A ticking time bomb, that is what this pack was. Three woman carrying pups, one of which was his sister. They had talked very little since he found out, mostly due to his own wife being with pups. But still, they were so close and it was strange to not talk to her for so long.  So he dragged himself out of his warm den, his long legs cutting into the snow as he made the short walk to her den. He paused, took a deep breath and scratched at her entrance.  She had been rather grumpy since the spawns had started  to grow, she had grown quite... moody to say the least. He knew that she had every right to be mad at him, but that didn't mean that he wanted it. She was actually pretty scary when she was mad, and he had no doubt that she would rip off his ears. Or his tail. Whatever suited her fancy. Chuckling at the image he cleared his throat, paws started to go numb from the snow. "Motif? Are you in? I come in peace." He teased, tail stirring up the snow and creating a little flurry behind him. ""

Motif felt unbelievably huge, she knew she was going to pop any day now, in fact even today could be the day these crazed lives found their way to freedom. If not today, perhaps even tomorrow would find new lives entering this world. For this reason she felt immensely fat and incapable of going anywhere. She knew she had little mountains inside of her, that they where taking after their father in size – she had never seen a wolf the size of Shai before, and she was regretting that now with her enlarged stomach.

She almost missed the sound of his claws marking his presence at the entrance of her den. She could not, however, mistake the sound of his voice calling out to her. She stiffened at the undeniably familiar sound of it. A low growl escaped the woman's throat. “So I do still have a brother?” [she hissed, then immediately regretted the words. She groaned, the hormones where making her head crazy. She really did want to bite off a few digits, at the same moment she wanted desperately to full him close and for him to tell her everything would be ok. She took a breath, hoping she had not scared him away. “I missed you Bass, come in” she whispered, emphasising the word with a sound of sorrow. She had thought.. she had never uttered it out loud, but she had wondered if he was avoiding her because he did not forgive for falling pregnant. Already this trial had been a curse to her, the loss of her brother had made it all that more unbearable. She waited, wearily, for him to come in. He said he came in peace, but she still looked out for any accusation in his eyes.




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The harsh hiss of her words had him pull back from the den, his heart racing. He knew he had been distant, but he had his own wife who was expecting to care for, let alone the whole pack! "I've been a tad busy running a pack and caring for a pregnant wife, oh mighty sister." His words were teasing, but laced with the pain he felt from her words. Pale ears pressed tightly against his skull as he was about to leave, until he heard her tell  him to come in. Ears turned to pick up her voice, letting out a sigh as he padded slowly into her den. Shivering slightly he stayed clear of her teeth and claws, sitting with his back to the exit. She was huge, it looked like she had eaten a whole elk. "Did you decide to swallow the deer whole, Moty?" He teased, his tongue snaking out of his mouth to poke out at her. He had never called her that before, but Rhy always called her Mo, so he was trying out his own nick names. He would doubt he would have any toes left if he called her a mountain.

Chuckling, he scooted slightly closer as he grew bolder, gently poking his paw at her belly. "You look like  you're about to explode. How do you feel other than that?" He watched Wren get sick and lose her lunch all over the place, he was usually the one who had to clean it up after. Good thing he had dried out a bunch of extra bedding for them, he wanted to keep the floor of the stone den nice and padded. Maybe he should drag some of that in here for her...

Motif would relief to her half rebuke, and she sniffed, a sad gesture, not a judging one as she fought against her hormones. She breathed, attempting to let her anger out with her exhale. It was hard not to feel the sting of rejection, she had been pregnant for months now, just over two in fact and in that time she had seen her brother two, maybe three times. They lived in the same pack, only a short walk from his den, it would have been nice if he could have stuck his head in and said hello a few times. She cooled herself, and tried to think of it from his side – the stress he must have gone through with his own wife pregnant, and Motif and Venus no longer able to fitful their high ranks for the period of their pregnancy.

Bass would tread slowly into the lines den, keeping her in his line of sight at all times and not straying too far from his bolt hole. She grinned ruefully at that, the temptation to bite his toes wasn't that visible in her expression, was it? He would tease her then, a new nickname teasing out of his tongue, and it would be clear from her expression that this made her whole day. He would scoot closer and she would nuzzle against him lovingly, until he spoke again. She made a noise of disgust at his question. “I'm going to pop Bass, today, tomorrow, maybe the next day, but these mountain pups are about to explode out of my side” she complained. “We should swap, you get to be the pregnant female I get to be the male” she added in a grumble.

"Speech"
'thoughts'

He chuckled at her words, seeing the irritation written clearly on her face. She said that they should change, and she shook his head back and forth with vigor. "No thank you. Wren has already asked me that enough. I'm okay with my male parts." His head nodded up and down, it was enough watching them struggle through it that he never wanted to have to do what they did. But was it not enough to think of the miracle that came from the birth of the pups? Abaven would soon be up to their eyeballs in pups, and in winter of all seasons. Huffing, he flopped down on his belly and rested his head on her stomach, trying to keep it light. She didn't need any more pressure on that massive belly of hers, now did she? Laughing to himself, he looked over at her matching golden eyes. She was quite the miracle worker, doing this all on her own. Wren had him to take care of him, but she only had her pack. All signs of mirth left him, a deep set frown taking its place. "Do you love him, Motif?" His voice was a soft whisper, heavy words spoken in such light tones. If she was unhappy here... well he didn't want to be the reason why she was staying. If she wanted to be with this man... With a sigh he looked away, curling closer around her. He couldn't imagine being away from his sisters, but neither could be picture being away from Wren. What a hard choice that would be to make, and not something to be taken lightly. And with children on the way... that was no easy task to do alone. Did she wish to be with the guy who was the father of her children? He would be sad to see her go, but it was her choice and not his own.

She smiled tiredly at Bass as he admitted he was happier with his male parts, she let it drop, through if she had more energy she would have jokingly pressed her point – most likely to the point of embarrassing her brother. She smiled at the thought but instead of starting that line of speech she would instead curl her tail up around her and look at her Brother-dear. He moved also, coming down to join her and gently placing his head against her stomach. She looked back at his familiar form with all of her love and devotion to her brother amplified in that moment by her hormones. Her heart throbbed, and she moved her head to nuzzle his head behind his ear gently as she looked at him. She had missed him so much through the times she saw little of him, but he was here now, and that was enough.

Her gaze turned almost motherly as she continued to gently nuzzle her brother, pushing down and soothing the fur about his ears. She would turn to look in his eyes in surprise when the question murmured, so seriously through his lips. She would lose contact with his eyes as he looked away and curled further around her. It took a long moment for her to form words, and she could almost feel the tear shimmering against her eyes as she leaned back to nuzzle this time below his neck and whisper softly. “Not as much as I love you Bass, not as much as I love you and Rhythm. I don't know if any man will be enough to take the place you and Rhythm hold in my heart, if any such love could take me from this place, from you two. I need to be here, I need to be with my family, how else can I pull you two from trouble?” the last was clearly meant to be a joke, but her voice was too serious for it to sound so. She sounded troubled, but serious, as the words pooled right from her heart.

"Speech"

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