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"You seem to get into fights a lot Malakye." Henry commented.

"N-ot in-ten-tion-ally." Malakye replied, looking down at his plate to avoid eye contact.

"Yeah apparently Bruce got their just before it got serious. Malakye apparently laid out Greg after he hit him." Malakye cringed when Michael said that part.

'Great, now they'll just think I'm some thug.' Malakye thought to himself

"Isn't Greg that bull on the team?" Henry asked. "And you laid him out Malakye?" Malakye didn't look up, he just sat their afraid to move, afraid that any motion would make the situation worse. He was waiting for them to tell him to leave, to get the hell out of their house and to never come back.

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"Yeah! Bruce said he did it with a single punch! BAM!" Michael punched his paw for emphasis. Malakye's heart was hammering in his chest, he was waiting for it, waiting for Henry to order him out of his house. He didn't want to leave. He liked it here. He liked feeling accepted, feeling like he was part of a family again. Feeling like he had someone to look out for him. Malakye couldn't even think about what he would do, he had no where to go, no one to go to. What was worse was if they called the police, he was still a junior and his uncle was still his registered guardian.

"Well it's good to know you can look after yourself." Instantly all the worry and stress was gone, replaced with relief at Henry's words. "But you should try and avoid fights in the future." Malakye nodded eagerly, he didn't trust himself to speak, he wanted to throw himself at Henry and hug the lion. Dinner flew past by quickly after that. The twins went to the living room to watch some more cartoons while Michael went upstairs to do his homework. Louise didn't care it was the weekend, she always made them do their homework early, she didn't like furs who left things to the last minute. Malakye was going to go sit with the twins when Henry placed his paw on his shoulder.

"I'd like to a private word with you Malakye." He said and walked to a door that was built into the wall beneath the stairs. Henry pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the door, Malakye followed him in and pushed the door shut behind him. Henry turned on a lamp which illuminated the room. It an office, not very large but big enough for four or five furs to have a conversation without invading each others space. There was a small window on the back wall with frosted glass, no wider than a dinner plate. The walls were lined with polished wood and a large bookcase which took up the entire stretch of wall on the right hand side of the room, the book case had dozens of books, all of which looked expensive. The lamp Henry turned on sat on a large, polished wooden desk which sat prominently in the middle of the room; littered with various office supplies and numerous files piled on the side.

Henry moved to the filing cabinet which sat in the corner of the room and rummaged through one of the drawers and pulled out a folder. Malakye stood awkwardly by the door not sure what to do. Henry sat in a swivel chair at the desk and motioned to a wooden chair across the desk from him, Malakye hesitantly moved and sat in it, a little nervous about what was happening. The whole room smelt of wood, leather and books, like a library. The scents made the room smell intimidating to Malakye. It smelt like the office of the furs who put him under his uncles care all those years ago.

Henry was busy looking through the contents of the folder not paying any attention to Malakye, which only made him feel more nervous than he already was. He felt butterflies in his stomach and began to feel nauseous. Various scenarios ran through his mind, none of them good, making him even more nervous. The silence was unbearable to Malakye, that awkward silence that he didn't want to break but could bear to suffer it.

"Well Malakye," Henry spoke now looking at him. His tone sounded formal and suddenly Malakye missed the silence. "As you know I deal with..." Henry paused to consider how to phrase the rest of his statement. " the more unusual sides of the law." Malakye nodded. "The law changes nearly every day, new laws are passed, others are changed while others are abolished altogether."

"O-okay..." Malakye said nervously, wondering where Henry was going with his explanation.

"Are you familiar with the laws regarding slavery when slavery was abolished?"

"No."

"Avoiding a lengthy history lesson what happened was that the rich and powerful lost most of their work force and found a way to keep a cheap labour force. Their influence and power got a new law passed where they could have furs that were more or less slaves, but had more freedom that the previous generation of slaves. Basically it was a signed agreement between the wealthy and the slaves." Henry explained and while the topic was interesting to Malakye he couldn't work out why Henry was telling him all of this. "The act died out nearly a century ago but the law allowing it was never abolished, and there are still remote cases of it being used in this day and age."

"Th-ere are s-still sla-ves?" Malakye asked.

"Not slaves as such..." Henry passed Malakye a sheet of paper from the folder. "This is an example of one such agreement from fifty years ago. It says that the fur in question was the rightful property of the purchasing family once the agreed payment was paid to the furs family. They would remain their property until they came to the age of sixteen. The contract goes on to describe the agreed living conditions for the fur."

"The-ir f-family s-sold them?"

"In essence yes." Malakye was disgusted. Selling their own children into slavery.

"W-why are y-you tell-ing me t-this?"

"Well, I just wanted you to understand all this before I got to the main reason for our conversation." Henry sighed setting up and walking round the desk to lean against it so he was standing in front of Malakye. "To make a long story short... we would like you to join our family."

Malakye stared at Henry for several long moments as he processed what Henry had just said. There was a long silence where they were both waiting for the other to react. Malakye waiting for Henry to say he was joking and Henry waiting for a response. Once it was obvious that Henry was actually being serious Malakye jumped up and hugged him, letting out a squeal of happiness. Henry chuckled and hugged him back. Once Malakye had calmed down Henry got him to sit and went back to his own seat. Malakye was all smiles, he had never felt happier and was literally bouncing in his seat, tears of joy rolling down his muzzle.

"I'm glad you're happy about this." Henry smiled his demeanour becoming serious again. "There are however, a few... legal hiccups." Malakye visibly became worried, his excitement drained away at Henry's words. "You are not of the legal age to live by yourself and therefore must have a guardian or be placed into care. After a little digging I found out that your registered guardian is in fact your uncle, one Randle Redpelt." The mention of his uncles name sent chills through Malakye's body. "You were placed in his care after your parents were killed in a road accident, is that right?"

"Y-yes." Malakye choked out, barely able to speak after the mention of his uncles name.

"There was no reports of you having been reported missing." Henry frowned. "When you told me that you were homeless, that wasn't a lie was it?" Malakye shook his head. "Good, then that means he's guilty of negligence for your well being and care. There are a few ways for you to join our family Malakye, the first is adoption. If he agreed to you staying here while the adoption process was completed then that would be fine, if he objects to the adoption however, this is a lengthy process as he is your current guardian and you would have to go live with him while he was proved guilty of his negligence, which could take months or years."

"N-no!" Malakye squeaked, his tears of joy now tears of fear, he couldn't bear to go back to his uncle.

"I know you don't want to live with him Malakye, I could tell that much from your reaction when I mentioned his name. The unfortunate truth is that you would have to be returned to his custody if he was to push for it, I don't want to put you through that." Malakye felt a moment of relief at Henry's words but he was still an emotional wreck at the prospect of going back to his uncle. "That is why I mentioned the agreement between wealthy families and their slaves. Part of the law allows the fur themselves to agree to the contract themselves and bypass the family or guardians all together, so long as the fur was at least sixteen years of age." Henry didn't miss the flash of hope in Malakye's eyes. "And according to your birth certificate, you turned sixteen four months ago."

"W-when did y-you..."

"I've had you living in my house for four days now, I did a little digging. Hybrids such as yourself are not that common and are easy enough to track down."

"So y-you w-want me to be-come y-our s-slave?"

"On paper, yes. But you will be treated as part of family, more than that if that's what you want." Malakye gave him a look of confusion. "I mean... you like Michael, don't you?" Malakye blushed, thankful for his dark scales. "I do however have stipulation."

"W-what?" Malakye asked, nervous but willing to do almost anything.

"I want you to..." Henry paused and rubbed his muzzle. "It's a little awkward to ask... I would like you to be available to service the females in my family during their heats." A long silence ensued, both Malakye and Henry blushing at the mention of the stipulation. "Sara... has some pretty bad heats. She's a rare case where she is allergic to the medication to help during heats and... it's painful for her. I don't want her getting pregnant and I definitely don't want just anyone to help her, I need to be able to trust them, and I know that I haven't known you very long but you seem like an honest male..." Malakye couldn't believe what Henry was asking him to do. A few days ago he would have jumped at the chance to bed a female like Sara, but he didn't know what this thing between himself and Michael was. Was it a budding relationship or was it just fun? "You don't have to answer right now, think about it."

"O-okay."

"I know this isn't an easy decision to make." Henry sighed, it was obvious to Malakye that it hadn't been an easy thing for him to ask. He was inviting him, a stranger to not only join his family but was giving his blessing to the relationship between him and his son but also asking him to have sex with his daughter. "I know that my request makes it awkward between you and Michael... so I'd like to talk to him about it myself. Could you please go and tell him I want to speak to him? Please don't mention anything about the agreement, I want to make sure he understands what I'm asking of you."

"O-okay." Malakye agreed, standing up and walking to the office door. His legs felt like jelly, the whole situation was confusing and he didn't know what to think of it. So lost in his thoughts he was standing outside Michael's bedroom door before he realised it.

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