Chapter 56: New Claws on the Block.
Vess leaned her rather sizable frame back into the comfy human seating and heard it creak in protest as she shuffled her large very solid scaly rear end about on the soft leather, she was most definitely not accustomed to all this luxury and this whole notion of not only being treated with respect but as an equal by humans was absolutely insane to her.
Was this for real?
Was this something she and her beloved children could truly have with these people?
They seemed truly genuine on the outside and she could see that both her niece and nephew truly loved their chosen humans, it was plain as the horns on her head to the Alpha matriarch Claw's eyes to see that Visa truly adored Seven, she worshipped the ground the surprisingly pretty little human walked upon.
The same was true of Ven and Gregory though she was somewhat surprised to find out that her nephew liked males and not just males but human males, but in all honesty, the pair of them looked really good and comfortable together, the way Gregory seemed to just melt in her nephew's arms showed that he truly loved him.
Then there was Seven and boy was that boy a hard one to read, he was young even by human standards but spoke with the voice of ages, he was far more mature than his young-looking face portrayed, but he plainly seemed to adore her niece and seemingly proudly so as he certainly was not shy about showing it, in the way he touched her, the way he kissed her, hell he stoked her horns in public for the Great Pack's sake!
An image suddenly wormed its way out of the back of her subconscious mind and wormed its way right through her consciousness and as it overrode her sight and made her see it, in this image Seven was not stoking Visa's horns, he was stroking hers.
Vess shook her head to clear it and snarled at herself menacingly, no she would never ever take love away from another Claw, that was a truly dishonourable thing to even attempt let alone do and she was an honourable Alpha matriarch Claw and she would never sully her honour by injecting herself into another Claw's love and trying to muscle herself in on another's lifemate and that was how the pair had described themselves, lifemates.
No, if she was truly to try this human love thing out for herself she would hunt and catch a tasty human for herself, which was a train of thought that actually shocked her, after all the things not just her pack but all Claws everywhere had suffered at their hands she would have never thought that she'd be able to look at them in a favourable light.
But after seeing this strange but also wonderfully open-minded group or more accurately pack she was finding her worldview challenged somewhat or more accurately rather a lot, they seemed to be creating this narrative all of their own that showed the world around them what could be truly achieve when humans and non-humans at the very least just let one another be unharmed, but more so what they can do when they work together, live alongside one another, fight together for what is theirs, but also if they can do so take it a step further and live together and love together.
This brought her mind back to the thoughts of what it would be like to love a member of another species, all of this group did not have a single member that was paired off with another member of their own race, which was truly fascinating especially as it seemed to be humans that were the truly popular ones among these non-humans here.
There was her niece and nephew who had humans, Malakai that oddly pretty spider human hybrid boy who was paired up with the odd female human called Wisp, the NightStalker girl who had herself a handsome red skin human male called Runs-With-Nightstalkers a more perfectly ironic name she had never heard in her life and now as she witnessed right before her their group newest member Timothy who was apparently and ex-member of the Brotherhood of Steel.
The mere thought of those metal-encased tail holes made Vess growl with anger, though not as much as the Enclave did, now granted she could understand the fear and even some of the anger of regular everyday humans, they did not have the armour or the weapons of these groups to protect themselves so when confronted with something vastly superior in terms of strength, size and natural armour and weaponry such as a big healthy Claw boy or girl then yes this fear and paranoia they exhibited was understandable, despite most Claws just wishing to be left alone to live in peace, whether it be a lone Claw or a pack.
And these ideas and ideals could be both be both poisonous and cancerous and could indeed grow rapidly in communities where people tended to band together to protect themselves, but then this group was coming along with a cure for it, they were showing the world what could be achieved if humans and sentient non-humans worked together to achieve a better future, now granted this wouldn't always be possible for one reason or another, but that was not a reason not to try, it was an honourable quest and path this odd little pack had set themselves on and now she was determined to be a part of it, to build a better world for her children to live in, so she could hold up her large horned head with pride and say "I helped change things for the better."
But she could already feel in her heart that to her it was more than that, she wanted more out of this new world they were trying to build, there must be something to this human love and to be fair now that she'd truly had a chance to look at them close up there were not an ugly species at all really, they might be small and weak compared to a proud Claw female such as herself, but at the same time that mere fact triggered all sort of instincts like the want to mother one of them which was kinda confusing but also kinda exciting at the same time.
Infact it was creating all sorts of tantalising images and scenarios in her head, like in one, she hunted down a tasty looking little human and caught in and in return for her sparing his life he did all sorts of services and delicious things for her to win her favour and of course she being an honourable Alpha Matriarch Claw she rewarded his submission with such wonderful things.