!M! for some gore

The adjustment out of Kuroki's pack was... relieving. The change for him she could wonder. The fate of his kids, well, she wasn't heartless. Though she wasn't sure what she could do with the fate of theirs. She was probably an overthinker. Oki could probably care less about what the kids would be like when they were a year or two. Perhaps Onyx was just too harsh on herself. She certainly never saw herself as a mother.

She couldn't go home to the pines anymore, and since the dissolve it wouldn't really seem like they had a plan to stay anywhere. Kuroki wouldn't oppose to where but she couldn't say it felt like home. Maybe that was more issue crafted within herself. How much doubt could Oki even see in her?

She was on her way back to their den with some fresh deer meat, of course not giving herself a break. This was when she started feeling a ripple of some kind that felt like it rushed over her entire body. She paused for a moment, but nothing else seemed amiss so she kept moving on. When it happened again it was a little more obvious what was going on. The thing was, she expected it to be a lot more painful than it was so she was a little confused. Dropping the meal she was bringing home, she started to let out a call for Kuroki, only the howl was abruptly cut off as she was tackled from behind. The largely pregnant woman was tangled up with a mountain lion, rolling and tumbling along the ground for what felt like ages. The mountain lion snarled, Onyx throwing back similar noises back at it, and soon it would get the upper hand pinning the blue wolf under it's paws, chest to stomach. How she could be so careless not to notice a stalker behind her, perhaps after the meal she was bringing home. It saw it's opportunity and here they were.

Onyx struggled under the grasp of the mountain lion, but she wasn't as nimble as she was a few months ago. Claws dug into her making her growl and snarl, she certainly still was the strong warrior woman at heart. The lion lunged down at her throat, jaws surrounding her windpipe as she struggled to breathe. With a thick crunch at her throat it would feel like it would be all over but no, she would not die today. Not Onyx.

Maybe the surge of adrenaline knowing that Kuroki's kids were on their way, her kids she supposed, gave her the strength to push the lion back with all four of her paws, tumbling yet again with one more flip to give her the advantage now. She panted heavily over the beast, vaguely seeing blood pouring off of her over the lion's face an neck. She wouldn't waste any time though. Slamming her antlers into the predator's chest more than once before lunging to rip across it's throat herself, maybe in some sort of iconic way. She mostly let it bleed out as she backed away. Wincing as much more pain ran through her stomach now that she recognized as contractions. She made it a few steps away before collapsing, the lion still alive behind her twitching. It all dawned on her at once. No, she would not die today. She couldn't. She still struggled to catch her breath for a few seconds before weakly reaching around her to start pushing dirt into her neck wounds. How fitting it would be to birth her children outside in the elements... after a battle that still threatened to take her life.

"Onyx"

Knowing Delphi was safe with family, he thought it only right that he stick to Onyx like glue. All things considered, it was his duty at this point;he was and wasn't many things, but Oki had always tried to be a good Dad. Didn't always succeed, but at least he tried his best, it was better than most, surely. He hadn't strayed too far from the makeshift little den they'd claimed for now, he knew Onyx was more comfortable in the north so he offered no complaints. Whatever she wanted, he did his best to provide.

Still, the scent of blood had him near sprinting back through the snow. He wasn't much of a worry wart, but even he jumped to the worst assumption possible, saw the cougar there and- Kuroki descended upon it with a show of violence he hadn't thought he was capable of. Ripped out its throat, the blood soaking through his white neck bib as he hurried to Onyx's side.

"I'm here. Right here. What'd'ya need?"

Not knowing fully what had happened in Kuroki's life, she had never asked, but how close the danger may have set in his heart as he finished the mountain lion and came to her side. Labored breath and big eyes looked up to him, she had never quite seen him this way. Good under pressure maybe? She had always known him to be a bit punk ass, maybe troublemaker. He just went with the flow of things. Onyx was never really that way but somehow she made it here.

She lifted her head, not really sure what she would ask him for. But when she went to speak, nothing but a harsh breath let out. She winced from the still growing pain the breath contributed to, but wouldn't know the extent of her injury until later. Her paw pulled back from her throat, the bleeding slowing down but still not recovered fully. Onyx wasn't scared, not of the pain from the coming birth or even knocking on death's door. But she was terrified of being a mother. Her eyes just moved up towards him one more time, a single tear falling from her eye before she reached a paw out for him. Curling her neck back up to help stop blood from dripping out, she would need it. It was only the two of them out here, no healer, no one else to help. If this was it for her, it was meant to be that way. That's what she thought at least.

It would be some time and a lot of effort, but soon there would be three little pups. With her bleeding more under control she could actually turn to look at them and well... she didn't feel anything. Perhaps she thought she would feel different when the time came, like it was part of every woman's soul to look at her children and fall in love. Not for Onyx. How different her and Oki could be not that she was willing to let go of him. She sat there silently watching as they wiggled around. They'd have to move into the den soon, and Onyx would probably need some meds at the least to fight off infection. For now her entire body was radiating in pain. Any any part of the next... forever was feeling like a headache.

"Onyx"