I'm not ready for this (birth)

Though subtle Qanik could no longer deny the signs her body was giving her. Somehow, at her age and with just one mating, she had managed to become pregnant. It wasn't terribly obvious, not like she'd expected it would be. Her sides held only a gentle swell, easily mistaken for pudge, the aching joints could have been simply a herald of age, and she'd always had issues with depression so why should her moodiness have alarmed her now? It wasn't until some time after she'd begun to feel the pups moving that she'd realized. It wasn't just a chronic upset stomach, or another symptom of age, or any of the things she'd tried to tell herself, no.

She was pregnant.

She'd withdrawn from the pack somewhat to deal with it, even moving to a new densite outside the newly named Regium's borders within one of their former territories, uncertain and frightened but just wanting to be alone to come to terms with it. She'd longed for a family, but not like this. Not alone and lonely, no mate, no partner, just her and the pups conceived in a single act of thoughtless passion and a foolish need to be wanted.

She was alarmed now at the sudden clenching, squeezing feeling low in her abdomen, waking her from her fitful sleep. What was happening? Was something wrong? The pups couldn't possibly be coming already, she wasn't ready, she hadn't spoken to anyone about them and no one knew where she was. Her paws clawed at the ground in agitation as the contractions continued at a much greater intensity that she'd expected. She must have slept through the milder stuff, somehow, only to be woken when they began in earnest. What was she supposed to do? She knew nothing about birthing babies. Her breath whined through clenched jaws, panic holding her stocky body rigid with fear. What was she supposed to do?



speech.