Basilisk returned to Ignita with fresh (clean) meat and stepped carefully into the den. Stepping over the large puppy barricade he had set up. They were still just little things, sniffling around the space, and learning how their bodies moved.

Right now, they were curled up next to Ignita. Asleep and fed against her belly. He ensured his claws were retracted, and his paws were silent as he stepped up beside her. Kissing her cheek and placing the meal beside her. “How have they been today?” He asked, keeping his voice quiet. Still moving slowly and cautious, he settled himself beside Ignita. Keeping the puppies between them. He made a little barrier with their bodies, and rested his forepaws againt her.


"Basilisk & Ignita"

She was lightly dozing, the only time she got to sleep was when all of them were sleeping, and with one tiny baby that wouldn't stop moving, another that liked to scare her by not moving enough, and another one that... it was a lot. The whining, the nursing, the cleaning, the more whining, the more nursing, and then now they're already trying to snuffle their way around? How?? She just had them! Life was moving too fast suddenly, and then there were times it wasn't moving fast enough.

The end of her tail wiggled back and forth as the tiny creature's father came in with a fresh meal. Ohh! It smelled like one of her new favorites! She lifted her head, closed her eyes, and leaned into his kiss on her cheek. When the meal was placed beside her she sank her teeth into it. Being sucked dry several times a day did a number on her appetite. After a few voracious bites, she was able to slow down and sigh, able to give him more of an answer.

"Jamie gave me another heart attack this afternoon. For a bit, I thought she stopped breathing. It was awful." She whispered, "She seems fine now. But I worry. Nearly lost Selene under a blanket again, when Iska rolled on top of her I found her." The tiny girl had some lungs at least, "Other than City nearly draining me dry before the others get a chance, that's about it." She chuckled softly shaking her head. Their largest and firstborn had an appetite for sure. Balrog was the sweetest boy, she didn't have any complaints about him today. She reached down and smoothed the fur over his ebony head, trying to stir halfway through his nap. Wanting to be included of course. Iska was the same, she smoothed her tongue over his charcoal-mottled pelt to put them both back to sleep.

"Basilisk" || "Iggy"

Basilisk watched in fond amusement as she attacked her meal like it was going to run away from her. He wasn’t surprised. The pups were already showing signs of being giant, and keeping them fed was a full time job for Ignita. Keeping Ignita fed was his job. And privilege.

Basilisk listened to what the pups had been up to and grinned. He kissed her lightly on the mouth, blood from her food and all. “Just think how much trouble they’ll be causing us when they're bigger” he teased lightly. He paused to scoop up Citadel, and cradled the pup in front of him. “These paws… my father had ones just like them. The spurs came from him as well. So much of Azure in this one… I worry.” He admitted softly.


"Basilisk & Ignita"

She relished his kisses, she wanted more of his kisses. She didn't want him to leave her side for one moment. She huffed and rolled her eyes at his comment, oh they'll definitely be all kinds of trouble when they're bigger. But did they have to get bigger so quickly? Why can't they stay these tiny babies for a little bit longer?

She watched her lover scoop up their biggest, holding her tongue and clamping her lips, a tenseness working its way into her shoulders. They had just gone to sleep! Don't rouse him yet! Thankfully the boy was spent from the day's shenanigans trying to keep up with his siblings. He didn't seem bothered by the handling much. She relaxed and finished her meal as Bas ruminated on the baby, admitting his fears.

Licking her lips to clean them, she smiled and leaned forward to bump the top of her nose softly under his chin.
"The spurs come from you, and Azure made you. Naturally, something would come through like that. He's got something all his own too. I only just caught it this morning, feel the very top of his head, right where a crown would rest. Don't wake him." She pulled back and tilted her head softly with a knowing smile.

"Basilisk" || "Iggy"

Basilisk had noticed the hard nibs on the boy's head, and hadn’t known what to make of them yet. Ignita described them as something of a crown, and Basilisk frowned, his expression curious. He brushed a large digit across the boy's head, feeling the pattern as Ignita called it. A crown. “Interesting indeed.” He murmured. Strength had bleed true in most of this litter. His father, and his father before him would be proud.

Their little Selene had an interesting burst of crystals growing on her legs, Iskandor and Balrog had the shape of retractable claws around their paws, Jamie had little nibs of fangs just starting to show. Jamie’s weakness reminded him of his sister, and he worried what was coming through there. But he would love her no matter her strength.


"Basilisk & Ignita"

She watched him for a moment, brushing a large pad over the boy. Smiling, she felt the special features of her children would help them fit in this land better. More protections, a better edge in this dangerous world.

She held Jamie and Balrog close to her chest. She was loathe to let any of them get very far. She hoped the tiny gems on Selene weren't going to hinder her movement much. That girl loved to move. Glancing down she saw Selene pressed in close to Iskandor and herself. She loved to be moved and squished. Silly thing.

She leaned forward and brushed her lips over his large dark muzzle. Watching him hold a baby... Mmm.... Made her completely forget the trauma of bringing them into this world. She'd do it all again.

"We made these..." She whispered to him with awe.

"Basilisk" || "Iggy"

His maw twitched in amusement as he watched her hold two of the babies to her chest. He knew how much she would love them. She had made that clear when she was fierce at every turn to protect them. Together, they would ensure these pups had the best chance. He ran a finger through Cits fur as gently as he knew how before placing the pup down again, scooting it gently into his mothers stomach fur. 


Ignits leaned forward, kissing him. His lips parted as he tasted her. It had been so long since they had been intimate, and the gentle kiss left him wanting more. He sighed into her mouth. They wouldn't get privacy until their little ones were bigger. 


To distract himself, he scooped up another child. Cradling Selene in one arm. “I will teach them all to defend themselves.” He said softly. He would encourage them to be fighters, as well. The stronger you were, the safer you were in this world.

How he tasted against her lips drew her to want to nuzzle his cheek but she pulled back. Watching him set the boy down and pick up their littlest. Ignita was always awed by how careful he could be. His monstrous paws and towering height concealed his deep gentleness.

She hummed knowingly to his soft declaration. The way he held the tiniest Selene in his massive arm, practically swallowed her against him, but the girl always slept better when she was snuggled in tight.

"I have no doubt, they'll probably be better students than me." She chuckled softly. She placed a golden paw over his.

"I don't think I've ever been happier." She said, truly, was this what bliss felt like? There could be no drug or drink that would make her feel this way.

"Jamie"||"Iskandor"||"Citadel"||"Selene"||"Balrog"||"Ignita"||"Basilisk"

He couldn't help but be distracted by the girl in his arm, looking down at her tiny form. If anything, she seemed to sleep deeper instead of being awoken by the gentle jostling of being moved. She was almost lost in the thick fur of his foreleg. So small, so fragile.

“They’ll be raised to the idea. You’ve done well for someone introduced to fighting later in life.” He pointed out, knowing her fire to protect these little ones was what inspired her. He grinned at her words of happiness, kissing her again. “They are everything I wanted.” He agreed, and a little more cautiously he hesitated before speaking again. “But I can’t go through that again. Marina is right, it was too dangerous for you.”

"Jamie"||"Iskandor"||"Citadel"||"Selene"||"Balrog"||"Ignita"||"Basilisk"

She squint-smiled at his praise. She just wanted to be wrapped up in him again. Especially with how well he was holding Selene. She returned his kiss again, wanting more and more and more.

She caught the hesitant look in him and drew her ears forward. His words were a knife dug straight into her heart suddenly and she choked on her breath.
"No..." She sputtered in a whisper, "You can't...mean that, surely?" This was only their first litter!

"It was just... It was just the first one. They can't all get as big as him from here on." She could feel her face get warm and hot tears welling up in her eyes, "It couldn't have been that bad. I'm still here, I'm still alive." Her voice nearly heightened into a shrill tone, threatening to wake them, but she brought it back down. He couldn't mean that... He'll want more and he won't want her anymore...

"I'll do better, I can do better." She pleaded quietly, her head tilting, supplicating. It was just a small tear, she was healing!

"Basilisk" || "Iggy"

She knew exactly how to distract him, and he was almost drawn from his thoughts by her daring kiss. The feel of her breath against his skin was stirring things. But his words it seemed were distraction enough for them both. Her reply was one of surprise, and her surprise was unexpected. He knew she had been afraid, and in pain, for much of the birthing. Surely that wasn’t an experience she relished going through again.

“Or the next litter could all be Citadel’s sized.” he told her as patiently as gently as he could but there was a finality in his words. ‘I chose you Ignita. You are mine. and I won’t lose you so easily.” he said, a bite of steel in those few words. He raised a paw, and pressed it gently against her own. A gesture of comfort, or of control? His claws were like a cage around her fragile paw. “No.” He said again, holding her there. “You will not be put at risk like that again. If we want children in the future, there will be another way. Another we could risk.” Someone he did not care about as strongly as he did Ignita.

"Basilisk" || "Iggy"

Her mouth fell slightly agape, the tears running through her fur. He was right. There was no way of knowing the size of any baby once conceived. He caged her paw, his tone final. Meant for comfort, meant for control. Could she see how much he loved her? Or was she so blinded by her fear of not being wanted?

"Another?" She whispered as if he had punched her, "Another? But..." She didn't hear his words about how he chose her.

"Are you already bedding this other then?" She asked darkly. Her claw clenched the stone as it was pressed under his, her eyes now cast away from his face, to watch the little forms wriggle in their sleep. How dare he. He could not wait to dig his cock in something until she healed? She forgot how conflicted he had been when he was still devoted to Hazel. She had broken him of this habit surely, if he had done it once he could do it again.

"Basilisk" || "Iggy"

Basilisk snorted, annoyed and amused by her response. He carefully put Selene down, trying not to disturb the girl overly much. He raised a paw, claws sheathed and gently cuffed her with the paw not already used to trap her own. “Foolish wolf.” He growled lightly at her.

He looked about the den for a moment, and beckoned the bear forward, setting over the puppy pile. His deer and Wyrm were in the den as well. Plenty of eyes on the litter, they would be okay for the moment. He realised then just how hard it was to catch any moments to themselves. He would find a way. He pulled her out out of the den, ignoring any protests she might give as he dragged her into a den just below their own, away from Mortis’s den or Yara.s sometimes, it felt as if they were surrounded on all sides.

He pushed her into the den, standing over her smaller body. Privacy. Finally, a moment just to themselves. “You. Are. Mine.” He snarled at her, pushing a paw against her chest. “I am bedding no other, but I will, if that's what it takes to keep you safe from a second pregnancy.” his eyes were dark with emotion. Need, desire, possession.

"Basilisk" || "Iggy"

Ignita closed her eyes as she felt his cuff across her nose. Her ears were flat as she looked up and then away from him. She wiped a tear away as she noticed his movements. She looked up again at him as he prepared for something.

She was suddenly pulled upright. "Wait the-!" She protested but he blatantly ignored any of her words. She saw the litany of companions settling comfortably and protectively around the babies. He had set it up so they would be fine. She was dragged out of the den, roughly but not overly so, just enough to make it clear she had no choice, hurting enough to make her move. He dragged her bodily into another den, away from listening ears and prying eyes. Alone. She hadn't been truly alone with him since they were born. She gasped as he pushed her inside.

His snarl reverberated into her chest and she caught her breath. You. Are. Mine. overwhelmed her senses, he towered over her, a threat, a promise, and a lustrous desirous need in his dangerous cerulean eyes. Finally, their voices could be shared out loud together.

"But what keeps you from..." Tears choked her voice again, but her voice was loud in defiant grief, "From growing more attached to them? What if you don't want me anymore?" She trembled under his paw as the deep truth tumbled out of her chest.

"Basilisk" | "Ignita"

When Basilisk was determined, he could be hard to sway. And right now, he wanted to have the freedom to move and speak around Ignita without fear of trampling or disturbing their little ones. The fear that had been bottling up inside of him from the moment Ignita had gone into labour began leaking out. He had kept it contained, safe around the children.

“Foolish wolf.” He growled again. So easily she seemed to think he would tire of her. “Everything has been for you. The carefully laid plans for marriage, these beautiful children, your role as consort. Do you think it all means so little?” He asked her, pushing his paw more heavily into her chest. “I chose you. I will always want you. You are mine, and I will not let your insecurities ever have you thinking otherwise. mine.” He told her, shoving her lightly with the paw before claiming her lips with his own.


"Basilisk" | "Ignita"

She gasped again as he emphasized his claim over her. Yes, she was foolish, how could she be so foolish? Everything he had done to show her how she meant everything to him. What more could she want? What more could she ever want? She had the children, how could that not be enough? Was it about being enough? He chose her. He chose her. He chose her.

With his final mine. Their lips met both desperately and hungry for each other. The chain about her neck meant she was always to be his. Always. She was to be no one else's. A slave for no one else either. Even if he did take someone else she would always be his. Even if he did seed another womb she would always be his. He would always want her.

She placed a golden paw on his chest, weakly pushing against him, another fool's question behind her lips.
"Does this mean you'll never bed me again? Just to be safe?" A ritual between them already gone too long without. Had she healed enough?

"Basilisk & Ignita"

He kissed her with a rough impatience and longing. It had been so long since they had lain together. Between the blight, and the pregnancy, and the birthing. He wanted her, his Ignita. To lay claim to every inch of her body. But he held himself back, and when their lips parted he was gasping for breath. Left with the feeling of not enough.

He leaned his head lightly against her shoulder, and snorted softly at her question. “What foolishness is this?” He brushed his tongue under her chin, up to her lips. “I love every inch of your body, Ignita. Once you’ve healed, I will claim you, and claim you, and claim you.” he said, voice lowering with each word until he was whispering in her ear.


"Basilisk" | "Ignita"

Not enough. His head pressed into her shoulder tenderly, lightly when he scoffed at her. Her shoulder ached at the gentle touch of it, ached as if it was reaching out for him to press harder. Her skin shivered under the rasp of his tongue on her chin and her lips parted softly for his. Her breath caught as he breathed the words of his possessiveness. Her nails dug into his fur with every syllable. The thrum and fluttering of her heart nearly drowned out his whispered promise against her ear. Her back involuntarily arched for him, blooming despite the aching pain within her. Her breath pressed against her larynx and pushed out a needy desperate sound for him. Her teeth raked through his fur down his neck in lustful handfuls. Pulling him closer. Her paws saught his neck to pull him further. Not enough.

Why wait until she was healed? The air in her lungs screamed for him to tear her apart and grasp her heart with his teeth. Suddenly the scar on her cheek to nose was not enough.

"I want you... I want you to leave marks in me. Marks from loving me too hard...." She breathed into his ear above her, her claws dully raking down his chest, "Leave your teeth marks on my body, consume me, brand me, I want to feel your love on my skin." She pleaded, her voice a heady rasp, "Make the world know I'm yours."

"Basilisk" || "Iggy"

His words ignited something inside his fiance. He could scent her lust, read it in the burning of her eyes. It was highlighted in the arch of her body. His own skin was reacting, burning with lust and need. Too long. It had been too long since he had claimed her last.


He arched into the brush of her teeth down his fur, letting out a soft, needy gasp. Who was he to deny a beautiful woman? He lost his willpower to her words, pulling her closer to him, clasping her body to his as he hungrily dug his teeth into her neck. Kissing and biting both. He groaned, feeling the sudden, desperate ache in his body. He pushed her onto the floor, none too gently. Putting his body over hers. Trapping her beneath him. “You belong to me. Body and soul, Little Bird. You fly only at my command.” He growled into her ear as he pushed himself into her. He had never wanted anything in his life as badly as he had wanted Ignita. A need that had only grown instead of waning in their time together. 


He thrust into her, the needs of his own body blooming. How had he refrained as long as he had? He leaned into her his teeth pressing against her throat. “You will never take another.” He told her  clasping his teeth into her neck and releasing. “You will live and die belonging to me.” His teeth were against her chin, digging, nipping. He licked the fur around her muzzle.

His teeth and lips burned into her skin. *Not enough.* They symphonied in wordless throaty sounds together as he pulled her closer. Hungry, desperate, ravenous.

She was forced to the floor, the shove sent a ridiculous cascade of giggles in anticipation as she felt the force in her joints. His shadow blocked the torchlight as he loomed overbearingly over her, caging her, unyielding, unrelentingly trapping her to him. She was his, his, his, possessed body and soul. The exaltation in her eyes met his insatiable grasping gaze. Her breath stilled in her throat as he growled her enslavement, binding her to him.

She gasped and flung her teeth around his arm to keep herself from screaming in pain as he plunged within her. The pain a bright blazing difference from her first time. Her body burned for more. Coiling its need for more around him, adamant for the gratifying ecstasy mixed with the savagery of their fervid pleasure. How could this still not be enough? *More* More of him.

His fangs pressed to her throat, her skin scalding, and her breath heaved. She throbbed with his every word and quickening impulsion. Basilisk spoke over her like a binding spell. She swallowed as his teeth wrapped around her throat, searing the threat into her skin should she ever break his rapacious command. She shivered as he released her throat and claimed her from within. Claimed her life as his, and his alone. She flinched and purred with every nip and dig.

Her eyes met his, impetuous and brash in her golden passionate gaze. Her claws burrowed into his chest and braced against him with every carnal pound. How dare he. And yet of course he would, he was wicked and she was enraptured, enthralled. It was what she wanted, wasn't it? To be wanted? To be needed? It was what he promised, to keep her all to him and his alone. But not to fill her womb again. No, he would fill another womb instead.

Her arms taut against him she winced as he plundered unwavering.
He licked the fur around her muzzle and she reached to bite his tongue and lip.

"You take who you want- fill the womb of whoever and then deny me?" She snapped her jaws but then grasped to kiss him, her back arched for him again. Her body and soul still greedy for the feel of him.

"Basilisk" || "Iggy"