Everything I Ever Wanted

Manea could hardly believe it when she saw the glimmering tears in her mate's eyes. She had never once seem him shed a tear and now as he laid there clutching her to his chest, staring wide eyed at their perfect little daughter, he was actually crying. She looked lovingly up at Alastor, watching his expressions and reactions with awe. She had known he was excited to be a father and she had expected him to be overwhelmed in one way or another, but he exceeded even her expectations. Just as her contractions began again she leaned her head back to swipe away his tears with gentle kisses, one of her paws resting over his foreleg that was wrapped securely across her chest. She glanced down at Irilyth as that now familiar tightness and pressure pulled at the muscles of her sides and stomach, making her grimace slightly and having to wait till it passed before she could answer the question of if she was hoping for a boy or a girl for their second. "Whatever we have been given I will be happy with," she said with a slight smile. In truth she knew that she had already been given the daughter she longed for so it would all come down to what gifts they each had received to determine which child would remain with them and which would return back to energies of the Ancients. Unless... No, she shoved the thought away that had continued to creep into her mind from the day that Irilyth had confirmed that there were two pups. She refused to humor such ideas and get her hopes up.

With their first little daughter safely against her stomach, Manea rested her head against Alastor once more, resuming the steady wave of breathing and contractions that had brought their first born into the world. The pain built more quickly than with their daughter, the second pup clearly very close behind the first. She quickly realized that wasn't the only reason though. Their second born was noticeably larger than the first and each steadily building contraction took even more effort than with the first. Manea fell back into a pattern of panting between the contractions, gritting her teeth against the pain and growling as she pushed with each one to work the pup free of her body. Her head was tipped back against Alastor's shoulder, the claws of one paw gripping the furs of their bed and the other hooked solidly into Alastor's leg. Minutes began to tick by and that pain was nearly unbearable, but she knew that even if she did take the trillium now it wouldn't take effect before they ran the risk of something happening to their child from her labor taking too long. She pushed hard through several contractions, snarling and squeezing her eyes shut through it. She could feel that the pup was very nearly there, but it felt like the last several waves of pushing and contractions had gotten her nowhere.

Digging her claws deeper into the fur and into her mate's leg, she braced herself for that next contraction, panting hard in a vein attempt to catch her breath until her muscles began to tense and tighten again. She grit her teeth together and growled with a vicious snarl as she put everything she had into pushing out this pup, her growl shifting into a scream that echoed around the den as she pushed through that last agonizing wave of pain before she finally felt the pup slip free. Her body immediately got the relief it so desperately needed and she collapsed back into her husband, slowly unhooking her claws from him as she panted and her head swam, not popping up quite as quickly as she had after their first born as she tried to catch her breath. It wasn't until she heard Irilyth announce that it was a boy that Manea made herself lift her head to see their son, a tired grin pulling across her lips. A daughter and a son. The moment that the little boy was close enough for her to reach she gently scooped the large pup with her feline paw and placed him next to his sister, savoring the squeaking, crying sounds of two healthy pups.

As soon as she saw the boy with his swirls of red and black painted across his body she felt something tug in her chest. He was worth every effort because he was her little piece of Alastor. Her careful paw pads traced along each of their backs while they ate their first meal, their daughter's fluffy puppy fur just beginning to dry while her brother's fur was still damp. "Irilyth, thank you for your help. Go start putting to gather a fire, would you?" she instructed her handmaiden with her voice still slightly breathless and hoarse, not looking up from the two pups. She waited a moment for Irilyth to leave their chamber while her aqua eyes appraised each of the pups tenderly. They were perfect. Utterly perfect. Through the haze of this fathomless, motherly love that filled her as she looked at these children that they had created, she knew what had to be done. It made her ears flick, but she knew it was better to do it sooner rather than later.

Manea | Temno | Ciemny