Little Fiery One

Alastor watched with mounting pride and love as each day, Manea seemed to grow a little bit larger with their growing pups. What had started as a small swell to her belly had now become a notably large distention from her, one he knew must be uncomfortable. He couldn't be sure, but he thought that she looked even bigger than she had a year ago. Was she carrying a larger litter than their twins had been? Either way, it spurred Alastor on into father mode, keeping close beside Manea all hours of the day to care and cater for her as she became less and less able to do normal things on her own. He brought her meals, kept her comfortable and relaxed, helped her pass the time with conversation and games, just generally anything he could do to be of aid to his heavily pregnant wife. As the days drew closer to the end, Manea became more and more restless, just as she had been when their first litter had been born. He recognized the signs in her, and Irilyth confirmed those suspicions with daily checkups on the Genetrix. The pups would be here any day!

The night when it all happened, Alastor had been drifting in and out of sleep as well, disturbed by his wife's constant motions and state of restlessness. Each time she got up he woke up as well, though sometimes he would just drift back to sleep and sometimes he would sit up with her and cuddle her until she settled. It happened so frequently that by the time dawn began to approach, Alastor had just begun to go back to sleep unless Manea needed him for something. A gentle nudge of a wet nose to his cheek drew the dire brute out of his slumber with a groggy grumble of incoherent words. Manea told him it was time, and the dazed man didn't know what she meant at first. Then he smelled the air and recognized the scent of birth, and then all systems were on high alert. The dark-furred wolf hurried to rise, going about gathering some extra furs to make Manea comfortable and filling a bowl with water from the cave's spring for her. He then returned to her side and settled in so she could recline against him, draping a foreleg over her side to stroke her swollen belly, partially to soothe her and partially to offer her something to bite if she needed to.

"Ready to be parents again, my love?" he said with a wide smile to his mate, kissing her cheek gently while Irilyth made her way into their bedroom to begin the procedures. "You can bite me at any time if you need to. You've got this."

"Alastor Mendacium"