It had been a trying winter, what with the healthy weight of guilt that still burdened my slim shoulders. While Carnifex seemed aloof to my I often wondered if it was my own imagination. Something like transference of my beliefs onto another. Either way my belly grew. It wasn't nearly as large as others so I suspected a very small litter and I was okay with that. My only hope was that the children would come out with the distinction of Carnifex on them and that the other male's DNA had never passed into my womb. I was counting on it in a single minded fashion that defied all sense because if I thought for a moment that the pups were not Carni's then I would fall into a frightened ball. Would my beast kill me if they weren't his? I doubted it but I bet he would get rid of the evidence and I wasn't so sure I wouldn't let him. It left a sour taste in my mouth that the idea of letting him kill my pups, not that I was very maternal anyways, but something just didn't sit right.

Just like today.

I wake from a light slumber by a twinge in my lower belly, sighing as I stand and attempt a stretch. A whine breaks from my lips as the twinge becomes a stab of pain and I jerk my head around, sniffing my hips as if that would solve the problem of pain, but it comes again and I know for certain. Today would be the judgement day.

A fear strikes me. I had never wanted this, not really. I had promised to bear Carnifex pups and I would see it through but I feared this. Motherhood, birth, all of it. Pregnancy was an annoyance in itself but it would be a piece of cake compared to birth from what I heard. I rush to the entrance of the grotto, wincing at the movement inside of me, and send up a short howl and bark to try and draw my beast back. At this point I needed comfort, someone to be there for me, and I hope he comes. I lay down at the entrance, panting, and after some time the contractions begin to grow faster and more frequent.

Squeezing my eyes shut I count the times between them, my claws pressed into the dirty floor as I push and push and push. It happens like a spring storm, quick and precise. One minute a push and the next a pup. She comes out without pomp, quiet for a moment, and I shuffle my body around, scooting my belly on the ground, so that I can see her. She is black like Carnifex with gray markings like me. I heave a sigh of relief in this moment, not caring that she is small because she is HIS and she was avuncular anyways.

"Carnifex?" I whisper, glancing towards the entrance. "Carni, she is yours," I continue, unsure how he will respond, and I pull the pup to my belly, satisfied that it is only one and that she was my beasts.