Samuel walked up to the creature and placed his hands on its thick coat. The female Dire fox before him had a thick, light silver colored coat with an insanely bushy tail behind her.
Whereas Drogo as a dire wolf had a bulky build that screamed power and endurance, the dire fox had a sleek appearance that screamed speed and flexibility.
The smooth fur on its body allowed for decreased air resistance and its flexible body allowed it to evade quickly without losing speed.
Drogo walked up to the dire fox and licked the side of its face. "I see, so she's your mate?" Samuel asked and Drogo barked excitedly in reply.
"Wait...what?! I never knew wolves and foxes could be in relationships", Elizabeth asked in shock.
"I agree. Interspecies relationships are not that rare but this is still really surprising", Catherina added as Helen nodded in agreement.
"It's not too crazy a circumstance, and look…there is clear evidence of their relationship being allowed by nature", Samuel said as he pointed towards the two pups playing behind their parents.
"Woah!! They're so cute!" Catherina shouted as she run up to the two pups and picked them up, confusing the two. She run back and displayed the stunned pups to the group.
"This is intriguing; Dire wolf - Dire fox hybrids…and they are already the size of regular average sized dogs. It also seems they each have characteristics from both species", Samuel said as he observed the two pups.
"You are right! It also appears that each pup has a dominant species gene in the mix. See here…the male pup looks more like the mother and the female pup looks more like the father. It's so spectacular!" Elizabeth shouted after taking a look as well.
"We should give them names!" Catherina shouted suddenly, drawing their attention. "What do you all suggest?" Samuel asked the three girls. "Hmm! How about Duke and Crystal?" Helen asked after thinking for a few seconds. "That sounds great", Elizabeth commended and the siblings agreed.
"You are Duke…and you are Crystal", Catherina said to the two pups individually and they barked happily in return. Drogo and his mate were excited as well and they barked and yelped in appreciation.
Samuel turned and walked up to the Dire fox and placed his hand on its head, petting it.
"As the queen of this pack, I think it's right you had a name of your own", he said and its large and fluffy tail swayed from side to side in excitement.
"Your name is Raine. As the mate of the pack leader, I want you to perform your duties as the Luna and protect everyone alongside Drogo", Samuel instructed and the large furry beast yelped in acknowledgement.
"We need to have Lisia scan the two pups and report back to Dr. Michelson and Aunt Silendiana", Samuel said to the group.
Catherina, with the two pups in hand, led the way towards the house and the other two ladies followed behind her.
Before Samuel could follow, he caught sight of multiple creatures flying in circles in the sky above them.
"Are they with you?" he asked Drogo as he stared straight into the sky at the multiple larger-than-average ravens.
Drogo barked in response excitedly. "So, you have birds in the pack as well. It's really a great addition. Now you have eyes in the skies", Samuel commended and Drogo barked in thanks, wagging his tail furiously.
"Call down the leader so I can meet them", Samuel instructed as Drogo lifted his head and howled loudly towards the sky. After a few seconds, the largest of the ravens descended from the sky and perched on Drogo's back.
The raven stood at a height of almost a meter tall with a wingspan of three meters. "A dire raven; now I've seen everything", Samuel said to himself as he closely observed the giant bird with his draconic eyes.
"I guess you need a name as well", he said as he placed a finger on his chin to think. "Your name is Raegan. You shall be Drogo's eyes in the sky", Samuel said and the large Raven cawed loudly in acknowledgement.
"Alright, the three of you follow me", Samuel said, signaling Drogo, Raine and Raegan to follow him into the house. The three creatures followed behind Samuel as he approached the girls who had waited for him on the porch.
After typing in the code, the large doors opened allowing them all to enter. Contrary to Catherina's expectation, the house was as clean as a whistle. She expected a house covered in dust from floor to ceiling as a result of the many years of nonuse but it looked like a car that had just gone through a thorough wash.
"What's going on here? This place is supposed to be filthy, how is it so squeaky clean?" she asked shocked. "I forgot to tell you…big sister Betty and a few of the staff have been coming here occasionally to clean up. They were here yesterday, that's why everything looks freshly cleaned", Samuel explained to her as he walked in.
"Oh, is that so? Good of them then", she replied. "Yeah! I initially intended on having Drogo and his pack have a run of the place but it seems they preferred the forest", Samuel added as he made way for the three beasts to enter.
Without wasting anytime, Samuel opened his backpack and brought out several fist-sized metal cubes. He arranged them in the middle of the room and activated them before taking a step back.
The boxes opened up and joined together, slowly morphing until there was a relatively large portable scanning device set-up in the middle of the room.
"Hello Lisia, please activate the device and prepare for full body biological scans", Samuel requested.
"HI SAMUEL…REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGED! INITIATING…!" Lisia stated as the device activated with a hum. "We'll start with Drogo, followed by Raine, Raegan and then the pups", Samuel said, signaling Drogo to take a seat on the device's platform.
Drogo followed the command and quickly approached the device and sat down on the lit platform, unsure of what was about to happen.
"COMMENCING BIOLOGICAL SCAN OF THE SUBJECT 'DROGO'!" Lisia declared as the scan was initiated.
It took a few minutes but soon, all the beasts present were fully scanned. "SCAN COMPLETED! NEW CATEGORY…'DIRE SPECIES'…RECORDED IN DATABASE!" Lisia stated.
"Thank you. Please run analysis in conjugation to the analysis data from the world wide scans. We need to find any creatures with similar characteristics that may or may not be threats to the world. Send the details of the scan to the doctor as well. Also, please go ahead and deactivate the scanner", Samuel requested once again.
"REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGED! GOOD DAY TO YOU!" Lisia said as the device deactivated and disassembled back into the fist-sized cubes.
"Now that's done…it's time to deal with the presences I felt when we first arrived", Samuel said as his eyes trailed towards a large mountain a little farther from their current location.