Pups
Crouching low, they sprinted towards the cave, all preparing themselves for whatever was about to come. It was either an intruder… or new lives about to enter the world.
They knew that they weren't being as careful as they normally would, as they ran through the maze of rocks and boulders. After all, if belos or one of his wolves had been watching, they would be sitting ducks and never have sensed him coming. But there was only one thing on their minds. What was going on at the den?
They found out soon enough however… making it back to the cave in record time.
And when they did, Ava was indeed in the process of giving birth to the pups.
Owen was pacing back and forth in front of the den anxiously. He looked up when they slowed down, panting for breath and he demanded angrily—though there was a hint of panic in his voice, 'Where have you all been? Ava having the pups now and we needed you here!'
'Give us a break!' Hunter yelled back as honey and flapjack came running out of the cave, 'If we knew she was finally going to have them, we wouldn't have gone out!'
'Big Sister!' Honey called when she saw her. 'Ava in there! She wants you!'
Emira nodded to her before she turned to the others. 'Shut up both of you!' Emira commanded Hunter and Owen as she walked past him and into the cave; leaving the rest of them to just wait outside.
'This is Ava’s first litter, it's hard enough without you all shouting!' she called to them.
Luz looked to Owen who had fallen silent and was lying there on the stone with his big paws over his eyes.
'What are you hoping for?' she asked gently. 'And how many?'
He removed his paws to look at her. 'I don't care…' he whimpered. 'Just as long as they're healthy.'
Luz lowered her head and rubbed it against his in comfort. At that moment, honey and flapjack both came over to talk.
'Edric?' Honey asked, 'Once the pups are born, does this mean that you don't need to call us pups anymore?'
'Yeah,' flapjack agreed at once, holding his head up high. 'We're not babies anymore!'
'You both are two shrimpy to be called wolves yet,' Hunter snorted as he lied down.
'HEY!' they shouted and tackled him. Hunter didn't look bothered however as he just yawned and went to sleep. When it was clear that he wasn't going to get up anytime soon, flapjack sighed and leapt off him to luz.
Flapjack then looked to her and asked, 'Why aren't we allowed to be in there?'
'Ah…' luz said quickly looking around at amity, who looked ready to laugh.
'Well,' luz said slowly, 'Better that I tell you then hear it from edric.'
'Hey!' he shouted and this time she laughed.
'I wouldn't know for sure because I've never had pups,' luz said as flapjack came over and began to climb on top of her. 'But it's a very painful process from what I've heard. And I don't think that she wants us to see her like this. Besides… really…….it's a very… private matter and I think that we would only make it worst.'
Flapjack tilted his head in confusion, but he didn't ask anything else as he began to play again. He began chasing her tail as she caused it to flick side to side.
They stayed outside for almost an hour in the cold—wishing that they would hurry up so they could go in. And at long last, they heard Emira howl. They all quickly got to their feet and turned to the entrance.
Owen almost flew through the doorway and was gone in a blink of an eye.
The atmosphere was so tense, and then all of a sudden several howls were heard and Luz smiled, and joined in with the pack. The pups were born! Owen and Ava now had a new family…
They all quickly went in and out of the cold. The first thing they saw was Emira standing near the happy couple, Owen was next to his mate, licking her face and Ava was lying on her side, looking exhausted, but looking happier than luz had ever seen her. She walked a little bit closer to see that there were three tiny puppies all curled up into tiny balls against their mother.
'Awww!' she cooed and Ava looked up and smiled.
'Precious aren't they?' she asked weakly, sounding so tired. 'Two boys and a girl! I can tell that they're going to be just as difficult as their daddy.'
Owen laughed as the two of them nudged each other's noses lovingly. They all sat, talked, and laughed with each other as they admired the new additions to their pack. Three extra mouths… to feed… but no one was paying much attention to that at the moment. Soon enough, they decided to hit the hay a little early that night—the excitement had taken a toll on them all.