<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'">It took a moment for Preston’s words to register, but the second they did it’s too late, and Cy is tackled by half a dozen over enthusiastic pups and he shoots his Beta a half-hearted glare, “Good to know my pain gives you amusement.” And little clambering hands and feet is anything but comfortable. But Cy doesn’t mind the discomfort all that much, not when he’s more focused on making sure the little rascals don’t shove each over too hard.<br/>
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Victoria calling his name snaps him to attention and his smile is instant and bright as if it’s the first time he’s seeing her all day. As he turned to work to himself free, he glanced up as Milly broke away from the group and closed in on his mate. The she-wolf's immediate discomfort has his lips twitching with the start of an amused smile. A smile that dissolved into a low chuckle at the panic in her voice as she called his name for a second time. More urgent than the first time. The promise of cookies gets the pups racing off, and soon enough Milly is running after them. Victoria asking after Preston and his missing mate earns her a raised eyebrow from Cy as if she really needed an answer to the obvious.<br/>
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The day is comfortably warm, the sun shining over the tops of the trees and Cy tilts his face skyward basking in the heat  of it. What he’d give to spend the day lazing in the grass soaking up all that heat. I don’t think Preston is the issue,” he says, turning to his mate. And as infuriating as it is, he understands where Jaymus is coming from and that fact that he almost finds himself defending the man leaves a bad taste in his mouth. So of course when he does exactly that, his attempt to justify the Gamma’s motivations only ends up with him saying something that has Vicky turning on him. And it’s too late to backpedal. “Now wait a sec,” he protested, “that isn’t what I said!”<br/>
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Not that Vicky gives him a chance to try and explain himself before she’s challenging him to a race and taking off without actually giving him a choice in the matter.<br/>
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He takes off to the left, determined not to lose. And for a second he considers taking a shorter route round, but he knows Vicky would never let him live it down if he did. He’ll just have to be faster than her is all.<br/>
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That sudden howl chills his blood and has fur standing on end. Forget running the entire length of the border line, he takes a sharp right, taking the shorter way round to Victoria’s location. And to think he hadn’t believed the day could go any more wrong.<br/>
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The blur of grey and white closely pursued by the larger grey registers on the edge of Cy’s vision as he bursts into the clearing, but his main focus is Victoria. The large dark, nearly black wolf nuzzles his mate with a questioning whimper and licks her muzzle.<br/>
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Shifting back, he can do a better job of cataloguing her body for injuries with opposable thumbs. “Are you okay? What happened?" There's an edge of panic to his voice, and he very purposely doesn't look in the direction Preston had gone after the white and grey wolf. Anger is not an unfamiliar emotion to Cy, but what he’s feeling right then is dark and bitter and leaves a bad taste in his mouth, a hot chill in his blood, and a tremble in his limbs.<br/>
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Once Vicky has shifted back, he pulls her to her feet, already shaking his head if she suggests they go help Preston. "He'll be fine. Where the hell is Jaymus!?" They head back to the pack house, but not before Cyrus had pulled aside two of the pack’s warriors and told them to prep one of the underground cells.<br/>
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He could count on one hand the number of times he'd seen it used for what it was originally built for. Most of his life the iron bars had housed unruly wolves or those who had yet to learn to control the change. He’d never given much thought to what sort of events would lead to them housing prisoners of the genuinely hostile variety. Just how prepared was he for this role of leadership and the choices and decisions that came with it?</span>