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Morning came all too soon. Steele noticed Connor had also woken up, but Rodger was still asleep. The malamute gave an amused huff, the elkhound was one heck of a heavy-sleeper.

Remember something that was said by the spirit, Steele turned to Connor "Hey..." he called to him in a low voice.

"What's a moonblood?" Something almost seemed to click inside the werewolf's head. That was the word he had been trying in vain to remember!

"Canine's carrying latent blood of my kind, that is what we called them in our legends." Oh...so that is what the blood spirit had said. Simply recognizing him for what he more or less was.

"The latent blood of a werewolf..." Steele got up and joined Connor's side. "So, I have powers?"

"To an extent..." Connor nodded. "Now don't go off trying to do something crazy...you just have a shard of it."

Steele tsk'd. "I'm not Rodger." They both had a chuckle at that. Upon hearing his name being said by Steele, the elkhound was suddenly wide awake.

"What? Who? When? I didn't do it!" Hearing Rodger's reflexive response made Steele break into a laugh. This darn elkhound...he was just too much.

"Nobody said you did," Connor chuckled amused. "You didn't break something and hide it again, did you?"

"N-no! Of course not," Rodger chuckled, jumping from the bed. He yawned, "Man...I feel like someone worked me over hard." The elkhound began to stretch out.

'Well, it is good to hear he was still in strong spirits,' Connor thought, it meant nothing likely had gone wrong.

"Huh? Why are we in your room, Connor?" It had been a while since the elkhound had stepped foot in the space, at least that he could remember.

"You had a nightmare again." The werewolf said matter of factly.

"Oh..." Was all the elkhound muttered, he hoped he hadn't been too much trouble.

"Also...that is likely to be your last abnormal nightmare. Steele helped me get to the bottom of it." Rodger felt his heart soar hearing that...Steele had done that...for him?

"Now you can look forward to old, boring, regular nightmares like the rest of us," Connor teased.

"Now that you mention it... I can't hear the weird boiling sound in the back of my head anymore..." With that, the innocent elkhound casually walked out of the room, leaving Steele and Connor rather baffled. There was always something with that darn guy.

"Well..." Connor cleared his throat and looked to Steele. "Another problem solved...I hope. But something tells me that trouble's still gonna follow Rodger around." Of that Steele had no doubt. That dog was a living trouble-magnet.

The two of them left the room, Connor left to make breakfast while Steele went in search of his mate.

"Yo...got him calmed down?" Mince greeted him.

Steele huffed, "Did one better...we might just have cured him of his night terrors...at least his abnormal ones." The malamute nodded with his head as if asking the husky to follow him.

Mince paused for a moment before catching up to his partner, "T-that...is quite incredible. Are you some kind of secret benevolent spirit?" Well...if this whole latent blood thing was true, then the husky wasn't entirely off. It did feel good to do so many acts of virtue, something he could certainly get used to.

Now...how the heck was he gonna talk to Mince about him possibly having feelings for Rodger and he definitely having some for him? But it seemed fate got a laugh of toying with him, the very elkhound he was thinking about was approaching, smiling even wider as he caught sight of the malamute.

"Steele!" Rodger chuckled, bounding up to his friend. "I... There's something that I wanna tell you." The elkhound was so focused on the malamute he hadn't noticed Mince at all.

"Oh," Steele chuckled as well, hoping it wasn't what he thought it was. "And what is that?" He asked, feeling himself ready to break into nervous sweating. Mince looked back and forth between the two, curious, feeling very much left out of the conversation for some reason.

"Well, I just wanted to thank you for helping me last night..." Rodger started. "But... There's something I wanna admit. I know you're with Mince but I-"

"Mince!" Steele interrupted chuckling. "I think I smell our breakfast." The confused husky sniffed at the air and sure enough, the scent of their freshly prepared meal was in the air.

Only now did Rodger notice Mince was right there, "Oh...hi Mince!" he greeted him joyously. His train of thought utterly derailed from what he had been trying to get at. For now the rumbling of his stomach took priority in his mind and body, leading him to the kitchen alongside the others.

Steele had hoped he would have some more time after they had finished eating, but Mince followed him wanting to get to the bottom of this. The husky could be oblivious to some things, but he wasn't dumb. Clearly, something happened in Connor's room. But the way Steele and Rodger were acting put ideas in Mince's head. Ideas that he quickly pushed out of his mind.

"Steele...what was that all about with Rodger?" The malamute froze and cursed under his breath. Should he lie and try to hide the truth? The very thought left a bad taste in his mouth, no...he now knew that would never do him any good. He didn't want to be like that again, but telling the truth...scared him...what if Mince got offended? Sure, he could tell the truth but would the husky forgive him for having feelings for another?

"Well...I told you I helped him right?" The husky nodded.

"That wasn't what I was talking about...the other thing. What was Rodger getting at?" Steele gulped and braced himself.

"After I helped him, Rodger said things in his sleep. He wanted me to be with him, not to leave him..." Steele admitted, lowering his ears. "I..I...It made me realize...I felt something for him..."

Mince blinked, his mind had to reset hearing that "You mean...like you do me?" Steele cowered at the question. He clearly did not feel proud of it. The husky took a calming breath, what was he gonna do about this?

Steele braced himself to be yelled at, told off or in the worst case scenario, even attacked for betraying the bond they had barely just made. But instead Mince just stood there, looking as if he was deep in thought.

"Alright...first up...thank you for not hiding it. That would definitely have made me angry," Mince spoke his exact thoughts. Trust was integral to a bond like theirs. They both came from backgrounds littered with betrayal and neither of them needed such a deceitful act committed on them by the other. Steele's ears lifted up very carefully when he heard that.

"What do I say to Rodger?" Steele asked. "You've known him longer than I have. Perhaps you could talk to him? I don't want to break his heart" Hearing that spoke volumes to Mince how much Steele cared about the other dog, was he really gonna stand between those two? Was he that vain? He was a close friend of the elkhound, he would throw himself into danger for Rodger's sake. He didn't want to hurt him or deny him happiness...but how was he to avoid it? Well the answer was quite simple.

"Steele," Mince spoke and caught his attention. "Do you still hold me dear in your heart?"

"Of course I do!" Steele felt so split about the situation.

"But you care about Rodger, too?" Mince pressed.

"Y-yes, I do..." Steele admitted and waited for the proverbial axe to fall.

"Then why are you beating yourself up? You can be with the both of us. All you had to do was tell me, ya big furball," Mince chuckled, pressing himself to his mate's side.

"T-the both of you?" Steele asked bewildered. Such an idea seemed...outlandish. But since when had this group been anything but abnormal?

"Yes...so raise up your chin, go to him and tell him how you feel." Mince smirked at seeing Steele so dazed. "I'll be right behind you."

"Ehrm...right..." Was this really happening? Steele walked in a daze toward where he was hearing Rodger's voice. He didn't have to go far. As soon as Rodger caught sight of him, the elkhound bounded up to him.

"Hey, Rodger. There's something I need to tell you," Steele said, biting the bullet and borrowing a page from Mince.

Seeing Mince right behind Steele made Rodger fear the worst. He braced himself to be turned down and given the cold shoulder. "Rodger, I know how you feel about me. And I...I feel the same way," Steele said. Upon hearing that, the elkhound was sure his soul left his body for a moment.

"B-but what about-" Rodger turned to Mince.

The husky just smirked "I don't mind. As long as you two don't freeze me out I am sure we can all get along." The elkhound swayed a little like he had vertigo. Steele gasped and managed to catch the nearly-fading canine. Rodger swooned as he was once again saved by his hero.

"Oh...my hero" Rodger said dramatically. Steele sent him a flat annoyed look and then let him fall. "WAH!? Oof!"

"A real charmer..." Mince chuckled. "A dog after my own heart."

"I will tolerate much...but...not that!" Steele huffed.

"Huh...Steele? Wha...I'm sorry!" Rodger scrambled to his feet and followed them, it had only been a joke. The two others laughed at him.

Steele wondered if he could ask Connor for a larger bed that could hold all three of them. The human in question smiled as he passed down three bowls to the canines, he had witnessed the whole event through eavesdropping. Reading the malamute's aura, Connor had an inkling this might very well be what would happen.

"So...it all worked out in the end after all?" He couldn't help but tease Steele, who let out a groan.

"Yeah, you're stuck with us now!" Rodger chuckled.

"Too late to give us back, we are all way past expiration date" Mince added to Steele's dismay, these three were gonna be the death of him and yet...he wouldn't have it any other way.

"He's one of us now," Halftail added as he entered the kitchen.

"One of us! One of us!" Tiny chanted and the others soon joined in, Connor included. Steele just shook his head and chuckled. This was his life now...certainly it was never gonna get boring with these oddballs around..

The dogs slowly got closer as they chanted and then all pounced on him resulting in them ending up in a literal dogpile, a ball of fur and tangled limbs, laughing their tails off. Yeah...and he couldn't imagine wishing for a better second chance at life than this.