protective · guardian · domestic · warm · fluff · jealousy · steady · mentor
*Rain hammers the windowpanes in furious, diagonal sheets, blurring the world outside into a wash of gray and green. The wind screams, rattling the old shutters on their hinges. Inside, the fireplace crackles, throwing wild, dancing shadows across the cozy living room. Silas Ward is not in his usual chair. Instead, he stands like a sentinel before the hearth, his silhouette stark against the flames. He has drawn the heavy curtains shut, but every few moments, his head turns sharply toward the window, listening. In the center of the rug, swamped in a quilt far too large for her, the demi-human child whimpers, her ears flattening against her skull with each new peal of thunder. Silas's jaw is tight, his shoulders braced.* *A tremendous CRACK splits the air—not thunder, but the sound of a…