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No one told her she was going to get fat.

Piper padded heavily through the territory she called home, her stomach swinging from side to side slightly with every movement. Her body ached from the pups taking her nutrients and she found that she ate alot more than usual. Her moods changed like a light switch flipping and it wasn't rare that she turned on her doting mate when he got on her nerves with flashing fangs and a glare that read 'back off bitchboy'.

Piper was more than ready for these little demons to get out of her belly. She hadn't, not once, felt the surge of maternal hope a mother was supposed to feel. She didn't yet care for the squirming, kicking whelps that nestled under her ribs and bruised them. For all she cared, Hurricane could eat them.

She flopped down by her den, her muzzle resting on her paws and her tail flat out behind her. She briefly wondered if her own mother had felt anything towards them as puppies. She wondered, then, if Gerda was still sticking around Gomorrah. She wondered if the mute wolfess might want to see her grandchildren.

Then pride rose up like bile in her throat, forcing her to chase those stray daughterly thoughts away. Gerda was a useless wolf. She snarled to herself and hoped that the little wench had gotten rid of herself.

The alphess knew his avoidance was for his own good. And hers, as well. Lately she'd been feeling so... so... Combatant. Like a wild animal struggling in the jaws of another. The feeling made her lash out unexpectedly. She respected Hurricane for leaving her be and at the same time, wondered when the pups would be born. She missed her old self.

She caught his smile and flashed a grin of her own. The smell of the baby rabbit made her stomach growl, the blood a delicious scent on the wind. With a wag of her tail, she hoisted herself to her feet and nuzzled his muzzle, thanking him with glittering eyes before laying back down to tear into the meal.

"It's perfect, Hurri." And it was. The meat was tender, the muscles rarely used. She ate in silence, then pulled herself into a sit beside him, looking longingly out to the forest. "How I miss hunting with you..." But they both knew she shouldn't leave the den. Not now, anyway. Not until the puppies were born.

As Piper nuzzled her muzzle into the dusty fur at the nape of her mate's neck, she was left to think. Her thoughts drifted back to her wayward puppyhood. To where she wandered around, a spirited young pup.

She thought of the fateful day she met Hurricane. It was fate that they met, afterall. Just as it was fate that Hurricane's twin brother, Tornado, was insane as the black of day.

She nibbled Hurri's ear, smiling wistfully. "What does your brother think of our soon to be children?" She knew Tornado hated her for taking away his twin...but who knew? Perhaps if she wasn't here for Hurricane, he would be just as insane as his twin...

Tasty...

She was afraid of that. She shuddered at the image that flashed into her head; Hurricane, broken on the sidelines, one of their pups hanging from Tornado's clamped jaws, blood dripping down around them and onto the earth, where the other pups lay, slain. She reacted with a soft growl, butting her head against her mate.

"Will your family tell him?" She worried about Twist's mentality sometimes. Even if she was her mother in law. And what about Idogbe and Shezaam? Piper's mane bristled slightly. Would they tell him? Would she someday have to flee Gomorrah to keep Hurricane and their children safe?

She relaxed at the fact that he trusted his mother enough. If he trusted her, and he seemed to be her favorite. Then she trusted Twist as well, as hard as that was for such a proud female.

Piper knew that Tornado wasn't stupid; in fact, he might be brilliant. That was the scary thing. "I suppose he'll recognize them... We'll have to keep them safe in Gomorrah until they're old enough to protect themselves." She took a pause, breathing in his scent and smiling. For now, she felt peaceful. "We can only hide them for so long. And who knows... Maybe he won't hate them. Maybe we're just scared."

Piper didn't know he feared becoming his brother. She didn't know very much about the illness that Tornado was plagued with, afterall. She just knew that when he stared at her, he stared at her with such a hatred that it was unimaginable.

She grinned up at Hurri, her old self shining through. "I'll protect them with you, by your side, love. We'll keep them safe...don't worry." Then something happened that shocked the white wolfess. One of the pups moved downwards. It caused a sharp pain to ripple up her side. Piper fell to the ground, squirming in pain as the first contraction squeezed the litter downwards. "Hurri..." she breathed, wildeyed. "I think they're coming..."

The she-wolf had worried about that earlier in her term. Tornado -was- Hurricane's twin. What if through blood, Piper and Hurricane threw a pup that was a little...off in personality? What would happen then?

But it didn't matter not. Not yet. She could worry about it later. She shifted her weight, curling her body up on the pelts laid out for her lovingly by her mate. "No, Hurri... Just lay down. We have to wait..." Wait for the pups to come. Wait for their lives to change dramatically in only hours.

As her belly contracted wickedly, sending the she-wolf into a curled ball, she was forced to think about nothing but the pain. Gradually it subsided, and Piper let her mind wander to names. What would they call the little ones? Gerda had given her and her siblings the names they bore, and they were surprisingly good ones, Piper thought. All of them but Beauty, but Beauty fit the little wolf who was named that. Abital's name was one fit for a thief and Akiva held an underlying rage to it, just like her brother. She gave a small smile. And Piper was seductive.

Soon, the pains gathered closer and closer together. She ground her teeth together against the agony, shuddering with each contraction. The first puppy was coming. She could feel it, a little beast suspended in a bag of water, waiting for its birth. She wondered if it would be male or perhaps female, and with a squeak of discomfort, she pushed herself up against Hurricane, panting.

And there, between her legs lay a tiny little ball slick with blood and fluid. Ears flicking back, she could only stare at it. That was her child? That...thing...? With a soft growl, she nudged it rather roughly, pulling away the placenta from its useless little body. Her mind was dead set against liking something so...so...worthless... Until the pup squeaked, his pelt predominantly orange, and began to suckle. Then her eyes softened and she relaxed into her mate once more, grateful for the break of pain.