They sat in the waiting room for the better half of three hours before the vet finally came out with an exhausted look on his face. When he stopped in front of them, Grayson squeezed Erin's hand and licked his lips.

"Well, that was definitely a surprise."

He brought his clipboard out from under his arm and knelt down, showing them all of his notes.

"He's about two, maybe a little younger judging from his teeth. I got the diaper off and found a really nasty infection for obvious reasons. His fur is missing from his back end and half of his tail but after cleaning everything up I think it'll grow back in fairly well. Now then..."

He flipped the page and looked over the microchip information.

"Wait a second. It just says erased in both spots where his parents' names should be," Grayson noted, confused.

"Yeah. Unfortunately, he was likely dumped. I wouldn't doubt in front of a fire station or something of that sort, but you can't just sit a two year old down and not expect it to run off. That's probably how he ended up on the road in such bad shape."

Grayson's eyes widened as they rose to look at the vet in shock.

"So they just abandoned him?! Is that legal?"

"No, not really. Considering how much he's suffered there could be criminal charges pressed, but I'll take care of that. I already called the police and they should be here momentarily to take some DNA evidence for testing."

"Good. Um, what is going to happen to him?"

"He'll likely be taken to an orphanage to heal or foster home if one is available. Then he'll be put up for adoption."

"Oh..."

He didn't like the idea of him going to an orphanage all alone, but there wasn't much he could do about it. His mother would kill him if he came home with a wolf pup. Even if it was a shifter. With his inability to control his shape-shifting, it would end very badly to have a young puppy in the house. If he got spooked at all, the pup would have a field day with his mouse.

Looking up at Erin, Grayson noticed that he was basically showing the same expression he felt.

"I can't take him. I don't have the money to take care of him..."

Erin sighed and looked down at him, giving a sad smile before returning his attention to the doctor.

"We can visit him at the orphanage, right? Will it be the one near the high school in town?"

"Most likely. That's the closest one to me and I'm sure they'll want me to keep up with his infection. Thankfully his wounds were somewhat old, likely from other animals or vehicles, and they only required some cleaning up and stitches."

They both nodded, then Grayson smiled up at Erin as he squeezed his hand.

"We'll visit him after school as often as we can."

"Yeah."

The doctor chuckled and stood up, dusting off his pants before returning his attention to them.

"Well, I'll keep him for now since he's resting in the surgery room. There's no charge but can I have a phone number to contact in case the cops want to speak with you two if they have questions and for when he goes to the orphanage?"

Erin jumped up and quickly gave the doctor his number, then Grayson stood and they headed towards the door. As much as he wanted to see the puppy again, he knew that it needed to stay quiet back there and having already run in the back screaming a few hours ago, he figured that he'd leave quietly this time.
Stopping right at the door, Grayson glanced over his shoulder and thanked the doctor before leaving.

His tiger cubs were awesome! They tried to bully their newborn sibling at first, but after a few reprimands they actually began helping her by cleaning up her face and keeping her warm. Tiegan couldn't help his contentment as cubs climbed over his chubby belly and others tugged at his fur. After losing most of his and Tarren's kittens, his milk had mostly dried-up, but now with six hungry mouths attacking him for food again, they were more than full.

Jordan relaxed nearby in his lion form, playing with any of the kittens that happened to wander close. At first, Tiegan's instincts had him growling at him, but when he showed that he was just there to play with them, he relaxed and let him stay.

Tiegan watched the kittens roll around, Melayo taking the forefront on pouncing lessons. The rest weren't named yet, but that would come in time. Right then he was just content to enjoy them being back with him after so long.

I don't need to be babysat by my little brother. Go away, Rylan. 

Uh huh.

Dork.

Butthole.

Bastard.

Stupid.

I'm not stupid!

Yes, you are. You're letting your lion control your actions while your mate is rolling around with your kittens downstairs, the happiest he's been in awhile.

They aren't my kittens. Only one is.

Yeah right. Those are all your kittens, Tarren. Every single one means the world to Tiegen and if you can't accept that then you don't deserve him.

Tarren ground his teeth together, stifling a growl as he pawed at his buffalo bone. Rylan was right. He really needed to get his lion under control, because even if only one of them were truly his, every single one was Tiegen's.

Pulling himself together, he pushed himself up onto his paws and meandered back down the stairs. It took a lot of effort, but he managed to force his lion back so that when he stepped onto the living room rug, he was back in his human form.

"Hey there Tiegen."

His mate's fuzzy tiger head lifted, ears pinning back with nervousness.

"It's okay. I won't hurt them, I promise."

Tiegan watched him closely as he sat down a few feet away from the cubs. Most of them were wrestling while their single remaining one was nuzzled beneath a larger kitten, obviously asleep. At least they weren't being mean to her.

Hmm?

A nip on his left pointer finger made Tarren glance down at a familiar fuzzy face and smile.

"Hey there, you."

He carefully scooped the little boy up and set him in his lap.

His name is Melayo.

"Hm?"

Tarren glanced up at Tiegen, his tiger's attention completely locked onto what he was doing with his cub.

His name. It's Melayo.

"Ah."

Looking down at the squirming cub, Tarren poked its belly and then held up his front paws so that he could stretch him a bit. He growled playfully at him, but didn't show any signs of distress.

"Look at you, Melayo. You've got some guts standing up to my lion when he's got a bone."

The cub grumbled again as Tarren let his paws go. He dropped back down into his lap, then began swatting at his fingers.

Okay. This isn't too bad. My lion still isn't happy but he isn't trying to push his way out any longer, either.

With a grin Tarren waved his fingers in front of the cubs nose, snickering when he jumped around to try and catch each of the digits. They played like that for a few minutes before another fuzzy head came into view, peeking at him from where it had its paws hooked around his right knee, trying to climb up, but failing since it wasn't quite as big as its brother.

"Wanna play too, little guy?"

He made a quiet growling sound but quickly turned and ran back to his mother, nuzzling against Tiegan's neck as he tried to hide in the fur there.

Okay, that is pretty cute.

After another minute a little female came over, but instead of trying to get his fingers she pounced on his toes, making him hiss in surprise. The little tiger had guts, though, because she didn't back off from the sudden hiss and instead sat up and grumbled quietly.

"That better have been an apology young lady."

She looked like one of the older ones so he figured that she likely understood at least a little bit of what he'd said. In fact, she actually did seem to look a little apologetic.

"You want to play, too?"

She grumbled again and raised a paw, waving it like a dog might who wants to shake hands. Tarren chuckled and reached forward, taking the paw and tugging, gently guiding her onto his knee near where her brother was busy rolling around. Of course, he was a bit hesitant with their claws since he was still naked, but they seemed to be fine staying away from the obvious.

Are you doing okay, Tarren?

Tarren's eyes rose to Tiegen's and he grinned.

"Yeah. It'll take a bit to really get used to, but I think as long as they don't bully our last kitten I can get my lion under control."

His tiger gave a funny smile and seemed to relax a bit, making him laugh. Tarren then went back to playing with two of his new tiger cubs. Two out of their new remade group of six.