FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Otten

These naturally inquisitive humanoids live in small villages along the coast. They have few natural enemies beyond the usual dangers of living on the coastline. Otten are usually shorter than normal humans, usually only 4'8 to 5'8, and weigh a little less than a human. Otten have almost canine faces with short snouts and slightly pointed ears. Males have short beards that grow longer in their old age, females have no facial hair, but still possess whiskers similar to those of a cat. Males are slightly taller than females, and are generally darker in color. All Otten have thin fur that protects them from the cold of living in aquatic areas. As such they wear little clothing beyond garments that serve some function for the wearer. Every Otten has webbed hands and feet, but also a long muscular tail that helps them maneuver in the water. After a young Otten reaches maturity they grow their first set of fangs, and begin to hunt for themselves and their families.

Otten reach maturity at about twelve years of age, but they can live well past a hundred years if conditions are right. Most youngsters are taught how to hunt from their parents and older siblings. It is uncommon for most females to have more than two children in their lifetime, but families with more than four children are not unheard of.

Most Otten live in small villages of around twenty to forty families at most. Otten eat almost any type of aquatic food, but they love fresh fish the most. The males in a village often form teams of four to eight hunters who work together to carouse and hunt prey. Otten hunting parties rarely go more than a few miles out from their villages, so encountering one means that an Otten settlement is not far away.

While it is not unheard of for Otten to trade with other races most of their settlements are usually just too small to attract much commercial trade. Otten hunters sometimes collect pearls and coral for use in trading, but more often than not the natural treasures of their costal terrain are left untouched. For that reason Otten tend to treat most other races with intense curiosity, but also a sense of reserved caution. The only real danger outsiders pose to Otten is the threat of slavery. More often than not an enslaved Otten dies within days of leaving their family structure, so they often fetch a poor price at a slave auction. For that reason most Otten rarely see the other seafaring races of the world, and for them that's just fine.

As a race the Otten don't have a communal religion, and instead of revering a patron god, they usually worship the spirits of their aquatic realms. If a particular type of ocean creature is common near an Otten settlement they are more likely to worship that creature as a guardian spirit. Most Otten become barbarians, fighters, or rogues, but druids and rangers are not unheard of.

Otten Hunter - This furry humanoid is often encountered in hunting parties. They look most like a large humanoid otter.

Medium Monstrous Humanoid

Hit Dice: 1d8+3 (7)

Initiative: + 3

Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), swim 40 ft.

Armor Class: 14, (Base 10 + 3 Dex mod + 1 Natural Armor*)

Base Attack: +0

Attack: Bite +2 melee (1d6+3)

Full Attack: Bite +2 melee (1d6+3)

Space/Reach: 5 ft./ 5 ft.

Special Qualities: Hold Breath*, Low-light Vision, Natural Weapon: Bite*, Scent

Saves: Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +2

Abilities: Str 14, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 10

Skills: Climb+8, Listen+6, Spot+6, Swim+12

Feats: Athletic*

Environment: Coastal Beaches and Oceans

Organization: Usually in hunting groups of 3-7

Challenge Rating: 1

Treasure: 2d4g +equipment

Alignment: Usually neutral

Advancement: By class

Level Adjustment: 0

Hold Breath: An Otten can hold its breath for a number of rounds equal to 8 x its Constitution score before it risks drowning. For a typical Otten, this is 128 rounds or more than 10 minutes.

Skills: An Otten has a +4 racial bonus on any swin check to perform a special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take a 10 on a swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.

Natural Armor: Otten only receive their bonus to natural armor when they are not wearing armor.

Racial Bonuses: +2 dex, -2 cha, Hold Breath, Low-Light Vision, Natural Weapon: Bite, Scent, Bonus Feat: Athletic, +4 Racial bonus to climb and swim checks.

Otten Feral - Unlike their peaceful cousins this furry beast is both feral and dangerous. Often found in groups of three to twelve, the feral hunters never pass up an opportunity to raid and plunder.

Medium Monstrous Humanoid

Hit Dice: 2d12+10 (22)

Initiative: + 4

Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), swim 40 ft.

Armor Class: 19, (Base 10 + 4 Dex mod + 5 Natural Armor*)

Base Attack: +2

Attack: Bite +7 melee (1d6+7), Claws +7 melee

Full Attack: Claws (x2) +7 Melee (1d6+5), Bite +7 melee (1d6+7)

Special Attack: Maelstrom Attack: The Feral Otten swims at full speed in a circle around their target. The target takes a -1 circumstance to all rolls for each turn spent inside the maelstrom. The Feral Otten can make one attack against their foe each turn they use this attack. Multiple Otten can increase the effect.

Special Qualities: Hold Breath, Low-light Vision, Dark Vision, Natural Weapon: Bite, Claw, Scent

Saves: Fort +8, Ref +4, Will +2 (+3 Fort from 2 monstrous levels)

Abilities: Str 20, Dex 18, Con 20, Int 6, Wis 14, Cha 4

Skills: Climb+11, Hide+6, Listen+6, Move Silently +6, Spot+6, Swim+15

Feats: Athletic, Improved Natural Armor (lvl 2), Improved Natural Weapon Claws (lvl 2).

Organization: Usually in groups of 3-7

Challenge Rating: 3

Treasure: None

Alignment: Usually chaotic evil

Level Adjustment: 0, but must take 2 monstrous levels to gain HD, Improved Feats, and Fort bonus.

Hold Breath: A Feral Otten can hold its breath for a number of rounds equal to 8 x its Constitution score before it risks drowning. For a typical Feral Otten, this is 160 rounds or more than 15 minutes.

Skills: An Otten has a +4 racial bonus on any swim check to perform a special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take a 10 on a swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.

Natural Armor: Otten only receive their natural armor bonus while not wearing armor.

Racial Bonuses: +2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con, -4 Int, -6 cha, Hold Breath, Low-Light Vision, Natural Weapon: Bite & Claws, Scent, Bonus Feats: Athletic, +4 Racial bonus to climb and swim checks.

(The story starts here!) Prologue

It was a cold and stormy winter night when the ferals came. The first few huts they struck were simply slaughtered, their inhabitants torn to pieces or viciously impaled and left for dead. By the time the village had sounded the alarm the invaders were already at the door of the Red-Tail Hut. A young Otten female cowered in fear at the back of her family's home. A crash from the doorway signaled the arrival of the monsters who were attacking her village.

Letta Red-Tail couldn't help but to look at the feral beast standing in the doorway of her family home. He was huge, easily the biggest Otten she had ever seen in her short eighteen years of life. He had to duck just to get in the door, but his face wasn't angry, it was instead filled with lust. Letta cowered as he slowly loped through the doorway and into the hut, easily stepping over the smoldering fire pit in one stride.

His fur was a deep brown and his fangs and claws glinted harshly in the dim light of the Red-Tail hut's fire pit. His fur rippled over the massive mounds of muscle that stretched the skin tight on his arms and chest. Even from where Letta cowered in the back of the hut she could clearly make out the individual muscles that were so clearly defined on her unwelcome guest. He was easily the most masculine Otten she had ever seen, but the look on his face didn't make her feel anything but fear as she watched him approach.

Letta yipped when he reached out to touch her, but his hands were both firm and gentle. His touch told the young female that he was going to get what he wanted whether she liked it or not. Part of her wanted to scream out in fear, but deep down inside the young female had often dreamed of a male like this. As much as she would have loved to be courted by a male this large she knew instinctively that no normal Otten ever got this big. This beast was a feral, and despite his lusty naked body, massive muscles, and chiseled physique, his cub would be feral too.

Knowing that didn't make Letta secretly want him any less though. She surrendered herself to him after only a few short moments of struggle. The feral beast tore away Letta's girlish dress that her mother made her wear and proceeded to pull the female into his strong arms. He found her virgin entrance and proceeded to insert his tongue into her. This first act of sex was more than young Letta had ever imagined, but her suitor had mated before, and he knew his way around a female.

As tender and gentle as his questing tongue seemed it was a poor precursor to the solid mass of burning hot cock he pushed into the young female. Letta screamed out in pain as her virginity was taken from her. The beast just growled savagely as he slowly worked his way in and out of the girl. There were no words, no whispers of love. The beast simply grunted and growled as he proceeded to pump in and out of her at an ever increasing speed.

There was a heat, like nothing Letta had ever felt, or would ever feel again. Her body clenched madly as pleasure caused her to orgasm around the monster inside her. She screamed in both anger and fear as she felt him begin to swell at the base of his cock. In one last violent thrust his massive knot pushed into her and sealed their act of sex as he began to shoot his load deep inside her. The sheer volume of cum, filling her up inside, was like nothing Letta could have ever imagined. Her shouts and barks eventually faded to soft moans and whimpers.

The sheer size of the beast's knot prevented him from pulling out of Letta, so they were forced to stay together until he shrank enough to pull out. In that short time he laid with her the feral pulled Letta into his arms and held her. "Why?" the young female cried as she realized her life would never be the same. "Why did you do this?"

He only growled at first, but then there was a moment of silence, "I know you Let-a," he said in a voice deep as the claps of thunder that occasionally shook the hut. "I watch you for long while" he replied. "You grow into fine female."

It wasn't until after the feral male had left hours later that Letta's father and brother returned from fending off the raiders. They found Letta laying in the floor of their hut by herself. She refused to speak of what had happened, but the men could smell the musk of the huge male, and the traces of his scent on Letta.

Her pregnancy was a source of shame for the Red-Tail family. Letta had been the only female in her generation, and she would have been easily married to a male if she had not been raped that night. Eventually, after a long pregnancy, Letta gave birth to a cub. She named him Eelan and despite the terrible circumstances of his conception she loved the boy like she had never loved anyone before.

Chapter 1

Eelan grew faster and larger than his fellow cubs, surpassing most of the other children in height and size by his eighth year in the village. By the time he was fourteen, the age most boys grow their fangs, Eelan was already the largest Otten in the whole of the village. He had been hunting since his mother had first taught him to swim, so it only came natural to the young Otten to hunt for his mother and her new mate. Eelan had a little sister after all, and his mother had just recently given birth to her third cub. It was another little sister too.

As usual Eelan found himself outside the Red-Tail hut sitting on the edge of the raised wooden dock that looked out over the ocean. During the day this was a busy spot and Eelan would be helping his mother with the cubs, or maybe out hunting with his uncle. This late in the day the elder Otten had retreated indoors to chat and discuss the village politics. Eelan hated listening to his family gossip about the other houses, it reminded him of his position on the outside of the Red-Tail family politics.

Not that Eelan didn't think he was strong enough to best his uncle and claim alpha position of his family. In fact it would have been easy to do just that, but the whole village would never give up their females to let a feral like Eelan mate with them, so what was the point? Chasing girls wasn't even on Eelan's list of priorities right now. There were more important things to do, and lately he had been working on a special project.

Last week Eelan had been hunting at night and he had killed a rare kind of shark called a razor tail. His uncle had been furious after he discovered Eelan had been hunting after dark, but he had begrudgingly accepted the meat and given his nephew the tails of the beast to make his own harpoon.

Having a harpoon was like owning the rights to your own hunting party. Ever since he was a boy Eelan had dreamed of killing a spine fish or a sting ray, but he had never in his wildest dreams thought he could kill a razor tail with his bare hands! Well really it was his sharp claws and his fangs that had killed it, but it was still a feat of skill and strength nobody around could match.

Thinking about the razor tail reminded Eelan of how good the flesh of the shark had tasted. Eating raw fish was forbidden. It was said that the taste of blood was what had driven the Ferals away from the villages of their more civilized cousins, but knowing that didn't help Eelan, who was only half convinced he was like the other Otten who shared the village with him.

As he sat alone on the side of the wooden walkway Eelan heard the sound of soft paws on the wood behind him. The young female didn't realize her brother already knew she was there. She wouldn't have stopped regardless, so Eelan just kept working on his harpoon. "RAWR!" the little Otten girl roared savagely as she leapt forward and onto her brother.

"Sprits help me!" Eelan shouted in mock fear, "I'm being attacked by a savage sea-wolf!"

Lanna giggled as her brother plucked her off his back and pulled her into his huge arms. "You better watch out Eely! I'm going to bite you and turn you into a sea-wolf! Arrrr!" the little girl said as Eelan tucked an arm around her and went back to work on his harpoon.

"Has Fandar been telling you his sea-wolf stories again?" Eelan asked as he held the squirmy girl in his arms. She always tried to fight him, but there was no way she could best his titanic strength.

"How did you know?" Lanna asked innocently.

"You only ever attack me from behind when you are a sea-wolf. If you were a pirate or a human you would challenge me to a dual first" Eelan said playfully as Lanna huffed in frustration.

"If you spent half as much time playing as you did hunting or making that silly harpoon you might be a little more fun Eely" Lanna said as her aggravation at being held still surfaced in her tone.

Eelan grunted as he let his sister go, but the sudden burst of freedom didn't cause her to run away like he had hoped. Instead she remained in his lap and looked up at him with her cute dejected expression. Eelan growled as he put his harpoon down and turned his attention to his sister. "You shouldn't be out here Lanna, it's getting late" he said gruffly.

"I want to watch the stars, and mother said you would sit with me" Lanna stated.

"Oh did she now? And what would happen if some angry Feral came and snatched you up while you sat out in the dark? What would mother say then?" Eelan asked playfully as he tickled his sister.

"You would fight him and beat the tar out of him, that's what would happen!" Lanna said cheerfully.

"Oh, is that right?"

"Oh yes it is" she said in a confident tone, "My brother is the biggest male in the village! All the boys are too scared of you to pick on me!"

Eelan thought for a moment about what Lanna had just said. "What if a Feral came and carried you off? I might not be able to protect you from someone my own size?"

Lanna looked confused. "If every feral is like you than they might be better than the stuffy boys that live here!"

Eelan laughed at his sister's naivety. "You don't mean that do you?"

"Yes I do!" Lanna said angrily, "I'm sure those Ferals are just misunderstood! They only raid when the times are tough, not like Humans or Burthan.

Eelan remembered the last time the humans had attacked the village. A few families had been killed, but thankfully the raiders had stopped after a few houses. They had been after food and water, but they had taken everything else they wanted too. Eelan growled at the thought. "I won't let them hurt us Lanna" he said as his sister rested against his muscular furry chest.

"I know" she said and looked up at the darkening sky. "That's why I love you Eely"

For a while the two half siblings sat together and watched the stars come out. It was something Eelan rarely paused to do most nights. He had been so busy with the thought of hunting lately that he hadn't spent much time with his family. In fact he hadn't really seen much of them at all lately. After a while Lanna fell asleep in Eelan's arms. He carefully put his harpoon on his back and pulled the straps across his chest to keep it secure. Next he stood and carried his sister back towards his family's hut. As soon as the young male was through the door the talking died and his parents looked at him. "You shouldn't let Lanna go out at night" Eelan said gruffly, "She could get hurt or lost"

"She was in good hands" Letta said softly as she watched her son carry her daughter into the hut. Eelan placed Lanna in the soft embrace of his former bedding. Letta silently realized it was because her son didn't intend to be spending the night with them again. "You should stay with us tonight Eelan. We have plenty of meat left from your shark, and you haven't eaten a bit of it yet"

Eelan paused on his way towards the door. "I'll be fine mother" he said softly.

"He's been eating raw meat" Fandar said bluntly, "I can smell it on his fur"

"Fandar!" Letta said and turned first to her mate and then to her eldest son, "Eelan! Is this true?"

"Mother..." Eelan said in a soft growl.

"Admit it Letta! He smells like a..." Fandar paused as everyone in the hut glared at him.

"Say it!" Eelan snarled as he turned around and freighted the four elders.

"Like a Feral!" Fandar said softly and avoided looking Eelan in the eyes.

Eelan laughed as he turned back towards the door. "I am a feral" he said in a low growl as he turned glanced back behind him. "I have fangs and claws like my real father... you'd be safer if I wasn't around" he said as his eyes caught the light of the fire and glowed a soft yellow. A chill went up the spines of the four adult sitting beside the fire pit. Eelan laughed a low unfriendly laugh as he pushed the door flap aside and walked out into the night.

"Eelan wait!" Letta said as she chased her son into the pitch black night. There was no way she could see him at the edge of the walkway, but she spoke regardless. "I know you must hate us... but Fandar... he doesn't understand you"

"Nobody understands me mother, I'm not like the others" Eelan said sadly. "I like to hunt at night, and I like to feel the blood of my prey splashing into my mouth before the light in their eyes goes out. Sprits help me mother! I am a feral!" Eelan said as he clutched his stomach and resisted the wave of bloodlust that swept over him.

"You can fight it son! You can be a better Otten than Fandar!" she said angrily, "You're so strong inside, I know you are!"

Eelan turned to his mother and watched her search the darkness for a sign of her lost cub. She looked angry despite not being able to see anything. Was that what Eelan's father had seen in her? The young Otten shook the though from his head. "I'm here mother" he said as he walked over to her and pulled her into his arms. She seemed to melt in his embrace. "Let me lead you back"

"I know you're a good male Eelan" Letta said as she felt her son lead her back towards the house, "You may be a feral, but that doesn't make you a monster"

Eelan couldn't help but chuckle once his mother was back inside the hut. He turned back towards the water and pulled off his useless clothing. The chill of the night air on his bare fur felt so good. Eelan dived into the dark waters and started his night hunt. He wanted something hearty to eat tonight. Eating something raw and bloody always took his mind off his arrogant step-father and the rest of his useless family.

...

The young Otten found himself about a mile out from the village along the coast to the south. He had already caught a few moon fish, small silvery fish that swim at night, but none of the normal ocean animals seemed to be out tonight. It was like something had spooked the wildlife, and neither predator nor prey was out in any abundance this night.

Eelan was lazily swimming further south, hoping to find better prey along the coast, when he spotted something large swimming just out of his vision. The shape had seemed slightly humanoid, and the young Otten could hardly resist the urge to investigate. As soon as he turned back north he caught a brief glance of the shape. It was another Otten! It had to be!

He raced after the intruder and had only just caught up to him enough to see his thick muscular tail when the shape sped up and swam back into the murky depths. That tail had been huge! Only a feral would have a tail that thick and long! What was a feral doing out in these waters? They lived far to the south along the harsh rocky shores in that area. And why was the feral leading Eelan back to town? Something wasn't right! The other Otten must know it was being followed, so why lead him this way?

Eelan was forced to surface after a few minutes of racing after the other Otten. As soon as he broke the surface he noticed an ominous red glare coming from the direction of his home. "Sprits help me! Raiders!" he shouted and forgot about following the other feral and swam straight towards his home.

The feral stopped as soon as it noticed Eelan wasn't following him anymore. The huge Otten watched as the younger feral raced towards the burning Otten village. "Son" it whispered softly and watched the young Otten swim through the night.

A huge ship flying a yellow and black flag was anchored along the north side of the village. Even from here Eelan could see the flames of the burning huts. He wasted no time as he clambered up onto the walkway and raced towards his house. The boom of cannon fire echoed through the night as the ship began to fire on the town.

Letta held her two cubs close to her as she cowered in the back of her hut. A particularly loud boom heralded the arrival of a massive Otten warrior as he pushed through the door flap and into the house. At first Letta thought it was him. The dark brown fur and the huge muscles. The scent of a powerful male. It had to be him! "Eelan!" Lanna shouted as she broke from her mother's arms and ran towards her older brother.

"Mother! Is the cub safe?" Eelan asked as he pulled Lanna into his arms and knelt beside his mother.

"I have her right here" Letta said softly as she looked into the face of her son. In a way she was almost glad it was him.

"We have to go now!" Eelan said with an audible growl. "These raiders aren't like the others, they're here to kill, not to steal!"

"What about our family?" Letta asked frantically, "What of Fandar and your Uncle?"

"Mother, if they went out there, then they are probably dead by now. There was no resistance, no hunters attacking the raiders, when I returned" Eelan replied and shook his head.

"Spirits help us" Letta cried as tears soaked her face fur.

"We need to go now mother! I know a safe place we can hide tonight, but we must go now or we won't make it with the cubs!" Eelan said gruffly.

Letta nodded and rose with Eelan. He held her hand as she was led from her ancestral home and into the darkness of the night.

Eelan led the remains of his family south. It was slow going with his mother and sister hanging onto him in the darkness of the water, but he knew he could make it if he focused. After nearly an hour of swimming Eelan pulled his mother and siblings under the water and dived towards a small cave in the side of the rocky coast. After a short swim the four Otten emerged into Eelan's part time den.

Letta looked around at the cave and realized her son must have been living here lately. Only a feral would prefer a cave to a hut, but in a way she was glad her son was not like the other Otten. No true Otten would leave their village during a raid. The village was their life, and without it a single Otten could not survive. Letta frantically licked the cold salt water from her baby daughter's fur. Eelan was licking the water out of Lanna's fur too. It was cold in this place, but Eelan had furs to sleep on and they were thicker than what a normal Otten would use. "Do you... live here?" Letta asked as she inspected the cave in the faint light provided by the glowing moss that grew along the ceiling of the stone chamber.

"Sometimes, yes" Eelan said guiltily, "When I want to sleep in the day, after hunting at night"

Eelan's mother was silent for the next few hours. The small pup in Letta's arms eventually fell asleep, but the adult female refused to put her down. Eelan was about to say something to what remained of his family when he heard something push up and out of the water at the entrance of his cave den. "Who's there!" Eelan snarled savagely and stood up to his full height as he put himself between the entrance of his den and his family.

As more and more of the Otten emerged from the water both Eelan and his mother behind him gasped. He was massive, easily the biggest Otten that could have ever lived. His face was both angry and concerned. Eelan could clearly smell blood on the beast's fur, also the stench of a lifetime of eating raw meat and the musk of an alpha male Otten. "Son" he said in a low thunderous voice and reached towards Eelan, catching the other male completely off guard.

"Sprits..." Eelan whispered and turned to his mother who was practically shaking in both fear and awe. "Mother... is this?"

Letta nodded as the huge Feral Otten looked past Eelan and at his one-time mate. "Let-a" he said sadly and then turned to Eelan, "E-lan, son, swim fast, save family" he said and Eelan suddenly realized that this must have been the Otten who had led him towards town earlier tonight.

"You... it was you! All these years. The Otten I would see just beyond the darkness?" Eelan said and reached out towards his father.

"Watch you" He said as he walked out of the water and into the cave, "Love E-lan and Let-a, protect them, visit them often in night"

Letta began to cry as she held her daughters to her. "It's true Eelan, he was always there. I knew it as soon as I was pregnant with you. He would watch from the water, or from the cliffs. He was always looking out for us before I married Fandar. Even after that he kept leaving food for you each night until you could hunt for yourself"

"Why... did you never say?" Eelan asked sadly.

"Fandar... Father and my brother. They thought he was a monster, but I knew better" Letta cried. "When I was a cub, I swam out too far from our home. The Red-Tails had always lived at the southern tip of the village, but a rogue current carried me away from my mother one day" Letta explained. "I was lost on the southern coast for two days until a young Otten male found me. He was a feral, but he gave me food, and took me back to his people until I was healthy again. After that he brought me back to my father, but they treated him like a monster, and drove him away from the village with sticks and rocks"

Letta paused to look at the huge Otten standing behind her son. He seemed sad as she told her story, but his eyes, she could tell he understood her words.

"After that we played together for years. It was never often, and my parents would scold me for staying out so late to see him. When he grew his fangs though I didn't see him much anymore, but occasionally he would appear to me, always in the water, or the distance" Letta seemed to pause as she thought back. "It was a bad year that year they came to the village. The Ferals hadn't raided us in years, but we knew they would come eventually" she said sadly, "They came in the night... and he came to me. He took me. And gave you to me" Letta said sadly. "He's been with us ever since"

Eelan felt the sting of pain in his heart. He had always hated his mother and hated the Ferals, but the truth hurt even more. His family hadn't liked his father any more than they had liked him! And now they had paid for their pride and arrogance with their lives. The Otten were a good people, but their own selfish pride... it was their worst weakness. "Father" Eelan said and turned to the massive Otten. He was almost too large for the cave. "You can fight, right father?" he asked.

The huge Otten nodded before he spoke, "Ran-Dar Fight well, protect family and territory" he said resolutely.

"Your name is Ran-Dar then?" Eelan asked and his father nodded and smiled.

"E-Lan" he said and pointed at Eelan, "Ran-Dar" he said and pointed at himself, "E-lan, son, Ran-Dar, Father" he said next. "Let-a" he said and looked past Eelan, "Let-a mother, maybe she be mate too?" he asked.

Letta was shocked by his question. "I... My... Fandar... He's dead now" she stuttered. Letta paused before she continued. "I have two cubs to take care of, and a feral father is better than no father at all" she said angrily, "Ran-Dar, will you take me as your mate? Will you hunt for me and your adopted cubs?"

Ran-Dar pushed gently past Eelan and knelt beside Letta. He placed a gentle hand on Lanna and then on the little cub in Letta's arms. "I hunt for you always" he said sternly. "Your cubs be my cubs now. We are family"