LOVE ME MORE THAN YOU POSSIBLY CAN

The pain she felt had been somewhat intense. Voodoo had never felt anything like it, Recluse had done this THREE times? Although she hadn't been able to grab her herb stock in the den before her contractions had begun. There was no other healer currently in Habari and for a moment panic flared in her that she would be alone while she had her children. Her thoughts for a moment moved to Torben and she quickly threw them away. He was not these pups father SHE was their mother. Another spasm as she collapsed into the soft den she had made for exactly this moment. She could see the volcano just outside of her den as the groaned gritting her teeth. Alright, she could do this.

It felt like hours had meshed together with the pain she felt. On her side panting she reminded herself to just breath and push, she could worry about the herbs for pain later. Besides it wasn't easy to come by and she'd given most of her supply to Recluse during her birth wanting the alpha to have the best possibility with her litter. Voodoo hadn't really expected it to go so fast though. Before she knew it a tiny creature was sliding out and she leaned forward to lick and clean the beast. It looked to be a daughter then - her head splashed with black and the rest a ghostly pale white with black stripes. Then another girl, beautiful in all aspects with her white and gray dappled coat. She wondered silently what their eyes would look like when they opened.

Before long she had given birth to two girls and two boys. FOUR. Her eyes glittered with exhaustion but they all seemed to be curled into her belly taking their first drinks of milk. She couldn't describe the sensation she felt these little bundles were hers. Not only that but the possibilities that their tiny bodies held what their futures held. She let out a shuddered breath before throwing back her head. She didn't care who it was really she wanted the pack to meet her new family. They had been born where she had been born, somehow that thought brought her comfort.

MADE BY MINNIE of BTN

"Speech"
The fact that life kept moving, it kept just chugging on was rather cruel, at least by Recluse' estimation. She wanted very little more than to lay down and let the earth take her, wrap her up in cold dirt and let her sit in her grief until it killed her. But the earth remained as it always was and time continued to move forward. And she was needed. Much as there was a part of Recluse that wanted to join her lost daughter she couldn't. Others needed her. Kali was not the only child Recluse had and her siblings needed their mother more than she did now... Especially Recluse's youngest litter. It was for her other children that she really kept herself going, though Eraithus helped enough that he'd also joined her reasoning. She also knew that her pack needed her, she did not have the luxury of grieving for too long, and that too felt rather cruel. But it was not her pack's fault that they would need her.

And her younger cousin needed her now. Voodoo deserved not to be alone, she'd done Recluse a service with her own recent birthing and she remembered well enough what it had felt like to give birth to her first litter all by herself. Voodoo would not feel that if she could help it, even if she was at her absolute lowest. One way or another Recluse was still Habari's leader... And Voodoo's cousin. Recluse probably didn't look all that amazing, she was still struggling to sleep and when she did it was only after crying for a while, so yeah she probably looked like hell but she'd done her best to keep herself from getting too ragged.

The pale woman approached her younger cousin's den, letting out a gentle huff to announce herself before she entered, pale cherry gaze turning towards the little bundles her cousin was nursing. "They're beautiful." She said softly, a sad smile pulling at her lips. The empire was continuing to grow, continuing to bolster itself and she was proud of her cousin for the part she'd played and yet it stung that when she looked down at the tiny little squirming pups all she could feel was sadness. Voodoo had better hold these little ones close.

Art by petitecanine