I wasn't sure how much later it was, when I woke up, still in my chair with Tanya still in my lap, though I could sense that she was still sleeping. There was a knock on the door before I realized that the knocking had woken me up. As I sat up I realized something else, the pull-up that Tanya was wearing had leaked and she was still sleeping deeply. Under the circumstances though I completely understood, though I was half wondering if it would be better to put her into something a bit more absorbent.

As I was wondering that the door to the office opened and both Zane, who I wasn't expecting, as well as my father, walked into the room. "Zane, this is a surprise." I stated stretching slightly before a welcome form dodged around the two coming into the office and placed a mug of coffee on the desk in front of me. "Thank you, Sergey." I told him before he quickly left the office.

Zane looked a bit grouchy as he walked over to me and then grinned slightly at seeing the sleeping cub in my lap before he gently picked her up and turned to a she-wolf who had been following him. "Take care of her and get her cleaned up please. I don't think she would really appreciate waking up soaking wet." He told her before he stretched and turned around to face me. "Nice scenery here, reminds me a bit of home, though this place is enormous. Are you sure you want to keep this mansion for the Pride?"

Dad chuckled beside him before he said, "Zane, us cats like having a reasonable amount of space, though I can see that there is a lot of work to be done."

Zane shook his head and sighed. "We just arrived here, that access road is abominable I've seen nicer goat tracks, we had to walk from the gate because it would be impassible for the busses." He commented before he carried on. "I've gotten some members of your assault team to take a rest, they looked about ready to collapse on their feet."

I nodded and stood up before looking at my lap. "Not sure if I should get her to wear something a bit more... at least when she is sleeping." I said ruefully.

Dad gave a short chuckle but Zane nodded, "Might not really be a bad idea, considering what I felt when I picked her up." Zane commented, "I brought some she-wolves with us to help with your orphaned cubs. I figure that they would be better than our males under the circumstances, not quite as threatening. They are all armed, heavily, but their weapons are concealed." He finished before my father spoke up.

"What needs to be done now Mark?" my dad asked calmly looking around. "I am guessing that the bomb you talked about earlier has been taken care of?"

"Yes, dad the bomb is no longer here." I laughed recalling the EOD tech's desire to have the damned thing as part of his collection of things that go boom. "Right now, I need to begin getting the move started, we're going to have to get a low deck for the IS, the Grizzly and the Bimp."

Dad laughed since all three weren't deactivated and were operational, though the IS-2 really needed a rebuild on the V-2IS Diesel Engine since it barfed white smoke and didn't provide anywhere near the 600hp that it was rated to, though I suspected that during the rebuild it would probably be upgraded to provide more power and be less... smoky.

Zane looked at the two of us as we talked, "I take it you're talking about some vehicles which you guys probably shouldn't have?"

I laughed before nodding. "The Grizzly is a M4A1 built in Montreal, though it has had a number of modifications since it was constructed." I began, "The IS is actually an IS-2M, though the engine in it needs significant work, and lastly the Bimp is actually a BMP-1 armoured fighting vehicle."

Zane's eyes bugged a bit before he shook his head and growled, "Tanks, this pride has damned tanks..."

"Yes Zane, though right now they are probably more bother than they are worth, the only one that isn't seventy years old is the BMP-1, and even then you could piss at it and penetrate the armour on it." I commented, "The biggest issue we will be facing with them is getting them up here. I've checked out the garage, and there is almost six times as much space here as there is back at Blackwater. Vladimir didn't do anything reasonably, instead we have everything oversized. Not that I am complaining, since that means that we can maintain them and have easy access to them when we require it."

He nodded and I could see that he was less than pleased that we had them. "Wish I'd know that sooner." He grumbled as I turned to my dad,

"I need you to take over here, I need to talk with West Caledonia to see if we can get a neutral location selected to talk with Ice Lake and get at least a cease fire so that we can move without getting shot at."

At that Zane looked at me, "Don't bother Mark, I can take care of that miserable wolf-pack for you."

I looked at my friend and growled, "Zane this is my responsibility as the Pride Lord of Blackwater Pride. We need to end this damned war before anybody else is killed!" I said thumping my fist on the desk before a small form came through the door and dodged both Zane and my father before hugging my waist tightly. Without thinking I reached down and picked her up, "Zane losing cats isn't easy, I've felt each and every loss but what is worse is what that maniac put the people here through. You haven't seen the orphans, other than this little girl, yet. There are so many of them, all are hungry and in each one I can see their cats asking me... Why? What did I do bad?" I faltered and shuddered hugging Tanya tightly and resting my nose in her soft brown hair. I couldn't speak as I recalled the haunted gazes of the innocent cubs after I'd barged into the room as Analisa was collapsing in death. The last time that something had bothered me this much it had taken me years to recover properly, and even now the thought of that terrible thing still had the power to bring me to tears. "He will never be able to suffer for long enough to pay for all the lives that he's ruined Zane." I whispered, as I tried to gain some level of control over my emotions before my father cam around the desk and gave me a soft hug.

"Zane, I know that you're a bit of a hard-case, but you have to realize that my son is a deeply sensitive cat who tends to wear his heart on his sleeve. Some would call that a weakness, but for us here it is really a sign of strength since we all love that he cares for us."

Zane paused for a moment and then nodded, "Mark I am an orphan, as you well know, so is my sister. I understand. I will go deal with Ice Lake, if the Alpha there give my any kind of crap I will challenge him and beat the shit out of him. We don't need any more potential accidental introductions to the public, that bomb scared the crap out of me because if it had been detonated we could kiss our secrecy goodbye." He said, "With that in mind I could handle those wolves at Ice Lake for you." From the way he said it I could tell that he was being completely serious when he said that

I closed my eyes and sat up, taking a healthy gulp of my coffee before I looked across the desk at him as he sat in one of the overstuffed chairs. After all it had only been three days since he'd been injured and he didn't have the stamina yet to keep going like he normally would. "No Zane, I can handle Ice Lake myself, they may not like us, but this is a matter that concerns us, Blackwater Pride, he will need to talk to either myself or Anna to end this war." I said rather firmly, "I can wait until we get ourselves all moved here before I give myself time to grieve over the losses that we've suffered in the last few days, as well as those that were sustained her du to Vladimir's madness." I carried on as I stood up and looked to my father with the little kitten in my arms I couldn't do much, furthermore my lap was still damp from her leaky pull-up.

Zane gave a rumbling growl and glared at me. "Mark, I am going to be rather blunt," He said which almost made me laugh because in the two years that I'd known him one thing that I'd found refreshing was his ability to cut through diplomatic bullshit and cut to the chase. "You aren't in the right place to deal with that pack of rabid wolves, furthermore you're a cat and you don't always understand what motivates a wolf. I am a wolf, I can speak to them in ways that you can't, I will deal with this unless you call Adam and he orders me not to. You need to take care of your people now, that is something that I can't do nearly as well as you can." He stood up and came up to me before gently laying his hand on Tanya's back. "This little girl is an example of what I mean, I couldn't do what you're doing for her right now and if you leave now to go and try and growl at Ice Lake..." He left anything else unsaid as he removed her hand when Tanya flinched. "Take care of your Pride and I will deal with that pack. I know what I am doing since Adam, and the Academy have trained me well. Besides that, you still look exhausted, you need to sleep, and not just in your office chair but in a real bed." He finished before he gave my shoulder a good squeeze, though I could still feel some of the weakness in his fingers.

After considering what he'd said I finally nodded with a sigh, "Okay Zane, you deal with them. I only really have one condition at this point in time, we are allowed to leave on our own schedule, without them shooting at us, anything else is secondary." I told him before I looked around the rather opulent office. The funny thing was that it featured the same heavy wooden furniture and dark colour palate as his old office at his old house at the Pride had featured before I got a hold of it. Though this time the décor suited the office because now, with all of the decorations in place it somehow seemed... fitting. "Zane our cubs, their families, our Protectors, and our Juniors, those are what matter to me." I said softly as Tanya hugged my neck tightly. "This kitten here has been through so much and suffered at the hands of those that built this place a that although she's almost eight she isn't acting like it."

The look that Zane gave me was rather grim and I could tell that he was feeling something of what I was feeling when he said, "Don't worry about it. Since you are now part of the treaties I can threaten to call on all of the packs in the treaties to deal with them if they want to play games with me. It wouldn't leave much of their pack left behind, and they'd probably be split up. No Alpha in his right mind want that, as I am sure you well know. You will have the time you need to move, and I will make sure that you get a fair payment for your property." He finished while his eyes stayed on the child in my arms. "I understand precisely where you're coming from since I have pups of my own. They mean the world to me, as does their mother." He said in a soft voice before he headed for the door, "I will contact you later, I am heading back now to deal with this, I'm going to be taking Simone with me." I heard an amused growl since I figured that he was looking forwards to meeting the Alpha of Ice Lake, "Us Weres, we need to stick together, and not cause problems. Sooner than later we're going to have to come out and wars like these don't help matters."

"Thank you, Zane." I said to his retreating back before I turned to my father and we began to work out a basic plan for the move and where we would put our pride-mates while the renovations were being carried out.

After we'd spent some time I headed to the West Wing, and the Pride Lord's quarters to see exactly how Vladimir lived, and the opulence and sheer luxury of his quarters both surprised me and dismayed me. He had quite obviously pinched pennies everywhere else in finishing his Pride House, yet here he had spent almost as much as he'd spent in the rest of the house's finishing combined. Though the colour palate needed a refresh the arrangement and general layout of the quarters would remain as they were.

When I woke up, some hours later, with Tanya cuddle up close to me I had to smile as she was absolutely adorable in her sleep. Her soft brown hair and clear pale skin along with the absorbent undergarment she was wearing almost made me forget that she was seven and a half years old. I smiled down at her before I climbed from the huge California King bed and went to use the washroom. I'd just finished up when she came up to me and I could see that she was afraid.

"Where were you Da... Mark?" She stammered as I crouched down to hug her, though she took that as an invitation to be picked up.

I closed my eyes and knew that this was coming, but I couldn't consult Anna this time on this case. I simply had to go with my instincts as I finally responded. "Kitten if you want you can say what you almost said there before. It will not bother me, though you will be gaining two brothers and a sister." I told her softly.

Her response was to burst into tears and hug me tightly all the while saying the name that she'd almost called me before. "Daddy... Daddy..." She cried hugging almost desperately her eyes full of tears and her voice telling me how much it meant to her that I accept her.

While she was crying, I leaned forwards and gently touched my forehead to hers completing the bond and I gasped as the searing raw pain in her mind flowed into mine. The images didn't stop as her memories washed into my mind, and I saw with brutal clarity how Vladimir's rule had affected those innocent cubs who simply had the misfortune to be born into his house in the last eleven years.

I was still coming to grip with those terrible memories from Tanya's mind when four cats burst into the room. My father was leading them, and not far behind were two other Protectors as well as my son Sergey. "Mark? Are you okay?" My father growled, his claymore in his hand and his eyes scanning around for threats.

"Yes dad, I am going to be okay." I told him blinking the tears from my eyes. "I guess you can say that you've gotten another granddaughter, though she's suffered more than you can possibly imagine for one so young." I said roughly as Tanya was finally beginning to calm down. Now I didn't question why she was almost acting like a baby. Ever since she was little more than a toddler she'd only known privation, horror, and abuse. Both of her parents had been taken from her when she was very young and she'd been there to see it. For the first time in her living memory I was showing her love, compassion, and patience.

Sergey came over from behind my dad and the two Protectors and came up beside me. "Hello little sister." He said shudderingly and when I looked over I saw the tears in his eyes. "I can't tell you how sorry I am that my father got away with this... this... horror." He stammered before I used my free arm to grab him into a hug.

"Sergey that monster doesn't deserve that title. He may have been the one to provide the genetic material... and that other monster may have given birth to you, but neither defined you." I said softly. "You defined yourself and broke away from their influence before you became like your brothers." I finished.

"That's when I was assigned to you dad, you gave me hope and a home where I could truly be proud of what I am." He finished, "I will help where I can, it's the least I can do here for those that the one who made me tried to destroy." He said before turning to leave.

"Sergey, I am proud of you son." I told him, "Sometimes I may get you to watch your new sister for me, though for the time being I don't think that will be a thing since she's stuck to me like a limpet."

Sergey nodded and gave me a wan smile. "I look forwards to it dad, though I have spent some time in the crèche as well..." He trailed off slowly.

"That's good Sergey, those cubs need all the help that they can get under the current circumstances." I told him, already figuring out that he'd already found a cub or two to take care of.

He nodded as did my father. "Those little twin boys, they're only six..." He shivered.

I placed a hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes, "Sergey, I trust you to do the right thing. You watch and take care of them like you would if they were born from you and Minali okay?"

He nodded, "Yes dad, I will." He said as he hugged me.

Not only had I gained a daughter today I'd also obviously gained two grandsons, the thought made me laugh a bit and I smiled slightly and glanced over at my father, who nodded himself as he sheathed his claymore. By this point the two Protectors had left the room and headed down the elevator to one of the levels below the Leader Suite.

A short time later I was back in the office leaning back in the overstuffed chair that Vladimir had used, and I looked out at the nearby mountains while I thought about random things. I'd not had a whole lot of time in the past few days and sometimes sitting and thinking would give me clarity on a situation. One thing about the whole situation here bothered me, how on earth had Vladimir managed to afford this whole set-up? And how in the hell did he still have massive piles of money afterwards?

On that thought I began going over the entire office, beside the bookshelf in one corner of the office I found a locked wardrobe closet, though I couldn't find the key I knew that if I really wanted to I probably could have forced it open. After spending ten minutes, with Tanya looking around the office I ended up back in the chair while staring at the desk in front of me. Above my knees in the center of the desk was a decorative panel that was about two inches deep that almost looked like a drawer, though I couldn't see any obvious way to open it. I searched around for a switch, or a button, but it was Tanya, who was sitting in my lap, who reached over and pressed a small piece of the carved wooden relief on the front of the panel causing the panel to click and pop open slightly.

"Thank you kitten, I was looking for that." I told her and gave her a soft cuddle.

She looked up at me and I could see her cat in her eyes was happy at receiving praise from me.

I quickly opened the hidden drawer and looked inside and shook my head, there was a notebook, a small box, and lastly several pictures. After pulling the pictures out I began looking at them, all of them were in black and white and showed a much younger Vladimir during the early part of the twentieth century. Each picture gave me a more complete understanding of the man that I'd had to kill earlier in the day and that understanding was bone chilling. One picture had him wearing the uniform of an NKVD Commissar of the Soviet Union standing next to a slightly shorter man with a large bushy, and very recognizable mustache. "What the hell?" I growled at the sight of him standing next to one of the most brutal mass murderers of the twentieth century, Josef Stalin. Another picture was much more chilling as it had a picture of twenty men and women, all obviously Weres, gathered around a pair of crossed flags. One was the Soviet red banner, while the other was the flag I'd seen earlier in the middle of the Yard with a star and two black hammers.

Since that group was confusing to me I opened the notebook and began to browse through it, my ability to read handwritten Russian wasn't that bad, but Vladimir's handwriting wasn't exactly the most legible, furthermore a lot of the time he was using a form of shorthand that I wasn't precisely familiar with. Most the book was filled with old field notes from before and during the Second World War. Interestingly enough it seemed that he'd served with the NKVD during the War and