Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice ....................................................................................................................................................................................
She whined and pressed against his nape as a contraction took her, the fae trying to say his name before another wave of pain shook her slight frame. A scream pulled itself from her maw, but more than that it vibrated all of her… once more, Kalgalath felt useless. There was nothing he could do. They had planned for this day since they had found out that she had conceived – at the first sign of it all, they would grab Hellene and go to the Mating Dens in order to take advantage of the quiet, the solitude. Perhaps the goddess Tor watched that placed more carefully than she would here, and would smile down on Sebring, granting her a quick and painless labor… but instead, they were trapped here by the swollen river, which was too deep and too strong for them to pass relying on Kalgalath’s strength alone. Kalgalath said nothing, remaining silent, allowing her to push against him for support. His tongue escaped any time she came close enough to his maw, caressing over her heated flesh reassuringly. He could feel her abdominals tensing as she began to push, going with the contractions, working with them as opposed to against them. But instead of taking breaks between each push, she just continued to.
A sudden whoosh was followed by a quiet plop, and instinctually, it seemed, Sebring reached around to grab the pup but its scruff and placed it between her front paws protectively. Her own tongue escaped and began to clean the pup, focusing on his little face first, and once his maw was free he began to cry, his blind, deaf form trembling with the sudden rush of cold in comparison to his previous home in Sebring’s womb. But before she could continue to clean him and dry him, she tensed before screaming again, and the first pup soon had a sibling. As with the first, Sebring grabbed him and put him between his paws. But instead of cleansing them, she collapsed. “Sebring!” Her lifeless form was utterly still and for a second, Kalgalath believed her dead. Tears welled up in his pools and threatened to fall… but then instead his arctics caught sight of her chest – rising and falling in a steady rhythm. She was not dead. Rather, she was just exhausted from the whole ordeal.
Relieved, the titan resumed the task that his mate had been unable to complete – Kalgalath finished cleaning off the pups. He started with the second pup, cleaning off his face so that the amnion would not continue to choke off the pup’s breaths. Just as with the first, tiny whimpers filled the air. Kalgalath leaned forward, gently allowing Sebring’s head to slump to the covered ground, so that he could reach around her and grasp the pups, placing them one at a time at her teats. Blindly, they began to push around until each latched on and began to suckle contently, their cries of hunger sated. As they drank, Kalgalath’s rough tongue removed all that remained on their pelts, until they were relatively dry. As soon as he stopped grooming them, they stopped suckling in unison and curled up together against Sebring’s abdomen, going to sleep, no doubt exhausted.
A gentle howl pulled itself from Kalgalath’s maw, hoping not to rouse Sebring, but also hoping that Hellene would be close enough to hear it. Sure enough, within a few minutes the petite timberwolf pushed her way through the firs, soaked to the bone by a swim in the river. ‘What in the hell did you…’ Her ambers swiveled to lay upon Sebring’s flattened out form and the pups, and her scowl turned into a smile instead. ‘Oh Kal, they are beautiful. Congratulations.’ Her nose nuzzled them gently, inspecting them. ‘Two healthy boys, it would seem!’ The titan’s auds perked – he had not even thought to look! His nose nuzzled them again – they were both grey, like their parents, but resembled their parents individually. The elder resembled Kal, his outer hairs a dark charcoal, lightened only by the soft snowed undercoat, and the younger a lighter smoke as Sebring was, though his pelt was broken up by swirls of black. Both had stripes of white upon their chest, though they had different lengths. “This is Vladimir…” His nose nuzzled the first pup who whined softly in his slumber. “And this is Castiel.” Hellene smiled and said nothing as she examined Sebring gently. ‘She will be fine, too, Kalgalath. She is just tired. She is not bleeding, nor has her pulse, respiration, or temperature risen or sunken. She just needs rest. I’ll leave a hare outside your den for when she wakes, have her eat it when she does rouse then send her back to bed immediately. Minimal movement and strict den confinement for at least 3 days – tell her they are my orders.’ Kalgalath nodded as the healer turned and left through the thick firs. “We are a family…” His words were hardly more than a mumbled before he looped his neck over Sebrings, joining her in sleep.
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**Aurora Borealis King*tied to Sebring*Father to Aindreas, Adara, Rohan, Blayre, Vladimir, and Castiel**
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