Because, you know, I'm a pirate
07-09-2019, 11:22 AM
Peggy's eyes flinched shut and her ears fell back at Rhyme's words, but she couldn't deny the accuracy of them. She had more than enough training as a healer to recognize it when the evidence was so clearly obvious. The contractions had become too close together and too regular for them to be the false labor pains she had been convincing herself they were. "I am breathing," she muttered rebelliously under her breath, but obediently forced herself to concentrate on just her breathing, centering herself and finding a calm that had been missing for some time now as she had been battered by crisis after crisis. Even as she did so, however, she could here the conversation moving on around her. Ashmedai's brother had started out sounding so reasonable. She was shaken to hear that he had hidden his true self just as thoroughly as Ashmedai had to her. Burn the pack to the ground? Rhyme's reply implied that the Legion alpha's oblique reference to a raid meant that they would harm Noir. What kind of pack had she involved herself in so naively, that would so casually threaten to harm a child to take her children away from Abaven? What if they hurt her children as well? In her state of she tried to help her packmates she would put the pups at risk. Rhyme would fight them if they tried to force her to go, if they tried to take her children. Corvus would fight for her. That was the pact she and Corvus had made, wasnt it? That they would always protect each other and the pack? She couldn't fight to protect them now. She would have to do something else
Sometimes sacrifices needed to be made to protect the ones you love.
Her eyes opened, and she stared into Corvus', her gaze begging him to understand. "Dont fight them," she said, and was surprised when her voice came out a thin rasp. She was afraid.
She gathered her courage and began again. "No one is going to hurt anyone. I don't want anyone to fight over this." She swallowed, her eyes going to meet Ashmedai in his outlandish outfit before her gaze dropped in confusion, and she dragged it to meet the Legion alpha's eyes. "I will go with you if you swear to me you won't hurt anyone from Abaven." She let out a sharp breath through another contraction, and as it passed added fiercely, "My pups will be born here, in Abaven. My family's pack. I am not going to risk them walking to your pack in labor. That's not negotiable." Not that they had any choice. She wasnt going to make it to Legion. She could already feel how close she was, though she was fighting the inevitable birth. If she tried, she would end up birthing them in some wild, dangerous place far from other healers and their lives would all be at risk. "They will be born here and I will carry them in my packs to Legion, not you. They are my children. I won't let you take them from me if I can't keep up." Tears pricked at her eyes but she wouldnt let them fall. She was quivering now, the fear still with its claws in her chest but bolstered by the fierce protectiveness. Her pups would be safe. No one in Abaven would be hurt. If she had to leave Abaven to ensure that they would be protected from the danger she had brought upon them she would do it. "Swear it to me."
Sometimes sacrifices needed to be made to protect the ones you love.
Her eyes opened, and she stared into Corvus', her gaze begging him to understand. "Dont fight them," she said, and was surprised when her voice came out a thin rasp. She was afraid.
She gathered her courage and began again. "No one is going to hurt anyone. I don't want anyone to fight over this." She swallowed, her eyes going to meet Ashmedai in his outlandish outfit before her gaze dropped in confusion, and she dragged it to meet the Legion alpha's eyes. "I will go with you if you swear to me you won't hurt anyone from Abaven." She let out a sharp breath through another contraction, and as it passed added fiercely, "My pups will be born here, in Abaven. My family's pack. I am not going to risk them walking to your pack in labor. That's not negotiable." Not that they had any choice. She wasnt going to make it to Legion. She could already feel how close she was, though she was fighting the inevitable birth. If she tried, she would end up birthing them in some wild, dangerous place far from other healers and their lives would all be at risk. "They will be born here and I will carry them in my packs to Legion, not you. They are my children. I won't let you take them from me if I can't keep up." Tears pricked at her eyes but she wouldnt let them fall. She was quivering now, the fear still with its claws in her chest but bolstered by the fierce protectiveness. Her pups would be safe. No one in Abaven would be hurt. If she had to leave Abaven to ensure that they would be protected from the danger she had brought upon them she would do it. "Swear it to me."