect him, even if Tolly wouldn't count himself as much of a threat. He wrapped an arm around Cas' waist, holding a hand out for the little guy to sniff and see that he meant no harm. "It's okay, little guy. I'm not gonna hurt him."
The puppy reached his head over and sniffed at his hand. He licked him before squirming out of cas's hold and heading over to his mother. Cas laughed and leaned into tolly, watching as the other puppies claymored about. One of the puppies sdttled herself in cas's lap while her head rested on tolly's leg. "Tired, little one?" Cas cooed, gently nudging her head
Tolly was smiling too, gently petting the little pup's head. It was kind of wonderful, to be so trusted by something so small and innocent, and he couldn't help the pleased glow that was practically radiating off him. He pressed closer to Cas, tucking his human up against his side with a happy hum. "Your voice gets really high when you talk to them, Cas. It's adorable."
Cas glanced up at tolly and smiled, his happiness infecting him. "Yeah, it tends to do that around younger kids." He tickled the pup's belly. She squeaked a bark "aw does that feel good little one?"
She swatted at his hand playfully whele letting out a little awoo
Tolly smiled at the two of them, scratching behind the pup's ears with a soft laugh. Her voice was so small and squeaky, she couldn't be more than a few months old. "It's so weird to see them like this, I can't imagine being so little."
Cas shook his head "isn't that typical of a wolf family? The females are smaller than the males?" He asked, waving his hand over the puppy in a little game of keep away