"Do you suppose they're alright?" a soft voice asked in a home elsewhere in Glendale.
"I'm sure they are," a male voice replied, "They're lives are just busy, you know that dear."
"Maybe we should have taken Jensen up on his offer to let us live with the rest our pack," the female answered as she scratched the side of her reddish brown muzzle, which had some tinges of gray along the edges, "we'd be with our grandchildren and our daughters."
"We can't all concentrate together," the male replied, "we both know that. Besides, we see them often enough. We visit, we probably spoil them rotten, and you put pressure on Hope, Grace, and Isabelle to get pregnant."
"Is it wrong to have a family?"
"No," the dark chocolate brown male with milk chocolate brown, gray, white, and some silver highlights in his fur replied as he hugged his wife, "but I'd tend to think that Kaylee's younger sisters feel a bit nervous when you ask them if they're pregnant yet... especially when they aren't in heat at the time."
"But Kaylee's such a good mother," the female replied, "I want all my babies to be as happy as she is... and I do like grand-pups."
"We both do," the male nodded, "and we know Jensen, Nick, and Zack as well. We'll probably hear the paw-steps of more newborn pups in plenty of time, and our sons in law will raise them well... and we'll spoil them rotten, as every grandparent is supposed to do."
"You know Patrick disagrees with us," the female chuckled.
"He's old enough to be our parents, dear," the male replied, "I'd suppose its a generational thing. It's amazing though how healthy he is."
"Do you think we'll live that long?" the female wondered, "will our daughters or grand-pups?"
"I don't know," the male shrugged, "Patrick is the only one of the Pack so far to live long enough that he'd naturally revert back into a quadrupedal wolf, and I think only one member of the Pride has lived that long as well."
"They call her "Mother Glen", I think," the female nodded.
The male nodded, "they've both lived a long time. Remember when we were young and still living with the pack at the manor? He'd tell all the pups there about his escapades during both World Wars."
"I wish we could go back to that," the female commented, "the manor is a nice place."
"Many of us chose to live outside it, dear," the male replied, "we weren't forced out, and we're still part of the pack. And besides, I do like it here. It's quiet and cozy here. Not like all the hubbub that goes on at the manor. I'd tend to think that when Jensen and Kaylee step down as Alphas, they'll end up leaving the manor with Julie, Fran, and Darla just to get some peace and quiet."
The female nodded. As much as she wanted to be around her grand-pups, her daughters and sons-in-law, the manor always had a lot of activity that went with it. Kaylee, Isabelle, Hope, and Grace's parents lived in a much smaller home that saw much less activity then Wolf Manor did. They frequently visited the manor to be with their pack and with their descendants, even if only Kaylee, so far, had had pups of her own.
++++++++
Maxwell and Sonia Glen looked only slightly puzzled by the sight before them. Standing before them were two male leomans with one looking older then the other and with an older female standing next to the older male. The younger male stood nervously by a younger female sitting in a wheelchair with what looked like a massive mundane snow white lioness beside it as well. Their outward reaction was, however, not what one would expect when suddenly faced with a room full of lion people.
"Penny! What happened?!" Maxwell moved forward and came down to hug his daughter with his wife Sonia joining in shortly after.
"It's nothing, dad," Penny said weakly, trying to keep things from getting confusing, and almost praying her "true love" powers worked again, as they had on Kirk and Mother Glen.
"She says it was an incident involved her police work, son," Mother Glen spoke, "but that isn't why we're all here."
Penny was ready to die of embarrassment.
"What is it, mother?" Maxwell asked, not noticing as snow white fur began to cover him and light shade of beige began to cover Sonia.
"You remember Kirk, right Mom? Dad?" Penny asked nervously as she watched their clothes seemingly vanish.
"The one who was turned into a statue?" Sonia gasped, "is he alright? Did someone do something to him? You were devastated when he was transformed."
Penny guessed that this was going to be part of the string of joyous reunions "Kirk" was having as her parents rapidly began to grow larger and more powerfully muscled, as pretty much all the lions were. She was unable to tell them as Mother Glen beat her too it.
"Penny has somehow found a way to save him," Mother Glen announced with a lot of pride in her voice, "and once she is able to walk, they intend to go down the isle."
"That's WONDERFUL!" Sonia cheered and lifted Penny out of her wheelchair in her excitement, not noticing her face pushing out into a lion's muzzle, filled with the large teeth of one of Africa's top predators. She simply hugged her daughter, cheer, love and happiness pouring out of her, "that's wonderful! When is the date?"
"Moooooom," Penny groaned. She was somewhat tired of every family member she'd interacted with wanting to know when the wedding was, when they'd only got as far as the proposal, really.
Maxwell, meanwhile turned whom he assumed to be Kirk as his fur began to grow thicker around his head and neck, becoming a mane as snow white as the rest of him. After a few moments he then took Kirk by the hand.
"It is you!" Maxwell said happily, "it's good to see you alive again. You have no idea how much Penny missed you."
"I have no doubt," Kirk said weakly and doing the best he could to get things as for Penny and Kirk, reality hadn't really "fixed" itself around them yet. Kirk still had some memories of being Katie and Penny still remembered the battle with the wolves that occurred in the original time-line, which now, did not exist. The battle did occur in a way, but in the new time-line, the battle was different and was only because of a misunderstanding, though Penny and Kirk didn't know of it yet.
"We're so happy for you both," Sonia smiled, "Our baby girl has a Prime Mate now."
Maxwell nodded with a smile.
"In the meantime, perhaps, now that everyone knows of the coming marriage," Mother Glen commented, "You could explain to us this police business that has put you in a wheelchair, dearie."
Penny gulped as her grandmother and mother looked her squarely in her eyes. She knew they were concerned and loved her, but in her mind, how could she explain that she had gotten into a fight with a bunch of wolves that were trying to take Kirk from her.
++++++
"So up until this point they've been innocent, so far," Lawrence commented, "and what things that most would consider "evil" was mostly coming out of confusion? Did "Princess" prod this along?"
"No," Marie shook her head, "Princess, was really on a pet for them then... not yet the familiar that she would become."
"Was there anything special about her that made her a familiar?" Lily wondered.
"Not really," Marie answered, "a familiar is an animal that a sorcerer or sorceress has a great connection to. They help channel magic for the magic user, but are also essentially bathed in the "Infinite Chaos" as well. Traditionally this has normally been done to protect the magic user from the Infinite Chaos's more negative effects, as familiars do not seem to be affected by it in the same way as people."
"Those boys that had been sent to play with them... did they become the Gold Deer, like at the manor?" Cassandra asked.
Marie slowly nodded, "they would eventually become the source for the English names that exist in the various Gold Deer herds. The Gold Deer living around Glendale at that time all had Native American like names, but we're getting side tracked from the story..."
++++++
Time had gone on for Gita, Grisele, and Goldwyn. Balthilde tried to teach her grandchildren what being a proper "white witch" meant and Joseph Running-Bear tried to help teach them about how the world worked and that it wasn't always easy. But Balthilde was rapidly seeing more and more that her time was rapidly running out, and whatever progress she was making was too slow... and that frightened her. Something that her grandchildren noticed, but couldn't understand, as Balthilde had not told them of her visions of them turning evil, because Balthilde didn't want to frighten her grandchildren. After all, directly telling innocent girls that they would be insane evil witches would probably only speed that process up.
"Why is Grandma so sad?" Goldwyn quietly asked as they walked back toward the home of Robert Wise after another visit to Joseph Running-Bear's home.
"I think she's remembering mommy," Grisele whispered, "I think she loved her very much."
Goldwyn nodded, but Gita killed that idea with her comment.
"She seems more worried then sad to me," Gita spoke, "mostly from seeing the bad things people do to each other in the name of order."
"Is there something we can do to make her happy?" Grisele wondered.
"Grandma's always said to be good," Goldwyn told her "sisters", "That that would make her happy."
Balthilde, walking quietly in front of them hoped that the other two would listen Goldwyn in that regard. Her nervous came from seeing what would become of her grandchildren. If they stayed good, that dark future wouldn't come to pass.
Unfortunately, her distraction with what she saw in the future partially lead to Balthilde's undoing. It was dark when they made it back to Glendale and were moving quickly toward the home of Robert Wise, which took them past a tavern near the center of the town. The Puritans of the area didn't drink all that much, as they saw excessive drinking as sinful... but travelers and colonial officials that occasionally visited Glendale did on occasion, and a few had eventually settled in the town to cater to these travelers.
As they passed the tavern, one of these travelers, after making a ruckus in the tavern was thrown out by a large man.
"And stay out!" the tavern keeper yelled at him.
The drunken man stumbled and ended stumbling into Balthilde as she lead her grandchildren home.
"Excuse us, sir," Balthilde spoke trying to sound as polite as possible.
"Yoooooouuuuu'aarrrrrr pprrrrriteeeee," the man slurred.
Balthilde backed away slowly putting herself between the man and her grandchildren. Her days of beauty were long behind her. She was too old to think herself beautiful to a young man.
"You're drunk," Balthilde scolded, "Let us by and sober up."
"HEY!" the man said angrily taking a hold of Balthilde's cloak, "dooouunnn'tuh 'aaaake thhhhu-aat toooeeeennnne wiiiitttth meeee."
"I'm not trying to insulting with anyone," Balthilde answered, "and I want no trouble. But I doubt I am someone you would associate yourself with if you were sober. Please... let me and my granddaughters by."
The drunk to this as an act of aggression Balthilde's part, for some absurd reason and then turned to a different idea.
"Gimmeeeee yoooooouuuu'ooooooaaaaarr mooon...kneeee!" the drunk ordered producing a knife and waving at Gita, Grisele, and Goldwyn, "oooaaaarrr I'llllll ku...iiiilllll thu...eeeeem!"
Balthilde's eyes winded. She feared what her granddaughters would become, but the heart of a loving parent still beat strongly within her. She couldn't let them die. She couldn't...
Balthilde grabbed the man's knife and began to wrestle with him, hoping that his drunken stupor would enable her to survive. Her granddaughters looked on in horror as this drunk assaulted their grandmother, who loved them, who raised them, who protected them. Balthilde could have easily incinerated the man with magic, but knew that would be wrong and only expose herself as a witch to the Puritans who had their own moments of religious superstitions. And while the man's drunken stupor did make him clumsy, Balthilde's age gave the drunk a distinct advantage, and her grandchildren screamed when the blade sank deep into Balthilde's chest.
"Grandma?!" Gita gasped as she dropped to her knees at Balthilde's head, stroking her gray hairs with one hand.
"Be... good..." Balthilde gave her final command to her grandchildren, coughing up blood as she did so, "be... goooo..."
And with that Balthilde Volksheer died with her granddaughters clutching at her clothes, the other members of the tavern coming out to see the end of the incident, and the drunk running away. Gita cried, Goldwyn cried, Grisele cried. Their grandmother had loved them and they loved her, and now some drunk had killed her for money, and fled when his opponents were no longer an old woman and her grandchildren. Gita knew her grandmother had done nothing to deserve this, and she was trying to protect them. As she looked up to eye the man who was staggering away, there was a darkness in them that had been there before.
"You will pay for that, murderer!" Gita vowed.
+++++
In our own time in a different part of Glendale, one of Glendale's most intriguing couples went about their own daily routine. The female, a dark gray female she wolf who had retired from regular work and hadn't been called on by the pack for anything lived with her male companion. A large stone gargoyle who had been carved to resemble a mythical griffin, a creature that was part lion part eagle. He was known as Library where he worked as guard... and at times even as a piece of "art" since the gargoyles were able to stand motionless for days without tiring or even blinking.
Many, including the various members of the pride, the pack, and other gargoyles found it odd, but the two were happy, and no one really wanted to hurt them further. The female, named Molly, had once been married to another dark gray wolf, who was not related to her despite their similar coloring, and had carried one male pup to term. A dark gray male she had named Nicolas, or Nick for short.
She had worked as a librarian, where she had met Library and his partner, a female gargoyle that looked like a dragon/wolf hybrid, who also called herself Library. They had a young gargoyle with them, who would one day be Backdoor. Molly had made good friends with both Libraries and their child befriended Nick. And Nick grew up strong as his wrestling matches with the young gargoyle while it was young enough and small enough that it wouldn't crush him required a great deal of muscle power on his part to even tie the match.
At age ten, though, tragedy struck. Molly's husband, Joseph, had come to the library at the end of Molly's day to take her on a "date" of walking, possibly hunting a bit, and enjoying some entertainment, with young Nick off with the rest of the Pack. He met the female Library at the front door when a drunk driver lost control of the truck he was driving and crashed into the both of them. Joseph was killed almost instantly as his ribs were crushed between the truck and the female Library. The gargoyle held on a little longer, but with deep cracks radiating through her chest to her extremities, her own life force left her. In one moment, Nick and the gargoyle who would be Backdoor lost their father and mother respectively.
Molly and the male Library never really recovered. They had both loved their companions fiercely, and now they were gone. The two of them ended up joining in the mourning and rapidly became inseparable. Other female gargoyles took over the role of transferring "Backdoor's" soul into a new body up until the point when Backdoor reached her current age, but Library stayed by Molly's side and by the time that Nick married Nicole, Alexandra, Beatrice, and Isabelle the two had gotten over the loss of their mates, and in "growing up" together, Nick considered Backdoor as a sister and had insisted that Backdoor be included as one of the bridesmaids.
Molly and Library's union was not sexual in any way. They were good friends who still lived together. Both hoped their children would have long happy lives with their mate and produce plenty of children.
++++++
"Hey no fair!" Jay complained as Mary joined in the game of "water war" on the pack's front yard.
He had ended up getting soaked as the latest lioness to join the game caught him off guard.
"What?" Mary asked, "You all were having fun, and Trever and Uly aren't here, so why not?"
"Why do you play with him so much?" Laura wondered, "I mean we speak with him from time to time because he's Pack and he occasionally helps Miss Martha and Miss Amethyst, but he's a teenager."
"And a boy," Zulema added, "an icky, icky, icky boy!"
"Come on, boys aren't icky," Amethyst said in the background with a bright smile, "they're very nice. You'll learn that when you grow up... and your father is a boy."
"But he's DAD!" the twins protested.
Amethyst only shrugged and thought about how cute Roger was.
"Uly has looked after me and my sisters from time when mom and dad are busy and one of the other lionesses doesn't have the time," Mary spoke, bringing the conversation back to the original topic, "and he's walked us to school and back from time to time. I think he has a soft spot for me... either that or he's trying to get away from teen she-wolves."
"I think he likes you as a friend," Moja told her half sister.
"He is a good friend," Mary nodded, "is he back yet? I'm sure he'd join you if you're concerned about numbers."
"Ulysses is still helping the other teen wolves bring the deer back from the island and finish of the experiment," Amethyst spoke, "and to try and find the notes from the experiment."
"Experiment?"
"Yes," Amethyst nodded, "scientists wanted to see how Gold Deer adapted to areas that you wouldn't think deer would live, as they seem to go everywhere, even areas that specific species deer wouldn't live while others did. Lawrence was to keep the notes for it, as it would allow him to recover from his ill advised joke that he pulled on your dad."
Mary nodded, remembering that. Her family had come for a visit, Lawrence in somewhat of a joking mood and acting like a large kid, sneaked up on Brian and Felicity and gave both a good scare with a spooky sounding howl... after that for Lawrence, nothing went right. Felicity jumped and caught him in the chest with a reflexive punch that sent him tumbling down a flight of stairs, and dislocated one arm, thankfully not the arm he wrote with. He then endured Jensen and Kaylee scolding him for pulling such pranks on the Pack's friends while Julie reset the limb.
Moja and Tano wondered if the white wolf had spent time with Nane and taught her some of his ideas for various pranks.
"Although, I don't think the notes survived the battle with Kurse," Amethyst finished.
"Why didn't one of these scientists go to the island?" Mary wondered.
"We weren't around when they left," Mbili told her half sister, "and none of them wanted become Alice, Abbey, and Samantha's sisters."
"They can do that?" Mary gasped.
"Amy seemed to sense it and warned Alice, Abbey, and Samantha of their abilities," Amethyst answered, "and we trust her on a lot of these sorts of things. She's such a cute pup. June and Zack must love her to bits."