we built this city on broken glass

It was almost pleasant, in some fashion, to have another man in a home so normally dominated entirely by women. Micah, perhaps, was still too young to truly count as anything but the boy he was. Frost, while he adored his mate and her children, as well as those women he watched over, was not uninclined to admit that male company would not go awry. Indeed the often stoic white stallions had been...pleased when Tetradore had accepted that invitation. Whatever argument had occurred between his mate and her brother was a manner for them alone. Frost, in this, determined to remain distinctly uninvolved. The stallion inclined to enjoy Tetradore's company on most occasions- their differences long since sorted. His own recent trip to Mongolia having offered him even further insight into the Nightshade Alpha and yet, for now, Frost said little offered. The man instead content to step aside and admit Tet into the warmth of his own home. The sensation of another Alpha within his territory a truly....unusual one and yet that too was merely cast aside for now as the white-haired man moved to lead the way down the hall and toward the kitchen where Nadya busied herself with that meal.

His inquiry on whether or not Tet might desire that drink was met with the sudden offering a slender bag and a cake box by way of Alexander. His companions remembrance of his birthday managing to coax that faint lift of his lips once more in a fleeting flash of pleasure. He could already smell that cake. The equine within himself unable to ignore that scent, even despite his near perfect memory of Alexander insisting that much cake was hardly healthy for man or beast. Hmmm. Perhaps the Hunter had suffered a change of heart- if only for one day. Frost reached to take those offered bags then, that one that held the alcohol passed to Nadya to see to opening as they reached the kitchen. Tetradore's offered greeting to his sibling was met with Nadya's own insistence the man looked good. That unease between the pair distinctly palpable, one Nadya had surely felt herself as she looped her arm through his own. Frost more then willing to allow her to use him as a veritable anchor point to cling to in that moment as she pressed against him, the stallion silently allowing the vaugest touches of warmth to encompass her frame and eas whatever anxiety tugged at her. Whatever words the stallion had been about to offer, however, were interrupted by the ring of that doorbell again. His own connection to each of his packmates assuring him of just who this was.

Frost moved gently away from Nadya then to stride back down that hallway and open the door once more to the grinning face of the ever-youthful Marcelo who had joined his pack most recently. The Jackal promptly declared he had come bearing gifts before striding inside to drop a backpack at his feet, Frost momentarily left eyeing those....uniquely wrapped packages.

"Your wrapping is...masterful."

The vaguest hint of humour so readily seemed to tug at those words before Frost was handed his own gift. Marcelo only seemed to notice in the last moment that a guest stood amongst them as the energetic blonde spun toward Tetradore to insist that he could share Frosts gift- Tet equally quick to assure him it was certainly fine. Those words were offered to both men then.

"Marcelo joined my pack recently. The only other man brave enough, it seems, to live amongst a pack of women."

Those faint touches of humour so seemed to find his cool lyrics once more. Frost so eternally aware of the amusement others took in his near all-female pack. Marcelo the first other man willing to throw himself into that female dominated pack and yet the other man had fit in...surprisingly well. Frost's attention shifted to that gift Marcelo had handed him then, the Alpha slowly unwrapping that liquor and wooden horse. That gift was nothing short of intriguing. Frost's fingers brushed momentarily over that wooden carving. Alexander, he suspected, would be curious about something so...aged as this.

"What sort of wood is it?"

Isabella and Micah took that moment to appear, the children clambering in excitement for their own gifts as nadya struggled to introduce them to Marcelo and Tetradore in turn. Neither child, he supposed, was likely to remember their Uncle. It had been years since either had seen either Tetradore, let alone Tobias.

"Tetradore is your Uncle."

He added softly, both children turning to glance between Tetradore and himself before hurrying off to see to those presents Marcelo had gifted them and to drag the unfortunate Jackal with them in the process. Whether or not Tetradore was a part of their lives the man was still their Uncle. Those family connections distinctly important to Frost to acknowledge even if the twins held little to do with that side of their family. How they were raised was Nadya's choice, after all, and she had chosen to raise her children away from their Father. Frost not un-inlined to agree with her choice in that. Tobias was distinctly....unique in every sense. Isaabella, it seemed, had noted his own gift, the little girl calling out to him as her hands extended for that wooden horse. Frost near...reluctant to give it to her and yet, he supposed, it did look durable.

"Be careful."

He offered in warning. That tone of his voice alone leaving little room for argument as she reached to take the horse before hurrying off once more. Both children, of late, having started to refer to him as 'Papa'. Nadya had ceased to correct them as she once ad. Frost, in turn so simply finding he was content enough to allow it. Nadya reached to take that bottle Marcelo had brought then, her lips pressed to his cheek before that utterance that he would receive his own birthday present later managed to stir a faint simper to his lips once more. Those words, this time, offered to Nadya alone. I look very forward to it, Naja. Between that cake, alcohol and Nadya herself that birthday was already rving decidedly....pleasant. Nadya disappeared into the kitchen then, Frost returning his attention to Tetradore before he reached to pull his own gift from atop the table to hand to the man.

"This is for you. In my country we give gifts on christmas eve. It is a book about those cars you enjoy. Marcelo, there is one here for you too."

That DNA Lamborghini book, he was certain, might be appreciated by the other Alpha, Marcelo having been gifted A Burglars Guide To The City, the Jackal sure to appreciate the humour in that gift and yet it was decidedly practical in turn. If stealing was marcelo's skillset there was no reason why he could not improve it. Nadya returned from the kitchen then to hand himself and Tetradore those drinks, Frost glancing within the living room to assure the twins had not assaulted Marcelo too deeply before gesturing toward that bottle in a clear indication the Jackal could help himself to a drink in turn before Nadya queried Tetradore on his business. The Ark and its fighting rings seemed eternally busy. Tetradore must certainly turn a decent profit from them.

"I've been to your Ark a few times. You don't fight in those rings yourself very often. Does the competition not tempt you?"

FrosT