I couldn't help but smile the next morning as the Suburban with Adam, Brook, Tala, and Jess headed off down the road towards the gate. The three of them were headed to Ice Lake to spend some time with Alex, as well as to get a feel for the Pack that Zane had become Alpha over. Zane's actions had more than doubled the current size of Wild Valley's Pack and Adam needed to see what he needed to do about Ice Lake.

Behind me Shawn smiled and laughed when his older sister, Kat, hugged him. "You used to hate Wild Valley little brother, and now it's your home." She said wistfully. "Those two in that car are your Alphas like Pops is mine."

I turned and watched as Shawn nodded, "Yeah, I guess that is true." He held up his hands slightly, since his sister was becoming larger and stronger than he was, for the time being. "Sis it's hard to explain, but I think it's a bit like how you love it here, being among cats. Most wolves couldn't stand being surrounded by so many cats, but you've adapted to it and you thrive in this environment."

Kat nodded softly while reaching over to ruffle her brother's hair gently before leaning forwards to kiss him on the forehead. "That sounds reasonable Shawn. Now how about we go inside, unless you want to watch the snow clouds come over the peaks. I can show you a lot of things, but I guess you have almost the same things down at Wild Valley."

Shawn smiled at his sister, "They do have a lot of really cool things there Kat, but they don't have one thing that I've missed, that's my family." He said giving her a hug before she grabbed his hand and the two took off into the Pride House.

I smiled as they headed down the foyer into the house, both of them acting like over-energetic youngsters, though I could also see that they were rapidly maturing and there were times when Kat and Shawn both displayed flashes of maturity.

Thinking of Kat maturing brought back a memory from a few weeks earlier when Anna and Kat had come up to me while I was working with Randy on the final apartment to be updated in the Pride House, the Executive Suite. We'd just finished hanging a sheet of new drywall, the previous drywall having been the same cheap stuff that they'd used in the rest of the House. Though the Executive Suite had looked like a million dollars the cruel truth was that behind the expensive fixtures and fine details the basic electrical, plumbing, and heating systems as well as the drywall were as craptastic as that in the rest of the House. We'd ended up stripping the entire suite down to the framing and rebuilding, though we'd saved what we could.

"Mark, Kat says that she needs some real bras now, the training ones that she's been wearing are getting too small."

I laughed shaking my head, "Anna you are much more able to handle that that I am. After all you know what you're looking for." I told her looking over at them, though I did have to admit that Kat was definitely beginning to develop in that department.

At that Kat looked slightly hurt at my comment before Anna growled, "Mark, I am not the one she wants to help her with this. She wants you, her adoptive father, to come with her to help her with this!"

At Kat's hurt look I nodded to Randy and stepped over to Kat and gently gathered her into a soft hug. "My little pup." I said softly while looking over at Anna, "Yes, Anna. I think I understand, but Tanya will have to come as well, you know how she feels about you."

Kat looked up into my eyes and smiled slightly. "Pops, you been so busy recently an' I've not spent any time with you... I miss you." She said and I had to close my eyes at her tone.

"Sorry pup." I said simply before nodding to Anna and Randy, indicating that I needed to spend some time with my daughter.

We had ended up spending the rest of the day, as well as the next morning in the City, and on the whole it had been enjoyable and relaxing way to spend some time with my daughters.

"Mark?" Anna said beside me, bringing me back to the present, "Looks like snow doesn't it?"

I glanced up at the sky and nodded, "Yes it does look that way, though it probably will be a bit on the wet side since it isn't really all that cold."

Anna laughed softly and smiled, "That's the Godddess' own truth, isn't it? It's going to make for some very wet cubs when they play outside in it." She replied as we headed back inside, with Tanya hugged in my arms. We'd tried to have a session with her and Beth but she'd refused and ended up crying in my arms needing a clean up.

I paused halfway down the foyer when I felt my cell vibrating in my belt case and after pulling it out and checking it I answered, "Verochka, it's nice to hear from you again." I said smiling as I began walking again.

"Pride Lord Mark," She replied, "I have the final roster of those that I'm sending your way." Her voice sounded almost sad as she said that.

"I can understand how hard this is for you Vera, loosing a cat is a hard thing." I told her, remembering how it was when Vlad and his people had left the Pride, though in this case it wouldn't be quite as horrible.

"How can you possibly understand? You've never had to release this many members of your Pride. These are the future of the Pride, almost all of them are the youths." She said, her voice brimming with the emotions that she was feeling.

"I've felt something similar when our brother broke his bonds Vera. At that time, I was only the Assistant Guardian and only just recently joined the Pride, but the feeling was there." I replied with a growl while I tried to forget how that terrible thing had felt. Each broken bond had torn through our heads like a bottomless black hole and I would never feel most of them in my mind ever again.

There was a slight pause at the other end before she finally came back, "I think I understand Mark, but all the same this isn't an easy thing for me to do. I know that I probably won't ever feel these minds in our Pride Bonds again, but I know that this is for the good of these people Mark." She said softly.

At that point we'd reached our office and I sat, with Tanya in my lap, and switched to the speaker on my desk so that Anna could join the conversation. "Matriarch Berekov I know this is hard, but do you have a roster for us to look at?" Anna asked smoothly as she sat down in her own chair.

"Yes, Matriarch McEwan I do, give me a few moments and it should be appearing in your secure email inbox." She paused briefly, "I also have one more favour to ask of you, my grandson Yevgeny is attending the Academy, which is as I understand it, relatively close to your own location."

I laughed recalling that there'd been some friction between myself and him. "Yes, that is correct Vera, though I can't say that we get along. His attitude in regards to me left something to be desired." I told her grimly.

"Regardless of that fact Mark, I would like him to spend his semester breaks at your Pride, rather than flying back here. I can understand if you would rather he not come to your Pride, but from what he's said the local Alphas have done some work to adjust his attitude." She replied, hearing my tone.

I gave a bit of a chuckle, "Adam is good at that, and so is Brook."

"You know them?" She asked, her voice showing a bit of surprise. "He did mention that he didn't want to piss either of them off again. He also said that when he was getting there he thought that the males were the dangerous ones. However, from what he said, it seems that wolves like to hide what we don't, that females are even worse."

At that Anna laughed, "Brook can be really vicious with that staff of her's if somebody violates the rules, or disrespects her or her mate." She told Vera as I laughed heartily.

"Vera just so you understand, Adam and Brook are Friends of Silver Peak and Adam has been a personal friend of mine since we were both human." I told her, "I've sparred with both of them on many separate occasions, since they were capable of giving my cat and I a reasonable challenge."

Anna spoke up, "I also learned a lot from them, and Brook taught me more than a few tricks on how to fight, though for the most part I leave the fighting to my mate, his level of ability is something to behold."

There was a slight chuckle from Vera, "Just don't forget, young Anna, that there are times when you will have to fight for the good of the Pride."

"I know that Vera, anyways, back to the matter at hand, yes we would willingly have your grandson come here on his semester breaks." Anna redirected the flow of the conversation back on topic.

"Yes, anyways, I've sent the roster of those who are heading your way to your secure email inbox. As soon as the flight has been chartered I will be sure to send you that information as well so that you can be there to pick them up when they arrive." Vera said softly.

"Thank you Vera, If you need help dealing with those damned Hammers, please don't hesitate to give us a shout, I know that we can't do a whole lot, but we will provide what assistance that we can." Anna said before Vera hung up.

I glanced at my mate and nodded before my computer made a noise and the icon appeared on the screen for a secured email appeared on my notification bar. "Okay Anna, I've got the message here. Let's have a look and see who my cat's sister is sending to us, and how they will fit into our Pride."

Anna nodded grabbing her tablet before walking over to one of the couches sitting down before I joined her with a smile. When we could we liked taking care of work like this, though not everybody agreed with this approach.

Several hours later, Anna and I had just finished reading through the roster on the tablet, and discussing all of the people on it when the door opened and Shawn and Kat walked into the room. Tanya, who had been resting beside me sat up with a smile. "Kat? Mommy an' daddy been boring!"

For her part Kat laughed and walked over to the couch and hugged her sister, "You should have come with me and Shawn, we'd have been much more fun than our parents."

Tanya returned the hug happily. "I know, but like being around daddy, makes my cat feel safe." She replied while Shawn watched the two.

"Dad, it's lunch time." He said as I stood up and took the tablet and placed it on the charging pad that was installed on Anna's desk.

"Yes, it is, and after lunch we can all go up to the hot spring and relax for a bit." I replied stretching slightly. Anna and I preferred not to spend our afternoons in the office, preferring to spend it doing something more active than sitting around reading.

At that pronouncement both Tanya and Kat smiled, since they loved spending time at the springs, though there were times when it was a challenge to get both of them to climb from the warm water.

After lunch, we all shifted and headed up the trail, it was a popular trail among cats of the Pride, and I suspected that there would be more than one cat up in the springs this afternoon lounging in the warm water. Indeed, there were half a dozen in the various pools of the spring enjoying the warm water and when we joined them we soon found ourselves mingling and spending time with them. Most of them were Blackwater cats, though two of them were former Shadow Valley cats and they very much enjoyed spending time with Anna and myself.

We'd only just arrived at the springs and dipped ourselves into the pools when the heavy dark grey clouds over our heads began to disappear into the white as they began to dump their loads of heavy snow into the mountains.

"It's about time." Anna said with a measure of acerbity, "Those clouds have been piling up all day long, and now, finally they begin to dump on us."

I nodded in response. "Yes," I replied with a slight nod. "It is nice to see it snowing again." I told her.

One of the cats to my left laughed slightly as she hugged her son to her chest tightly, the little cub, who was perhaps six years old was relaxing in her arms much like Tanya was in mine. "I always look forwards to the snow, though my mate and I both agree that a wet cub is the price that we pay for that." She said, she was one of the Blackwater cats and she was good cat with strong ideals.

Anna smiled at her, "I agree with you there Sandra." She said reaching over gently to pat the top of the cub's head gently. "Ian is growing, quickly isn't he?"

Sandra nodded softly, "Yes he is," She replied, hugging her son softly. "It seems like only yesterday when I was bringing him into the world at the Pride House at Blackwater, and yet that was six years ago."

Both Anna and I could only smile at that as we thought about our own cubs and how they'd entered our lives.

Four days later I awoke slowly and looked around before I recalled, that for once, I was sleeping in my own bed with my mate, and our youngest daughter. Tanya was still sleeping, cuddled up against my chest, her thumb in her mouth as she slept like a baby. Both Anna and I were becoming more and more worried about her emotional regression as she was still acting younger and younger, trying to find some point from which she could rebuild her life. During the day, she could act like a somewhat normal cub her age, though her reliance on her Pull-Ups did bother us a bit. However, at night we both saw the full extent of her regression and it was disturbing how young she sometimes acted. When I'd brought the matter to Beth's attention the previous day she'd told me that from what she'd been able to discern, Tanya was still suffering at night, from the horrors that had been inflicted upon her. It would probably take years to heal her mind of all of the damage, and for the time being we needed to do our best to show her that we loved her regardless of her behaviour at night.

Across from me Anna opened her eyes and then seeing Tanya's thumb in her mouth she nodded slightly at me and then reached across to the bedside table to retrieve an item that I was very nervous about giving to a seven year old cub. However, she could do real damage to her teeth if she continued to nurse on her thumb in her sleep so I nodded, reluctantly to my mate and I watched as she gently and carefully replaced the thumb with the item. Tanya seemed to fuss for a moment before she relaxed and fell back asleep. *Anna, how long can we keep this up? Watching her regress at night...* I began, while looking at the cub I'd adopted.

*Mark,* She began taking my hand gently. *Look at that kitten and tell me that anybody else would be able to do what you've done for her?* She said firmly.

I did as my mate told me, and I had to admit, that I knew that what she was saying was true. All the same I didn't like the idea that my seven year old daughter acted like a toddler in her sleep. *Anna...*

*Mark during the day she appears to be okay, but at night we, her new parents, see how much damage those monsters really did to our cubs.* She told me, squeezing my hand tightly, *I've talked with the rest of the people who've adopted orphans who were under Yasmira's care and they all tell me that Tanya received the worst of it.*

I had to nod softly in understanding, *I can understand that but...* I began,

*Mark the reason she regresses so much is because she's literally been through hell, and the only way that she can find any measure of peace is to revert to a point in her life when she wasn't the target of so much...* Anna began before her body shook softly, and I could see tears flowing from her eyes in the dim light of pre-dawn.

I nodded slightly and sighed, perhaps in this case my mate was correct. It still disturbed me that a child Tanya's age could act like a toddler in her sleep, but if it meant that she could sleep... I would rather that than the alternative.

Three hours later I walked around the large custom made couch bus with the driver, Igor, two Protectors, and Tanya. I was carrying my tablet in a soft attaché case along with a few supplies for Tanya's needs. She'd taken her time waking up that morning and I could tell that the pacifier had done something to get her to relax a bit, though once she was fully conscious she'd been more than a little embarrassed about using it.

"Igor, we better get on the road soon." I said as we performed a walk around of the bus to ensure that it was ready for the trip. The vehicle, like our other two busses, was a custom job that had fewer seats than a normal vehicle of it's size due to the size of those who would be boarding it. "We want to reach the airport by the time the charter plane arrives at thirteen hundred. I would rather we not leaving them waiting around for us to get there."

Igor nodded, crouching down to check the trailer hitch. We were going to be bringing the trailer with us since Vera had said that she was sending us a few larger items of cargo that she thought that we could use.

After making sure that everything checked out we boarded, and I found myself a seat that was relatively close to the driver. Seated right beside me was my daughter, though I knew that she was feeling particularly kittenish today and I would have to live with it, though sometimes it did cause me to wonder.

I was lost deep in thought about the situation with my daughter, and how best to help her become a normal cub her age when one of the Protectors behind me cleared her throat.

"Yes Ivanovna?" I asked after shaking my head to clear my head of that line of thought.

There was a slight pause before the Protector answered, "Sir I am not sure how much it will help you but sometimes you have to let a cub figure things out on their own. Forcing them to change because you think it will make them normal is probably the worst thing that you could do."

I turned and looked around the seat to her, "I didn't think I had asked." I told her.

"Sir you were thinking loudly enough that even the dullest cat on this bus could hear you." She replied, "I am sorry if I am imposing a bit sir, but if what I am feeling is true you are worried about her future."

To that I had to nod slightly. "The damage that Yasmira did to her and the other cubs was rather extreme, how could they do such a horrible thing? These were their next generation, without these cubs their group would eventually die."

"That's the thing with Rogues sir. Once they go beyond a certain point they don't really consider the consequences of their actions and how those actions will impact those around them."

"Yes," I sighed looking over to where Tanya had gotten herself wrapped up in a game on my tablet. "But even then, every instinct in their body should have told them that causing so much pain and suffering in their cubs was wrong. Hell, even a human under normal circumstances can't help but be driven to care for and protect the next generation." I told her softly while watching Tanya, she had her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrated on solving the puzzle on the screen.

"I understand that sir, I just thought that I'd tell you how I, and my cat, feel about the situation. Hell, if you'd given me the chance I would have ripped Vladimir's guts out and watered his spine..." She said and the mental image that gave me caused me to grimace. If anything, some of our Pride females had decidedly grisly ideas about what they would have done had they managed to catch Vladimir before I punched large holes in his brains.

"Thanks for that image Ivanovna, though I think my eternal punishment is fitting enough." I told