Don't Get Cold Feet Now

He had avoided her for nearly the whole time of her pregnancy, truth be told. He would sneak in at night when she was sleeping and rest with her for awhile, but usually before she was awake again he was gone- twice for a week at a time. He was elusive but busy, tracking down bears and keeping up with the new recruits- and his children outside the territory. He clenched his jaw around the dead carcass of a boar piglet hard enough he felt the crunching of bones between his teeth, thinking over all this as he neared the citadel now during the bright of the day. For once.

He had yet to enter the den, uncertain whether or not she would be there. A lot of time had passed, though he had no idea how long typical gestation periods went on for. It wasn't really on his mind, either- not right now, not that he wasn't excited to be a parent. He was nervous about facing her after being so elusive and neglecting her, would she understand and forgive him? After all, it wasn't the first time he'd ghosted her- what was a week to nearly two years? He would always come back, he hoped she knew that.

Even if he always would, did he deserve to though?

The titan of a wolf dropped the pig in the courtyard outside the grand mouth of the den, blood bleeding out into the snow from where he'd been holding it. He was sure if she was there, but if she would she'd surely smell the meal he'd brought back home. After a moment of staring at it, he began to cover it in the cold of the snow to preserve it. If she didn't come out soon, he'd leave it for her as a gift as he often did.